Former pro wrestling star Jerome Young — known in Extreme Championship Wrestling as New Jack — died Friday afternoon following a heart attack, his wife told pro wrestling news site PWI Insider. He was 58.
According to the WWE Network, Young was known for “pushing the limits of hardcore wrestling to their furthest extremes.”
PWI Insider called him one of “the more intense and charismatic performers over the last several decades,” adding that he was also, at times, one of pro wrestling’s most controversial figures.
His hardcore style of wrestling included extreme jumping, as well as attacking other wrestlers with items such as forks and staple guns.
On Friday, WrestleMania said in a video that “New Jack was known for his brutal style in the ring and his take-no-prisoners attitude that saw him involved in several criminal cases due to his vicious style.”
Young — whose wrestling name, New Jack, was inspired by the 1991 cult classic crime thriller “New Jack City” — was a multiple-time ECW World Tag champion.
However, he’ll perhaps be best remembered for “diving out of balconies to put hapless opponents through tables, something that he devised as a way to make sure that the audience’s attention and their memories were about him no matter whether he was booked to win or lose,” wrote PWI Insider.
His fearlessness and wild wrestling style throughout his wild career, however, eventually took its physical toll.
In March 2020 his life was featured on the second season of Vice TV’s “Dark Side of the Ring.”
He also appeared in a number of television shows, including the CBS fantasy comedy-drama show “Early Edition,” and Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart“
