| Johnny Jeter | |
|---|---|
 Jeter in 2006 | |
| Birth name | John Jeter[1] |
| Born | (1981-12-14)December 14, 1981 (age 43)[1] San Diego,California, U.S.[1] |
| Alma mater | California State University |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Conquistador Dos[1] Jayden Jeter[2] Johnny[1] Johnny Jeter[1] |
| Billed height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[1] |
| Billed weight | 218 lb (99 kg)[1] |
| Trained by | Nick Dinsmore[1] |
| Debut | 2002[1] |
John Jeter (born December 14, 1981) is an Americanprofessional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances withWorld Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in 2006 asJohnny, a member of TheSpirit Squad.
Jeter was trained by Nick Dinsmore (also known asEugene), and made his wrestling debut in 2001. He began working forOhio Valley Wrestling (OVW), which led to him signing a developmental contract with WWE in 2003. AlongsideMatt Cappotelli, he won theOVW Southern Tag Team Championship, and also won theOVW Heavyweight Championship in singles competition. Jeter became part of the Spirit Squad and debuted onRaw in January 2006. They won theWorld Tag Team Championship once. After being released from WWE, he returned to OVW. He retired, but returned to the ring in 2019.
After being trained byNick Dinsmore, Jeter debuted in 2001, and began working forOhio Valley Wrestling (OVW).
In 2003, Jeter signed a contract withWorld Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), and continued to wrestle in OVW, which was WWE'sdevelopmental territory, although he occasionally made appearances indark matches for WWE.[3] In one of his earliest dark matches, Jeter teamed withNova in a loss toChuck Palumbo andNunzio on the February 23, 2003 episode ofVelocity. Hispay-per-view debut was at the2003 Vengeance event, when Jeter appeared as themasked Conquistador #2 in theAPA's Barroom Brawl match.[1]
In 2004, Jeter formed atag team withMatt Cappotelli known as the Thrillseekers. The Thrillseekers wrestled in several dark matches before bothRaw andSmackDown, defeating the teams ofJohnny Nitro andChris Cage, andMNM.[1] On January 19, 2005, The Thrillseekers defeated MNM to win theOVW Southern Tag Team Championship.[4] They successfully defended the championship against MNM andThe Heart Throbs, before losing it to theBlond Bombers (Tank andChad Toland) on April 6.[1][4]
On July 27, The Thrillseekers defeated MNM to become the number one contenders to the Tag Team Championship, in a match with the added stipulation that whoever gained thepin would receive a match for theOVW Heavyweight Championship. The Thrillseekers got simultaneous pins, but it was Jeter who received the championship match.[1] On August 3, Jeter defeated the OVW Heavyweight Champion,Brent Albright, to win the championship, afterKen Anderson andDaniel Puder interfered on his behalf.[1][5] After the match, Jeterturned into aheel (villainous character) by attacking Cappotelli, who had suffered an injury. In the following weeks, Jeter also attacked Albright, announcer Dean Hill, and officialDanny Davis.[1][6][7]
Jeter quickly formed an alliance with Ken Anderson, who helped him retain the championship on several occasions. They later addedPaul Burchill to the alliance as anenforcer.[1] After holding the OVW Heavyweight Championship for five months, Jeter lost it to Cappotelli in atwo out of three falls match on November 9, 2005.[1][5] Jeter challenged Cappotelli on numerous occasions Cappotelli in an attempt to regain the championship, but was unsuccessful.[1]
In OVW, he became a part of TheSpirit Squad, afaction using thein-ring personas of male cheerleaders, using the name "Johnny".[1] On January 23, 2006, they had their WWE television debut as a group, appearing onRaw and helpingJonathan Coachman win aRoyal Rumble qualifying match againstJerry Lawler by distracting Lawler and performing cheers for Coachman.[8] They later became a part of the ongoing scripted feud between WWE chairmanVince McMahon andShawn Michaels. Theheel (villainous) McMahon brought in The Spirit Squad to attack Michaels on numerous occasions, including placing them in multiplehandicap matches.[9][10]
They also wrestled in the tag team division and onRaw on April 3, The Spirit Squad won theWorld Tag Team Championship whenKenny andMikey, with outside help from the other three members, defeatedKane and TheBig Show.[11][12] After winning the championship, all five members of The Spirit Squad were recognized as the champions, allowing any combination of them to defend the championship.[1]
In May, McMahon signed another handicap match, with The Spirit Squad facing Michaels. The Spirit Squad instead attacked Michaels before the match started, and Triple H came out to help The Spirit Squad. Triple H felt disrespected by The Spirit Squad however, and as a result, helped Michaels instead.[13] This led to Triple H and Michaels reformingD-Generation X (DX) and they began a feud with The Spirit Squad.[14][15] DX played varioussophomoricjokes on The Spirit Squad and the McMahons, as well as defeating The Spirit Squad in handicap tag team matches atVengeance and a clean sweep in anelimination handicap match atSaturday Night's Main Event XXXIII.[15][16][17]
At the same time as their feud with DX and their alignment with McMahon, The Spirit Squad also wrestled other teams inRaw's tag division over their World Tag Team Championship, successfully defending the championship against the teams ofJim Duggan andEugene,Charlie Haas andViscera, andSnitsky andVal Venis.[18] They then entered a lengthy feud withThe Highlanders, whom they eventually defeated to retain the championship at theUnforgivenpay-per-view in September.[19][20] The Spirit Squad as a whole later began a losing streak with Johnny, Mikey, andMitch losing singles matches toRic Flair on consecutive episodes ofRaw.[21][22][23] After two consecutive losses to the debutingCryme Tyme, Kenny announced that he was going to defeat Flair, and was successful with the help of the other members.[24][25] It was then announced that Flair and a legend, selected by interactive voting, would wrestle the team for the World Tag Team Championship at theCyber Sunday pay-per-view in early November.[25] The fans choseRoddy Piper, and he and Flair defeated Kenny and Mikey to win the championship.[26]
The group disbanded on the November 27 episode ofRaw, when they were defeated in a five-on-three handicap match by DX and Flair. In a backstage segment later that night, DX placed all members into a crate stamped "OVW,Louisville, Kentucky", a reference to the developmental territory from where The Spirit Squad had come.[27]
Following the breakup of The Spirit Squad, Johnny became the second member of the team to return to the main roster when he appeared during a 30-manbattle royal on the December 18 episode ofRaw, wearing new wrestling attire.[3][28]
Jeter made his return to OVW on February 14, 2007, by defeatingDeuce in a dark match prior to the television tapings.[29] In May 2007, Jeter challenged Shawn Spears for the OVW Television Championship, but was unsuccessful.[30] In June, he formed a team with Seth Skyfire, before returning to competing in the singles division. He challengedPaul Burchill for the OVW Heavyweight Championship in mid-2008, but was unsuccessful.[31]
Beginning in August, Jeter made numerous appearances in dark matches prior toRaw andSmackDown!. He also wrestled atECWlive events. Beginning with the October 17, 2007 live event inManchester,England, Jeter changed his ring name to "Jayden Jeter".[2] In June 2008, it was revealed that Jeter had been quietly released from his contract before January 2008.[3] In 2019, Jeter clarified that he left WWE on his own terms, rather than being released, after having to overcome the addiction topainkillers.[32]
In September 2014, Jeter broke his retirement to participate in theChikara promotion's2014 King of Trios tournament, wrestling as "Johnny" and teaming with his former Spirit Squad stablemates Kenny and Mikey.[33] After a win overSinn Bodhi and the Odditorium (Qefka the Quiet and Sir Oliver Grimsly) on September 19, the Spirit Squad was eliminated from the tournament in the second round on September 20 by the Golden Trio (Dasher Hatfield,Icarus andMark Angelosetti).[34] Following the tournament, Jeter returned to retirement.
In early-2019, Jeter broke his retirement once again, beginning making appearances with Championship Wrestling from Arizona (CWFA).[35]
Following his initial retirement in 2008, Jeter went back to college to study accounting at California State University, Northridge. Jeter has since earned his Bachelor of Science in Professional Accountancy and works in Internal Audit.[36]
a Johnny defended the championship with eitherKenny,Mitch,Nicky, orMikey under theFreebird Rule.
Jayden Jeter (aka Johnny Jeter)
,Internet Wrestling Database