The Haas Brothers was a

Professional wrestling 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 o ...

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 ...

consisting of

real life Real life is a phrase used originally in literature to distinguish between the real world and fictional, virtual or idealized worlds, and in acting to distinguish between actors and the characters they portray. It has become a popular term on the ...

brothers Charlie and

Russ Haas Thomas Russell Haas (March 11, 1974 – December 15, 2001) was an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his work alongside his older brother Charlie in Memphis Championship Wrestling and Jersey All Pro Wrestling. Haas was a col ...

. 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 team shortly after the 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 ...

History

Jersey All Pro Wrestling (1998-2000)

Charlie and Russ Hass formed a tag team in 1998, The Haas Brothers. They first wrestled in the

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

-based

independent promotion In professional wrestling, the independent circuit or indie circuit is the collective name of independent professional wrestling promotions which are smaller than major televised promotions. It is roughly analogous to a minor league for pro wres ...

Jersey All Pro Wrestling Jersey All Pro Wrestling (JAPW) was an independent wrestling promotion based in New Jersey, United States. History 1997 Jersey All Pro Wrestling was an independent wrestling promotion that was founded by "Fat" Frank Iadeavia and Angel Surita ...

(JAPW). The two became successful by winning the vacant

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 ...

on July 22 in a three-way tag team match which also involved Skin Head Express (Lord Zieg and Crazy Ivan) and The Nation of Immigration (

Homicide Homicide occurs when a person kills another person. A homicide requires only a volitional act or omission that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from accidental, reckless, or negligent acts even if there is no inten ...

and Kane D). The two dominated the tag team division of JAPW by receiving this victory and this was the first title reign of this successful tag team. They would lose the titles to Nation of Immigration in a weapons match on August 25. Haas Brothers captured the JAPW Tag Team Championship for a second time on May 21, 1999 facing The Big Unit member Rick Silver in a handicap match. The duo would become stronger than before. Charlie and Russ had many title defenses and they would be successful as they received victories over their opponents. They faced several tag teams in matches and their in-ring ability made them the longest reigning JAPW Tag Team Champions. On February 25, 2000, the Haas Brothers defended the JAPW Tag Team Championship in a three-way tag team match against

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 ...

(

Mafia "Mafia" is an informal term that is used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the original “Mafia”, the Sicilian Mafia and Italian Mafia. The central activity of such an organization would be the arbitration of d ...

and

Monsta Mack Steven Carrasquillo (born May 3, 1979) is an American professional wrestler better known as Monsta Mack. He is perhaps best known for his stint in Ring of Honor with Dan "Mafia" Maff as the tag team Da Hit Squad. Mack currently performs on the ...

) and The Big Unit (Rick Silver and Dave Desire). Haas Brothers finally lost the titles to Da Hit Squad. This made them the longest reigning JAPW Tag Team Champions with having a reign of 280 days.

Other promotions (2000-2001)

In 2000, the Haas Brothers joined

Newark, Delaware Newark ( )Not as in Newark, New Jersey. is a small city in New Castle County, Delaware, New Castle County, Delaware, United States. It is located west-southwest of Wilmington, Delaware, Wilmington. According to the 2010 United States Census, ...

based

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

where they once again received success in the tag team division of ECWA. In 2000, they defeated

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 ...

(

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 J ...

and

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 ...

) to win 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 ...

. After reigning for a year, the Haas Brothers dropped the ECWA Tag Team Championship to

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 Wrestlin ...

and American Dragon on April 7, 2001. Following this loss, the Haas Brothers left the promotion. The Haas Brothers debuted in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

based

Hardcore wrestling Hardcore wrestling is a form of professional wrestling where disqualifications, count-outs, and all other different rules do not apply. Taking place in usual or unusual environments, hardcore wrestling matches allow the use of numerous items, inclu ...

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

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 ...

in early 2000. They both captured the CZW Tag Team Championship on February 12 in a four-way match involving the champions The Kashmireno Brothers (

and Robbie Mireno), Thrill Kill Kult (Diablos Macabre and Midknight) and Da Hit Squad (Monsta Mack and Mafia). The duo held the titles for four months before losing them to Backseat Boyz (Trent Acid and Johnny Kashmere) on June 12. During their ECWA and CZW tag title reigns, Haas Brothers also included a third title belt to their waists. They debuted in Pennsylvania Championship Wrestling during spring 2000. They defeated Boogie Woogie Brown and Jeff Peterson to win the PCW Tag Team Championship. The two had a long dominating reign which ended on September 7 when they lost the titles to

J.J. Johnson J.J. Johnson (January 22, 1924 – February 4, 2001), born James Louis Johnson and also known as Jay Jay Johnson, was an American jazz trombonist, composer and arranger. Johnson was one of the earliest trombonists to embrace bebop. Biography ...

and

Cheetah Master The cheetah (''Acinonyx jubatus'') is a large cat native to Africa and central Iran. It is the fastest land animal, estimated to be capable of running at with the fastest reliably recorded speeds being , and as such has evolved specialized ...

in a

Two out of three falls 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 ...

. The Haas Brothers made their debut in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

based

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 ...

during early 2001. The duo were successful in MCW capturing the

MCW Southern Tag Team Championship The MCW Southern Tag Team Championship was the tag team title in Memphis Championship Wrestling from 2000 until the promotion closed in 2002. Title history See also *Memphis Championship Wrestling Memphis Championship Wrestling (MCW) was a ...

three times. Their first reign came on February 21 when they defeated

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" ...

(Bo and Jack). On May 25, they lost the titles to The Island Boyz ( Ekmo and

Kimo KIMO (107.3 FM, "The Mighty Mo 107FM") is a commercial radio station located in Townsend, Montana and serves the Helena area. KIMO airs a country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated i ...

) but regained the titles on the same card in a three-way match which involved Island Boyz and the team of

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 worke ...

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. C ...

. On June 1, they lost the titles once again to Island Boyz but regained it on the same card in a three-way match which involved Island Boyz and the team of Joey Matthews and Christian York. Haas Brothers lost the titles to The A.P.A. ( Bradshaw and

Farooq Farooq (also transliterated as Farouk, Faruqi, Farook, Faruk, Faroeq, Faruq, or Farouq, Farooqi, Faruque or Farooqui; ar, فاروق, Fārūq) is a common Arabic given and family name. ''Al-Fārūq'' literally means "the one who distinguishes b ...

) on June 13 and then left the promotion.

Death of Russ Haas

After receiving success in the independent circuit, they made their way to the

's developmental territories

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

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. O ...

. The team came to an end on December 15, 2001 when Russ died while suffering from heart problems. In tribute, Charlie began wrestling with "RUSS" written on his wrist tape, and for a time wrestled with the ring name "R.C. Haas" ("R.C." standing for "Russ-Charlie") until the renamed World Wrestling Entertainment called him up to its main television roster on the ''

SmackDown ''WWE SmackDown'', also known as ''Friday Night SmackDown'' or simply ''SmackDown'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that as of currently airs live every Friday at 8 p.m. ET on Fox. Fox Deportes simulc ...

'' brand.

Championships and accomplishments

** CZW Tag Team Championship ( 1 time) *

( 1 time) *

(

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 ...

) *Mayhem Independent Wrestling **MIW Tag Team Championship (1 time) *

( 3 times) *Pennsylvania Championship Wrestling **PCW Tag Team Championship (1 time)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Haas Brothers Independent promotions teams and stables