The Irish Airborne

The Irish Airborne
Tag team
Members	Dave Crist Jake Crist
Name(s)	The Flying Mendoza Brothers The Irish Airborne Jake and David Crist Lotus and Crazy J Ring Rydas
Heights	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) - Dave 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) - Jake
Combined weight	393 lb (178 kg) 198 lb (90 kg) - Dave 195 lb (88 kg) - Jake
Hometown	Dayton, Ohio
Billed from	Dublin, Ohio - The Irish Airborne Southwest Detroit - Ring Rydas
Debut	2003
Promotions	ROH Chikara IWA HWA BPW IPW JCW
Trainer	Bill Kovileski Cody Hawk Matt Stryker

The Irish Airborne is an American professional wrestling tag team consisting of brothers Dave Crist (born David Crist Jr on November 10, 1982) and Jake Crist (born John Crist on July 13, 1984) from Dayton, Ohio. They are based primarily in the Midwestern United States "indy circuit", most notably the Heartland Wrestling Association, where they won the HWA Tag Team Championship a record 6-times. Irish Airborne have also worked in Chikara, IWA Mid-South and Ring of Honor as well as Canadian promotions Far North Wrestling and UWA Hardcore Wrestling. The team currently also competes for Juggalo Championship Wrestling as the Ring Rydas, where they are the former JCW Tag Team Champions.

History

Early career

Both Dave and Jake were fans of professional wrestling growing up, favoring wrestling styles of a more extreme nature such as the Hardy Boyz in the Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match and the promotion Extreme Championship Wrestling. The two brothers along with other friends from high school began a backyard wrestling promotion. The promotion drew attention from large numbers of students from their high school and even drew the attention of the local media in a news segment. They were introduced to their trainer Bill Kovaleski who himself was in the process of forming an independent promotion and was looking for young talent. From that point on, they began formally training as singles wrestlers under the names Lotus and Crazy J. At a local promotion named UCW, there was a chance encounter with Shark Boy, who invited the brothers to a match in his Buckeye Pro Wrestling company.

Buckeye Pro Wrestling

Under the names Lotus and Crazy J, the Crists made their debut in Buckeye Pro Wrestling against Dean and Chet Jablonski in which they were defeated.^[1] The Airborne continued to wrestle their way through the ranks of BPW often feuding with the team of American Youth, ultimately defeating them on 24 February 2004 to become the BPW Tag Team Champions.^[1] During their time in BPW, the Irish Airborne had chances to work on cross promotion shows with Heartland Wrestling Association and were eventually offered a match with the HWA.

Heartland Wrestling Association

Now achieving their high school goal, the Irish Airborne entered HWA. They became instant fan favorites due to their performance in BPW and the shared fan base. Their first match was a four way tag match teaming with Viper and Zeta against 4BJ, J.T. Stahr & Jimmy Turner & Ala Hussein.^[2] Airborne had continued success in HWA leading to a tag team title championship victory against Necessary Roughness in May 2005. As success came quickly for the brothers, so did tension, ultimaly leading to a bloody feud that began in the Fall of 2005 and lasted through early 2006. The feud culminated in a best of seven series in which each brother would attempt to top the other in amounts of violence and wit. The feud finally ended in one of HWA's bloodiest and most gruesome ladder matches to date. Both men realizing neither could top the other ended the feud and began to wrestle as a team once again.

Name change and Ring of Honor

On 27 January 2006, the Crists were given an opportunity to wrestle a dark match in Ring of Honor against each other in which Lotus defeated Crazy J.^[3] The following evening they were again given an opportunity to wrestle in a dark match, this time as a tag team against Shane Hagadom & Conrad Kennedy III in which they won. On 4 March 2006, at an Insanity Pro Wrestling show in Indianapolis, Indiana, the Airborne announced that they would be no longer be wrestling under the names of Lotus and Crazy J, but instead under their real names of Dave and Jake Crist. John decided to use the first name of "Jake" rather than John because at that moment there were too many well known Johns in professional wrestling. The name change was a way of growing up for the team and an ability to drop their older persona which in a small way had ties to the Juggalo movement related to the music group Insane Clown Posse. On 11 March 2006, at Arena Warfare the Crists were able to earn a roster spot with ROH as they took on and defeated Tony Mamaluke and Sal Rinauro at the old ECW Arena.

Juggalo Championship Wrestling (2010-present)

The Irish Airborne debuted in Juggalo Championship Wrestling on May 16, 2010 in a losing effort to JCW Tag Team Champions Thomaselli Brothers.^[4] On May 26, the duo debuted as the masked tag team Ring Rydas.^[5] Jake, as Ring Ryda Red, and Dave, as Ring Ryda Blue, lost to Thomaselli Brothers.^[5] At Oddball Wrestling 2010, Ring Rydas defeated The Daivari Brothers (Shawn and Arya Daivari).^[6] The following night at Bloodymania IV, the duo lost in a Fatal 4 way Tag Team match that also featured the Haters, Briscoe Brothers, and Kings of Wrestling.^[6] At 2011's Up in Smoke, the duo defeated Mad Man Pondo and Necro Butcher to become JCW Tag Team Champions.^[7] At the next JCW iPPV "St. Andrews Brawl" they defeated the Haters in their first titles defense.^[8] On July 28, the Ring Rydas lost the JCW Tag Team Championship to U-Gene and Zach Gowen.^[9] However, Gowen forfeited the championship after realizing that U-Gene cheated to win and gave the championships back to the Rydas.^[9]

In wrestling

• The Irish Airborne
  • Finishing tag team moves
    • Irish Air Raid (Diving stomp by Dave to an opponent's head followed by a fireman's carry slam by Jake onto Dave's knees)^[3]
    • Irish Coffee (Diving stomp by Dave to an opponent's buttocks into a spike piledriver by Jake)

• Ring Rydas
  • Signature tag team moves
    • Running spear in the corner by Blue followed by an aided enzuigiri by Red^[5]
    • Shoot kick to the face of a leaning opponent by Red followed by a springboard moonsault by Blue^[5]
    • Double knee facebreaker by Blue followed by a slingshot somersault senton by Red^[5]

• Entrance themes
  • Irish Airborne
    • "Walking Dead" by Dropkick Murphys
    • "Dead To Rights" by DevilDriver - Jake Crist
    • "We Are 138" by The Misfits - Dave Crist
  • Ring Rydas
    • "Duk Da Fuk Down" by Psychopathic Rydas

Championships and accomplishments

• All American Wrestling
  • AAW Tag Team Championship (1 time, current)

• Absolute Intense Wrestling
  • AIW Tag Team Championship (1 time, current)^[10]

• Combat Zone Wrestling
  • CZW Wired TV Championship (1 time, current) - Jake^[11]

• Heartland Wrestling Association
  • HWA Heavyweight Championship (1 time) – Jake
  • HWA American Luchacore Championship (1 time) - Dave^[12]
  • HWA Tag Team Championship (6 times)^[13][14]
  • HWA Hearland Cup (2011) – Jake^[15]

• Insanity Pro Wrestling
  • IPW World Heavyweight Championship (1 time, current) - Jake^[16]
  • IPW Tag Team Championship (2 times)^[17]
  • IPW Jr Heavyweight Championship (5 times) – Dave (2) and Jake (3)^[18][19]
  • IPW Jr. Heavyweight Tournament (2004, 2005, 2006) – Dave (2004, 2006)^[18] and Jake (2005)^[19]

• International Wrestling Cartel
  • IWC Tag Team Championship (1 time)

• Juggalo Championship Wrestling
  • JCW Tag Team Championship (1 time)^[7]

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI ranked Jake #354 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2011^[20]
  • PWI ranked Dave #364 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2011^[20]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "Results". BuckeyeProWrestling.com. 2004. http://www.buckeyeprowrestling.com/results.htm. Retrieved 2009-08-06. 
2. ^ "David Crist". Wrestler Profiles. OnlineWorldofWrestling.com. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/profiles/d/david-crist.html. Retrieved 2009-08-06. 
3. ^ ^{a b} "Irish Airborne". Tag Team Profiles. OnlineWorldofWrestling.com. 2007. http://www.obsessedwithwrestling.com/profiles/i/irish-airborn.php. Retrieved 2009-08-06. 
4. ^ Kevin Gill. "KG’s Referee-Cap #3". KG’s Referee-Cap. Psychopathic Records. http://www.insaneclownposse.com/general-news/kg%E2%80%99s-referee-cap-3/. Retrieved 6 September 2010. ^{[dead link]}
5. ^ ^{a b c d e} (flv) JCW - Slam TV Express - Episode 2 (webcast). Minneapolis, Minnesota: Psychopathic Sports. 2010-06-29. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3o6rQZ2XHI. Retrieved 2010-07-08. 
6. ^ ^{a b} "Gathering of the Juggalos Wrestling Recap!". Psychopathic Sports. 2010-09-03. http://www.juggalowrestling.com/iframe.php?page_id=home&cat_id=home#a1. Retrieved 2010-09-04. 
7. ^ ^{a b} "JCW Up in Smoke at The Modern Exchange wrestling results". ProFightDB.com. 2011-04-20. http://www.profightdb.com/cards/jcw/up-in-smoke-11727.html. Retrieved 2011-10-11. 
8. ^ злобная росомаха (2011-05-05). "JCW St.Andrews Brawl report (russian)". VSplanet.net. http://news.vsplanet.net/13075-jcw-st-andrews-brawl/. Retrieved 2011-05-05. 
9. ^ ^{a b} Matt Carter (2011-07-28). "Radican's JCW "F--- The Police" iPPV Coverage 7/28: U-Gene & Zack Gowen, Rhino, Cabana, Sabu & Raven". PWInsider.com. http://pwtorch.com/artman2/publish/otherppvs/article_51746.shtml. Retrieved 2011-07-29. 
10. ^ http://www.aiwrestling.com/roster.php
11. ^ http://www.czwrestling.com/titlehistory/#WiredTV
12. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WO9-orXn4Ik
13. ^ Puroresu Dojo (2003). "Heartland Wrestling Association Tag Team Title". Wrestling-Titles.com. http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/oh/hwa/hwa-t.html. 
14. ^ Westcott, Brian (2008). "HWA Tag Team Title History". Solie's Title Histories. Solie.org. http://www.solie.org/titlehistories/tthwa.html. 
15. ^ Meltzer, Dave (2011-04-24). "Sun. update: WWE draft, Gordon makes ESPN mag, UFC TV debut on ESPN2, Lawler, Best Interviews". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. http://www.f4wonline.com/content/view/20383/. Retrieved 2011-04-25. 
16. ^ http://www.insanityprowrestling.com/2011.html
17. ^ http://www.insanityprowrestling.com/content/champions.php
18. ^ ^{a b} http://www.insanityprowrestling.com/content/davecrist.html
19. ^ ^{a b} http://www.insanityprowrestling.com/content/jakecrist.html
20. ^ ^{a b} ""PWI 500": 301–400". Pro Wrestling Illustrated. 2011-08-04. http://prowrestlingillustrated.blogspot.com/2011/08/pwi-500-301-400.html. Retrieved 2011-08-04. 

External links

Professional wrestling portal

• IrishAirborne.com