 Thorne (right) in August 2024 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Shane Veryzer[3] (1985-09-24)24 September 1985 (age 40)[4] |
Spouse | |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Shane Haste[1] Shane Thorne[2] Slapjack |
| Billed height | 6 ft 2 in (188 cm)[2] |
| Billed weight | 220 lb (100 kg)[2] |
| Billed from | Perth, Western Australia[2] |
| Trained by | Davis Storm Naomichi Marufuji |
| Debut | 22 February 2003 |
Shane Veryzer[3] (born 24 September 1985), known by hisring nameShane Haste, is an Australianprofessional wrestler. He works forNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is a member ofThe Mighty Don't Kneel (TMDK).
He is best known for his tenure inWWE, where he performed under the ring namesShane Thorne andSlapjack. He is also known for his work inPro Wrestling Noah, where, as part of The Mighty Don't Kneel with partnerMikey Nicholls, he is a former two-timeGHC Tag Team Champion. He also competed forRing of Honor (ROH) andPro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG) in the United States. He signed with WWE in 2016 and was assigned to the NXT brand, where he was given the Shane Thorne ring name. In early 2020, Thorne debuted onRaw, and in August of that year was repackaged as "Slapjack", a mask wearing member ofRetribution. Following the stable's split, he reverted to his previous ring name and was moved toSmackDown. Despite this, he was only limited to dark matches and was released from the promotion in November 2021. He then began working for NJPW's American subsidiary, where TMDK were reformed as a stable, withJonah as the leader. In NJPW, he is a one-timeIWGP Tag Team Champion and two-timeStrong Openweight Tag Team Champion with Nicholls.
Shane Veryzer[3] was born on 24 September 1985 inPerth,Western Australia.[4]
Veryzer started training at the Dynamite Factory, thewrestling school of Explosive Pro Wrestling (EPW). His debut match took place at the Uprising event on 22 February 2003 in afour-way match under the Shane Hastering name.[5] He won the EPW Heavyweight Championship once[6][7] and the EPW Tag Team Championship twice.[7] After working all over the Australian continent, he moved toCalifornia,United States, and started working forindependent wrestling promotions in the US, such asPro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG) andWorld League Wrestling (WLW).[8][9][10]
On 23 February 2011, Haste made his debut inPro Wrestling Noah as he had a tryout match against his teammateMikey Nicholls.[11] A month after the try-out match, both men started to work full-time with the Japanese promotion. On 7 July, Haste and Nicholls, known together asThe Mighty Don't Kneel (TMDK), won theGHC Tag Team Championship after they defeatedToru Yano andTakashi Iizuka.[12][13][14] At the end of 2013, theTokyo Sports magazine named Haste and Nichollsthe tag team of the year, making them the first foreign team to win the award sinceStan Hansen andVader in 1998.[15] They lost the title toMaybach Taniguchi andTakeshi Morishima on 25 January 2014.[16][17][18]
They regained the title from Dangan Yankies (Masato Tanaka andTakashi Sugiura) on 10 January 2015.[19] They lost the title toK.E.S. (Davey Boy Smith Jr. andLance Archer) on 11 February.[20] On 28 December, Noah announced that Haste and Nicholls would leave the promotion following their contracts expiring at the end of the year.[21] On 11 February 2016, Noah announced that Haste and Nicholls would return to the promotion the following month to take part in a five-show-long farewell tour, entitled "Departure to the World".[22] Their final Noah match took place on 10 March and saw them defeatNaomichi Marufuji andMitsuhiro Kitamiya.[23][24]
After starting out in Noah, Haste returned to the United States and compete onRing of Honor (ROH) in February 2012.[25] He and Nicholls won theRise and Prove Tournament, defeating two other teams to qualify for a match against TheBriscoe Brothers (Jay Briscoe andMark Briscoe).[26] At theShowdown in the SuniPPV on 30 March, Haste and Nicholls lost to The Briscoe Brothers in a Proving Ground match.[27]
Also in February 2012, Haste and Nicholls wrestled television matches forChampionship Wrestling from Hollywood (CWFH).[28] Also in March 2012, Haste and Nicholls started wrestling forOhio Valley Wrestling (OVW),[29] during their stint there, they were defeated in a title match for theOVW Southern Tag Team Championship byJessie Godderz and Rudy Switchblade.[30]
On 20 December 2014, Haste and Nicholls made their debut forNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), when they, along with Naomichi Marufuji, were revealed as Toru Yano's tag team partners atWrestle Kingdom 9 on 4 January 2015.[31] At the event, the four defeatedSuzuki-gun (Davey Boy Smith Jr., Lance Archer,Shelton X Benjamin, and Takashi Iizuka) in aneight-man tag team match.[32]
In June 2015, Haste and Nicholls took part in aWWE tryout camp.[33] In February 2016, it was reported that Haste and Nicholls were scheduled to join WWE'sNXTbrand following their Noah farewell tour.[34] On 25 March 2016, WWE confirmed the signings of both Haste and Nicholls, and they began training at theWWE Performance Center, while working for the promotion's developmental branch NXT.[3] On 19 May, Haste and Nicholls were renamed Shane Thorne and Nick Miller, respectively, while TMDK was renamed TM-61.[35] They debuted on 25 May episode ofNXT, losing toJohnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa.[36] In October, TM-61 entered theDusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament,[37] in which they defeatedRiddick Moss andTino Sabbatelli in the first round,[38]Austin Aries andRoderick Strong (Thorne defeated Strong in a singles match, due to Aries being unable to wrestle through injury) in the quarterfinals,[39][40] andSAnitY in the semifinals.[41] AtNXT TakeOver: Toronto, TM-61 lost in the finals to TheAuthors of Pain.[42][43] Thorne then had knee surgery in January 2017, which was expected to sideline him for seven to nine months.[44] Thorne returned from injury on 14 September.[45][46] TM-61 returned to television on 31 January 2018 episode ofNXT, defeating The Ealy Brothers.[47] TM-61 then entered the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament, being eliminated by The Authors of Pain in the first round.[48] On 2 May episode ofNXT, TM-61 defeated TheStreet Profits with a dirty pin, thus turningheel in the process.[49][50] On 6 June episode ofNXT, the team was renamed The Mighty.[51] On 28 November episode ofNXT, The Mighty lost toOney Lorcan andDanny Burch in what would be their final match as atag team.[52] On 14 December, Miller was released from his WWE contract, disbanding the team.[53]
On 22 January 2019, WWE announced that Thorne would be replacingOtis Dozovic in theWorlds Collide tournament.[54] Thorne was eliminated in the first round byAdam Cole.[55] Following this, Thorne would mainly wrestle at NXT live events for the next several months. Thorne would then return to television on 7 August episode ofNXT, defeatingJoaquin Wilde. On 11 September episode ofNXT, Thorne would interruptJohnny Gargano as he was cutting a promo to the crowd which resulted in Thorne getting super kicked by Gargano. The two faced off on the 2 October episode ofNXT, with Gargano defeating Thorne.
In March 2020, Thorne began appearing onRaw alongside his former TMDK stablemateBrendan Vink.[56][57] On 27 April episode of Raw, Thorne and Vink becameMVP's newest associates, as he challengedCedric Alexander andRicochet to a match the next week on their behalf.[58] On 4 May episode ofRaw, Thorne and Vink defeated Alexander and Ricochet, earning their first victory.[59] However, their alliance with MVP ended after they were both traded back to NXT and Thorne and Vink would quietly disband as a team soon after.[60]
On 21 September 2020 episode ofRaw, Thorne was revealed as one of the main members of theRetribution faction, under the new ring name Slapjack.[61] At theHell in a Cell event, Slapjack challengedBobby Lashley for theUnited States Championship, but lost.[62] Retribution disbanded at theFastlane Kickoff Show, where Reckoning and Slapjack walked out on leaderMustafa Ali, then T-Bar and Mace performed a double chokeslam on Ali after he lost a match for the WWE United States Championship toRiddle.[63] On 9 April episode ofSmackDown, Slapjack took part in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal but failed to win the match.[64] Following this, Slapjack would be taken off television for several months. Following the split of Retribution, Veryzer would be quietly moved to SmackDown in April. He wrestled in a dark match after the 16 July episode of SmackDown under his original Shane Thorne name. He would wrestle two more dark matches in September with a loss toKeith Lee and a win overAustin Theory respectively. On 18 November 2021, Thorne was released from his WWE contract without ever reappearing on television.[65]
On the 6 March 2022 episode ofNJPW Strong, Haste interfered in the tag team match betweenFinJuice (David Finlay andJuice Robinson) and the pairing ofJonah andBad Dude Tito. He attacked Robinson while the referee was distracted, allowing Tito to hit a frog splash on Robinson for the win.[66] This saw the reformation of TMDK, with Haste and Jonah tagging together (as Jonah was a member of the stable on the Australian independent scene). On the 3 April episode ofNJPW Strong, Haste caused a disqualification loss to FinJuice after he struck Robinson with a steel chair. Robinson challenged TMDK and Tito to a Chicago Street Fight atWindy City Riot, alongside a mystery partner.[67] At the event, TMDK and Tito were defeated by FinJuice and their partner, revealed to beBrody King.[68] On 14 May, atCapital Collision, Haste reunited withMikey Nicholls, as TMDK defeated theUnited Empire.[69] Haste and Nicholls then entered a tournament to become the inauguralStrong Openweight Tag Team Champions, but were defeated in the semi-final to the pairing ofChristopher Daniels andYuya Uemura.[70]
In September, Haste made his debut in Japan for NJPW, working tag matches alongside Jonah and Bad Dude Tito. The following month, Haste and Tito teamed atNJPW Strong: New Japan Showdown, competing in a four-way tag-team match to become the number one contenders for the Strong Openweight Tag Team titles, but the match was won by Stray Dog Army (Barrett Brown and Misterioso).[71] In November, Haste and Nicholls teamed together in theWorld Tag League.[72] The duo finished with a total of 12 points, narrowly failing to advance to the finals.[73] On 4 January 2023 atWrestle Kingdom 17, Haste competed in theNew Japan Ranbo, but failed to last until the final 4.[74] Later in the show, Haste and Nicholls approachedZack Sabre Jr., who had just won theNJPW World Television Championship, and offered him a TMDK shirt, which he accepted, officially joining the stable.[75] The following day atNew Year Dash!!, Sabre teamed with HNicholls and Haste to defeatChaos (Hirooki Goto,Tomohiro Ishii andYoshi-Hashi). At the event, the trio also added young lion,Kosei Fujita as a new member.[76] The victory at New Years Dash!! caused Haste and Nicholls to be in contention for theIWGP Tag Team Championship, held by Bishamon (Hirooki Goto and Yoshi-Hashi). Haste and Nicholls received their title shot on 5 February atThe New Beginning in Sapporo, but were unsuccessful in defeating Bishamon.[77] In April, the duo faced new championsAussie Open (Mark Davis andKyle Fletcher) for the titles, but again failed to capture the titles.[78] In July, Haste was announced to be a part of the 2023G1 Climax tournament, his first NJPW singles tournament.[79] Haste competed in the D Block, finishing with 5 points, thus failing to advance to the quarterfinals.[80]
On 1 May 2022, at Delivering the Goods, Haste was defeated byJack Cartwheel; it was his first match in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla since 2009.[81] On 3 July, at Nineteen, Haste defeated Titus Alexander.[82]
As Shane Thorne, he made hisvideo game debut as a playable character inWWE 2K18 and has since appeared inWWE 2K19 andWWE 2K20.[83][84][85] He also appears inWWE 2K22 under his Slapjack persona.
Veryzer began dating actress Kimmy Jimenez, of the popularYouTube channelSmosh, in May 2020. The couple announced their engagement in February 2022,[86] and they were married on 20 May 2023. He isagnostic.[87]
While I acknowledge the possible existence of him, as an agnostic I don't put my belief inJoe Hendry. Sorry.
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