Jay Lethal
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Jamar Shipman (born in Elizabeth, New Jersey) is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring names, Jay Lethal and Hydro. He is currently working for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.
Jersey All Pro Wrestling
On July 7, 2001, Shipman entered a contest held by Jersey All Pro Wrestling (JAPW) which entitled the winner to six months free training in the JAPW professional wrestling school. Shipman won, and spent half a year training, at the end of which the JAPW school closed down. Shipman then began training under ECW alumnus Mikey Whipwreck. He debuted on December 7, 2002, and adopted Dan Maff as a mentor.Shipman debuted in JAPW as Jay Lethal in late 2002 and won the JAPW Television Championship on September 13, 2002 in Bayonne, New Jersey, defeating the incumbent, Ghost Shadow, and Rain in a triple threat match. His reign lasted an unprecedented and unreplicated eleven months, with Lethal finally losing to Skinhead Ivan on August 2, 2003 in Rahway, New Jersey. In the course of his title reign, Lethal also held the JAPW Light Heavyweight Championship, defeating the champion, Azrael, Insane Dragon and Jack Evans on February 28, 2004 in a four way match. Azrael tried to regain the title for eight months, but repeatedly lost to Lethal. On December 10, 2004, Azrael gained one more shot at the JAPW Light Heavyweight Championship by challenging Lethal to a "belt versus loser leaves town" match, which would see Azrael leave JAPW if he lost. Azrael was able to win the match, thus ending their lengthy feud.
With two lengthy title reigns in the space of two years, Lethal had established himself as dominant member of the JAPW roster by 2005, and he began challenging for the JAPW Heavyweight Championship, which had been held by Danny Maff since December 2003. On January 28, Lethal pinned Maff in a title match, but the decision was overturned by crooked referee Sean Hanson.
In March 2005, Maff left JAPW and retired from wrestling following an argument with Homicide, thus vacating JAPW Heavyweight Championship. Lethal was awarded the Heavyweight Championship on March 26 in the ECW arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but he refused to accept it, claiming that he wanted to "earn" the title. JAPW mainstay Homicide then challenged Lethal to an impromptu match for the vacant title, which Homicide won. Lethal finally won the JAPW Heavyweight Championship on May 21 in Braintree, Massachusetts, defeating Homicide, Kevin Steen and Samoa Joe in a four way match by pinning Homicide following a diving headbutt.
Lethal defeated Steve Corino on June 4 with his father in his corner, but, after the match, Corino handcuffed Lethal to the top rope and placed his father, who had been watching the match from ringside, in a crossface. This led to a six man tag match on July 16, pitting Lethal and his father against Corino, Ricky Landell and Landell's manager, Rick Silver. Lethal and his father were outnumbered, but managed to pull off a win at the last minute after Lethal's mother introduced their partner, the returning Charlie Haas. After Haas attacked Lethal during the post-match celebrations, a title match was booked between Haas and Lethal for September 10, which was won by Lethal.
On January 7, 2006, Lethal lost the JAPW Heavyweight Championship to Rhino. Rhino won the bout after giving Lethal a Rhino-Driver though a table from the top rope and then pinning him.
Ring of Honor
2003
Lethal debuted in Ring of Honor as Hydro, a member of Special K (a stable of ravers). He made his in-ring debut on January 11, 2003 at Revenge of the Prophecy. He competed in a variety of spotfest tag matches throughout 2003, and made his singles debut on October 25 in Spencerport, New York at Empire State Showdown, where he lost to Slyk Wagner Brown in a dark match. On November 1 at Main Event Spectacles, Hydro took part in a scramble cage match in which The S.A.T. gave him a Spanish Fly from the top of the cage. Hydro's first high profile singles bout was a four way survival match at Final Battle 2003 on December 27, which he won.2004
On May 22, 2004 at Generation Next, Hydro faced Alex Shelley in a singles match. Though he lost, Shelley offered him membership in Generation Next (Shelley's stable). Hydro declined, opting to remain part of Special K.Hydro won a four corner survival match at World Title Classic on June 12, which entitled him to enter the Pure Wrestling tournament later that year. At Survival of the Fittest on June 24, he and Dixie took part in a four way tag match for the ROH Tag Team Championship, which CM Punk, single-handedly defending the titles to allow co-champion Colt Cabana to prepare for his match later that evening, won. Hydro then challenged Punk to an impromptu match, which Punk also won. Hydro shook hands before the match, thus observing the "Code of Honor" (which Special K normally ignored).
Hydro took part in the Pure Wrestling tournament on July 17 at Reborn: Completion. At the outset of the event, ROH Heavyweight Champion Samoa Joe advised Hydro to change his name and become more serious. Acting on Joe's advice, Hydro left Special K and renamed himself Jay Lethal. He was eliminated from the tournament after Doug Williams pinned him in a four way match using the Chaos Theory.
At Testing the Limit on August 7, Lethal took part in a four way match, pitting him against Alex Shelley, Ace Steel and 2 Cold Scorpio. Despite the moral support of his parents, who were in the audience, Lethal suffered a second loss to Shelley. After the match, Shelley once again offered Lethal a place in Generation Next. Lethal refused once more, and asked Shelley for a singles match. Lethal and Shelley faced one another for a third time on August 28 at Scramble Cage Melee, with Shelley cheating to gain a third victory. Having lost every match for months, Lethal was obliged to face Matt Stryker at Glory by Honor 3 on September 11 with his ROH career on the line. Lethal won, breaking his losing streak.
Low Ki had been feuding with Samoa Joe for several months, and challenged Lethal, as Joe's protégé, at The Midnight Express Reunion on October 2. In the course of the match, Low Ki's manager Julius Smokes harassed Lethal's parents (once again watching the match from the audience) and Low Ki spat at Lethal's mother. Low Ki easily defeated Lethal, then mocked him after the match.
Lethal lost to Chad Collyer at Gold on October 15 and defeated Delirious the next day at Joe vs. Punk II. He teamed with his mentor, Samoa Joe, and lost to John Walters and Nigel McGuinness at Weekend Of Thunder Night 1 on November 5, then lost to Embassy member Jimmy Rave the subsequent evening. After his match with Rave, Lethal attacked Prince Nana, the leader of the Embassy. This led to Nana recruiting several masked mercenaries (dubbed "Weapons of Masked Destruction") in an attempt to end Lethal's career. Lethal defeated both WMDs at All-Star Extravaganza II on December 4 and Final Battle 2004 on December 26 respectively, in both cases ending the match with his signature dragon suplex.
2005
Lethal's feud with The Embassy continued into 2005, and on February 19 at the ROH Anniversary Show he pinned Embassy member Jimmy Rave to become number one contender to the ROH Pure Championship. He was given his title shot immediately after defeating Rave, despite having injured ribs from Rave's constant torso attacks, and ROH Pure Champion John Walters defeated the exhausted Lethal to retain following a trifecta of lung blowers. Lethal faced Walters for the title in a second match on March 5 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at Trios Tournament, and defeated him to become the ROH Pure Champion.
On March 12 at Back to Basics, Lethal and Samoa Joe teamed once again to face CM Punk and Spanky, with Lethal pinning Spanky with a bridging dragon suplex. At Best of the American Super Juniors on April 2, Lethal and Joe faced Jimmy Jacobs and B.J. Whitmer for the vacant ROH Tag Team Championship, but were defeated.
Lethal retained his Pure Championship in a match with Spanky at Stalemate on April 16, and on May 7 at Manhattan Mayhem he defended the title against Samoa Joe. Joe defeated Lethal to win the title, but both men were ambushed after the match by The Rottweilers. This led to a tag match that same night pitting Rottweilers members Homicide and Low Ki against Lethal and Joe. The match ended when Homicide gave Lethal Da Cop Killa while Low Ki delivered a top rope double foot stomp, driving Lethal's neck into the ground. Lethal was stretched from the arena wearing a neck brace, ostensibly seriously injured.
Lethal was "injured" for several months, returning on June 12 at The Future Is Now to save James Gibson from a beating at the hands of The Rottweilers. He returned to the ring on June 18 at Death Before Dishonor III, where he faced Low Ki in a grudge match which was declared a no contest after both men were disqualified. At Sign of Dishonor on July 8, Lethal teamed with fellow former Special K member Dixie to defeat The Heartbreak Express. Later that evening, Mick Foley forced ROH World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk to select an opponent to defend his title against. Punk chose Lethal, and managed to retain his title.
Seeking revenge for the neck injury he had in May, Lethal challenged Homicide at Escape from New York on July 9, but lost. On July 23 at The Homecoming he joined forces with Samoa Joe and James Gibson to face The Rottweilers (Homicide, Low Ki and Ricky Reyes) but again suffered a defeat.
Lethal challenged Low Ki once more on August 12 at Redemption as part of his ongoing rivalry with The Rottweilers. The match ended in a draw after the enemies fought outside the ring and were counted out. After the match, Homicide came to the ring to attack Lethal, but was stopped by his opponent for the night, Matt Hardy. On August 13 at Punk: The Final Chapter, Lethal and Joe defeated Low Ki and Homicide by disqualification after Homicide elbow-dropped the referee.
At Glory by Honor 4 on September 17, Lethal lost to Low Ki in a "Fight Without Honor". However, he went on to defeat Low Ki later that night in a standard singles match. He defeated Sal Rinauro to advance to the finals of the "Survival of the Fittest" tournament on September 24, but lost to Roderick Strong. After unsuccessfully challenging Nigel McGuinness for the ROH Pure Championship on October 1, Lethal went undefeated until November 19, when he and Samoa Joe lost to Austin Aries and Roderick Strong. On December 3, 2005, Lethal defeated Joe in a singles match. During the bout, Lethal turned heel by attacking Joe. He feuded with Joe for the remainder of the year.
2006
On January 27, 2006, Lethal teamed with Bryan Danielson, losing to Austin Aries and Roderick Strong in a match for the ROH Tag Team Championship. At the Fourth Anniversary Show on February 25, 2006 in Edison, New Jersey, Lethal lost cleanly to Samoa Joe. He was released from the promotion following this match, but has since returned twice for one-night appearances, losing to Pure Champion Nigel McGuinness on May 13, and teaming with Colt Cabana on July 15 in a losing effort against Jimmy Rave and Sal Rinauro.Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
Lethal debuted in TNA on the December 17, 2005 episode of TNA iMPACT!, losing to the then-TNA X-Division Champion Samoa Joe. In January 2006, he was signed to a contract by TNA. He made his pay-per-view debut at TNA Against All Odds 2006 on February 12, 2006, defeating Matt Bentley, Alex Shelley, and Petey Williams in a four way match when he pinned Williams.On the February 18, 2006 edition of TNA iMPACT!, Lethal defeated Roderick Strong and Shannon Moore to qualify as a member of Team USA, the defending champions in the 2006 World X-Cup. Team USA wrestled their first match at TNA Lockdown 2006 on April 23, 2006, losing to Team Japan (Black Tiger, Minoru Tanaka and Hirooki Goto) after Black Tiger pinned Lethal with a tiger suplex.
On the April 27, 2006 episode of iMPACT!, Lethal unsuccessfully challenged Samoa Joe for the X-Division Championship once again.
During the July 14, 2006 episode of iMPACT! Lethal took part in an eight man tag team match with Team 3D and Rhino against Team Canada in which the stipulations were that if Team Canada lost they disband and the person who scores the pin gets a title shot of their choosing. Lethal pinned A-1.
Finishing and signature moves
- Dragon Suplex (Flipping release full nelson suplex)
- Lethal Injection (Cutthroat pumphandle sitout powerbomb)
- Hydroplane / Lethal Driver (Springboard implant DDT)
- That's All She Wrote (Inverted air raid crash)
- Diving headbutt
- European uppercut
- Snap suplex
- Spinebuster
Championships and accomplishments
- American Wrestling Alliance
- *1-time AWA Heavyweight Champion
- International High Powered Wrestling
- Jersey All Pro Wrestling
- Jersey Championship Wrestling
- Pro-Wrestling ELITE
- Politically Incorrect Wrestling
- Unreal Championship Wrestling
- Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
Championship Succession
| colspan = 3 align = center | ROH Pure Championship
|-
| width = 30% align = center | Preceded by:
John Walters
| width = 40% align = center | First
| width = 30% align = center | Succeeded by:
Samoa Joe
References
- [Interview with DOI.net]
- [JAPW profile]
- [Jay Lethal at Bodyslamming.com]
- [Jay Lethal at ObsessedWithWrestling.com]
- [Jay Lethal at WrestlingClothesline.com]
External links
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