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Gentleman Jack Gallagher

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Jack Gallagher
Gallagher in September 2016
Birth nameOliver Westfield Claffey
BornManchester, England, United Kingdom
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Gentleman Jack Gallagher[1]
Jack Anthony
Jack Gallagher
Jack Toxic
"Swagatha Christie" (UpUpDownDown)
Billed height5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)[1]
Billed weight167 lb (76 kg)[1]
Billed fromManchester, England
Trained byAlex Shane[2]
Billy Robinson[3]
Debut4 November 2006[2]

Oliver Westfield Claffey is an English professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the cruiserweight-exclusive 205 Live brand under the ring name Gentleman Jack Gallagher. He is the current UpUpDownDown Champion in his first reign as "Swagatha Christie".

At Futureshock and Grand Pro Wrestling, he is a two-time FSW Champion and a one-time GPW British Champion. He is also an accomplished tag team competitor, winning the Futureshock Tag Team Championship with Alex Cyanide as Lethal Dose. He has also been an alumnus of fellow British independent wrestling promotion Progress Wrestling.

Professional wrestling career

Training and early career

Claffey was trained by Alex Shane and the Futureshock staff.[2] He made his professional wrestling debut at the age of 16 on 4 November 2006 at Futureshock #11, under the ring name Jack Toxic, teaming up with Alex Cyanide, Danny Hope, and Kris Travis. They defeated El Ligero, Charity, Faith, and Jamal Lewis. He also trained in Grappling, a catch wrestling style, at The Snake Pit Wigan in Wigan, Greater Manchester.He received further training from Snake Pit alumnus Billy Robinson in the US.[3]

Independent circuit (2007–2016)

In the beginning of 2007, Toxic and Cyanide teamed up and eventually became Lethal Dose.[4] They became a regular attraction at Futureshock, appearing on many shows.[4] The team would have their first title shot at Grand Pro Wrestling's That's Entertainment when they took on WKD for the GPW Tag Team Championship. The team traveled to Real Deal Wrestling and in February and April had two chances to become the RDW Tag Team Champions, but lost both times.[4] They then went to Hull to wrestle for New Generation Wrestling where they won all their matches.[4] With this run of success, they returned to Futureshock at Futureshock #27 and defeated three other teams to become the first FSW Tag Team Champions.[4] However, they lost the titles to The Doogooders at Futureshock #29.[4] They returned to GPW at Livin' On The Edge to take part in a number one contendership four-way elimination match and lost.[4] For the rest of 2009, they continued to team up but found little championship success and split up.

Claffey, performing as Jack Toxic, made his singles debut at Grand Pro Wrestling West Park Fun Day and lost to Scarlett Web.[5] Between March and April, Toxic tried to qualify for the Crazy Cruiser 8 2008 but failed multiple times; however, he won the Last Chance Saloon battle royal and therefore qualified for the tournament. On 2 May, he lost El Ligero in quarter finals.[6] At Justice For All, he defeated Bubblegum in a rumble qualifying match but was eliminated from the rumble. At Guts & Glory, he returned under the name Jack Gallagher to compete in a four way scrabble match for the GPW British Championship and lost.[7] At Battlefield, he lost a thirty-minute iron man match involving Zack Diamond and Mikey Whiplash for the GPW British Championship; however, next month at Heroes & Villains he defeated Diamond for the title. He held the championship until Do Or Die, in December, where he lost it to Ste Mann. Gallagher introduced his own belt but lost it to Ste Mann,[8] and took a 12-month break from Grand Pro.

Gallagher made his Grand Pro return at the 2013 Crazy Cruiser 8 where he defeated Bubblegum in the Quarter Finals before being pinned by eventual winner El Ligero in the Semi-Finals. At the start of 2014, Gallagher was defeated by CJ Banks at "Back With A Bang", the beginning of a rivalry.

The rivalry between Gallagher and Banks continued into 2015 and at Back With A Bang, Banks picked up the win to end the feud. Following a loss to Chris Ridgeway at "Cruel Summer", Gallagher took another hiatus from Grand Pro.

Gallagher returned at Friday Night Thriller 9, participated in some more matches, and had his final appearance at the Dom Travis Memorial show, "A Night To Remember" when he defeated former tag team partner Cyanide.

On 8 June 2008, Claffey as Toxic, took part in the Lotto-Thunder Tournament and reached the semi final where he was defeated by Jack Domino.[4] On 13 September, he participated in the FSW Trophy Tournament 2009 and was eliminated in the first round by Sparx.[9] In 2010, he began using the ring name Jack Gallagher.[10] At Futureshock #48, Gallagher won the FSW Trophy Tournament 2010 when he defeated Dave Breaks in the final.[11] On 6 November 2011, Gallagher defeated Dave Rayne to become the FSW Champion.[12] He would hold the championship for fourteen months before losing it to Davey Richards at Futureshock #61.[12] At Futureshock #62, he defeated Stixx and Zack Gibson to become the number one contender for the FSW Championship. Chris Egan announced that Gallagher would be facing Sonjay Dutt at FutureShock #74, but Gallagher instead faced Jay Lethal at FutureShock #74.[10] At the event, Gallagher defeated Dutt by pinfall.

On 3 March 2013, he made his debut for Pro Wrestling Zero1 in Japan, under the ring name Jack Anthony. He joined a tag team match alongside Ikuto Hidaka.[13] On 15 April 2013, Anthony came together with Craig Classic, James Raideen, Jason New, Maybach Beta, Sebastian Concrete, Steven Walters and Tama Williams to form a gaijin stable named "New Age Wrestling Future" (NWF) under the guidance of Akebono.[14][15] The stable was shortly afterwards joined by Jonathan Gresham and Mark Coffey.[16]

During his time in the independent circuit, he has also made appearances in Progress Wrestling, where he got his biggest win by defeating Pete Dunne for a qualifying position in the WWE Cruiserweight Classic. He made a return to Progress at New York City, where he was supposed to face Dunne for the WWE United Kingdom Championship, but was cancelled due to Dunne being injured. On 31 December, he made his return to Progress at Chapter 60: Unboxing Live, unsuccessfully challenging Dunne for the title.

WWE

Cruiserweight Classic and Rumble appearance (2016–2017)

Gallagher jumps off the turnbuckle with an umbrella he calls "William III".

Gallagher earned a place in the WWE Cruiserweight Classic by defeating Pete Dunne in a qualifier match at Progress Wrestling's Chapter 29 in April.[17] He beat Fabian Aichner in his first round match[18] and lost to Akira Tozawa in his second round match.

On the inaugural episode of WWE 205 Live, Gallagher made his RAW debut, defeating Ariya Daivari.[19] On the 5 December episode of Raw, Gallagher defeated Daivari. On the 27 December episode of 205 Live, Gallagher and Daivari participated in a "Gentleman's Duel", where both men chose a weapon for their opponent and began the match back to back before moving five paces away from each other, but Daivari attacked Gallagher while his back was turned until Gallagher attacked him with a headbutt, causing Daivari to forfeit the duel.[20] Their rivalry concluded in an "I forfeit" match on the 17 January 2017 episode of 205 Live, which Gallagher won.[21] On 29 January, at the Royal Rumble event, Gallagher entered in its eponymous match and was the first competitor eliminated by Mark Henry.

On the 7 February episode of 205 Live, Gallagher defeated T.J. Perkins, Cedric Alexander, Noam Dar, and Mustafa Ali in a fatal five-Way elimination match to become the number one contender for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship.[22] He faced Neville for the title at Fastlane in a losing effort.[23]

Gallagher made a guest appearance on the 26 April episode of NXT, unsuccessfully challenging Tyler Bate for the WWE United Kingdom Championship in the main event.[24] On May 18, Gallagher was announced as one of the 16 men entering the WWE United Kingdom Championship Tournament. He would defeat Drew Gulak in the first round, but lost to eventual winner, Zack Gibson, in the second round.

Heel turn and alliance with Gulak (2017–present)

On the 12 September 2017 episode of 205 Live, Gallagher interfered in a match between The Brian Kendrick and Cedric Alexander. However instead of attacking rival Kendrick with his umbrella, Gallagher turned heel by attacking Alexander, before he shook hands with Kendrick, forming an alliance. To reflect his turn, Gallagher stopped wearing his fluorescent trunks and began wrestling in a full suit instead. He also switched to a more technical, ground-based style and began using the umbrella as a weapon. On the 20 February 2018 edition of 205 Live Gallagher wrestled in a losing effort against Mustafa Ali in the first round of the WWE Cruiserweight Championship tournament. In 2018, Gallagher and Kendrick allied with Drew Gulak.

On October 3 episode of 205 Live, after being defeated by Akira Tozawa, Gallagher and Gulak attacked Kendrick calling him the "weakest link" in the group. On the October 30 episode of 205 Live, Gallagher was defeated by Kendrick after Tozawa prevented the interference from Gulak. They two sides went on to trade victories over the next few weeks. On the December 19, 2018 episode of 205 Live, Gallagher and Gulak were defeated by Kendrick and Tozawa in a Street Fight match to end the feud.

Starting in December 2018, they attempted to recruit the debuting Humberto Carrillo to their stable. On the April 9, 2019, episode of 205 Live, after Gulak cost Gallagher his match against fellow stable-mate Humberto Carrillo by disqualification, Gallagher headbutted Gulak out of the ring.

Other media

Gallagher made his WWE video game debut as a playable character in WWE 2K18, and makes an appearance in WWE 2K19.

Gallagher regularly appears on Austin Creed’s YouTube channel UpUpDownDown, under the moniker 'Swagatha Christie'. In May 2019, Gallagher defeated Mikaze in a game of UFC 3 to win Mikaze’s UpUpDownDown Championship[25].

Championships and accomplishments

  • Futureshock Wrestling
    • FSW Championship (2 times)[26]
    • FSW Trophy Tournament (2010)
    • FSW Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Alex Cyanide[27]
  • Tetsujin Shoot Style
    • Tetsujin Shoot Style Tournament (2015)
  • Grand Pro Wrestling
  • Pro Wrestling Illustrated
    • PWI ranked him No. 145 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2017[28]
  • Scottish Wrestling Alliance
    • Battlezone Rumble (2014)[29]
  • UpUpDownDown
    • UpUpDownDown Championship (1 time, current)

References

  1. ^ a b c "Gentleman Jack Gallagher". WWE. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
  2. ^ a b c Jack Gallagher « Wrestlers Database « CAGEMATCH
  3. ^ a b Billy Robinson, Billy Riley[1]
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Lotto-Thunder Tournament « Tournaments Database « CAGEMATCH
  5. ^ Wrestlingdata.com - World's Largest Wrestling Database
  6. ^ Crazy Cruiser 8 2008 « Tournaments Database « CAGEMATCH
  7. ^ GPW Guts & Glory « Events Database « CAGEMATCH
  8. ^ Matches « Jack Gallagher « Wrestlers Database « CAGEMATCH
  9. ^ FSW Trophy Tournament 2009 « Tournaments Database « CAGEMATCH
  10. ^ a b Matches « Jack Gallagher « Wrestlers Database « CAGEMATCH
  11. ^ Card with guide « Futureshock #48 « Events Database « CAGEMATCH
  12. ^ a b FSW Championship « Titles Database « CAGEMATCH
  13. ^ http://www.cagematch.de/index.php?id=1&nr=92846
  14. ^ "4.15 後楽園ホール大会一夜明け会見". Pro Wrestling Zero1 (in Japanese). 16 April 2013. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
  15. ^ 曙が外国人新ユニット「ＮＷＦ」を結成. Tokyo Sports (in Japanese). 17 April 2013. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
  16. ^ ライディーン「オレと大地はすでにレベルが違う！」5.4　後楽園ホール大会へ向け記者会見. Pro Wrestling Zero1 (in Japanese). 16 April 2013. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
  17. ^ "Who qualified for Cruiserweight Classic at PROGRESS?". www.wwe.com. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
  18. ^ Williams, JJ (23 June 2016). "WWE Cruiserweight Classic round one spoilers: Sabre Jr, Swann, Gargano, Ibushi, more!". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
  19. ^ Johnson, Mike (5 September 2016). "Three latest additions to the WWE cruiserweight division are..." Pro Wrestling Insider. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
  20. ^ "WWE 205 Live results: All hail King Neville". WWE. 27 December 2016. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  21. ^ "WWE 205 Live results: Did Jack Gallagher forfeit like a true gentleman?". WWE. 17 January 2017. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  22. ^ Powell, Jason. "2/7 Powell's WWE 205 Live TV Review: Noam Dar vs. Cedric Alexander vs. TJ Perkins vs. Jack Gallagher vs. ?? in a Fatal 5-Way elimination match for a WWE Cruiserweight Title shot". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
  23. ^ Powers, Kevin. "Cruiserweight Champion Neville vs. Gentleman Jack Gallagher". WWE. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
  24. ^ "4/26 NXT TV REVIEW: Drew McIntyre vs. Almas, Gallagher vs. Bate for UK Title, Aleister Black vs. Kona Reeves". PW Torch. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
  25. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pvsq4ZFnPTw
  26. ^ "FSW Championship". cagematch.net. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  27. ^ "FSW Tag Team Championship". cagematch.net. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  28. ^ "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2017". The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
  29. ^ http://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=112809
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