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Former WWE star and current Ring of Honor Producer Adam Carlson Birch aka Joey Mercury, 39 years old, was released from the Cook County Department of Corrections after being arrested over "All In" weekend when authorities discovered an outstanding warrant for his arrest in Orange County, Florida. One source has stated Mercury was released this past Monday, but he was listed as incarcerated by Cook County until the last 48 hours or so.
Authoriries in Schaumburg, IL confirmed to PWInsider.com that Birch is no longer being held at the facility. We have been told that the warrant is in relation to an old "non-violent" issue that did not require him being extradited.
The Schaumburg Police Department stated that they “had contact” with Birch at 6:58 AM outside of 50 North Martindale Road, which is the address of The Marriott Schaumburg. PWInsider.com was told that authorities were notified of Birch sleeping in his car outside the hotel. They approached Birch and after running his personal information, discovered he was wanted on the aforementioned outstanding warrant in Orange County, Florida and was taken into custody. He was not charged and will not be charged with anything in Illinois. He will, however, have to clear up his issues in Florida to prevent a similar arrest from taking place.
Birch has had a long run the business, debuting in 1996 when he was just 15 years old. As Joey Matthews, he had runs in the original ECW, Ring of Honor and a slew of independent promotions up and down the Eastern seaboard before being signed by WWE in 2002.
As Joey Mercury, he and John Morrison created a great act alongside Melina as MNM in Ohio Valley Wrestling before being called up to the main roster and capturing the WWE Tag Team Championship. Birch was released from the company in 2007. He returned in 2010 as a member of CM Punk’s Straight Edge Society and after that role ran its course, began working behind the scenes as a producer for WWE. In a documentary WWE released about Punk, Birch spoke about how he was about to lose his home due to financial issues in the wake of his 2007 release, leading to Punk offering to pay to buy his house and save it. At the time, he said he considered Punk his best friend.
After his 2010 return, Birch rose in power within WWE. Long considered one of the better creative minds in the business when it came to putting together matches and finishes, Birch became one of the top lieutenants to Triple H and was instrumental in evolving WWE developmental from FCW into WWE NXT as well as the launch of the WWE Performance Center.
As Mercury, Birch returned to WWE TV as one half of J&J Security, alongside Jamie Noble, working as bodyguards for Seth Rollins, a heel at the time. He split his time with that on camera role and his behind the scenes responsibilities until he was pulled from the road during an NXT European tour. Birch was let go by WWE in March 2017.
By the Fall of that year, he was back wrestling on the independent scene and working as a trainer. He made regular appearances for House of Hardcore as a heel, feuding with Tommy Dreamer, which brought him back into some prominence. In May 2018, Birch was signed by ROH to work as a trainer at their ROH Academy in Maryland and work as a top producer for the company.
Birch had been involved in the planning of “All In”, including helping to put together the pre-show battle royal (one of the best battle royals in years, as it turned out) and work the gorilla position, but after his arrest, others stepped in to handle Birch’s duties.
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