Matthew became a child out of an affair when his mother, Rachel Cory, had an affair with Mitch Blake. Rachel's current husband at the time, Mac Cory, adopted Matthew as his own. In 1986, Matthew found out about his true parentage and had a falling out with his family.

Matthew turned to Josie Watts for support. The two became lovers and were eventually engaged to be married. However, Josie's career as an actress and model skyrocketed and Matthew let Josie go. Matthew then created his own music video production company, D&M Productions, with Dean Frame. At this time, Matthew was involved with Jenna Norris. Matthew and Jenna had a wonderful relationship, but Matthew cheated on Jenna with Lorna Devon. The two eventually broke up.

After D&M, Matthew took on the position of co-owner of KBAY-TV with Donna Love. Donna and Matthew grew closer together and eventually became lovers. Matthew and Donna were married, but Donna slept with her ex, Michael Hudson, on the night of her marriage. Matthew eventually divorced Donna and moved on with Blair Baker. Matthew saw the good in Blair and wanted a true relationship with her, but she was killed by The Bay City Stalker.

After finding out that Blair was a partner with Carl Hutchins, Matthew had a falling out with his mother's husband. After Blair, Matthew started dating Joe Carlino's sister, Sofia. The two eventually broke up after Matthew realized that Sofia was not over Nick Hudson.

Matthew left town for awhile and returned with a special surprise for Carl: his worst enemy, Alexander Nikos. Matthew wanted to destroy Carl, but almost killed his mother in the process. Matthew began dating Lila Roberts, and eventually slept with her and conceiving a child. Matthew opened up his own business called Cory-Med, a drug company.

After failing to get Shane's new drug, Matthew decided to go back into the music business. He asked his ex-girlfriend, Sofia, to become his partner, and the two headed off to New York. The two fell in love again there, and decided to continue their relationship where it left off. However, Matthew got the shock of his life when Lila told him that he was indeed the father of her child, and this put a major strain of his relationship to Sofia. Sofia and Matthew consumated their relationship, and this made Lila green with envy. Matt was attacked in the alley of Carlino's in June 1998.

At the Lumina Ball, Lila and Matt were trapped in an elevator, where Lila gave birth to their daughter, Jasmine Rachel Cassandra Cory. When Matt carried a near-death Lila out of the elevator, the doors closed, and the baby vanished. She was found safe and sound a few weeks later. After their brief marriage, Matthew gave Lila and Cass his blessing as they walked down the aisle.