of The Authority faction. Professional wrestling career Early career (1996–2001) After being trained by fellow professional wrestler Jimmy Cicero, Birch made his debut in October 1996 under the name Joey Matthews. In 1997, approximately a year after his debut, Matthews began competing for the Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation (MEWF) promotion, where he won the MEWF Tag Team Championship with Christian York. Matthews defeated York on May 8, 1998, to regain the Southern Championship Wrestling Junior Heavyweight Championship in Wendell, North Carolina. Matthews and York, soon teamed up again, however, and won the Steel City Wrestling Tag Team Championship on December 20, 1998. Less than a month later, Matthews defeated York to win the Independent Professional Wrestling Alliance Light Heavyweight Championship on January 9, 1999. He was also a member of the North Carolina based Organization of Modern Extreme Grappling Arts (OMEGA) run by Matt and Jeff Hardy, where he defeated York to win the OMEGA Light Heavyweight Championship on January 29, 1999. He was signed to a World Championship Wrestling contract in 1999; Birch did not make any appearances for the promotion during the seven months he was signed to a contract. A few months later, while competing in singles competition at Maryland Championship Wrestling (MCW), he once again defeated York to win the MCW Cruiserweight Championship on May 21. Matthews and York soon began teaming again, and, sometimes using The Bad Street Boys as a tag team name, they won numerous tag team championships, including the Atlantic Terror Championship Wrestling Tag Team Championship on January 15, 2000, and the MCW Tag Team Championship on May 17, 2000. Extreme Championship Wrestling (2000–2001) In late 2000, Matthews and York joined Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), and lost to Danny Doring and Roadkill at Anarchy Rulz. They then began a feud with Simon and Swinger, whom they lost to at November to Remember, but defeated at Massacre on 34th Street. They competed in ECW for approximately six months, until the promotion closed in January 2001 and were on the company's final pay-per-view Guilty as Charged, where they suffered a loss to Jerry Lynn and Cyrus. After the closure of ECW, they returned to the independent circuit, where, on February 3, 2001, the Bad Street Boys defeated Rick Michaels and David Young to become the NWA World Tag Team Champions, a championship that they held for two weeks. They won the MCW Tag Team Championship