UWA Marking Out: The Hussman Cometh
Written by Mark Guilherme for UWA Hardcore’s Official Site
The Hussman Cometh: A Look at Jimmy Jacobs
If the present tells anything of Jimmy Jacobs’ future, its to expect great things. He’s currently the Heavyweight Champion in IWA Mid South, as well as one half of the current Ring of Honor Tag Team Champions, holding major titles belonging to two of North America’s largest independent wrestling companies, and all at the age of 21.
Before Jacobs hit the ring to take on Nick Watts at the last UWA Hardcore show, I had a chance to sit down with the ‘Hussman’ and delve into a bit of his background with him.
Jacobs began his training at the Lakeshore Wrestling Organization under the tutelage of Joe Ortega, who was trained himself by legendary trainer Jose Lothario.
“I was like 14 when my brother started training,” said Jacobs. “I was just doing whatever I could to be around the business, hanging around him, hanging around the guys, setting up the ring, setting up chairs, played music, taped the shows and did commentary for the shows, did websites, whatever I could. Then when I was like 15, I got the chance to train, so I took it. I started refereeing while I was training which was around March of 1999.”
On May 1st, 1999, the Lakeshore Wrestling Organization was presenting a show in Holland, Michigan when one of the scheduled wrestlers was unable to make it to the venue. Jacobs, who was refereeing a battle royal later that night, was asked to fill the spot on the card, and debuted later that night, fulfilling his dream of becoming a pro wrestler.
A child of the 1980’s, Jimmy grew up watching the Hulk Hogan era of the WWE, idolizing Bret Hart, Macho Man Randy Savage and the Ultimate Warrior, his three favourite wrestlers who he would often imitate in play fights with his brother.
“One time in first grade I was wearing Bret Hart glasses that I ordered from WWF magazine and I was wearing them on the playground, telling kids that Bret Hart gave them to me at a WWF show,” Jacobs recalls.
Although he has yet to land a full-time position with the WWE, Jacobs’ was lucky enough to work two recent stints with the company. On May 12, 2005 Jimmy was invited by current WWE wrestler Paul London to work out in the ring before a Smackdown! show taking place in Reading, Pennsylvania. Jacobs took him up on the offer, and while at the arena, he was asked by Seargent Slaughter, Ted DiBiase and Dean Malenko, three WWE road agents, to appear on that nights show as an opponent for Eddie Guerrero in a match that furthered an angle between Guerrero and Rey Mysterio. Jimmy went on to win the match by disqualification, and achieved his biggest accomplishment yet by appearing on the same national stage which his childhood heroes battled upon. Months later on August 11, 2005, he returned to face the WWE Cruiserweight Champion Nunzio on WWE’s Saturday night show Velocity.
“It validates all the time you’ve spent in the business, to be able to call up your parents and tell them you’re going to be on WWE and that they should watch it. It went as well as it could,” Jacobs said, maintaining his goal of one day working for the WWE. “It’s the ultimate goal; it’s where people make money.”
However, should Jimmy make it to the WWE full-time, the cruiserweight division wouldn’t be his ideal destination. Standing in at 5’7, Jacobs would seemingly fit perfectly within the cruiserweight ranks, but it’s not where he desires to be. Instead, he’d rather follow in the footsteps of a certain grappler who also stands in at under the 6’ mark.
“I’m not a cruiserweight. I’m Ricky Morton. Morton wasn’t a cruiserweight; he worked with Ric Flair, that’s who I aspire to be,” Jacobs insists. “I don’t want to be the X-Division guy or in the four-way matches that last like five minutes or something. I’ll take it, but that’s not where I want to be. I’m like Morton or Steamboat, the underdog.”
It’s not often that you’ll see Jaocbs doing those types of matches in either IWA Mid South or Ring of Honor, but instead mixing it up with any challenger who happens to come his way. In IWA Mid South where he’s taken on everyone from ultra-violent legend Ian Rotten to former ROH Champion CM Punk, and defeated them all to retain his heavyweight title. Even in his debut appearance here in UWA Hardcore, Jacobs neglected to face one of the promotions high-flying stars and instead opted to face a larger opponent in Nick Watts.
It also helps that his tag partner in ROH is BJ Whitmer, one of the more dominating members of the roster. The team came together after Whitmer’s former partner left ROH and Jacobs stepped in to fill the void, winning the vacant titles with Whitmer in their first pairing together. That’s not to say that everything is perfect between the pair, as Whitmer often gets aggravated over Jacobs overt goofiness in and out of the ring. Although UWA Hardcore doesn’t have a tag division yet, should one start up, Jacobs would be more than willing to bring along Whitmer and perhaps dominate the UWA tag ranks as well.
“BJ’s a lot of fun, and he brings out a more serious side of me and I bring out a little goofier side of him, so we kind of balance things out. Before when I was all ‘ha ha’ and comedy, it was kind of getting old, and BJ was all ‘Bobby Badass’, that was getting old. We’re starting to find our niche together, as far as feeding off each other well and what we do in the ring, so yeah it would be cool.”
However, it’s not always the goofy side of Jacobs that comes through in his character. Although he came to UWA Hardcore in Barbaric Berzerker form, it’s IWA Mid South where Jimmy struts to the ring in fine suits and generally being an asshole to fans in attendance.
“Sometimes I like being the asshole in the suit because these fans can be pricks and assholes themselves, but when they’re appreciative, I like being a goofy guy in furry boots. Sometimes I hate all these people out there, but other times, they’re cool,” Jacobs said.
Whether he’s on good terms with the fans or bad terms, Jacobs can only move up in the wrestling world, and he’s got a Contra Code for anyone who may get in the way of that happening.
