Christian Cage
| Jason Reso | |
|---|---|
| File:Christian-cage.jpg | |
| Born | November 30, 1973 Kitchener, Ontario Orangeville, Ontario |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Canadian Rage Christian Cage Christian Captain Charisma |
| Billed height | 6 ft 1 in (185 cm) |
| Billed weight | 227 lb (92 kg) |
| Trained by | Ron Hutchinson |
| Debut | June 1995 |
William Jason (Jay) Reso (born November 30, 1973 in Kitchener, Ontario), is a Canadian professional wrestler.
He is best known for his work in World Wrestling Entertainment just as "Christian", including his run in the dominant tag team Edge and Christian. Despite being a heel for most of his WWE run, he gained some measure of popularity, especially in his native Canada for his cocky persona and his humorous promos. Although he was considered to be over with the fans, his push to main event status was inexplicably cut short and several months after he was transferred to SmackDown!, his resignation was announced by WWE.com on October 31, 2005.
He currently works for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling under the ring alias Christian Cage.
Early career
One of Reso's early lasting ring names, Christian Cage, was a spur of the moment combination of the names of the actors, Nicholas Cage and Christian Slater. Trained by Ron Hutchinson, Christian's wrestling career began in June 1995 in a match against Zakk Wylde, a fellow trainee from Sully's Gym in Toronto. One of his first stage names was Canadian Rage. From very early in his career Reso formed one half of a tag team with his childhood friend Adam Copeland ("Edge"), first called "High Impact", later "The Suicide Blondes", and most recently simply "Edge and Christian". Also allied with Judd the Studd, the duo held titles in numerous wrestling promotions, and he held the East Coast Wrestling Association title before signing with the World Wrestling Federation (now World Wrestling Entertainment) in August 1998.
World Wrestling Entertainment
Edge and Christian
When Reso came to WWF, he shortened his ring name to Christian. He had some early singles success, capturing the Light Heavyweight Championship in his debut match. However, his real success came while wrestling in the tag circuit. Christian was given the character of a vampire and formed a stable with Edge and Gangrel known as The Brood. The Brood briefly joined The Undertaker's Ministry of Darkness, but left after Christian was thrown out of the group.
The gothic angle was successful, but soon after, Edge and Christian began to reach their full potential. On October 17, 1999, at WWE No Mercy, Edge and Christian competed against The Hardy Boyz in a Ladder Match for the Terri Invitational Tournament. Although the Hardys won the match, the careers of both tag teams soared, and fans gave them a standing ovation. After a run as faces most notable for their tendency to approach the ring via the audience, Edge and Christian redefined themselves as a bumbling comic duo of surfer / teenyboppers. They were most known for their "5 second poses," which mocked either the opponents or city they happen to be in and their finisher, "the con-chair-to" which was a double chair shot to an opponent. They began to hang out with Kurt Angle and repeatedly captured the World Tag Team Championships, as well as winning a triple threat ladder match and two TLC matches. In 2001, Rhyno debuted in the WWF, aligning himself with Edge and Christian.
Friction arose within the team after Edge won the annual King of the Ring tournament. Christian appeared to be jealous, and insisted on carrying Edge's trophy to the ring. His true colors were revealed to the world after he assaulted his on-screen brother and tag team partner Edge after he lost a WCW Championship Match to The Rock in September 2001. The former partners went on to feud over the Intercontinental Championship for several months. They dropped the storyline brotherhood gimmick when he and Edge broke out on their own.
Singles competition
Christian began a singles career, becoming known for throwing tantrums in the ring when he was unable to gain a pinfall. After a series of defeats, Christian announced that he was quitting the WWF. Diamond Dallas Page, then using the gimmick of a perpetually cheerful motivational speaker, persuaded him not to quit and adopted him as his protegè. Christian teased a face turn before betraying his mentor and solidifying his heel status. Christian faced DDP for the WWE European Championship at WrestleMania X8, but was defeated and once again threw a tantrum in the middle of the ring.
Christian then formed a tag team with fellow Canadian Lance Storm as part of the UnAmericans faction and then became the sidekick of Chris Jericho, with whom he once again won the Tag Team Championships. Christian helped Jericho eliminate Shawn Michaels from the 2003 Royal Rumble by dressing as Jericho and distracting Michaels, allowing Jericho to attack him from behind.
During this time, The Rock was drafted from Smackdown! to WWE RAW. Christian befriended him and was therefore told by The Rock himself that Christian was "his new favorite WWE Superstar". Delighted to hear that from the Rock, Christian began using many of The Rock's mannerisms, which varied from calling his fans "The Peeps" (similar to The Rock calling his fans "The People") to using The Rock's one arm raised victory pose. He even called himself "The New People's Champion" and used his newfound charisma to defeat Booker T at WWE Judgment Day for the vacant WWE Intercontinental Championship in a special 20 Man over the top rope battle royale. He claimed that The Rock called him to "bring home the Intercontinental Championship" and furthermore used his victory to establish himself as The People's Champion.
However, the Rock wasn't too happy about Christian's claims and his imitation of The Rock, so he would appear on Chris Jericho's Highlight Reel interview segment and confront Christian about this, stating that The Rock is "The one and only People's Champion". Unhappy about this, Jericho and Christian assaulted The Rock, only to fall victim to The Rock Bottom and The Book End when Booker T made the save.
Late in 2003, Jericho and Christian started to court Divas Trish Stratus and Lita, on-screen as part of a bet (for one Canadian dollar) to see who could get their target into bed first. Although the girls found out about the bet, Jericho and Stratus would stay together for the time being, leading to Jericho and Christian's split over her in early 2004. Christian was actually depicted injuring Stratus in a match on RAW. During a match between Christian and Jericho at WrestleMania XX, however, Trish betrayed Jericho, allowing Christian to defeat him. Trish then joined forces with Christian and his "Problem Solver" Tyson Tomko to make Jericho's life on RAW miserable. During a steel cage match on May 10, 2004, Christian suffered a severe back injury, causing him to miss almost four months of ring action. He returned on the August 30 2004 edition of Monday Night RAW, picking up where he left off and continuing his feud with Jericho.
Captain Charisma
Christian's gimmick became that of a cocky, overconfident heel, although he was popular in Canada and the United Kingdom. He dubbed himself "Captain Charisma" and on December 6, 2004 was forced to wrestle as Captain Charisma, complete with superhero costume, by his rival Chris Jericho, who was general manager for the night. Christian was often accompanied by Tyson Tomko, and usually won his matches with interference from Tomko or by some other creative method of cheating. Christian was loosely paired with Edge again several times in late 2004 and early 2005. Despite being a heel, he acquired a cult fanbase, who he refers to as his "Peeps", "Peepulation" (a play on the word "population") or the "Christian Coalition". He was given new entrance theme music, an edited version of "Just Close Your Eyes" by the rock band Waterproof Blonde.
At the 2005 Royal Rumble, Christian had an encounter with then-WWE US Champion John Cena and claimed that he was a better rapper than Cena. Over the next months, Christian began making promos denouncing John Cena as a 'poser'. Soon after Cena came to RAW from Smackdown, Cena went on to successfully defend the WWE Championship in a Triple Threat Match between himself, Christian and Jericho at Vengeance.
Between the run-ins with Cena, Christian participated in the "Money in the Bank" Ladder Match at WrestleMania 21. He was generally a non-factor, though one of the more memorable moments was when Tomko carried him half-way up a ladder, then Christian got his ladder knocked over by Kane, going over the top rope and landing in Tomko's arms. He earlier joined Edge and they gave a con-chair-to with ladders to Kane. He had a primary role in the parody trailer for Basic Instinct in connection with the "WrestleMania goes Hollywood" theme at the event.
On the June 30 episode of SmackDown!, Christian was the second-to-last man drafted to SmackDown! in the 2005 WWE Draft Lottery. He replaced The Big Show in a six-man elimination match for the new SmackDown! Title, and finished as the runner-up to John Bradshaw Layfield.
Christian bragged about how he was on the main event of both RAW and SmackDown! in the same week (even though he lost both times). However, he was defeated by Batista in a lengthy non-title match on the July 7, 2005 edition of Smackdown!. Christian was soon given his own interview segment on SmackDown! called "The Peep Show."
At The Great American Bash on July 24, 2005 in Buffalo, New York, Christian lost a match to Booker T. Christian then lost a Fatal Four Way match against Chris Benoit, Booker T and Orlando Jordan for Benoit's United States title at the No Mercy 2005 event, tapping out to Benoit's Sharpshooter.
On October 31, 2005, Jay Reso quit WWE. According to Dave Meltzer, he was asked on the spot to sign a new contract during the tapings for the October 21, 2005 edition of SmackDown!. He wouldn't sign the contract, and his last match occured during the tapings for the November 5, 2005 edition of SmackDown!. Despite his quitting, Christian would appear on RAW and at Taboo Tuesday 2005 and would have wrestled if he was voted in.
Contrary to prior rumors, Reso claims that WWE did not lowball him on their contract offer; in fact, supposedly, they offered him "a very hefty sum" to stay. He had made the decision to leave months before his contract expired, and had agreed in principle to terms with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling prior to his departure.
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
Reso debuted in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling on November 13, 2005 at Genesis 2005 under his original ring name, Christian Cage. After teasing an alliance with longtime friend Scott D'Amore of Team Canada and Planet Jarrett, he delivered the Un-Prettier to D'Amore and helped Team 3D drive Jeff Jarrett through a table.
Cage made his iMPACT! debut on November 19, engaging in a verbal sparring bout and brawl with "The Alpha Male" Monty Brown. Brown managed to Pounce Cage, leading to a match being scheduled between the two at Turning Point 2005, with Brown's number one contendership to the NWA World Heavyweight Championship at stake.
Cage wrestled his first match for TNA on December 8, 2005, defeating Team Canada enforcer Bobby Roode despite interference from Monty Brown. He went on to defeat Brown at Turning Point.
Cage's TNA theme is a knockoff of the song "My Last Breath" by Evanescence.
Finishing and signature moves
- Unprettier / Impaler (Inverted double underhook facebuster)
- Diving reverse DDT
- CCT (Diving reverse tornado DDT)
- Frog splash
- Gutbuster drop
- Inverted facelock neckbreaker
- One man con-chair-to
- Sitout inverted suplex slam
- Spike DDT
- Texas cloverleaf
- Tornado DDT
Championships and accomplishments
- PWI ranked him # 454 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI Years in 2003.
- PWI Match of the Year Award, 2000, with Edge, versus the Dudley Boyz and the Hardy Boyz.
- PWI Match of the Year Award, 2001, with Edge, versus the Dudley Boyz and the Hardy Boyz.
Personal life
- Reso married a German woman, Denise, on May 25, 2001.
- He has a tattoo (the head of a bulldog with a yellow rose in its mouth) on his upper bicep.
External links
- TNA profile
- Wrestling Update - TNA Biography - Christian Cage
- Jay Reso Fansite
- Christian Fansite
- Jay Reso Fansite
- Captain Charisma Fansite
