Ares (wrestler)
Marco Jaggi is a Swiss professional wrestler and wrestling trainer, known by his ring name Ares, who primarily competes in European and American independent promotions. For much of his career, Jaggi teamed with Claudio Castagnoli and Marc Roudin as part of Swiss Money Holding. One of the top tag teams in Europe during the 2000s, the trio won titles in Germany, France, the United Kingdom and their native Switzerland. Under the Freebird Rule, Jaggi held the IPW:UK Tag Team Championship with Castagnoli and Roudin for a record 12 months.
They eventually toured the United States in 2003, appearing for IWA Mid-South and Chikara, and took part in the 2003 Tag World Grand Prix. After returning to Europe, Castagnoli decided to return to the United States to regularly compete for Chikara. Jaggi then brought in Marc Roudin to fill in for Castagnoli and spent several years teaming together. He would also have an accomplished career as a singles competitor, wrestling in countries as far away as Algeria, South Africa and Japan, and was the head trainer for IWA-Switzerland.
After his marriage to Allison Danger in 2008, Jaggi followed Castagnoli to the United States. He made a surprise appearance at Chikara's “Three-Fisted Tales” show where he and Castagnoli reunited to form the "heel" stable BDK in 2009, and went on to win the 2010 King of Trios with fellow stablemate Tursas.
Professional wrestling career
Early career (1998–2001)
Born in Biel, Switzerland, Marco Jaggi was a fan of wrestling growing up and became interested in entering the business as a teenager. Opportunities to do so in Switzerland were virtually non-existent at the time and, after looking for wrestling schools elsewhere, took a flight to Germany to train with the Wrestling Catch Fans Berlin promotion. Jaggi trained 6-hours a day for three weeks prior to making his debut in June 1998, but wrestled in only four matches during the next three years. He was unable to attend the school year round and could only visit Germany during summer holidays where he would train for a short period, wrestle one opponent, then return to Switzerland. Between 2001 and 2005, Jaggi attended numerous wrestling clinics held by the likes of Jorge "Skayde" Rivera, Mike Quackenbush, Ian Rotten, Joe E. Legend and Ecki Eckstein. He later claimed to regret starting his career "too early" and, later as a trainer, advocated students should train for a minimum of half a year.Swiss Money Holding (2001–2003)
In 2001, Jaggi joined Westside Xtreme Wrestling based in Essen, Germany. It was shortly after his debut that his trainer SigMasta Rappo and HATE suggested he form a tag team with another of his students Claudio Castagnoli. Swiss Money Holding made its debut against Euro Threat at wXw's "Taste It Twice" supercard on May 13, 2001. He and Castagnoli, another Swiss wrestler, worked well together and their "heel" in-ring personas, a parody of Swiss bankers, almost immediately caught on with the fans. They defeated Euro Threat two months later to become the first wXw Tag Team Champions, and would win the titles two more times within a year.Their televised matches for wXw, aired by Southwestern German Broadcasting Corporation, made them one of the most visible tag teams of the promotion and, in time, the two began wrestling in other German and European promotions as well. On September 29, 2002, Jaggi won the Swiss Wrestling Federation Heavyweight Championship, and with Castagnoli, became the first German Stampede Wrestling Tag Team Champions on March 29, 2003. Other organizations they appeared for included Athletik Club Wrestling, European Wrestling Fighters, and the New Alliance of Wrestling Athletes in Germany, Austria's Riotgas Wrestling Alliance and Wrestling Warriors Austria, and Freestyle Championship Wrestling in the Netherlands.
The two often faced each other in single matches, most notably, in a 4 Way Dance against American wrestlers Chris Hero and Mike Quackenbush at the 2-day wXw supercard "Gott Eggs?" on April 18, 2003. They also faced Hero and Quackenbush as Swiss Money Holding, and Hero in singles matches throughout the year.
Touring the United States (2003)
Impressed by their performance, Chris Hero invited Jaggi and Castagnoli to perform in the United States. That summer, the two toured the country appearing at shows for a number of independent promotions on the East Coast and Midwestern United States. On July 4, 2003, Swiss Money Holding made their US debut for IWA Mid South defeating Chris Hero and Mark Wolf at the "We Are Family" supercard in Clarksville, Indiana. The following night, they participated in Chikara's 2003 Tag World Grand Prix in Allentown, Pennsylvania. They defeated Senior Assault Team in the first round, but were eliminated along with the SuperFriends after fighting to a time limit draw.They made a second appearance at the IWA Arena on July 12 and, the next night, Jaggi and Castagnoli appeared in a third supercard, "X-treme Combat III", for Xtreme Intense Championship Wrestling in Warren, Michigan. In the main event, Swiss Money Holding wrestled in a 3 Way Dance against Jaimy CoxXx and Alex Shelley and XICW Tag Team Champions Gavin Starr and Jimmy Jacobs.
Singles career (2003–2006)
Shortly after their return to Europe, Castagnoli opted to return to the United States to compete full-time for Chikara. Jaggi then brought in Marc Roudin, a young cruiserweight wrestler they had both trained, to take Castagnoli place. Though Castagnoli would return to team with Jaggi and Roudin, Swiss Money Holding being billed as a 3-man tag team, his continuing involvement with Chikara resulted in Jaggi mostly teaming with Roudin for the next few years. Jaggi would continue to win titles with both men, however, appearances by all three members were rare.He also began to make a name for himself as a singles competitor. On March 6, 2004, Jaggi defeated Michael Kovac to become the first heavyweight champion for German Stampede Wrestling and toured Algeria with Force Francophone de Catch five months later. In early-2005, he also became the first ROE Switzerland Heavyweight Champion during its "March Madness Tour '05" when he defeated The Honky Tonk Man in Weesen, Switzerland on March 12. Over the next year, he would face opponents such as Samoa Joe, Colt Cabana, Steve Corino, Nigel McGuinness, Naomichi Marufuji, Kenta Kobashi and Doug Williams.
On April 9, 2005, Jaggi teamed with Marc Roudin to regain the GSW Tag Team Championship from Eric Schwarz and Michael Kovac. In Italian Championship Wrestling, he won the ICW Heavyweight title from Red Devil at ICW's "Il Numero Uno" supercard in Belluno on April 12. Jaggi lost the ICW title to Kaio in Rimini a month later. At its June 25 supercard, The Wrestling Event, Jaggi teamed with A-Train in a tag team match against Kaio and Test in Varese, Italy. He later wrestled Kaio for the title later that night but the match ended in a no-contest.
A month later in Toulouse, France, Jaggi took part in an 8-man championship tournament to crown Force Francophone de Catch's first 2FC Champion on July 3. Defeating Spud to advance to the finals, he lost to Jonny Storm in a 4 Way Dance with Bryan Danielson and Jody Fleisch; Jaggi had eliminated Danielson and Fleisch before being pinned by Storm.
On September 23, 2005, Swiss Money Holding was scheduled to appear for Italian Championship Wrestling's "Pandemonium IV" in Sondrio, Italy to face its tag team champions the Party Boyz. When Ares showed up without a partner, there was some confusion as to which team member would be joining him. While conducting an in-ring interview with the Party Boyz, General Manager Amarillo attacked both men revealing himself to be Ares' secret partner. In their title match later that night, Amarillo was pinned by Andres Diamond.
At the end of the year, Jaggi won the wXw World Heavyweight Championship from Robbie Brookside on October 2, 2005, and again from Mike Quackenbush at a Chikara show in Reading, Pennsylvania, almost six months later. On January 27, 2006, he entered wXw's 16 Carat Gold Tournament and was eliminated by Ian Rotten in the first round. That same night he defended the heavyweight title in separate matches against Bernard Vandamme and Mickie Knuckles. In April, Jaggi wrestled a 2-day card for the Fighting Spirit Federation in Marseille, France. On April 15, he teamed with April Hunter in a mixed tag team match against Nikita and Red Devil. Jaggi and his old ICW rival met again the following night when they both lost to Lance Hoyt a 3 Way Dance. Also that month, he entered a championship tournament in Roth, Germany, for the German Wrestling Promotion but lost to Monty Brown in the opening round.
On May 6, he and Steve Douglas lost to ICWA World Junior Heavyweight Champion Jonny Storm in a 3 Way Dance at the International Catch Wrestling Alliance's "Revolution III" in Bruay-sur-l'Escaut, France. A day later, he won the FSF Heavyweight Championship in Montreuil-Juigné. He successfully defended the title against Chad Collyer and Absolute Andy before losing to Johan three months later. At wXw's "True Colors", Jaggi entered a trios tournament with Bad Bones and Emil Sitoci. They defeated the High Class Catch Club and Tracy Smothers in the opening round, but lost to Doug Williams, Takashi Sugiura and Yoshinobu Kanemaru in the finals.
In the fall of 2006, Jaggi visited Japan during Pro Wrestling NOAH's "Autumn Navigation" tour. He spent most of the tour wrestling tag team and trios matches with fellow European wrestlers Murat Bosporus, Nigel McGuinness, Scorpio and Doug Williams. Among Japanese wrestlers he faced included Jun Akiyama, Masashi Aoyagi, Tsutomu Hirayanagi, Mitsuharu Misawa, Yoshinari Ogawa, Akitoshi Saito, Takuma Sano, Akira Taue and Muhammad Yone. He also teamed with Kentaro Shiga and Yoshinobu Kanemaru to defeat Go Shiozaki, KENTA and Tamon Honda in Utsunomiya, Japan, on October 11, and with Shiga and SUWA to defeat Honda, Shuhei Taniguchi and Tsuyoshi Kikuchi at the Yokkaichi Memorial Hall in Mie four days later. Jaggi's last match on the tour was a trios match with Doug Williams and Nigel McGuinness beating Ippei Ota, Kishin Kawabata and Masao Inoue at Tokyo's Budokan Hall on October 29, 2006. The match was later broadcast on Japanese television.