Tyler Matthews On Becoming RCW Champion And ‘The Guy’
When WrestlingHeadlines.com covered RCW’s Swinging for the Fences 2 at Four Winds Field in South Bend, one of the clearest reactions of the night belonged to hometown champion Tyler “By God” Matthews.
The crowd began chanting “House of Matthews” before his RCW Heavyweight Championship defense against Theo Storm had even started.
Matthews was technically working from the villainous side of the match, but South Bend did not seem particularly interested in treating him like one.
The louder Storm threatened to take the championship, the louder the audience became for Matthews.
Matthews eventually retained, adding another successful defense to a championship reign that began earlier this summer. Read WrestlingHeadlines.com’s complete Swinging for the Fences 2 results here.
That reaction made Matthews an obvious candidate for a WrestlingHeadlines.com Spotlight.
What followed was a conversation about wrestling psychology, becoming the wrestler a promotion trusts to be “The Guy,” losing his father to cancer, the opponents and trainers who shaped him, and a career that Matthews still believes has another level waiting for him.
There was also something considerably more important happening while he answered the questions.
Matthews was sitting in a delivery room waiting for the birth of his first child.
Since completing the interview, Matthews and his family have welcomed their newborn son.
WrestlingHeadlines.com congratulates Tyler Matthews and his family on the newest addition to the Matthews household.
WHO IS TYLER “BY GOD” MATTHEWS?
Matthews does not begin by describing himself through championships, moves or statistics.
His first word is simpler.
“Genuine.”
Matthews describes himself as aggressive and physical, but his larger objective is making an audience believe that what they are watching matters.
“I’m not trying to have the prettiest match on the card. I want you to remember it when you leave the building.”
For people who have already watched Matthews, he believes they understand what is coming when he walks through the curtain.
For everyone else, he offers a simple promise.
“If you haven’t, you’re in for a treat.”
THE EXACT DAY WRESTLING HOOKED HIM
Matthews can trace his fascination with professional wrestling to an exact date.
August 26, 2002.
His oldest sister, Heather, had watched WWE SummerSlam the previous night.
She came home the following Monday, kicked Matthews off the television and began watching an episode of WWE programming that she had recorded.
Matthews was immediately hooked.
“Everything about it intrigued me. The lights, the pageantry, and the larger-than-life personas that truly define what the wrestling business is.”
That fascination eventually became a career.
MATTHEW COLLINS AND LEARNING WHY WRESTLING WORKS
Matthews has learned from numerous people throughout his career, but he identifies Matthew Collins as the trainer who provided his foundation.
Collins did more than teach him how to execute wrestling moves.
He taught Matthews how to think about professional wrestling.
“He taught me to tell a story and not make people go too far out on a limb to understand what I’m doing. Everything you do should benefit everyone involved in some capacity.”
Collins’ sons, Jason and Brandon, later helped Matthews refine what he had learned.
Matthews also spent much of a year traveling to Georgia and wrestling two to four times per weekend, giving him another level of repetition and experience.
Steve Sterling Jr. and Tone C later helped Matthews sharpen the psychology and character work that he believes are essential to making a match meaningful.
Those lessons remain central to the wrestler he has become.
FROM GETTING BOOED OUT OF SOUTH BEND TO “HOUSE OF MATTHEWS”
The reaction WrestlingHeadlines.com witnessed at Swinging for the Fences 2 did not develop overnight.
Matthews describes his relationship with the RCW audience as a “hate-then-love relationship.”
He was once one of the promotion’s biggest heels.
“I was getting booed out of the building.”
Eventually, the reaction changed.
Matthews believes consistency played a major role.
“Once people see that I wrestle with my full heart day in and day out, they can’t help but show me respect.”
Whether those fans are booing or cheering, Matthews said the important thing is that they are responding.
At Four Winds Field, the response was impossible to miss.
The South Bend audience remained firmly behind Matthews throughout his championship defense against Theo Storm, even as Matthews employed tactics normally associated with the heel side of a match.
Matthews believes those reactions come with an obligation.
“I know that reaction is their way of showing me respect, and the way I feel I can return that respect is by giving them the best match on the card that night.”
BECOMING “THE GUY” IN RCW
Matthews understands what carrying RCW’s top championship represents.
In his words, almost everyone in professional wrestling wants to become “The Guy.”
A championship indicates that a promotion trusts the wrestler carrying it, but Matthews believes the expectations surrounding the top championship are considerably greater.
“You go from being a guy on the card to being The Guy in the main event. You’re the one on the marquee. You’re the guy who’s supposed to put asses in seats and give people a reason to come back.”
Matthews captured the RCW Heavyweight Championship at the promotion’s 19th Annual Slam Cancer Benefit on July 11.
He first won the 2026 James Wilson Memorial Tournament, defeating Tyler Dynamite in the opening round before winning the tournament final against Edrys Wolff, Hank Calhoun and NERD 5th. Later that night, Matthews defeated Theo Storm to capture the championship.
The achievement carried significance far beyond the belt.
A CHAMPIONSHIP NIGHT FOR HIS FATHER
Matthews’ father died from throat cancer a little more than two years ago.
He still feels that loss every day.
That made the Slam Cancer Benefit an especially personal setting for the biggest night of Matthews’ career.
Matthews said he had the opportunity that evening to compete in three matches, win the tournament and capture the Heavyweight Championship on the same night.
“I was the first to do so, I might add.”
But the accomplishment meant more because of who Matthews was thinking about while doing it.
“I left everything I had in that ring that night, and I felt him with me every step of the way.”
For Matthews, that is why a straightforward question about what the RCW championship means produces a complicated answer.
The belt represents trust and status.
It also represents one night when professional wrestling, family and memory collided.
A TECHNICAL BRAWLER WITH HIGH-FLYING FLAIR
Matthews describes his in-ring style as a technical brawler with some high-flying flair.
But when asked what separates a Tyler Matthews match from everything else on the card, he again returned to storytelling.
“What separates me from everyone else is my ability to suspend your disbelief while being able to tell a story with every step I take.”
That philosophy has also changed as Matthews has matured.
When asked what he does better today than he did several years ago, his answer was concise.
“Wrestling for the match, not myself or the guys in the back.”
Matthews admitted that understanding the power of that approach took time.
It remains something he considers a continuing process.
THE PEOPLE WHO SHAPED TYLER MATTHEWS
Matthews points to Silas Young and Jake Crist as two significant opponents who challenged him at different stages of his career.
He said each taught him something different about approaching professional wrestling.
Crist and Matthews have also shared the ring recently. Matthews defeated Crist at RCW’s I Knew You Were Trouble event in March.
The list of people who influenced Matthews extends considerably further.
He specifically named Jason Hotch, Isaiah Moore, Steve Sterling Jr., Tone C, Russ Jones, Ryan Epic, Darren Fly, Nate Kobain and Theo Storm as wrestlers who have influenced him in some capacity.
Some of Matthews’ favorite matches have involved those wrestlers.
“All of us lay it all out when we step into the ring with one another.”
The inclusion of Storm is particularly fitting considering how frequently their careers have intersected.
Storm defeated Matthews in an RCW Heavyweight Championship match on May 30 before Matthews reversed the result at the Slam Cancer Benefit in July to win the championship. Matthews then defeated Storm again at Swinging for the Fences 2 in August to retain.
PRETTY, MARVELOUS & STRYKING TO MOB MENTALITY
Matthews identifies only two major tag-team partners in his career.
Steve Sterling Jr. was the first.
The pair competed as Pretty, Marvelous & Stryking, better known around the Midwest as P.M.S.
Matthews credits that partnership with helping him understand character work.
Today, Matthews teams with Tone C as Mob Mentality.
The team has competed throughout the region, including Great Lakes Wrestling Association, where Matthews and Tone C previously held the GLWA Tag Team Championship.
Matthews said the partnership has also elevated his own work.
“We raise the bar in every tag team division we’re in.”
THE BENEFIT MATCH THAT CHANGED HIS PERSPECTIVE
One of Matthews’ most meaningful matches did not happen on the largest card or in front of the biggest audience.
It happened at a benefit event organized by Steve Sterling Jr. for someone who had lost everything in a house fire and nearly lost his life.
Matthews teamed in the match with Isaiah Moore.
When they entered the ring, Matthews remembers much of the audience looking at their phones and paying little attention to the wrestling.
Then the match began.
By the end, Matthews said the only people using their phones were recording what was happening.
“Everyone was locked in on what we were doing.”
Matthews believes he and Moore could have treated the match like an obligation.
They chose the opposite.
“We both gave them everything we had.”
The experience reinforced something Matthews already believed about professional wrestling.
The circumstances surrounding the match do not determine how seriously the wrestler should take it.
The responsibility is the same.
AAW REMAINS ON THE LIST
Matthews is not finished pursuing opportunities beyond RCW.
He has previously worked for AAW and described the promotion as somewhere he wants to return when scheduling allows.
Recent circumstances have made looking too far ahead difficult for a considerably better reason.
When Matthews answered the question about the next stage of his career, he was sitting in a delivery room waiting for his firstborn child.
“That makes looking forward a little less clear.”
Still, one destination remains firmly on his radar.
“AAW is the spot I would love to be. The crowd and the energy are on a different level, and I loved and appreciated my very short time there.”
For the moment, professional wrestling is understandably sharing Matthews’ attention with something considerably bigger.
He is now a father.
WHERE TO FOLLOW TYLER “BY GOD” MATTHEWS
Fans can follow Matthews on TikTok and YouTube under @ByGodMatthews.
Matthews said Facebook and Instagram are the easiest ways for promoters to contact him regarding bookings.
WrestlingHeadlines.com first encountered Matthews while covering RCW at Four Winds Field in South Bend.
What stood out that night was how loudly the audience reacted to him.
After hearing Matthews explain the years behind that relationship, the trainers who shaped his philosophy, the loss that accompanied his championship journey and the responsibility he feels when carrying RCW’s top title, the reaction makes considerably more sense.
Tyler Matthews wanted wrestling fans to remember him when they left the building.
South Bend already does.
WrestlingHeadlines.com again congratulates Tyler “By God” Matthews and his family on the birth of their newborn.
