Matera made his debut in late 2001 under the name Antonio Thomas, and quickly became a mainstay on the New Englandindependent circuit. Over the next few years, he wrestled for several promotions, including New England Championship Wrestling, Chaotic Wrestling, and the Eastern Wrestling Alliance. In early 2003, Thomas began training with Rick Harrison, and began working for Bradley's Wrestling Federation of America promotion. There he won the WFA Heavyweight Championship, and held it throughout most of 2003-2004. Thomas then began teaming with his long-time friend Romeo Roselli, who was wrestling as Johnny Heartbreaker, and the pair formed a tag team called The Heartbreakers. On January 23, 2004, The Heartbreakers defeated Cueball and Nick McKenna to become the EWA Tag Team Champions.
World Wrestling Entertainment (2005–2006)
In July 2004, Thomas signed a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment and was sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling. In OVW he continued to team with Heartbreaker, but it was not until February 2005 that Heartbreaker was officially signed to a developmental contract with WWE. On April 18, 2005, William Regal and Tajiri successfully defended the World Tag Team Championships against the debuting Heart Throbs. They went on to participate in a Tag Team Turmoil match for the World Tag Team Championship at the 2005 Backlashpay-per-view, although they were unsuccessful. The Heart Throbs, who have portrayed heels, mainly appeared on the Raw B-show, Heat. They had short-lived feuds with Eugene and William Regal, Rosey and The Hurricane, and V-Squared. During the first episode of Heat in 2006 the pair turned face and began educating the crowd by bringing two "hot chicks" into the ring and getting them to read a book. On February 10, 2006, WWE announced that The Heart Throbs had been released from their contracts.
Independent circuit (2006–present)
After his release from WWE, Thomas returned to working on the New England independent circuit. On May 27, 2006, Thomas debuted for MXW and pinned Jason Blade after the match was interrupted by Romeo Roselli. At InterPromotional Incident on July 8, 2006, Thomas and Blade defeated the team of Roselli and Xavier. On November 10, 2006, Thomas wrestled Claudio Castagnoli in one half of the main event at Capital Collision in Albany, NY. His most recent appearance for MXW was at Brass City Battle on November 12, 2006 where he took on Slyk Wagner Brown. In June 2007, Thomas toured Italy with the Nu-Wrestling Evolution promotion. On February 22, 2009, Thomas competed in a dark match for Ring of Honor, teaming with Prince Jaleel in a loss to Andy Ridge and Alex Payne. In May 2009, Thomas won the NECW Iron 8 Tournament. On July 28, 2012, The Heart Throbs made their debut for Chikara, teaming with The Young Bucks in an eight-man tag team match, where they were defeated by Hallowicked, Jigsaw, Mike Quackenbush and UltraMantis Black. The Heart Throbs returned to the promotion on November 18, losing to 1-2-3 Kid and Marty Jannetty in a tag team match. On February 1, 2013 Thomas captured the vacant NECW Heavyweight Championship, defeating Johnny Thunder at NECW Snowbrawl. The championship was vacated in the first place due to the previous title holder, Sean Burke, breaking his ankle during an NECW title defense with Antonio Thomas. Thomas and Burke would end in a time limit draw that night.
