Jerry Lynn
Jeremy Lynn, better known by the ring name Jerry Lynn, is an American retired professional wrestler signed with All Elite Wrestling as a producer and coach.
Lynn has worked for promotions such as World Championship Wrestling, Extreme Championship Wrestling, the World Wrestling Federation, NWA Total Nonstop Action, and Ring of Honor. He is a two time world heavyweight champion, having held the ECW World Heavyweight Championship once and the ROH World Championship once. Other championships held by Lynn in his career include the GWF Light Heavyweight Championship, WWF Light Heavyweight Championship, the TNA X Division Championship, the NWA World Tag Team Championship and the WWA International Cruiserweight Championship.
Lynn retired as an active wrestler on March 23, 2013, exactly 25 years after his career began.
Professional wrestling career
Early career (1988–1991)
Lynn started wrestling in March 1988 in various independent promotions in the Minnesota and Michigan areas, one being Pro Wrestling America, where he won both their Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight championships. Lynn first joined the World Wrestling Federation in May 1989 as enhancement talent, losing to Rick Martel, and teaming with Ray Brown in a loss to Big Boss Man and Akeem later that night. In 1989, he began wrestling for Verne Gagne's American Wrestling Association, where by the end of 1990, he became the last challenger for the AWA World Heavyweight Championship, held by Larry Zbyszko, before Zbyszko left for World Championship Wrestling. In 1990, he made his first overseas trip to Japan, wrestling for Universal Lucha Libre. In January 1991, he wrestled for the United States Wrestling Association in Memphis and took part in a tournament for the USWA Southern Heavyweight Championship; he lost to Tony Anthony in the first round.International experience (1991–1995)
In June 1991, Lynn wrestled for the Global Wrestling Federation based in Dallas, Texas. While in GWF, Lynn captured the GWF Light Heavyweight Championship. Lynn also engaged in a two-year feud with The Lightning Kid which gave both men considerable exposure in North America. In February 1992, he had a brief stop with Smoky Mountain Wrestling in Knoxville. In 1992, Lynn would take a role as an unnamed high school senior and as a stuntman in the movie Crossing the Bridge; to prepare for the role, he did an angle with the Lightning Kid, where Kid cut Lynn's hair and sold it in small bags at $4 a bag, making a total $80. In December 1993, he returned to Japan for a tour with Michinoku Pro Wrestling. In July 1994, he went to Mexico under the masked alter-ego, Sultan Gargola for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre. In July 1995, Lynn returned to Michinoku Pro under the masked alter-ego Golgotha Cross, a villain from the Tiger Mask manga. Less than a month later, he would lose his mask to Gran Naniwa.World Wrestling Federation (1995)
In April 1995, Lynn returned to the WWF in a singles loss to Rad Radford and teamed up with Lenny Lane in a loss to The Heavenly Bodies the next night.World Championship Wrestling (1995–1997)
In September 1995, Lynn joined World Championship Wrestling, alternating between wrestling under his real name and under the masked alter-ego Mr. J.L. He joined WCW's cruiserweight division, where he competed against the Mexican luchadores and a variety of wrestlers from around the world such as Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, Eddie Guerrero, Sabu, Chris Jericho and Alex Wright. Lynn suffered a broken arm on December 18, 1995, in a match against Dean Malenko that would air one week later on Nitro on Christmas night.In May 1996, Lynn as Mr. J.L. went to New Japan Pro-Wrestling, representing WCW for their annual Best of the Super Juniors league; he placed fifth on Block A with two confirmed points.
One of his last major matches took place at the Clash of the Champions XXXIV, where he suffered a six-man tag team loss while teaming with Konnan and La Parka against Chris Jericho, Super Calo and Chavo Guerrero Jr. While he was injured, Eric Bischoff fired him from WCW in July 1997.
World Wrestling Federation (1997)
After leaving WCW, Lynn appeared with the WWF in August 1997 in their light heavyweight division, wrestling only two matches. He lost to Taka Michinoku on Friday Night Main Event and defeated Steve Casey on WWF Shotgun Saturday Night.Extreme Championship Wrestling (1997–2001)
Early years (1997–1999)
After leaving WWF, Lynn joined Extreme Championship Wrestling, where he debuted as a fan favorite at As Good as It Gets at the ECW Arena on September 20, 1997, and immediate began a "respect" feud with Justin Credible, who debuted against Lynn that same evening. Lynn formed a team with Tommy Rogers as the two began a rivalry with the team of Chris Candido and Lance Storm, losing to them in a match at Ultimate Jeopardy. Lynn made his pay-per-view debut in ECW at November to Remember, where he rescued Rogers from a double-team assault by Candido and Storm, leading to an immediate rematch between the two teams, which Rogers and Lynn lost again. Lynn defeated Chris Candido at the 1998 House Party. He then formed a tag team with Chris Chetti to feud with The Full Blooded Italians, whom Lynn and Chetti defeated in matches at Hostile City Showdown and Living Dangerously.Lynn was next booked in a series of matches against his fellow debutant Justin Credible, which saw Credible winning the last match in the feud at the Heat Wave pay-per-view. After this, Lynn was involved in a feud with Lance Storm and Mikey Whipwreck, a feud that was shortened when Whipwreck left for WCW.
Feuding with Rob Van Dam and World Heavyweight Champion (1999–2001)
Once the feud with Lance Storm was ended, Lynn was booked in a match for the ECW World Television Championship with Rob Van Dam at Living Dangerously in 1999. The finish saw Lynn win the title from Van Dam. Despite this win, he asked for a five-minute time extension, in which he was pinned by Van Dam after a Five-Star Frog splash. Though Lynn did not win the match, he from then on referred to himself as "The New F'N Show", mocking Van Dam's nickname, "The Whole F'N Show", as well as claiming he would be the wrestler to deprive Van Dam of the title. Though Lynn received several more title opportunities with Van Dam, he was not successful in winning the World Television Title before Van Dam was stripped of the title after suffering a legitimate broken ankle. Around the same time, Lynn also suffered a broken ankle, taking him out of action. On his return to ECW TV, Lynn challenged Van Dam to one more match at Hardcore Heaven, which Lynn won due to interference by Scotty Anton.On October 1, 2000, at the Anarchy Rulz, Lynn defeated Justin Credible for the ECW World Heavyweight Championship. He held the title for one month, making a successful title defense against Steve Corino, to whom he lost the title to in a re-match. Lynn blamed the fans and ECW management for putting him in an unfair situation at the November To Remember, claiming they intentionally screwed him out of the championship for their new golden boy Corino. Lynn subsequently aligned with former rival Cyrus, who would serve as his manager following November To Remember and claimed that Cyrus was the only one in ECW who recognized his greatness. At the last ECW pay-per-view, Guilty as Charged in 2001, Lynn was in the main event, losing to Rob Van Dam via a Van Terminator.
World Wrestling Federation (2001–2002)
Following the bankruptcy of ECW in April 2001, Lynn was hired by the WWF. Lynn made his TV debut on the April 29, 2001, episode of Sunday Night Heat, where he defeated Crash Holly for the Light Heavyweight Championship in his debut match. He would hold the championship for 37 days and would successfully retain over former champions Crash Holly, Taka Michinoku, Dean Malenko and Essa Rios, as well as Christopher Daniels, Grandmaster Sexay and others. He eventually lost the title to Jeff Hardy and had a notable match with Rob Van Dam for the WWF Hardcore Championship on an episode of Sunday Night Heat before being released in February 2002, following a knee injury.World Wrestling All-Stars (2002–2003)
After leaving the WWF, he joined the World Wrestling All-Stars promotion and debuted on the Revolution PPV, confronting Eddie Guerrero, who had just won the WWA International Cruiserweight Championship from Psicosis in a three-way match which included Juventud Guerrera. However, nothing came of this, as Guerrero left to return to the WWF. Lynn would take part in a tournament to determine a new International Cruiserweight champion, but lost to AJ Styles in the finals on the Eruption PPV.In May 2003, Lynn entered another tournament to determine a new International Cruiserweight Champion, and won the vacant title by defeating Chris Sabin in the finals. However, four days later, he lost the title to Sabin, who unified the title with the TNA X-Division Championship, in a four-way match which included Johnny Swinger and Frankie Kazarian on the Reckoning PPV.
NWA: Total Nonstop Action (2002–2007)
In early June 2002, Lynn signed with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, taking part in the first ever TNA match as part of a six-man tag match against the Flying Elvises. He won the TNA X Division Championship twice, as well as the NWA World Tag Team Championship twice. He feuded with A.J. Styles and Don Callis, and was an X Division mainstay.In the late spring of 2003, he joined the newly formed All World Wrestling League/Big Time Wrestling. However, in February 2004 he suffered a severe shoulder injury, tearing the tendon from the bone in his rotator cuff, when Juventud Guerrera botched a Juvi Driver. Lynn however continued competing, playing a key role in Team NWA's feud with Team Canada. When the storyline ran its course in late 2004 Lynn stepped away from in ring competition and became a TNA road agent, planning matches and coaching younger talent.
Lynn made his return to the ring on June 10, 2005, when he faced Justin Credible at Hardcore Homecoming, an ECW reunion show organized by ECW alumnus Shane Douglas. On July 17 at No Surrender, Lynn refereed a match between Sean Waltman and A.J. Styles, refusing to allow Waltman to cheat in the course of the match. This led to a match between Lynn and Waltman at Sacrifice on August 14, which Lynn won. After the match, Waltman initially celebrated with Lynn before attacking his former partner. The following week on Impact!, it was announced that Lynn had re-injured his shoulder..
In January 2006, he began making on-screen appearances once more as a road agent. He came out at Final Resolution to watch a match which was Chris Sabin, Sonjay Dutt and Matt Bentley taking on the team of Alex Shelley, Roderick Strong and Austin Aries. Lynn continued to make several other appearances throughout the rest of 2006, and even faced Bobby Roode in a losing effort during TNA's first house show in Detroit.
On January 14, 2007, Lynn made his return to regular in ring competition returning to TNA to compete for the TNA X Division Championship against Chris Sabin and then-champion Christopher Daniels at Final Resolution, in which he delivered his trademark cradle piledriver to Daniels and subsequently got pinned by Chris Sabin. Lynn carried on to feud with Sabin over the X Division title. On an episode of Impact!, Lynn won a ladder match to become the number one contender for the TNA X Division Championship. At Destination X, Lynn was defeated by Chris Sabin in a two out of three falls match. After the match, a masked man performed the Angel's Wings on Sabin, but also hit Lynn with the title belt. At Lockdown, Daniels defeated Lynn in a Six Sides of Steel match. At Sacrifice, Jerry Lynn won a four-way X-Division battle between himself, Alex Shelley, Senshi, and Tiger Mask. On June 17, 2007, at Slammiversary, Jerry Lynn teamed up with former NFL tight end Frank Wycheck to defeat the team of James Storm and Ron Killings. Wycheck pinned Storm after using Lynn's signature move, the cradle piledriver. At Victory Road in July, Jerry Lynn teamed up with former WWF World Heavyweight Champion Bob Backlund against the tag team of The Motor City Machine Guns, Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin, with Kevin Nash in their corner. Lynn wrestled the majority of the match and was knocked out cold by an interfering Kevin Nash, followed by a pinfall by Chris Sabin. In August 2007, Lynn asked for and received his release from TNA.