Jay White (born 10 October 1992) is a New Zeland professional wrestler signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). After starting his career in 2013, White joined NJPW the following year as a "young lion". In June 2016, White left 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. The following January, White won the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship for the first time.
Professional wrestling career
Early career (2013-2014)
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 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 spoke 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 finalising 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 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 losers must disband match thus keeping the group together.
Return to NJPW (2017-Present)
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 would feign join Bullet Club, but in the end he laid out the Bullet Club leader Kenny Omega and challenged him for the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship, turning tweener in the process.[16] Then White joined one of Bullet Club's oppose factions CHAOS in order to have back up against Omega's Bullet Club. 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.
In wrestling
- Finishing moves
- Blade Runner[17] / Shellshock[18] (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)
- Signature moves
- Backhand chop
- Boston crab
- Butterfly Prison Lock
- Butterfly suplex
- Cattle Multilation
- Crossface
- Diving Crossbody
- Dragon Screw
- Dropkick
- Double underhook followed by multiple elbows
- Fisherman's Carry Hammer Deathlock
- Flapjack
- Ground Cobra Clutch
- Multiple kick variations
- Basement
- Baseball
- Missile
- Shotgun
- Standing
- Knife-edge chop sometimes preceded by a schoolboy
- Ko-kokeshi (Headbutt drop) – adopted from Tomoaki Honma
- Lariat
- Liontamer (Elevated Boston crab while kneeling on the opponent's back or neck)
- Multiple suplex variations
- Belly to Back
- Saito
- Sleeper
- Snap
- Muta Lock
- Nagata Lock III (Double underhook crossface) – adopted from Yuji Nagata
- Inverted Facelock
- Jumping Neckbreaker
- Pendulum Backbreaker
- Reverse STO, followed by German suplex
- Russian Legsweep
- Sharpshooter
- Slingshot Plancha
- Spike DDT
- Ura-nage
- Uppercut sometimes to a conored opponent or trapped on the ropes or sometimes followed by a Diving Forearm
- Nicknames
- "Switchblade"
- Entrance themes
- "Crossbody" by Yonosuke Kitamura[19]
- "Rock the Night" by Europe (Used in ROH)
- "Switchblade" by Yonosuke Kitamura
Championships and accomplishments
- New Japan Pro Wrestling
- IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship (1 time, current)
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- PWI ranked him #363 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2016[20]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 INTRODUCING JAY WHITE - PART #1 BREAKING IN . ROH Wrestling. Retrieved on 2017-01-08.
- ↑ NJPW Road To The New Beginning - Tag 1 « Events Database « CAGEMATCH - The Internet Wrestling Database (2015-01-30). Retrieved on 2017-01-08.
- ↑ The World's Largest Wrestling Database (2016-03-27). Retrieved on 2017-01-08.
- ↑ The World's Largest Wrestling Database (2016-06-19). Retrieved on 2017-01-08.
- ↑ The World's Largest Wrestling Database . Retrieved on 2017-01-08.
- ↑ The World's Largest Wrestling Database . Retrieved on 2017-01-08.
- ↑ The World's Largest Wrestling Database . Retrieved on 2017-01-08.
- ↑ The World's Largest Wrestling Database . Retrieved on 2017-01-08.
- ↑ The World's Largest Wrestling Database . Retrieved on 2017-01-08.
- ↑ The World's Largest Wrestling Database (2016-08-26). Retrieved on 2017-01-08.
- ↑ The World's Largest Wrestling Database (2016-09-30). Retrieved on 2017-01-08.
- ↑ The World's Largest Wrestling Database . Retrieved on 2017-01-08.
- ↑ Currier, Joseph 2017-11-05. NJPW Power Struggle live results: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kota Ibushi . Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved on 2017-11-05.
- ↑ Currier, Joseph 2017-11-06. Five more title matches confirmed for NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 12 . Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved on 2017-11-09.
- ↑ Renner, Ethan 2018-01-03. NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 12 live results: Okada-Naito, Omega-Jericho . Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved on 2018-01-04.
- ↑ http://puroresuspirit.net/2018/01/njpw-results-for-january-5-2018/
- ↑ White, Jay 2017-12-08. "Shell shock" no more. Blade Runner. . Twitter. Retrieved on 2017-12-08.
- ↑ G1 Special in USA (in Japanese). New Japan Pro-Wrestling. Retrieved on 2017-07-02.
- ↑ Titantron music list . RMLabel. Retrieved on 2017-01-14.
- ↑ http://www.profightdb.com/pwi/jay-white-11320.html