Lethal and Azrieal held the titles from October 28, until the Latin American Xchange defeated them on June 9, Their gimmick was rich kids that got everything from their parents and most members wrestled X-Division style matches. Lethal lost his debut match against Alex Shelley and then entered a tag team tournament with his partner, Dixie.
The two lost to co-tag team champion CM Punk. From to , Samoa Joe had picked Jay Lethal to be his protege. Lethal kept his job and kept his losing streak. He had a tough time beating guys like Low Ki and members of the Embassy. Walters defeated Lethal the first time the two squared off.
The second time, Lethal was attacked backstage and had his eye swollen shut. It was the only belt Lethal ever held in ROH. On May 7, Lethal lost the title to his mentor Samoa Joe. Following the match, the two were attacked by The Rottweilers, thus starting a feud. The Rottweilers, Low Ki mainly, gave Lethal a hard time. Low Ki beat Lethal almost every time the two had a match. After Lethal failed to gain the Pure Championship, he developed an undefeated streak.
The streak came to an end when he and his mentor, Samoa Joe, lost a tag team match to Austin Aries and Roderick Strong. On December 3, Lethal turned heel at Samoa Joe's expense. Lethal attacked Joe's knee with a steel chair, then pinned his mentor for a three count. 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.
Seeking revenge for the neck injury he had in May, Lethal challenged Homicide at Escape from New York on July 9, but lost due to Homicide using a chain. 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.
Afterwards the four men brawled all over the arena, with Low Ki Ghetto Stomping Lethal off the bleachers and ending with him giving Lethal the Ki Krusher in the middle of the ring. He went on to defeat Low Ki later that night, however, in a standard singles match to end their feud. He defeated Sal Rinauro to advance to the finals of the Survival of the Fittest tournament on September 24, but was eliminated by Roderick Strong. During the bout, Lethal turned heel by attacking Joe's knee with a chair and then pinned him with the flipping release dragon suplex.
He departed from the promotion following this, but subsequently returned three times for one-night appearances working all matches as a face , losing to Pure Champion Nigel McGuinness on May 13, teaming with Colt Cabana on July 15 in a losing effort against Jimmy Rave and Sal Rinauro, and losing a four way survival match against Claudio Castagnoli , Christopher Daniels , and the match winner, Nigel McGuinness on August 5, In January , he was signed to a contract by TNA.
On the February 18, episode of Impact! On the April 27, episode of Impact! The tournament ended on the following edition of Impact!
In the June 1, episode of Impact! Two weeks later, Lethal took part in a five way X Division match to determine the number one contender for the title. Although Petey Williams won the match, one week later Lethal was added to the match, making it a three-way match for the X Division title at Hard Justice involving Lethal, Williams and defending champion Senshi.
Lethal was pinned by Senshi after Williams hit him with his Canadian Destroyer. One night on Impact! The following week, Lethal was able to defeat Petey Williams after Sabin and Dutt distracted the referee, allowing Lethal to roll a bowling ball into Petey's groin. Following in this storyline, Lethal went on to defeat Williams again on September 24, at the No Surrender pay-per-view, following Williams allegedly being given laxatives by stable mate Dutt, rendering him incapable of doing most of his moves, and giving Lethal the victory when Williams could no longer "hold it".
He and Dutt were also involved in Sabin's match later in the night with similar antics involving a blow-up doll, but to no avail as Sabin would lose the match despite the interference.
These, too, were designed as advertising for Jackass Number Two , as were other moments for Mortal Kombat: Armageddon. The series included a push-up contest, musical chairs, Limbo contest, Texas Hold'em and a few others, although Lethal did not win the tournament. The February 15 edition of Impact! After Lethal's attempt to sing was disliked by the judges, judge Kevin Nash suggested that Lethal do an impression, to which Lethal responded with a spot-on impression of wrestling legend "Macho Man" Randy Savage.
On the April 5, , edition of Impact! The following week, Nash introduced Lethal, who was led to the ring by a remixed version of Pomp and Circumstance and dressed in full "Macho Man" attire, as "Black Machismo" Jay Lethal.
He imitated Savage's trademark catchprase "Oh Yeah! At the Lockdown pay-per-view on April 15, , Lethal nearly won the X Division title from Sabin in a five-person Xscape match five start the match in the cage; the first three eliminations are done by pinfall or submission; the final two must then try to escape the cage, with the first one to exit being declared the winner. Lethal and Sabin were both climbing over the same side of the cage, fighting as they went, and Sabin kicked Lethal's leg so that his leg went through the bars of the cage, trapping him there while Sabin jumped down and won the match.
On the April 26 episode of Impact! On April 17, , Lethal lost his X Division title after Petey Williams attacked him from behind after a match and cashed in his "Feast or Fired" briefcase for his X Division title shot. Shipman, under his Jay Lethal ring name, had a brief appearance in the critically acclaimed film The Wrestler. The series included a push-up contest, musical chairs, Limbo contest, Texas Hold'em and a few others, although Lethal did not win the tournament.
The February 15 episode of Impact! After Lethal's attempt to sing was disliked by the judges, judge Kevin Nash suggested that Lethal do an impression, to which Lethal responded with a spot-on impression of wrestling legend "Macho Man" Randy Savage.
The April 5, episode of Impact! The following week, Nash introduced Lethal, who was led to the ring by a remixed version of Savage's entrance theme "Pomp and Circumstance" and dressed in full "Macho Man" attire, as "Black Machismo" Jay Lethal.
He imitated Savage's trademark catchphrase "Oh yeah! At the Lockdown pay-per-view on April 15, , Lethal nearly won the X Division title from Sabin in a five-person Xscape match five start the match in the cage; the first three eliminations are done by pinfall or submission; the final two must then try to escape the cage, with the first one to exit being declared the winner. Lethal and Sabin were both climbing over the same side of the cage, fighting as they went, and Sabin kicked Lethal's leg so that his leg went through the bars of the cage, trapping him there while Sabin jumped down and won the match.
On the April 26 episode of Impact! Lethal and tag team partner, Sonjay Dutt , who had rejected Nash's idea for his new gimmick, won a shot at the X Division Championship held by Chris Sabin at Sacrifice. Dutt, however, was unhappy at Lethal getting the pinfall. After their loss to Sabin at Sacrifice, both Dutt and Lethal started brawling until Kevin Nash came out and separated the two until Dutt kicked Nash and stormed out of the ring visibly upset. However, Lethal subsequently expressed doubt over whether he had really spoken with Savage as the Macho Man's trademark voice is easily imitated.
Only days later, however, on the following Impact! He departed from the promotion following this, but subsequently returned three times for one-night appearances working all matches as a face , losing to Pure Champion Nigel McGuinness on May 13, teaming with Colt Cabana on July 15 in a losing effort against Jimmy Rave and Sal Rinauro , and losing a four way survival match against Claudio Castagnoli, Christopher Daniels, and the match winner, Nigel McGuinness on August 5, On the February 18, episode of Impact!
On the April 27, episode of Impact! The tournament ended on the following episode of Impact! In the June 1, episode of Impact! Two weeks later, Lethal took part in a five way X Division match to determine the number one contender for the title. Although Petey Williams won the match, one week later Lethal was added to the match, making it a three-way match for the X Division title at Hard Justice involving Lethal, Williams and defending champion Senshi.
Lethal was pinned by Senshi after Williams hit him with his Canadian Destroyer. One night on Impact! The following week, Lethal was able to defeat Petey Williams after Sabin and Dutt distracted the referee, allowing Lethal to roll a bowling ball into Petey's groin.
Following in this storyline, Lethal went on to defeat Williams again on September 24, , at the No Surrender pay-per-view, following Williams allegedly being given laxatives by stable mate Dutt, rendering him incapable of doing most of his moves, and giving Lethal the victory when Williams could no longer "hold it".
He and Dutt were also involved in Sabin's match later in the night with similar antics involving a blow-up doll, but to no avail as Sabin would lose the match despite the interference.
With two lengthy title reigns in the space of two years, Lethal had established himself as a dominant member of the JAPW roster by , and he began challenging for the JAPW Heavyweight Championship, which had been held by Dan Maff since December On January 29, , at Wild Card, Lethal pinned Maff in a title match, but the decision was overturned by crooked referee Sean Hanson. Lethal was awarded the Heavyweight Championship on March 26 at Caged Fury 2 held in the ECW Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but he refused to accept it, claiming that he wanted to "earn" the title.
Lethal tried twice to regain his title, first on February 18, , in a three-way match which also included Teddy Hart, and then on May 20, , but was unsuccessful both times at regaining the title. Pure Champion and Embassy member John Walters , who had control over when to wrestle his title matches, chose to have the title defense immediately after Lethal's match, defeating the exhausted Lethal to retain his title following a trifecta of Lung Blowers.
Lethal was scheduled to face Walters for the title in a re-match at Trios Tournament on March 5 in Philadelphia, but was attacked by an unknown assailant backstage, resulting in Lethal's eye swelling shut. It was like out of a movie! It was just that I had to do it because he just had me hooked. Every promo he talked about, his work in the ring, the way he would make that babyface look like they were the incredible Hulk, no matter who it was.
He really made them. The older I got and the more wrestling experience I got, the more I could see even deeper into what he was doing. Lethal played the role so flawlessly that another childhood dream would soon be realized. A few years earlier, his locker-room impression of another childhood idol, Randy Savage, spilled over into his on-screen character.
The entertaining alter-ego had about a three-year run. And Savage, who passed away in , loved the character. I got the big thumbs-up from him. His dad, he says, was there from the very start, and would even take off work or leave early just to drive him to matches all over the East Coast early in his career.
He was there for my first appearance in Ring of Honor where I got destroyed by Homicide in a dark match in the Murphy Rec Center in Philadelphia , which he begged me not to go back to because it was so hot. And them being there. It also was validation and recognition from a company that saw Lethal as a cornerstone of the promotion. That was the greatest moment, not only of my wrestling career, but the greatest moment of my life.
If his career ended tomorrow, Lethal would have no regrets. He says he could have never imagined accomplishing what he already has in his chosen profession. His father would then proudly point out what his son had accomplished. He had an action figure. He purchased a home with the money he made in wrestling. People all around the world knew him. I feel so accomplished.
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