Jay White

Jay White
White in January 2021
Birth name	Jamie White
Born	October 10, 1992
	Auckland, New Zealand
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	Jay White
Height	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight	100 kg (220 lb)
Trained By	NJPW Dojo UK Kid
Debut	February 19, 2013

Jamie White (born October 10, 1992), better known by the ring name Jay White, is a New Zealander professional wrestler, where he worked for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW).

Initially trained by UK Kid and making his debut in August 2013, White spent his first years in professional wrestling working in England, before meeting Prince Devitt, Bad Luck Fale and Shinsuke Nakamura in London, who offered him a place in the NJPW dojo, which he accepted. The following year, White joined NJPW and began training in the NJPW dojo, making his debut as a "young lion" in January 2015, before leaving for an overseas learning excursion, during which he worked most notably for the American Ring of Honor (ROH) and the British Revolution Pro Wrestling (RPW) promotions through NJPW's international partnerships.

White eventually returned to NJPW in November 2017, repackaged as "Switchblade", complete with a new look and a villainous persona. Just months later, White joined the CHAOS stable and defeated Kenny Omega to win the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship in February 2018, holding it for five months. Later that year, White began feuding with CHAOS leader Kazuchika Okada, which culminated in White defecting CHAOS to the villanous Bullet Club stable, becoming the stable's fifth leader, following the departure of Kenny Omega. In January 2019, White defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi to win NJPW's top title, the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, before losing it three months later to Okada. In August, White made into the finals of NJPW's premier tournament, the G1 Climax losing to Kota Ibushi. The following month, White won the IWGP Intercontinental Championship holding it for three months. In November 2020, White became the first wrestler to win the Tokyo Dome IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental Championships challenge rights certificate, and consequently became one of two non-Japanese wrestlers to feature in the main event of Wrestle Kingdom, before leaving the promotion in January 2021.

Professional wrestling career

Early career (2013-2014)

White initially trained under The UK Kid at Varsity Pro Wrestling in early 2013, and made his professional debut on 19 February, working for VPW as well as All Star Wrestling, among other promotions. In early 2014, White met New Japan Pro Wrestling's Prince Devitt and competed alongside him in a tag team match for VPW. After the match, Devitt gave White his card and told him to keep in touch. Shortly thereafter, White was contacted by Bad Luck Fale, who said that Devitt had spoken to NJPW officials about White and that he could get him a place as a young lion in the dojo if he wanted it. Several months later, White met with Fale, Devitt and Shinsuke Nakamura in London, where White accepted their offer and began finalizing his visa to leave for the NJPW dojo.

New Japan Pro Wrestling (2015-2016)

White left for Japan on New Year's Eve 2014, began further training as a young lion upon his arrival, and made his debut for NJPW on January 30, 2015, losing to Alex Shelley. White lost all but eight of his matches in 2015, as is common for young lions in NJPW. In 2016, White began gaining more victories, and on March 27 competed in his biggest match to date when he was defeated by then-current IWGP Intercontinental Champion Kenny Omega in a non-title match. White's final match in NJPW took place on 19 June 2016 at Dominion 6.19, when he, David Finlay and Juice Robinson were defeated by Satoshi Kojima, Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Manabu Nakanishi. White left for his excursion to the United States the following week.

Foreign excursion (2016-2017)

White debuted in Ring of Honor (ROH) on at the 25 June TV tapings, defeating Kamaitachi by disqualification and teaming with The Motor City Machine Guns to defeat Kamaitachi and The Addiction (Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian). On 8 July, White defeated Lio Rush. At the next set of TV tapings, White defeated Will Ferrara and wrestled Jay Briscoe to a time limit draw. White debuted for England's Revolution Pro Wrestling on 12 August 2016, defeating Josh Bodom. On 19 August, White competed in a fatal four-way match against Kamaitachi, Lio Rush, and Donovan Dijak, which was won by Dijak. The following day, White and Rush were defeated by The Briscoe Brothers. White returned to RPW on 26 August, defeating Mark Haskins. On 30 September, White teamed with Kushida and ACH to defeat The Briscoes and Toru Yano in a quarter-final match in the ROH Six-man Tag Team Championship Tournament. White, ACH and Kushida then defeated Rhett Titus, Kenny King and Caprice Coleman in the semi-finals, but were defeated by The Kingdom (Matt Taven, Vinny Marseglia and TK O'Ryan) in the final at Final Battle. White competed once again for RPW on January 21, 2017, defeating Martin Stone. On June 6th, White received his biggest title opportunity in his career when after winning a Battle Royal he unsuccessfully challenged Christopher Daniels for The ROH World Championship in a triple threat match. At Best in the World 2017 White, teaming with Search and Destroy defeated The Rebellion in a losersmust disband match thus keeping the group together.

Return to NJPW (2017-2021)

CHAOS (2018)

Main article: CHAOS

On November 5, 2017 at Power Struggle, White returned to NJPW as the mysterious "Switchblade", who had been teased for the past several months, challenging Hiroshi Tanahashi to a match for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship at Wrestle Kingdom 12 in Tokyo Dome, before attacking him, returning as a heel in the process. The following day, NJPW officially announced the match between Tanahashi and White for Wrestle Kingdom 12. On January 4, 2018, White was defeated by Tanahashi in the title match. The following day, White would pretend to join Bullet Club, only to attack its leader Kenny Omega and challenged him for the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship. White joined one of Bullet Club's oppose faction CHAOS in order to have back up against Omega's Bullet Club, but he also threatened to take his leadership and title. On January 28 at The New Beginning in Sapporo, White defeated Omega to become the second IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion in the title's history. On June 17, White was announced to take part of the 2018 G1 Climax tournament. He lost the title to Juice Robinson on July 7 at G1 Special in San Francisco.

Bullet Club (2018–2021)

Main article: Bullet Club

Later that month, White took part in his first G1 Climax tournament. White opened the tournament with victories against former IWGP Heavyweight Champions CHAOS stablemate Kazuchika Okada and Hiroshi Tanahashi, after cheating to win his matches using tactics such as attacking his opponents with a chair and ref bumps or low blows. White's CHAOS stablemates Rocky Romero, Sho and Yoh were against White's tactics. White suffered his first losses against Minoru Suzuki on July 22 and Bad Luck Fale on July 27. He bounced back with three more victories, but a loss against EVIL on the final day cost him his place in the finals of the tournament.

On September 23 at Destruction in Kobe, White attacked Okada and was joined but Okada's former manager Gedo, after he turned on him. Following the attack, Gedo nominated White to face Tanahashi for his Tokyo Dome IWGP Heavyweight Championship match contract due to White previously defeating Tanahashi in the 2018 G1 Climax. On September 30 at Fighting Spirit Unleashed, White and Tanahashi faced off in a tag team match, where White teamed with Gedo and Tanahashi teamed with KUSHIDA. White won the match for his team by scoring a direct pinfall over Tanahashi and afterwards White demanded his opportunity for his contract. White received his opportunity on October 8 at King of Pro-Wrestling, unsuccessfully challenging Tanahashi for his contract. Following the match, White and Gedo were joined by Jado, who also turned on Okada and joined Bullet Club OG. White would become the fifth leader of the Bullet Club, after the departure of The Elite. On October 17, during the Road to Power Struggle, White led a Bullet Club OG assault on Okada, but Okada's rival Tanahashi made the save and Okada left the ring. Shortly after, Hiroshi Tanahashi would help Okada and CHAOS formed an alliance with the NJPW home unit. During the 2018 World Tag League, White faced off in multiple tag team matches against Okada and Tanahashi, won by White and his Bullet Club stablemates. On November 3, at Power Struggle, White and Okada agreed to face each other in a match, which was later set to be at Wrestle Kingdom 13 in Tokyo Dome. On January 14, at Road to Tokyo Dome tour, White would try to help Gedo to defeat Okada in his match but was unsuccessful and Okada managed to win the match, despite White's interference. On January 4, 2019, White defeated Okada. Later that night, White challenged Tanahashi to a match for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. On February 11, 2019, at The New Beginning in Osaka, White defeated Tanahashi to become the new IWGP Heavyweight Champion. He lost the title to Kazuchika Okada on April 6 at G1 Supercard. In May, White started a short feud with Hiroshi Tanahashi, after he announced his intentions of challenging for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in the finals of 2019 Best of the Super Juniors on June 5, leading White to attack him. At the event on June 5, White defeated Tanahashi.

From July 6 until August 11, White took part in the 2019 G1 Climax. White started the tournament losing his first three matches. However, White bounced back winning the remaining of his matches, culminating on August 11, White defeating Tetsuya Naito in his block and reach the finals of the tournament. On August 12, White was defeated in the finals by Kota Ibushi. On August 25 on the third night of the Super J-Cup, White attacked Tetsuya Naito and challenged him to a match for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship, proclaiming he would become the first IWGP Intercontinental and Heavyweight Champion at Wrestle Kingdom 14 on January 4, 2019. On September 22 at Destruction in Kobe, White defeated Naito to win the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. After the match, White was attacked by Hirooki Goto, who challenged him to a title match. On November 3 at Power Struggle, White defeated Hirooki Goto to retain the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. Following the match, Naito confronted White and challenged him to a match for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. On January 4, 2020 on the first night of Wrestle Kingdom 14 in Tokyo Dome, White lost the IWGP Intercontinental Championship back to Tetsuya Naito. The following day, on the second night of Wrestle Kingdom 14, White defeated Kota Ibushi.

In August, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, White along with several members of the Bullet Club were unable to work on NJPW events in Japan, leading him to take part in NJPW Strong series, during which he started feuding with Brody King. From September 19 until October 16, White retured to Japan to take part in the 2020 G1 Climax, finishing the tournament with a record of six wins and three losses, failling to advance to the finals of the tournament, due to losing to Kota Ibushi in their head-to-head match. On October 19, after Kota Ibushi won the 2020 G1 Climax, White challenged him to a match for his Tokyo Dome IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental Championships challenge rights certificate. This led on November 7, at Power Struggle, White defeating Ibushi to win the Tokyo Dome IWGP Heavyweight Championship challenge rights certificate, becoming the first wrestler to win the certificate, despite not winning the G1 Climax. On January 5, 2021, on the second night of Wrestle Kingdom 15 in Tokyo Dome, White unsucessfully challenged Ibushi for the IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental Championships. At 48 minutes and 5 seconds, their match became the longest match in the January 4 Tokyo Dome Show history.

Afterwards, in a post-match interview, White, who was frustrated about his loss, stated that "maybe [his] time should be spent some place else", adding that he was leaving the promotion on January 6 at New Year Dash. At the New Year Dash, White teamed with Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens, EVIL, and Yujiro Takahashi, losing to CHAOS (Hirooki Goto, Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano and Yoshi-Hashi in an eight-man tag team match, with White being pinned by Ishii. Two days later, it was reported by Pro Wrestling Inisder, that there doubts within the promotion, whether White would extend his contract, which was rumored to expire at the end of the month, with WWE being interest in signing him. The following day, Dave Meltzer reported on the Wrestling Observer Radio, that "this was probably a storyline", but he also noted that White refered that he had signed a "seven-year contract in 2018". On January 14, White's profile was removed from NJPW's website, confirming his departure from the company.

In wrestling

• Finishing moves
  • Blade Runner / Shellshock (Swinging reverse STO) – adopted from Alex Shelley
  • Kiwi Krusher (Outside leghook fisherman driver)
  • Sharp Sensations (Crucifix hold, followed by back elbows, usually used to cause a stoppage)
  • TTO-Tanahashi Tap Out / YTO-Yoshi Tap Out / JTO-Juice Tap Out (Modified Reverse Figure-Four Leglock)
• Signature moves
  • Backhand chop
  • Boston crab
  • Butterfly Prison Lock
  • Butterfly suplex
  • Cattle Multilation
  • Crossface
  • Diving Crossbody
  • Dragon Screw
  • Dropkick
  • Blade Buster (Swinging Brainbuster)
  • Double underhook followed by multiple elbows
  • Fisherman's Carry Hammer Deathlock
  • Flapjack
  • Ground Cobra Clutch
  • Multiple kick variations
    • Basement
    • Baseball
    • Missile
    • Shotgun
    • Standing
  • Knife-edge chop sometimes preceded by a schoolboy
  • Ko-kokeshi (Headbutt drop) – adopted from Tomoaki Honma
  • Lariat
  • Liontamer (Elevated Boston crab while kneeling on the opponent's back or neck)
  • Multiple suplex variations
    • Belly to Back
    • Saito
    • Sleeper
    • Snap
  • Muta Lock
  • Nagata Lock III (Double underhook crossface) – adopted from Yuji Nagata
  • Inverted Facelock
  • Jumping Neckbreaker
  • Pendulum Backbreaker
  • Reverse STO, followed by German suplex
  • Russian Legsweep
  • Sharpshooter
  • Slingshot Plancha
  • Spike DDT
  • Ura-nage
  • Uppercut sometimes to a conored opponent or trapped on the ropes or sometimes followed by a Diving Forearm
  • Death Valley Driver
• Managers
  • Gedo
• Nicknames
  • "Switchblade"
  • "King Switch"
  • "The Last Rock 'n' Rolla"
  • "Knife Pervert"

• Entrance themes
  • "Crossbody" by Yonosuke Kitamura
  • "Rock the Night" by Europe (Used in ROH)
  • "Switchblade" by Yonosuke Kitamura

Championships and accomplishments

• New Japan Pro Wrestling
  • IWGP Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
  • IWGP Intercontinental Championship (1 time)
  • IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
  • Tokyo Dome IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental Championships challenge rights certificate (2020)
• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI ranked him #363 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2016
  • Ranked No. 44 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2018