Evan Bourne
Korlan as Evan Bourne, on an episode of Raw
Ring name(s)	Evan Bourne[1] Lance Sydal[2] Matt[2] Matt Sydal[2]
Billed height	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)[1]
Billed weight	165 lb (75 kg)[1]
Born	(1983-03-19) March 19, 1983 (age 29)[3] St. Louis, Missouri[2]
Resides	Tampa, Florida
Billed from	St. Louis, Missouri[1]
Trained by	Gateway Championship Wrestling[2]
Debut	October 20, 2000[4]

Matthew Joseph Korklan^[4] (born March 19, 1983)^[3] is an American professional wrestler, also known as Matt Sydal and Evan Bourne. He is signed with WWE and wrestles on its Raw brand under the ring name Evan Bourne.^[1]

Before signing with WWE, Korklan wrestled on the independent circuit for promotions such as IWA-Mid South, Ring of Honor and the Japanese promotion Dragon Gate under the ring name Matt Sydal. Korklan also had a tenure in the short-lived Wrestling Society X promotion and was featured on Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's early pay-per-view events. Korklan is known for his high flying, lucha libre-inspired style of wrestling.

Professional wrestling career[link]

Training and independent circuit (2000–2007)[link]

Korklan was on his high school's wrestling team.^[2] While he was a senior in high school, Korklan began training with the St. Louis, Missouri-based Gateway Championship Wrestling (GCW) promotion. After three months of training, Korklan began wrestling for GCW on October 20, 2000, becoming the first person under the age of 18 to receive a wrestler's license in Missouri.^[2][4] Prior to this, Korklan had briefly performed under the ring name Lance Sydal in the Saint Peters Wrestling Organization.^[2]

In 2003, Korklan (now using the ring name Matt and forgoing a surname)^[4] formed a stable in GCW, known as Operation: Shamrock. In addition, Korklan and fellow stable member Billy McNeil formed a tag team. Operation: Shamrock maintained a feud with the villainous Ministry of Hate faction, led by Nikki Strychnine.^[5]

Sydal at a Chikara show in 2007

Korklan debuted in Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South (IWA Mid-South) in November 2003, combining two of his old ring names into a new one, Matt Sydal.^[2] He won his first championship, the IWA Mid-South Light Heavyweight Championship, on January 17, 2004, by defeating J.C. Bailey.^[6] Sydal lost the title to rival Delirious, on June 26, 2004.^[6] Sydal joined National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) Midwest that same year, on July 30, he defeated Justin Kage for the NWA Midwest X Division Championship, which he also lost to Delirious after holding the belt for nearly a year.^[7] Korklan regained the championship when he teamed with Daizee Haze in an intergender tag team match against Delirious and MsChif. A unique rule of the match was that the male wrestler on the winning team would be champion at the match's end. Haze pinned MsChif to win Delirious's title for Sydal.^[7] Sydal lost the title to Jayson Strife roughly four months later^[7] before leaving the promotion.

Sydal wrestled several top independent stars during his time as a regular in IWA. He lost three matches to A.J. Styles during a short-lived feud. He also faced men such as CM Punk, Chris Sabin and Nate Webb.^[4] On September 24, 2005, Sydal won the fifth Ted Petty Invitational tournament. During the tournament, he defeated El Generico, Tyler Black, and Sabin to secure himself a place in the finals. He faced Kevin Steen and Arik Cannon in the final match and came out victorious.^[8] Since then, Sydal has only appeared in IWA on a few occasions, the last being in August 2007.^[4]

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2004–2005)[link]

Sydal was featured on Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's (TNA) first three-hour pay-per-view event, Victory Road as a participant of a twenty-man X Division Gauntlet for the Gold match, a match where two wrestlers begin the match, and are replaced whenever one is eliminated, with the last person standing being named the winner of the contest.^[9] Sydal also was part of an online poll for the Sacrifice event. The winner of the poll would meet Christopher Daniels for the TNA X Division Championship. Sydal, however, lost the poll. During his tenure with TNA, Sydal was mainly utilized as a jobber, a wrestler who is rarely or never booked to win a match.^[4]

Ring of Honor (2004–2007)[link]

Sydal with A.J. Styles (left) in Ring of Honor during 2007.

Sydal, along with valet Daizee Haze, debuted in Ring of Honor at Reborn: Stage One on April 23, 2004, defeating his recurring nemesis, Delirious.^[10] Following a brief feud with Trent Acid, Sydal teamed with Fast Eddie Vegas as the "Air Devils" (a name voted on by the ROH fans). They only teamed once, after which Eddie turned on him on at the Third Anniversary Celebration: Part 2 on February 25, 2005, joining the villainous stable The Embassy.^[4] On August 12, 2005, Sydal and Haze joined Austin Aries, Roderick Strong and Jack Evans as the fourth member of Generation Next, a group who was in the midst of a feud with The Embassy.^[11] In late 2005, Daizee Haze turned on Sydal, leaving him and Generation Next to join The Embassy. Generation Next fought The Embassy in numerous multi-man tag matches, culminating in a Steel Cage Warfare match on December 3, 2005, with Generation Next emerging victorious.^[10]

After wrestling A.J. Styles at Hell Freezes Over, the two teamed up to challenge his Generation Next stable mates Austin Aries and Roderick Strong for ROH World Tag Team Championship. Sydal also teamed with Samoa Joe and Jack Evans to try and win the championship. Sydal went to the finals of the 2006 Survival of the Fittest event, before losing to Delirious. Sydal and Delirious brought their rivalry back to ROH as they engaged in several matches during mid-2006.^[10]

After several matches against each other throughout the year, Sydal teamed up with Christopher Daniels in another attempt to win the ROH World Tag Team Championship. The two feuded with then-champions the Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli), before winning the championship at Dethroned. Sydal and Daniels successfully defended their championship against the likes of CIMA and Shingo, and former champions Austin Aries and Roderick Strong, before losing the title to the Briscoe Brothers (Jay and Mark Briscoe) at the Fifth Year Festival: Chicago.^[12] During their title reign, Sydal would begin to show a cocky, villainous-like attitude. After coming up unsuccessful in attempts to win the title back along with Castagnoli, Sydal joined Larry Sweeney's villain stable Sweet n' Sour Inc., which also included Chris Hero, Sara Del Rey and Tank Toland.^[13] Sydal, who in real life was receiving offers from World Wrestling Entertainment, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, and Dragon Gate, joined Sweet n' Sour Inc. to further Sweeney's gimmick as a "super agent". When Sydal eventually signed with WWE, it was said that Sweeney had "sold him up the river to Vince". At Man Up, Sydal wrestled his final match for ROH, losing to long-time rival Delirious.^[10]

Dragon Gate and Wrestling Society X (2006–2007)[link]

Sydal began touring Japan with Dragon Gate in May 2006.^[14] While there he aligned himself with CIMA, Don Fuji, and Jack Evans to form the New Blood Generation International. He also became a part of CIMA's Typhoon faction. During Dragon Gate's Wrestlejam event, Sydal teamed with Generation Next stable mate Roderick Strong to win the $10,000 Tag Team Challenge.^[14]

In early 2007, Sydal returned to Dragon Gate.^[15] During his tenure there he won the Dragon Gate Open the Brave Gate Championship from Masato Yoshino, thus becoming the first gaijin to win the title. He held the championship for just over a month, making a successful title defense against Yoshino, as well as against Austin Aries at Ring of Honor's Fifth Year Festival: Dayton.^[10][16] He dropped the title to Genki Horiguchi.^[15][17]

Sydal was also part of the short-lived MTV promotion, Wrestling Society X, where he competed as a villain against the likes of Jack Evans, Scorpio Sky and the Human Tornado.^[18][19][20] There was the start of a storyline that would have him feuding with Syxx-Pac over Sydal's valet and on-screen girlfriend Lizzy Valentine,^[19][21] but they never actually wrestled before WSX shut down.^[19][22]

World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE (2007–present)[link]

Developmental territories (2007–2008)[link]

After becoming a free agent again following the expiration of his WSX contract and the close of the promotion, Sydal signed a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).^[23] Sydal made his WWE developmental debut in Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), at the October 10, 2007 OVW taping, defeating Jamin Olivencia.^[24] In December of that year, Sydal defeated Mike Kruel to win the OVW Heavyweight Championship.^[25] It was announced on February 7, 2008 that WWE had ceased affiliation with OVW.^[26] As a result, Sydal lost the OVW Heavyweight Championship to Jay Bradley.^[25] Sydal was moved to Florida Championship Wrestling and made his debut on March 22, 2008, defeating TJ Wilson, before being called up to WWE's main roster.^[2][27]

ECW (2008–2009)[link]

Bourne making his ring entrance on an episode of ECW

Sydal made his debut for WWE's ECW brand on June 3, 2008, as a fan favorite character. He lost a match by countout to Shelton Benjamin after he was thrown at guest commentator Kofi Kingston.^[28] The following week on ECW, Sydal, now an official member of the ECW roster under the ring name Evan Bourne, teamed with Kofi Kingston to defeat Mike Knox and Benjamin in a tag team match.^[29] In the following weeks, Bourne defeated Matt Striker,^[30] Nunzio,^[31] and Chavo Guerrero^[32] using the shooting star press as his finishing maneuver.^[1]

Bourne also made appearances on the Raw brand, saving Rey Mysterio from an assault by Kane. The two defeated John Morrison and The Miz the following week. At Cyber Sunday in October, Bourne was chosen by the fans to face Matt Hardy for the ECW Championship, but lost the match after Hardy performed a Twist of Fate.^[33] Two days later on ECW, Bourne was injured attempting a suicide senton during a six-man tag match, when he landed on his right ankle, dislocating it and tearing his deltoid ligament. After further examination, it was determined that surgery would not be necessary, but was not cleared to return to the ring.^[34] On December 8, 2008, Bourne won a Slammy Award for "Best Finishing Maneuver" for his shooting star press.^[35]

On the March 10, 2009, episode of ECW a promo was aired for Bourne's return on March 17.^[36] In his return, Bourne defeated Jamie Noble.^[37]

Raw; Air Boom and injury (2009–present)[link]

On June 29, Bourne was traded to the Raw brand, and made his debut that night as the first of the three wrestlers that were part of a Gauntlet match against Randy Orton, in which he was eliminated.^[38] On the November 2 episode of Raw, Bourne received a United States Championship match against The Miz, which he failed to win. Bourne made a special appearance on the December 29 episode of ECW, defeating Mike Knox in an ECW Homecoming qualifying match to advance to a battle royal where the winner would face ECW Champion Christian at the Royal Rumble for the ECW Championship.^[39]

Bourne lost a non-title match against WWE Champion Sheamus on the January 4, 2010 episode of Raw.^[40] On the January 12 episode of ECW, Bourne competed in the "Homecoming Battle Royal" but was the first to be eliminated.^[41] On the March 8 episode of Raw, Bourne defeated William Regal to qualify for the Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania XXVI, which was won by Jack Swagger.

The May 31, 2010 episode of Raw opened with Bourne being the victim of an assault by Edge after Bourne had challenged him for his spot in the WWE Championship match at Fatal 4-Way. Later in the show, as John Cena's scheduled tag team partner, Randy Orton, was injured by Edge before the main event, Cena chose Bourne to replace him in a match against Edge and Sheamus. Bourne pinned Sheamus to earn the victory for his team.^[42] Two weeks later, Bourne fought Chris Jericho in a match, which he won by disqualification when Jericho threatened the referee and attacked Bourne while he was in the ropes.^[43] At the Fatal 4-Way pay-per-view, he faced Jericho in a rematch, which Bourne won by pinfall.^[44] The following night on Raw, Jericho challenged Bourne to a third match stating that if he did not win, he would leave WWE. Jericho defeated Bourne by pinfall.^[45] Their feud continued on the July 5 episode of Raw, where Bourne teamed up with Randy Orton to defeat Jericho and Edge.^[46] Bourne was announced as one of the participants in the Money in the Bank ladder match for the Money in the Bank pay-per-view on July 18, but he was unsuccessful.^[47]

Bourne with the WWE Tag Team Championship in 2011.

On September 19, at the Night of Champions pay-per-view, Bourne teamed up with Mark Henry in the Tag Team Turmoil match for the WWE Tag Team Championship, but they failed to win the championship when they were the last team eliminated in the match by Drew McIntyre and Cody Rhodes. On the October 11 episode of Raw, Bourne competed in a match against CM Punk to qualify for Team Raw at Bragging Rights, but was unsuccessful in winning and was assaulted by Punk after the match. This was put in place to write Bourne off television, as in reality he required shoulder surgery and was expected to be out of action for an estimated four months.^[48]

Bourne returned on the February 28, 2011, episode of Raw, defeating Sheamus, after Sheamus had been attacked by Triple H before the match.^[49] From May 23, Bourne would feud with Jack Swagger, with both men trading victories on several episodes of Raw.^[50][51] Bourne emerged victorious against Swagger at WWE Capitol Punishment.^[52]

On the August 22 episode of Raw, Bourne won his first championship in WWE, when he and Kofi Kingston defeated David Otunga and Michael McGillicutty, for the WWE Tag Team Championships.^[53] On the August 29 episode of Raw, the duo were called "Air Boom" and had their first successful title defense by defeating Otunga and McGillicutty in a rematch. At Night of Champions, Air Boom retained their championship against The Miz and R-Truth by disqualification after The Miz attacked the referee. At both Hell in a Cell and Vengeance, Air Boom retained the Tag Team Championship against the team of Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger.^[54] On November 1, WWE announced via the company website that they had suspended Korklan for 30 days for his first violation of the company’s wellness policy, which he completed and returned at a house show on December 3.^[55] On December 18, at Tables, Ladders & Chairs, Air Boom retained their titles by defeating Primo and Epico.^[56] On January 15, 2012, Air Boom lost the WWE Tag Team Championship to Primo and Epico at a house show.^[57] The following night on Raw, Air Boom were awarded a rematch but failed to regain the championship.^[58] The following day, Korklan was suspended once again, this time for 60 days for his second failure of a wellness test.^[59] In March Korklan was involved in a car accident which resulted in his foot being broken in four different places and dislocated in five.^[60]

Other media[link]

As Bourne, Korklan is featured as a downloadable superstar in WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles. He would go on to appear in the following games: WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2011, and WWE '12.

Image Entertainment, Inc. released a DVD titled "Before They Were Stars: Matt Sydal: Bourne Is Born" on January 20, 2009, which features every match from Wrestling Society X Korklan participated in as well as various promos and a music video.^[61]

Personal life[link]

Both of Korklan's parents are school teachers.^[62] He has a younger brother Mike, who wrestles under the name "Mike Sydal".^[63] He attended Parkway West High School in St. Louis.^[62] In 2001, Korklan enrolled at the University of Missouri, studying marketing, as he was unsure whether he could earn a living from wrestling.^[64] He continued to wrestle, attending college three days a week, while wrestling mid-week and on weekends.^[64] He graduated with a bachelor's degree in 2005, and began working as a sales and marketing vice president for a small mailbox company in St. Louis, although he continued to wrestle.^[2][62][64]

In wrestling[link]

Bourne performing "Air Bourne" on Chris Jericho in 2010.

• WWE
  • Finishing moves
    • Air Bourne^[65] (Shooting star press)^[4][66]
  • Signature moves
    • Corkscrew plancha^[4]
    • Frankensteiner,^[66][67] sometimes from the top rope^[68]
    • Headscissors takedown^[69][70]
    • Multiple kick variations
      • Drop,^[71] sometimes from the top rope^[71]
      • Roundhouse^[66][72]
    • Standing moonsault,^[70] sometimes from the top rope^[66]
    • Suicide dive^[4]
  • Nicknames
    • "Air Bourne"^[73][74]
  • Entrance themes
    • "Axeman" by Damian Wes, Lenny Charles and Sparky Buddha (June 10, 2008–July 23, 2009)^[75][76]
    • "Born to Win" by Mutiny Within and Jim Johnston (July 27, 2009–present)^[77][78]
    • "Born to SOS" by Mutiny Within and Collie Buddz^[79] (September 5, 2011–October 3; Used as part of Air Boom)
    • "Boom" by Jim Johnston (October 7, 2011–January 16, 2012; Used while a part of Air Boom)

• Independent circuit
  • Finishing moves
    • Aftershock (Gory neckbreaker)^[4]
    • Cyclorama (Independent circuit)^[3][21] / Sydal Special (Dragon Gate)^[16] (Belly to belly moonsault slam)^[3]
    • Double Helix^[3] (Springboard corkscrew moonsault)^[3]
    • Here It Is Driver^[80] / Here We Go Driver^[3] (Pumphandle half nelson driver)^[3]
    • Shooting Sydal Press^[14][81] (Shooting star press)^[4][67]
  • Signature moves
    • Cannonball (Diving leg drop)^{[4][82][83][84]}
    • Corkscrew plancha^[4]
    • Cradle suplex^[4]
    • Dragonrana^[4]
    • Inverted leg drop bulldog into a pin^[4]
    • Multiple kick variations
      • Corner drop, sometimes preceded by a catapult^[21]
      • Enzuigiri^[4]
      • Shining wizard to a cornered opponent^[4]
    • Springboard into either a 450° splash^[4] or a corkscrew senton^[4]
    • Standing moonsault^[21]
    • Suicide dive^[4]
  • Managers
    • Daizee Haze^[10]
    • Jade Chung^[4]
    • Lizzy Valentine^[21]
    • Allison Danger^[4]
    • Larry Sweeney^[13]
  • Entrance themes
    • "Clavicle" by Alkaline Trio^[85]

Championships and accomplishments[link]

Evan Bourne with the WWE Tag Team Championship which he held with tag team partner Kofi Kingston.

• Dragon Gate
  • Open The Brave Gate Championship (1 time)^[17]

• Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South
  • IWA Mid-South Light Heavyweight Championship (1 time)^[6]
  • Ted Petty Invitational (2005)^[8]

• NWA Midwest
  • NWA Midwest X Division Championship (2 times)^[7]

• Ohio Valley Wrestling
  • OVW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)^[25]

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI ranked him #63 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the year in the PWI 500 in 2009 and 2010^[86][87]

• Ring of Honor
  • ROH World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Christopher Daniels^[12]

• World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE
  • WWE Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Kofi Kingston^[88]
  • Slammy Award for Best Finishing Maneuver (2008)^[35]

• Wrestling Observer Newsletter
  • Best Flying Wrestler (2008)^{[citation needed]}
  • Best Wrestling Maneuver (2008) Shooting Star Press^{[citation needed]}
  • Most Underrated (2009)^{[citation needed]}

Notes[link]