Name: Matt Striker

Weight: 237 pounds

From: New York City

Career Highlights: Nearly outlasted Kurt Angle during the Angle Invitational.

Trained By: WWE Hall of Famer Johnny Rodz

Striker seemed destined to work for the New York City Board of Education until retirement age. But, while Striker loved the opportunity to reach young people in the classroom, he remained enamored with wrestling.

So, in his spare time, he began to train for the mat with a television mainstay of his childhood: the Unpredictable Johnny Rodz, a WWE Hall of Famer who ran a wrestling school out of Gleason's Gym, beneath the Brooklyn Bridge.

Soon, Striker was wrestling for various small promotions. To meet expenses, Matt began teaching. While filling in for a teacher on maternity leave at a Long Island middle school, Striker noticed one student eying him with curiosity. After a while, Striker's nocturnal profession became a topic of discussion in class. Striker used that to discuss goals and motivate his students. He took that approach with him to Cardozo High School in the fall of 2004.

Then, in December, Matt had a chance to go overseas to wrestle. He called in sick to free up the necessary time. There were no repercussions until he appeared in the Angle Invitational on RAW In Queens, Striker's students instantly recognized their teacher. It didn't take long for students and teachers to figure out that he'd been in Japan when he was supposed to be ill. It began a furor that resulted in national media coverage and his forced resignation from his teaching job.

But the exposure thrust Striker into the national spotlight and launched his WWE career. Now that he's here, Striker hopes to continue to impress while in the ring with bigger names like Kurt Angle -- until he's a name inside the ring himself.