New Jack, best known for his time in ECW, has passed away from a heart attack. He was 58 years old. The news was broken by PWInsider, who learned from New Jack’s wife Jennifer. It has since been confirmed on his official Facebook page.
New Jack (real name Jerome Young) started wrestling in 1992, and began to get noticed during his time in Smoky Mountain Wrestling. He teamed with Mustafa Saed to form The Gangstas, a team that would explode in popularity in ECW.
Jack is best known for his time in ECW, where he consistently pushed limits with the risks he would take. His style and interviews made him a fan favorite in ECW. The Gangstas would win two ECW Tag Team Championships, and New Jack would win one more alongside John Kronus in the Gangstanators. New Jack also had brief runs in XPW and TNA.
His career is not without controversy. New Jack didn’t shy away from telling people how he felt in shoot interviews, and his career was chronicled in a second season episode of Dark Side of The Ring. Jack’s most infamous moment is the Mass Transit Incident, where Jack bladed an aspiring wrestler named Erich Kulas too deeply. The cut caused two severed arteries in Kulas’ head, who had lied to Paul Heyman about his age and was only 17. Jack was tried for battery charges and sued by the Kulas family.
Our condolences to New Jack’s family, friends, and fans.
