Legendary ECW wrestler New Jack, real name Jerome Young, has passed away. He was 58 years old.
According to PWInsider, Young died of a heart attack this afternoon in his home state of North Carolina. PWInsider was informed of the wrestler's passing by his wife, Jennifer Young.
Born on Jan. 3, 1963, Young began his professional wrestling career in 1992, training under Ray Candy and debuting for the United States Wrestling Association under the name New Jack, which was inspired by the 1991 Wesley Snipes film New Jack City. New Jack went on to wrestle for the North Georgia Wrestling Alliance in 1993, but achieved greater success in 1994, when he debuted for Smoky Mountain Wrestling as a member of a new stable called The Gangstas. The Gangstas ultimately departed from Smoky Mountain Wrestling in 1995, subsequently signing with ECW.
By 1999, New Jack performed predominately as a singles competitor, and wrestled for ECW up until the company's demise in 2001. He then worked the independent scene from 2001 to 2012 while also making appearances for XPW and TNA Wrestling (now Impact Wrestling). New Jack initially retired in 2013, though returned to the ring in 2016.
New Jack was perhaps best known for his time in ECW during the Philadelphia-based promotion's heyday, holding the ECW World Tag Team Championship on three separate occasions. He was one of the most intense and charismatic wrestlers of his time, and became notorious for his use of foreign objects (often wheeling a shopping cart full of weapons to the ring), his fiery promo style and his willingness to take dangerous falls in the name of entertaining the crowd. He was also the only wrestler to have his entrance theme -- "Natural Born Killaz" by Ice Cube and Dr. Dre -- play throughout his matches.
That being said, New Jack was an incredibly controversial figure in the world of pro wrestling, and gained a reputation for deliberately injuring his opponents in the ring for their perceived transgressions. Perhaps the most well-known example of this is the infamous "Mass Transit incident," which took place during an ECW house show in 1996. New Jack's life -- including his troubled childhood -- and his extreme wrestling career were the subject of an episode of Dark Side of The Ring Season 2, which aired in March 2020. Also in 2020, New Jack released a memoir titled New Jack: Memoir of a Pro Wrestling Extremist, which was co-authored by Jason Norman. The book features a forward by fellow ECW alum Brian Heffron, better known as The Blue Meanie.
Source: PWInsider
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