John Jeter (born December 14, 1981) is 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 o ...

. He is best known for his appearances with

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 var ...

(WWE) in 2006 as Johnny, a member of The

Spirit Squad The Spirit Squad was an American professional wrestling stable in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) consisting of Kenny, Mikey, Johnny, Mitch, and Nicky. The team's ring personas were those of an all-male cheerleading squad. Before forming ...

. Jeter was trained by Nick Dinsmore (also known as Eugene), and made his wrestling debut in 2001. He began working for

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. ...

(OVW), which led to him signing a developmental contract with WWE in 2003. Alongside

Matt Cappotelli Matthew Lee Cappotelli (November 12, 1979 – June 29, 2018) was an American professional wrestler. After co-winning '' Tough Enough III'' with John Hennigan, he worked in Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), the primary developmental territory for WWE ...

, he won the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship, and also won the OVW Heavyweight Championship in singles competition. Jeter became part of the Spirit Squad and debuted on ''Raw'' in January 2006. They won the

World Tag Team Championship The world tag team championship is the name usually given to the primary tag team championship (professional wrestling), championships in professional wrestling Professional wrestling promotions, promotions. Nomenclature The name of the promo ...

once. After being released from WWE, he returned to OVW. He retired, but returned to the ring in 2019.

Professional wrestling career

Early career (2001–2003)

After being trained by

Nick Dinsmore Nicholas David Dinsmore (born December 17, 1975), better known by his ring name Eugene, is an American professional wrestler. Dinsmore's career began in 1996 in Ohio Valley Wrestling, where he would become the OVW Heavyweight Champion a record ...

, Jeter debuted in 2001, and began working for

(OVW).

World Wrestling Entertainment

Ohio Valley Wrestling (2003–2005)

In 2003, Jeter signed a contract with

(WWE), and continued to wrestle in OVW, which was WWE's

developmental territory In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, or nursery club is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a highe ...

, although he occasionally made appearances in dark matches for WWE. In one of his earliest dark matches, Jeter teamed with

Nova A nova (plural novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", which is Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. Causes of the dramat ...

in a loss to

Chuck Palumbo Charles Palumbo (born June 15, 1971) is an Italian-American television personality, motorcycle and automotive designer/fabricator, home designer/builder, and retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with professional w ...

and Nunzio on the February 23, 2003 episode of ''

Velocity Velocity is the directional speed of an object in motion as an indication of its rate of change in position as observed from a particular frame of reference and as measured by a particular standard of time (e.g. northbound). Velocity i ...

''. His

pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program g ...

debut was at the 2003 Vengeance event, when Jeter appeared as the masked Conquistador #2 in the APA's Barroom Brawl match. In 2004, Jeter formed 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 ...

with

known as the Thrillseekers. The Thrillseekers wrestled in several dark matches before both '' Raw'' and ''

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 sim ...

'', defeating the teams of Johnny Nitro and

Chris Cage Kris Pavone (born May 2, 1980) is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his time in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), where he wrestled under the ring name Caylen Croft. He was one half of the DudeBusters tag team wi ...

, and MNM. On January 19, 2005, The Thrillseekers defeated MNM to win the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship. They successfully defended the championship against MNM and The Heart Throbs, before losing it to the

Blond Bombers The Blond Bombers is a name used by several tag teams in professional wrestling. The first team to use the name was the combination of Rip Hawk and Swede Hanson. It was later used by Pat Patterson and Ray Stevens, who began teaming in 1965. Larr ...

(

Tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful ...

and Chad Toland) on April 6. 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 the pin would receive a match for the OVW Heavyweight Championship. The Thrillseekers got simultaneous pins, but it was Jeter who received the championship match. On August 3, Jeter defeated the OVW Heavyweight Champion,

Brent Albright Brent Albright (born November 28, 1978) is an American retired professional wrestler, perhaps best known for his time with World Wrestling Entertainment, during which he appeared on ''SmackDown!'' as Gunner Scott. Aside from WWE, Albright is a o ...

, to win the championship, after Ken Anderson and Daniel Puder interfered on his behalf. After the match, Jeter turned into a

heel The heel is the prominence at the posterior end of the foot. It is based on the projection of one bone, the calcaneus or heel bone, behind the articulation of the bones of the lower leg. Structure To distribute the compressive forces exer ...

(villainous character) by attacking Cappotelli, who had suffered an injury. In the following weeks, Jeter also attacked Albright, announcer Dean Hill, and official Danny Davis. Jeter quickly formed an alliance with Ken Anderson, who helped him retain the championship on several occasions. They later added

Paul Burchill Paul Birchall (born 8 October 1979), better known by his ring name Paul Burchill, is an English retired professional wrestler best known for his time with WWE. Prior to joining WWE, Burchill wrestled for the Frontier Wrestling Alliance and oth ...

to the alliance as an enforcer. After holding the OVW Heavyweight Championship for five months, Jeter lost it to Cappotelli 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 ...

on November 9, 2005. Jeter challenged Cappotelli on numerous occasions Cappotelli in an attempt to regain the championship, but was unsuccessful.

The Spirit Squad (2006)

In OVW, he became a part of The

, a faction using the in-ring personas of male cheerleaders, using the name "Johnny". On January 23, 2006, they had their WWE television debut as a group, appearing on '' Raw'' and helping

Jonathan Coachman Jonathan William Coachman (born August 12, 1973), also known as "The Coach", is an American sports analyst and former professional wrestling personality currently signed to WWE and XFL. Early life Before embarking on an announcing career in p ...

win a

Royal Rumble The Royal Rumble is a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming List of WWE pay-per-view and WWE Network events, event, produced annually since 1988 by WWE, the world's largest professional wrestling promotion. It is named afte ...

qualifying match against

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 ...

by distracting Lawler and performing cheers for Coachman. They later became a part of the ongoing scripted feud between WWE chairman

Vince McMahon Vincent Kennedy McMahon (; born August 24, 1945) is an American media proprietor and retired professional wrestling promoter, executive, and performer. From 1982 to 2022, he served as the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of WWE, the ...

and

Shawn Michaels Michael Shawn Hickenbottom (born July 22, 1965), better known by his ring name Shawn Michaels, is an American retired professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE as Senior Vice President of Talent Development Creative. Widely regarded as one ...

. The

(villainous) McMahon brought in The Spirit Squad to attack Michaels on numerous occasions, including placing them in multiple handicap matches. They also wrestled in the tag team division and on ''Raw'' on April 3, The Spirit Squad won the

when

Kenny Kenny is a surname, a given name, and a diminutive of several different given names. In Ireland, the surname is an Anglicisation of the Irish ''Ó Cionnaith'', also spelt ''Ó Cionnaoith'' and ''Ó Cionaodha'', meaning "descendant of Cionnaith". ...

and Mikey, with outside help from the other three members, defeated Kane and The

Big Show Paul Donald Wight II (born February 8, 1972) is an American professional wrestler and actor. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) as an in-ring performer, and as a commentator for its web television show, '' AEW Dark: Elevation,'' under ...

. 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. 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. This led to Triple H and Michaels reforming

D-Generation X D-Generation X (DX) is an American professional wrestling stable, and later a tag team, who consisted of Triple H and Shawn Michaels. The group originated in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now known as WWE) in the midst of the "Attitud ...

(DX) and they began a feud with The Spirit Squad. DX played various sophomoric

jokes A joke is a display of humour in which words are used within a specific and well-defined narrative structure to make people laugh and is usually not meant to be interpreted literally. It usually takes the form of a story, often with dialogue, ...

on The Spirit Squad and the McMahons, as well as defeating The Spirit Squad in handicap tag team matches at Vengeance and a clean sweep in an elimination handicap match at ''

Saturday Night's Main Event XXXIII ''Saturday Night's Main Event'' is an American professional wrestling television program that is produced by WWE (known at the time of launch as the World Wrestling Federation). Premiering in 1985, it originally aired on NBC in the United Stat ...

''. At the same time as their feud with DX and their alignment with McMahon, The Spirit Squad also wrestled other teams in ''Raw'''s tag division over their World Tag Team Championship, successfully defending the championship against the teams of

Jim Duggan James Edward Duggan Jr. (born January 14, 1954), better known by his ring name "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE on a Legends contract. His best-known character is that of an American patriot, which ...

and Eugene,

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 ...

and

Viscera In biology, an organ is a collection of tissues joined in a structural unit to serve a common function. In the hierarchy of life, an organ lies between tissue and an organ system. Tissues are formed from same type cells to act together in a f ...

, and Snitsky and Val Venis. They then entered a lengthy feud with The Highlanders, whom they eventually defeated to retain the championship at the

Unforgiven ''Unforgiven'' is a 1992 American Revisionist Western film starring, directed, and produced by Clint Eastwood, and written by David Webb Peoples. The film tells the story of William Munny, an aging outlaw and killer who takes on one more job, ...

in September. The Spirit Squad as a whole later began a losing streak with Johnny, Mikey, and Mitch losing singles matches to

Ric Flair Richard Morgan Fliehr (born February 25, 1949), known professionally as Ric Flair, is an American professional wrestler. Regarded by multiple peers and journalists as the greatest professional wrestler of all time, Flair has had a career spanni ...

on consecutive episodes of ''Raw''. After two consecutive losses to the debuting

Cryme Tyme Cryme Tyme was an American professional wrestling tag team consisting of JTG and Shad Gaspard, best known for their tenure in WWE. The team was an over-the-top parody of stereotypical street thugs. The tag team first disbanded in 2010, though ...

, Kenny announced that he was going to defeat Flair, and was successful with the help of the other members. It was then announced that Flair and a legend, selected by interactive voting, would wrestle the team for the World Tag Team Championship at the Cyber Sunday pay-per-view in early November. The fans chose

Roddy Piper Roderick George Toombs (April 17, 1954 – July 31, 2015), better known as "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, was a Canadian professional wrestler, amateur wrestler, and actor. In professional wrestling, Piper was best known to international audiences for his ...

, and he and Flair defeated Kenny and Mikey to win the championship. The group disbanded on the November 27 episode of ''Raw'', 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 Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

", a reference to the developmental territory from where The Spirit Squad had come. 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-man

battle royal Battle royal (; also royale) traditionally refers to a fight involving many combatants that is fought until only one fighter remains standing, usually conducted under either boxing or wrestling rules. In recent times, the term has been used in a ...

on the December 18 episode of ''Raw'', wearing new wrestling attire.

Ohio Valley Wrestling (2007–2008)

Jeter made his return to OVW on February 14, 2007, by defeating Deuce in a dark match prior to the television tapings. In May 2007, Jeter challenged Shawn Spears for the OVW Television Championship, but was unsuccessful. In June, he formed a team with Seth Skyfire, before returning to competing in the singles division. He challenged

for the OVW Heavyweight Championship in mid-2008, but was unsuccessful. Beginning in August, Jeter made numerous appearances in dark matches prior to ''Raw'' and ''SmackDown!''. He also wrestled at ECW live events. Beginning with the October 17, 2007 live event in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, Jeter changed his ring name to "Jayden Jeter". In June 2008, it was revealed that Jeter had been quietly released from his contract before January 2008. In 2019, Jeter clarified that he left WWE on his own terms, rather than being released, after having to overcome the addiction to painkillers.

Chikara (2014)

In September 2014, Jeter broke his retirement to participate in the Chikara promotion's 2014 King of Trios tournament, wrestling as "Johnny" and teaming with his former Spirit Squad stablemates Kenny and Mikey. After a win over

Sinn Bodhi Nicholas Cvjetkovich (; born August 29, 1973) is a Serbo-Canadian professional wrestler, best known for his stint in World Wrestling Entertainment ( WWE), where he worked on its SmackDown brand as Kizarny. He currently works the independents a ...

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 A Very Good Professional Wrestler (born 1983 or 1982), formerly known by his ring name Dasher Hatfield, is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his work in Chikara and its sister promotion Wrestling is Fun!. Professional wrest ...

Icarus In Greek mythology, Icarus (; grc, Ἴκαρος, Íkaros, ) was the son of the master craftsman Daedalus, the architect of the labyrinth of Crete. After Theseus, king of Athens and enemy of Minos, escaped from the labyrinth, King Minos sus ...

and

Mark Angelosetti Mark Angelosetti (born July 9, 1988) is an American retired professional wrestler, also known by the ring name Mr. Touchdown. Angelosetti primarily worked for Chikara, where he is a former Grand Champion, a former one-time Campeon de Parejas ...

). Following the tournament, Jeter returned to retirement.

Championship Wrestling from Arizona (2019–present)

In early-2019, Jeter broke his retirement once again, beginning making appearances with Championship Wrestling from Arizona (CWFA).

Personal life

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.

Championships and accomplishments

** OVW Heavyweight Championship (

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 ...

) ** OVW Southern Tag Team Championship ( 1 time) – with

*''

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 Publi ...

'' **Ranked No. 70 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 2004 *

( 1 time) – with

, Mikey, Mitch, and

Nicky Nicky is a diminutive form of the name Nicholas, Nicola and Nicole, occasionally used as a given name in its own right. It can also be used as a diminutive of Dominic. It may refer to: People Sports * Nicky Adams (born 1986), English-born Welsh ...

Johnny defended the championship with either

, Mitch,

, or Mikey under the

Freebird Rule The Fabulous Freebirds were a professional wrestling tag team who attained fame in the 1980s, performing into the 1990s. The team usually consisted of three wrestlers, although in different situations and points in its history, just two performed ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jeter, Johnny 1981 births 21st-century professional wrestlers Living people American accountants American male professional wrestlers Professional wrestlers from California Sportspeople from San Diego California State University, Northridge alumni OVW Heavyweight Champions