Matt Martel/Striker fired?

[Guest 5.0Fanatic]

Link to story

 

 

 

 

That will teach him

 

City busts instructor for wrestling while out 'sick'

 

By JOE WILLIAMS

DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

 

City school investigators laid the smackdown yesterday on a Queens high school teacher who allegedly called in sick while he was donning tights for World Wrestling Entertainment.

At Benjamin Cardozo High School in Queens, Matthew Kaye had a reputation as an agreeable social studies teacher.

 

But he led a secret life as pro wrestler Matt Striker - a greased-up macho man known for ring moves he called "the overdrive" and the "lung-blower," investigators said. Several of Kaye's students suspected as much.

 

"I swear I saw him on WWE Smackdown last week wrestling Kurt Angle," a student wrote on the Web site www.ratemyteacher.com last March. "I know it was him."

 

Special Schools Investigator Richard Condon said he wants the 6-foot-tall, 241-pound instructor to pay back all the money he got while he was supposedly out sick.

 

Condon's investigators learned about Kaye's alter ego from the teacher's own Web site, www.thisisstriker.com, authorities said.

 

According to the site, Kaye made his professional wrestling debut in 2000 in the USA Pro Wrestling league. He used the name Hydro and fought as part of a tag team called Los Lunatics. The Web site lists and describes many of his performances - making it easy for investigators to match the days he should have been in school.

 

In a video clip on the site, Kaye, who also used the ring names Matt Martel and Hot Stuff, is seen jawing with Angle, one of WWE's top performers, at a Smackdown match in Philadelphia. "My name is Matt Martel," he said, grabbing the microphone away from Angle. "Kurt, I have a question for you. How did it feel at ‘No Way Out' losing a No. 1 contender's match?" Kaye had his mother call in sick for him Dec. 16-23 last year before a holiday break, authorities said.

 

He later told school administrators that he had gone to California to care for his anorexic sister and was being treated by a doctor for "flulike symptoms," officials said. But his Web site states he was pile-driving his way through Japan with the Zero One wrestling company on those dates.

 

"I am a social studies teacher in my 'other life' and I know Japan is rich in history both world and wrestling," Kaye wrote on the site, investigators said.

 

Kaye resigned from his teaching job in April after investigators approached him. He said he had not been aware that he could have used personal days to get time off to wrestle.

 

"I took four days off," he said yesterday, adding facetiously, "I would have been better off beating a kid because those teachers always seem to keep their jobs." A spokesman for Schools Chancellor Joel Klein said the schools boss supported Condon's recommendation that Kaye not be rehired for future jobs and that he repay the city for the time he called in sick.

 

Originally published on July 1, 2005

 

 

 

How could no one in the entire school not know he's a wrestler?

[King Cucaracha 0]

How could no one in the entire school not know he's a wrestler?

 

I guess it's true. Nobody watches Smackdown anymore.

 

pro wrestler Matt Striker - a greased-up macho man

 

Funniest part of the report.

[HollywoodSpikeJenkins 0]

I feel really bad. Matt Striker is one of the nicest guys I've ever had the opportunity to train with. He shared stories with us, told us how to improve, and was just an overall nice, funny guy. He is amazingly entertaining to watch.

 

Sad thing is, I'm sure he's not the only teacher/pro wrestler. I know plenty. I don't know if they do this, though.

[HollywoodSpikeJenkins 0]

Oh, and there are a LOT of wrestling fans at Benjamin Cardozo. A lot come to the NYWC shows and some even train.