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Jamie White (born October 9, 1992), better known by the ring name Jay White, is a New Zealand-Dutch professional wrestler. He is best known for his tenure with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). After starting his career in 2013, White joined NJPW the following year as a "young lion" in January 2015, before leaving for an overseas learning excursion, during which he worked most notably for the American Ring of Honor (ROH) and the British Revolution Pro Wrestling (RPW) promotions through NJPW's international partnerships.

White eventually returned to NJPW in November 2017, repackaged as "Switchblade", complete with a new look and a villainous persona. Just months later, White joined the CHAOS stable and defeated Kenny Omega to win the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship in February 2018, holding it for five months. Later that year, White began feuding with CHAOS leader Kazuchika Okada, which culminated in White defecting CHAOS to the villanous Bullet Club stable, becoming the stable's fifth leader, following the departure of Kenny Omega. In January 2019, White defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi to win NJPW's top title, the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, before losing it three months later to Okada. In August, White made into the finals of NJPW's premier tournament, the G1 Climax losing to Kota Ibushi. The following month, White won the IWGP Intercontinental Championship holding it for three months.

In November 2020, White became the first wrestler to win the Tokyo Dome IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental Championships challenge rights certificate, and consequently became one of the three non-Japanese wrestlers to be featured in the main event of Wrestle Kingdom. Upon winning the NEVER Openweight Championship, he became fifth Triple Crown Champion and the first Grand Slam Champion in NJPW's history. In June 2022, White won the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship and became the third wrestler to win both the IWGP Heavyweight and World Heavyweight Championships in separate occasions and the first wrestler to hold every heavyweight singles championship available in NJPW's history.

Professional wrestling career[]

Early career (2013–2014)[]

Born in Auckland, New Zealand to a New Zealander mother and a Dutch father, White initially trained under The UK Kid at Varsity Pro Wrestling in early 2013, and made his professional debut on 19 February, working for VPW as well as All Star Wrestling, among other promotions.[1] In an interview on Chris Jericho's podcast, White acknowledged that he was able to train in the United Kingdom, due to holding a Dutch passport. Being a citizen of the Netherlands allowed him access to the United Kingdom, which was a part of the European Union at the time. In early 2014, White met New Japan Pro Wrestling's Prince Devitt and competed alongside him in a tag team match for VPW. After the match, Devitt gave White his card and told him to keep in touch.[1] Shortly thereafter, White was contacted by Bad Luck Fale, who said that Devitt had spoken to NJPW officials about White and that he could get him a place as a young lion in the dojo if he wanted it.[1] Several months later, White met with Fale, Devitt and Shinsuke Nakamura in London, where White accepted their offer and began finalizing his visa to leave for the NJPW dojo.[1]

New Japan Pro Wrestling (2015–2016)[]

White left for Japan on New Year's Eve 2014, began further training as a young lion upon his arrival, and made his debut for NJPW on January 30, 2015, losing to Alex Shelley.[2] White lost all but eight of his matches in 2015, as is common for young lions in NJPW. In 2016, White began gaining more victories, and on March 27 competed in his biggest match to the date when he was defeated by then-current IWGP Intercontinental Champion Kenny Omega in a non-title match.[3] White's final match in NJPW took place on 19 June 2016 at Dominion 6.19, when he, David Finlay and Juice Robinson were defeated by Satoshi Kojima, Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Manabu Nakanishi.[4] White left for his excursion to the United States the following week.

Foreign excursion (2016–2017)[]

White debuted in Ring of Honor (ROH) on at the 25 June TV tapings, defeating Kamaitachi by disqualification[5] and teaming with The Motor City Machine Guns to defeat Kamaitachi and The Addiction (Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian). On 8 July, White defeated Lio Rush.[6] At the next set of TV tapings, White defeated Will Ferrara and wrestled Jay Briscoe to a time limit draw.[7] White debuted for England's Revolution Pro Wrestling on 12 August 2016, defeating Josh Bodom.[8] On 19 August, White competed in a fatal four-way match against Kamaitachi, Lio Rush, and Donovan Dijak, which was won by Dijak. The following day, White and Rush were defeated by The Briscoe Brothers.[9] White returned to RPW on 26 August, defeating Mark Haskins.[10] On 30 September, White teamed with Kushida and ACH to defeat The Briscoes and Toru Yano in a quarter-final match in the ROH Six-man Tag Team Championship Tournament.[11] White, ACH and Kushida then defeated Rhett Titus, Kenny King and Caprice Coleman in the semi-finals, but were defeated by The Kingdom (Matt Taven, Vinny Marseglia and TK O'Ryan) in the final at Final Battle.[12] White competed once again for RPW on January 21, 2017, defeating Martin Stone. On June 6th, White received his biggest title opportunity in his career when after winning a Battle Royal, he unsuccessfully challenged Christopher Daniels for the ROH World Championship in a triple threat match. At Best in the World 2017 White, teaming with Search and Destroy defeated The Rebellion in a loser must disband match thus keeping the group together.

Return to NJPW (2017–2023)[]

CHAOS (2018)[]

On November 5, 2017 at Power Struggle, White returned to NJPW as the mysterious "Switchblade", who had been teased for the past several months, challenging Hiroshi Tanahashi to a match for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship at Wrestle Kingdom 12 in Tokyo Dome, before attacking him, returning as a heel in the process.[13] The following day, NJPW officially announced the match between Tanahashi and White for Wrestle Kingdom 12.[14] On January 4, 2018, White was defeated by Tanahashi in the title match.[15] The following day, White pretended to join Bullet Club, only to attack its leader Kenny Omega and challenged him to a match for the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship.[16] White joined one of Bullet Club's opposed faction CHAOS in order to have a back up against Omega's Bullet Club, but he also threatened to take his leadership and title. On January 28 at The New Beginning in Sapporo, White defeated Omega to become the second IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion in the title's history. He lost the title to Juice Robinson on July 7 at G1 Special in San Francisco.

Later that month, White took part in his first 2018 G1 Climax. White opened the tournament with victories against former IWGP Heavyweight Champions CHAOS stablemate Kazuchika Okada and Hiroshi Tanahashi, after cheating to win his matches, using tactics such as attacking his opponents with a chair and ref bumps or low blows. White's CHAOS stablemates Rocky Romero, Sho and Yoh were against White's tactics. White suffered his first losses against Minoru Suzuki on July 22 and Bad Luck Fale on July 27. He bounced back with three more victories, but a loss against EVIL on the final day cost him his place in the finals of the tournament.

Bullet Club (2018–2023)[]

On September 23 at Destruction in Kobe, White attacked CHAOS leader Kazuchika Okada and was joined by Okada's former manager Gedo, after he turned on him. Following the attack, Gedo nominated White to face Tanahashi for his Tokyo Dome IWGP Heavyweight Championship match contract due to White previously defeating Tanahashi in their head-to-head match in the 2018 G1 Climax. On September 30 at Fighting Spirit Unleashed, White and Tanahashi faced off in a tag team match, where White teamed with Gedo and Tanahashi teamed with KUSHIDA. White won the match for his team by scoring a direct pinfall over Tanahashi and afterwards White demanded his opportunity for his contract. White received his opportunity on October 8 at King of Pro-Wrestling, unsuccessfully challenging Tanahashi for his contract. Following the match, White and Gedo were joined by Jado, who also turned on Okada and joined Bullet Club OG. White would become the fourth leader of the Bullet Club, after the departure of Kenny Omega and The Elite. On October 17, during the Road to Power Struggle, White led a Bullet Club OG assault on Okada, but Okada's rival Tanahashi made the save and Okada left the ring. Shortly after, Hiroshi Tanahashi would help Okada and CHAOS formed an alliance with the NJPW home unit. During the 2018 World Tag League, White faced off in multiple tag team matches against Okada and Tanahashi, won by White and his Bullet Club stablemates. On November 3, at Power Struggle, White and Okada agreed to face each other in a match, which was later set to be at Wrestle Kingdom 13 in Tokyo Dome. On January 14, at Road to Tokyo Dome tour, White would try to help Gedo to defeat Okada in his match but was unsuccessful and Okada managed to win the match, despite White's interference. On January 4, 2019, White defeated Okada. Later that night, White challenged Tanahashi to a match for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. On February 11, 2019, at The New Beginning in Osaka, White defeated Tanahashi to become the new IWGP Heavyweight Champion. He lost the title to Kazuchika Okada on April 6 at G1 Supercard. In May, White started a short feud with Hiroshi Tanahashi, after he announced his intentions of challenging for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in the finals of 2019 Best of the Super Juniors on June 5, leading White to attack him. At the event on June 5, White defeated Tanahashi.

From July 6 until August 11, White took part in the 2019 G1 Climax. White started the tournament losing his first three matches. However, White bounced back winning the remaining of his matches, culminating on August 11, with White defeating Tetsuya Naito in his block and reach the finals of the tournament. On August 12, White was defeated in the finals by Kota Ibushi. On August 25 on the third night of the Super J-Cup, White attacked Tetsuya Naito and challenged him to a match for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship, proclaiming he would become the first IWGP Intercontinental and Heavyweight Champion at Wrestle Kingdom 14 on January 4, 2019. On September 22 at Destruction in Kobe, White defeated Naito to win the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. After the match, White was attacked by Hirooki Goto, who challenged him to a title match. On November 3 at Power Struggle, White defeated Hirooki Goto to retain the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. Following the match, Naito confronted White and challenged him to a match for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. On January 4, 2020 on the first night of Wrestle Kingdom 14 in Tokyo Dome, White lost the IWGP Intercontinental Championship back to Tetsuya Naito. The following day, on the second night of Wrestle Kingdom 14, White defeated Kota Ibushi.

In August, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, White along with several members of the Bullet Club were unable to work on NJPW events in Japan, leading him to take part in NJPW Strong series, during which he started feuding with Brody King. From September 19 until October 16, White returned to Japan to take part in the 2020 G1 Climax, finishing the tournament with a record of six wins and three losses, failling to advance to the finals of the tournament, due to losing to Kota Ibushi in their head-to-head match. On October 19, after Kota Ibushi won the 2020 G1 Climax, White challenged him to a match for his Tokyo Dome IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental Championships challenge rights certificate. This led on November 7, at Power Struggle, White defeating Ibushi to win the Tokyo Dome IWGP Heavyweight Championship challenge rights certificate, becoming the first wrestler to win the certificate, despite not winning the G1 Climax. On January 5, 2021, on the second night of Wrestle Kingdom 15 in Tokyo Dome, White unsucessfully challenged Ibushi for the IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental Championships. At 48 minutes and 5 seconds, their match became the longest match in the January 4 Tokyo Dome Show history.

Afterwards, in a post-match interview, White, who was frustrated about his loss, stated that "maybe [his] time should be spent some place else", adding that he was leaving the promotion on January 6 at New Year Dash. At the New Year Dash, White teamed with Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens, EVIL, and Yujiro Takahashi, losing to CHAOS (Hirooki Goto, Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano and Yoshi-Hashi in an eight-man tag team match, with White being pinned by Ishii. Two days later, it was reported by Pro Wrestling Inisder, that there were doubts within the promotion, whether White would extend his contract, which was rumored to expire at the end of the month, with WWE being interest in signing him. The following day, Dave Meltzer reported on the Wrestling Observer Radio, that "this was probably a storyline", but he also noted that White refered that he had signed a "seven-year contract in 2018". On January 14, White's profile was removed from NJPW's website. However, despite the rumors, on February 1, White made his return to the promotion attacking Tomohiro Ishii. This led to a match on February 10 at The New Beginning in Hiroshima, where White and his Bullet Club stablemates the Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa) unsuccessfully challenged Ishii and his CHAOS stablemates Hirooki Goto and Yoshi-Hashi for the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship. His rivalry with Ishii culminated to match on February 27 at Castle Attack, where White defeated Ishii. In March, White took part in the 2021 New Japan Cup, losing surprisingly in the quarterfinals to David Finlay on March 18. Following the tournament, White challenged Hiroshi Tanahashi to a title match for the NEVER Openweight Championship. Afterwards, White claimed he would force Tanahashi to submit with the TTO-Tanahashi Tap Out, leading Tanahashi to refuse his challenge. However, on April 4 at Sakura Genisis, Tanahashi accepted his challenge, after forcing White to submit with the Texas Cloverleaf or the JTO-Jay Tap Out. On May 3 on the first night of Wrestling Dontaku, White defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi to win the NEVER Openweight Championship, becoming NJPW's first Grand Slam champion, after also holding the IWGP United States, IWGP Intercontinental and IWGP Heavyweight Championships. After the match, White nominated David Finlay to be his first challenger for the title, having lost to him in the New Japan Cup. As part of NJPW's working relationship with Impact Wrestling, on July 17, White made his debut for the promotion at Slammiversary, confronting former Bullet Club leader Kenny Omega, and former Bullet Club members The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson), before being attacked by Finlay and Juice Robinson. However, before retrieving, White would lay out Finlay with the Blade Runner. The following week, White revealed that he was coming for Finlay due to their title match at Resurgence, before stating Finlay would never defeat him again, despite losing to him at the New Japan Cup. On July 30, at Impact!, White and Chris Bey, who recently aligned with White in the Bullet Club, attacked Finlay and Robinson at backstage following their match. Three weeks later, White and Bey would face Finlay and Robinson in a tag team match, which ended by disqualification after White hit Robinson with a chair. On August 14, at Resurgence, White defeated Finlay to retain the NEVER Openweight Championship. Afterwards, White resumed his feud with Tomohiro Ishii's culminating in a match on November 13 at Battle in the Valley, where White lost the NEVER Openweight Championship to Ishii. If Had Ishii lost, he could never challenged for the NEVER Openweight Championship again.

On the January 27 episode of Impact!, the Guerrillas of Destiny made their Impact Wrestling debut attacking Jake Something and Mike Bailey alongside White and Chris Bey, before challenging The Good Brothers to a title match for the Impact World Tag Team Championship. Afterwards, Bullet Club began feuding with Violent By Design, after The Good Brothers seeked their assistance to deal with the Bullet Club. The following week on Impact!, White, Bey, Tonga, and Loa were attacked by The Good Brothers and Violent By Design, building up to two matches at No Surrender. At the event on February 19, White defeated Violent By Design's leader Eric Young. Later that night, The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson) successfully retained the Impact World Tag Team Championship against the Guerrillas of Destiny after they were betrayed by White. Subsequently, the Guerrillas of Destiny were kicked out of Bullet Club and White reinstated The Good Brothers as members for the first time in nearly a decade. Afterwards, White sent a message to Gedo, to warn the rest of Bullet Club to chose between him or the Guerrillas of Destiny. On March 13, Tama Tonga returned to NJPW to face EVIL in the second round of the 2022 New Japan Cup. EVIL won the match, when the rest of the group turned on Tonga and Jado, kicking them out of the stable. On March 20 at Strong Style Evolved, White invited Tonga's brother Hikuleo to stay in the stable. Hikuleo proclaimed that he was still part of the stable, but did not want to be associated with White, leading him to a match between them at Mutiny, which White won.

On May 1, 2022 at Wrestling Dontaku, White made his first Japanese appearance in NJPW after a year, attacking IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada after his match and laid him out with the Blade Runner, before challenging him to a title match at Dominion 6.12 in Osaka-jo Hall. At Dominion 6.12 in Osaka-jo Hall, on June 12, White defeated Okada to win the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, becoming the third wrestler (alongside Okada and Kota Ibushi) to win both the IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP World Heavyweight Championships in separate occasions and the first wrestler to hold every heavyweight singles championship available in NJPW's history. White made his first title defense on June 26 at Forbidden Door, defeating Okada, Adam Cole, and "Hangman" Adam Page in a four-way match, with White pinning Adam Cole. From July 16 to August 16, White took part in the 2022 G1 Climax. Finishing with a record of five wins and one loss, White narrowly failed to advance to the semifinals after losing to former Bullet Club stablemate Tama Tonga on the final day. On October 10 at Declaration of Power, White retained the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship against Tonga, setting up the main event of Wrestle Kingdom 17 in Tokyo Dome between White and the 2022 G1 Climax winner Kazuchika Okada. At Wrestle Kingdom 17, on January 4, 2023, White lost the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship to Okada, ending his reign at 206 days.

In a post-match press conference, White accepted his loss, although he blamed it on former Bullet club stablemate Hikuleo, who had attacked White and left the stable in September. This led to White challenging Hikuleo to a "Loser Leaves Japan Match", which took place on February 11 at The New Beginning in Osaka, where White was defeated by Hikuleo, forcing him to leave Japan. After being scheduled to face Eddie Kingston at the Battle in the Valley on February 18, the two had heated exchange between the two on Wrestling Observer Live, where it was agreed to a Loser Leaves New Japan match, where if White won Kingston would not be allowed to wrestle for NJPW again without White's permission, where if Kingston won White would be forced to leave NJPW. At Battle In The Valley, White was defeated by Kingston, thus forcing him to leave NJPW, being attacked by his former partner David Finlay after the match on his last appearance for the promotion thus being kicked out of the Bullet Club in the process being replaced by Finlay with him taking over White's leadership of the stable.

Personal life[]

On May 6, 2022, White married his longtime girlfriend Savanna Price.[17][18] He holds both New Zealand and Dutch citizenship, with his father being born in the Netherlands. His training and temporal residence in the United Kingdom is attributed to his Dutch passport, which allowed him to travel in Europe extensively.[19]

In wrestling[]

  • Finishing moves
    • Blade Runner / Shellshock (Swinging reverse STO) – adopted from Alex Shelley
    • Kiwi Krusher (Outside leghook fisherman driver)
    • Sharp Sensations (Crucifix hold, followed by back elbows, usually used to cause a stoppage)
    • TTO-Tanahashi Tap Out / YTO-Yoshi Tap Out / JTO-Juice Tap Out / HTO-Honma Tap Out (Modified Reverse Figure-Four Leglock)
  • Signature moves
    • Backhand chop
    • Blade Buster (Twisting brainbuster)
    • Boston crab
    • Butterfly suplex
    • Bridging double underhook
    • Cobra clutch with bodyscissors
    • Crossface
    • Complete Shot (Reverse STO)
    • Cross-arm lifting single underhook DDT
    • Death Valley driver
    • Diving crossbody
    • Diving forearm smash
    • Dragon screw
    • Double underhook followed by multiple elbows
    • Double underhook kneeling figure four leglock
    • Flapjack
    • Hurricane Driver (Spinning Samoan Driver)
    • Inverted facelock
    • Jumping neckbreaker
    • Low blow
    • Multiple dropkick variations
      • Baseball
      • Basement
      • Missile
      • Shotgun
      • Standing
    • Knife-edge chop, sometimes preceded by a schoolboy
    • Ko-kokeshi (Running headbutt drop) – adopted from Tomoaki Honma
    • Lariat
    • Liontamer (Elevated Boston crab while kneeling on the opponent's back or neck) – adopted from Chris Jericho
    • Multiple strike variations
      • Elbow
      • Elbow stamp
      • Elbow smash
      • Enziguri
      • Knucle punch
      • Lariat
      • Reverse horizontal chop
      • Slap
    • Multiple suplex variations
      • Belly-to-back
      • German
      • Half-catch
      • Leglock
      • Saito
      • SSS (Sleeper)
      • Snap
      • Snapshot (Snap German)
      • Tiger Suplex 85 (Half dragon)
    • Muta lock
    • Nagata Lock III (Double underhook crossface) – adopted from Yuji Nagata
    • Pendulum backbreaker
    • Reverse Indian Deathlock
    • Russian legsweep
    • Sharpshooter
    • Sleeper hold
    • Slingshot plancha
    • Spike DDT
    • Straight Jacket Brainbuster
    • Uranage
    • Uppercut, sometimes to a cornered opponent
  • Managers
  • Nicknames
    • "Switchblade"
    • "King Switch"
    • "The Catalyst (of Professional Wrestling)"
    • "The Real Belt Collector"
    • "The Man Who Made Sells"
    • "The Last Rock 'n' Rolla"
    • "Knife Pervert"
  • Entrance themes
    • "Crossbody" by Yonosuke Kitamura[20]
    • "Rock the Night" by Europe (Used in ROH)
    • "Switchblade" by Yonosuke Kitamura

Championships and accomplishments[]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 INTRODUCING JAY WHITE - PART #1 BREAKING IN . ROH Wrestling. Retrieved on 2017-01-08.
  2. NJPW Road To The New Beginning - Tag 1 « Events Database « CAGEMATCH - The Internet Wrestling Database (2015-01-30). Retrieved on 2017-01-08.
  3. The World's Largest Wrestling Database (2016-03-27). Retrieved on 2017-01-08.
  4. The World's Largest Wrestling Database (2016-06-19). Retrieved on 2017-01-08.
  5. The World's Largest Wrestling Database . Retrieved on 2017-01-08.
  6. The World's Largest Wrestling Database . Retrieved on 2017-01-08.
  7. The World's Largest Wrestling Database . Retrieved on 2017-01-08.
  8. The World's Largest Wrestling Database . Retrieved on 2017-01-08.
  9. The World's Largest Wrestling Database . Retrieved on 2017-01-08.
  10. The World's Largest Wrestling Database (2016-08-26). Retrieved on 2017-01-08.
  11. The World's Largest Wrestling Database (2016-09-30). Retrieved on 2017-01-08.
  12. The World's Largest Wrestling Database . Retrieved on 2017-01-08.
  13. Currier, Joseph 2017-11-05. NJPW Power Struggle live results: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kota Ibushi . Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved on 2017-11-05.
  14. Currier, Joseph 2017-11-06. Five more title matches confirmed for NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 12 . Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved on 2017-11-09.
  15. Renner, Ethan 2018-01-03. NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 12 live results: Okada-Naito, Omega-Jericho . Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved on 2018-01-04.
  16. http://puroresuspirit.net/2018/01/njpw-results-for-january-5-2018/
  17. Jay White Gets Married This Week (2022-05-07).
  18. Photos: Jay White Gets Married This Week . WrestlingInc (2022-05-07).
  19. 10 Things WWE Fans Need To Know About Jay White .
  20. Titantron music list . RMLabel. Retrieved on 2017-01-14.
  21. http://www.profightdb.com/pwi/jay-white-11320.html
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