Thomas Russell Haas (March 11, 1974 – December 15, 2001) was an American

professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

. He is best known for his work alongside his older brother Charlie in

Memphis Championship Wrestling Memphis Championship Wrestling (MCW) was a professional wrestling promotion run by Terry Golden, based in Memphis, Tennessee. The promotion's first event was on February 20, 2000, and it remained active until mid-2001. It was employed as a World ...

and Jersey All Pro Wrestling. Haas was a collegiate wrestler at

Seton Hall University Seton Hall University (SHU) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Seton Hall is the ...

, and was then trained for a career in professional wrestling by

Mike Sharpe Michael Sharpe (October 28, 1951 – January 17, 2016) was a Canadian professional wrestler better known as "Iron" Mike Sharpe. A second-generation wrestler whose father and uncle ( Mike and Ben Sharpe) also competed in the profession, Sharpe w ...

. He quickly began working on the

independent circuit In professional wrestling, the independent circuit or indie circuit is the collective noun, collective name of independent professional wrestling promotions which are smaller than major televised promotions. It is roughly analogous to a minor lea ...

alongside his brother Charlie, with the two forming a

tag team Tag team wrestling is a type of professional wrestling in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. Tag teams may be made up of wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of establish ...

known as

The Haas Brothers The Haas Brothers was a Professional wrestling Tag team consisting of real life brothers Charlie and Russ Haas. The team was very successful in the independent wrestling circuit, but Russ's death on December 15, 2001 led to the end of the tag ...

. They won the

JAPW Tag Team Championship The JAPW Tag Team Championship is a championship in the Jersey All Pro Wrestling promotion. It became official title on December 5, 1997 when The Blood Angels (Diablos Macabre and Lucifer Grimm) defeated Don Montoya and Homicide in a tournament fi ...

for the first time in mid-1998, and won it for the second time in mid-1999. They went on to win the Pennsylvania Championship Wrestling Tag Team Championship and the

ECWA Tag Team Championship The ECWA Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling tag team championship created and promoted by the American independent wrestling promotion, East Coast Wrestling Association (ECWA). There have been a total of 59 reigns and 4 vacancies s ...

in 2000, and also won the

CZW World Tag Team Championship The CZW World Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling world tag team championship owned and copyrighted by the Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) promotion; it is contested for in their tag team division. It was created and debuted on Februar ...

in early 2000. In late 2000, The Haas Brothers signed a contract with the

World Wrestling Federation World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

, and were assigned to the developmental territories, the

Heartland Wrestling Association The Heartland Wrestling Association (HWA) was a Midwestern independent professional wrestling promotion based in Cincinnati, Ohio. A former developmental territory for World Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation during the 199 ...

and

(MCW). In MCW, they won the

MCW Tag Team Championship The MCW Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling tag team championship owned by the MCW Pro Wrestling promotion. The title was created and debuted on August 18, 1998, at a MCW live event. The inaugural champions were The Headbangers (Mo ...

on three occasions during early 2001. In September 2001, Haas had a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

, and in December, died in his sleep at the age of 27. Following his death, several wrestling personalities paid tribute to Haas, including

Low Ki Brandon Silvestry (born September 6, 1979) is an American professional wrestler of Italian and Puerto Rican descent, better known by his ring name Low Ki. He is known for his time with Impact Wrestling, Ring of Honor and Major League Wrestli ...

and Kevin Kelly. JAPW held the Russ Haas Memorial Show in February 2002, and in August 2002

Phoenix Championship Wrestling Phoenix Championship Wrestling was a short-lived American independent professional wrestling promotion based in Toms River, New Jersey. It was founded by twin brothers Don and Mike Bucci in 2001 and promoted by Don Bucci until its close two year ...

held The Russ Haas Memorial Tag Team Tournament. In 2004, he was inducted into the

ECWA Hall of Fame East Coast Wrestling Association (ECWA) is an American professional wrestling promotion, founded by promoter Jim Kettner. It is home to the annual Super 8 Tournament, one of the longest-running independent wrestling tournaments in the country, a ...

and in 2007 he was inducted into the JAPW Hall of Fame.

Professional wrestling career

Haas was a former collegiate wrestler at

. On July 22, 1998,

won the Jersey All Pro Wrestling Tag Team Championship by defeating The Skin Head Express. They lost it to The Nation of Immigration just over a month later on August 25. They won the championship for the second time on May 21, 1999, by defeating The Big Unit (Rick Silver and Dave Desire), and held the championship until February 25, 2000 when they were defeated by

Da Hit Squad Da Hit Squad is a professional wrestling tag team that formerly competed in Ring of Honor, Jersey All Pro Wrestling and many other independent promotions. The members are Monsta Mack and Mafia. They are known as the ''Hardest Hitting'' tag team ...

. During 2000 they also held the Pennsylvania Championship Wrestling Tag Team Championship, which they won by defeating Jeff Peterson and Boogie Woogie Brown, and the

in the

East Coast Wrestling Association East Coast Wrestling Association (ECWA) is an American professional wrestling promotion A professional wrestling promotion is a company or business that regularly performs shows involving professional wrestling that has little relationship to ...

promotion, which they won by defeating

The Backseat Boyz The Backseat Boyz were a professional wrestling tag team that consisted of Trent Acid and Johnny Kashmere who competed in Ring of Honor, Pro Wrestling Unplugged, Combat Zone Wrestling, Assault Championship Wrestling, the Premier Wrestling Federa ...

(

Trent Acid Michael Verdi (November 12, 1980 – June 18, 2010), best known by his ring name Trent Acid, was an American professional wrestler. He worked as a tag team wrestler for most of his career, primarily as part of The Backseat Boyz with Johnny Kashm ...

and

Johnny Kashmere John Kashmer (born November 6, 1978), better known by the ring name Johnny Kashmere, is an American professional wrestler. Kashmere has competed in Ring of Honor, Combat Zone Wrestling, Assault Championship Wrestling, and NWA New Jersey, and in ...

). They also competed in

Maryland Championship Wrestling MCW Pro Wrestling (formerly known as Maryland Championship Wrestling) is a regional independent wrestling promotion based in Joppa, Maryland. It has regularly run events in the Mid-Atlantic region since the late 1990s. History Maryland Champions ...

and the Pennsylvania-based

World Xtreme Wrestling World Xtreme Wrestling (WXW) is a Florida-based independent professional wrestling promotion which has held events across the United States and toured in Japan, the Middle East and South Pacific region including American Samoa and Guam. The pr ...

. The Haas brothers began competing for

Combat Zone Wrestling Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) is an American independent wrestling promotion. In 1998, John Zandig and five of his students, Ric Blade, T.C.K, Lobo, Nick Gage and Justice Pain, along with trainer Jon Dahmer, began to run professional wrestling sh ...

(CZW) in November 1999, losing to The King Pinz at The War Begins on November 20, 1999. They competed regularly for CZW throughout early 2000, and won the

on February 12 at Climbing The Ladder by defeating The Kashmerino Brothers and The Thrill Kill Kult in a

three-way match Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "concept" or "gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick matches are more common than others and are often used to advance or conclude a ...

. On July 10, they lost the championship to The Backseat Boyz at Caged To The End, when Johnny Kashmere defeated Russ in a singles match and was awarded the championship. After a

(WWF) tryout match at

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...

on August 7, 2000, they signed a developmental contract with WWF the following day. The two worked their way through the tag ranks in the WWF's developmental territories,

(MCW) and the

(HWA). The brothers won the

MCW Southern Tag Team Championship The MCW Southern Tag Team Championship was the tag team title A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify either generation, an official position, or a professional or academic quali ...

three times during early 2001, defeating

The Dupps The Dupps were a professional wrestling tag team in southern independents and ECW during the late 1990s composed of four wrestlers and one valet. Each of their names is a play on different phrases: "Bowed up", "Jacked up", "Pucked up", "Stand up" ...

the first time and the Island Boyz and

Joey Matthews Adam Birch (born July 18, 1979), better known by the ring names Joey Mercury and Joey Matthews, is an American professional wrestler who is best known for his two tenures in WWE. Birch was most recently signed to Ring of Honor, where he worked ...

and

Christian York Jason Spence (born April 13, 1977) is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Christian York. He is best known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling, Extreme Championship Wrestling and Impact Wrestling. Ch ...

in a three-way match on both the second and third occasions.

Personal life

Haas' grandfather,

Hugh Devore Hugh John Devore (November 25, 1910 – December 8, 1992) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Providence College (1938–1941), the University of Notre Dame (1945 and 1963), St. Bonaventure Universit ...

, was an assistant with the

Houston Oilers The Houston Oilers were a professional American football team that played in Houston from its founding in 1960 to 1996 before relocating to Memphis, and later Nashville, Tennessee becoming the Tennessee Titans. The Oilers began play in 1960 a ...

and a former Head Coach of the

Notre Dame Fighting Irish The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are the athletic teams that represent the University of Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish participate in 23 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I intercollegiate sports and in the NCAA's Division ...

. Haas was married to a woman named Deedra.

Death and tributes

On September 24, 2001, Haas had a

. On December 15, 2001, he died of

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, a ...

in his sleep at the age of 27. He was found dead by his wife, Deedra, shortly after his brother Charlie had left for the night. Haas was buried at Memorial Oaks Cemetery, in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. Following Haas's death, Charlie wrestled by the ring name "R.C. Haas", adding Russ's name in front of his own and initializing both, in tribute to his brother until he was called up to the WWE main roster. Charlie also began wrestling with "RUSS" written on his wrist tape, this act of tribute lasting up to this day. On December 15, 2001, CZW's ''Cage of Death 3'' show had a

ten bell salute In professional wrestling, a ten-bell salute is given to honor a wrestler who has died, especially when the wrestler is a current member of the promotion or a distinguished former member of the promotion. It is the professional wrestling equivalent ...

for Haas, with some wrestlers wearing black armbands, and others taping "RH" on their wrestling boots. On December 17, 2001, on ''

Raw Raw is an adjective usually describing: * Raw materials, basic materials from which products are manufactured or made * Raw food, uncooked food Raw or RAW may also refer to: Computing and electronics * .RAW, a proprietary mass spectrometry dat ...

'', both Jim Ross and

Jerry Lawler Jerry O'Neil Lawler (born November 29, 1949), better known as Jerry "The King" Lawler, is an American color commentator and professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, although he has not performed as a full-time commentator since Ap ...

paid a small tribute to Haas in the middle of the show. Both William Moody and Kevin Kelly paid tribute to Haas on their websites. On July 17, 2002, first ever

Ring of Honor Ring of Honor (ROH) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Jacksonville, Florida. The promotion was founded by Rob Feinstein on February 23, 2002, and was operated by Cary Silkin from 2004 until 2011, when the promotion was so ...

Champion A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional / provincial, state, national, continental and world championships, a ...

dedicated his title win to Haas. On February 2, 2002, JAPW held the Russ Haas Memorial Show, with the JAPW roster donating their services for the event. In his honor,

Mike Bucci Michael Bucci (born June 5, 1972) is an American retired professional wrestler. Bucci is best known for his appearances in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) as Nova, Super Nova, and "Hollywood" Nova and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) as ...

and Charlie had the idea to have local indy talent and talent from

Ohio Valley Wrestling Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) is an American professional wrestling promotion and former developmental promotion based in Louisville, Kentucky. The company is currently run by Al Snow and Matt Jones and Louisville mayor elect, Craig Greenberg. ...

and

World Wrestling Entertainment World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and va ...

, who were touched by Haas' death, put on a special tag-team tournament. ''The Russ Haas Memorial Tag-Team Tournament'' was held by the small New Jersey based promotion

on August 31, 2002. There were eight teams in all, but in the end the team of Bucci and Charlie won the tournament. Haas was part of the 2004 class of inductees into the

, along with his brother Charlie. On October 27, 2007, Haas was posthumously inducted into the JAPW Hall of Fame.

Championships and accomplishments

** CZW Tag Team Championship ( 1 time) – with

Charlie Haas Charles Doyle Haas II (born March 27, 1972) is an American professional and former amateur wrestler. He is best known for his time in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) from 2000-2009 and Ring of Honor (ROH) from 2010-2013. In WWE he was a me ...

( 1 time) – with Charlie Haas **

(Class of 2004) * Jersey All Pro Wrestling **

(

2 times "2 Times" is a song co-written and recorded by British Italian-based singer Ann Lee. It was released in 1999 as the lead single from her debut album, ''Dreams'' (1999). The single entered and peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart. Outside ...

) – with Charlie Haas **JAPW Hall of Fame (Class of 2007) *

( 3 times) – with Charlie Haas *Pennsylvania Championship Wrestling **PCW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Charlie Haas *

Pro Wrestling Illustrated ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American internationally sold professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publish ...

**Ranked 130 of the Top 500 singles wrestlers in the

PWI 500 ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American internationally sold professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publi ...

in 2001.

References

External links