Former ECW and Impact Wrestling Star Jerome “New Jack” Young dead at 58

Wrestling Star Jerome “New Jack” Young dead at 58.

Extreme Championship Wrestling and Impact Wrestling alumni Jerome Young died on Friday, May 14, 2021 of a heart attack according to Impact Wrestling.

Jerome Young AKA New Jack had last worked for Impact in 2010 had made a return to professional wrestling in 2016 was active on the independent scene until his death. Most recently wrestling fellow ECW alumni across many independent promotions in April of 2021. The bulk of his fame came from his time on the ECW roster in the mid to late ’90s as a tag team and singles wrestler.

He was a three-time ECW tag team champion holding the titles with both Mustafa and John Kronus and is still considered today to be both a legend of and one of the founding fathers of Death Match wrestling. He seemingly operated with a disdain for his own life as well as the lives of his opponents regularly driving people’s heads through tables. Throwing them from dizzying heights, and in many cases bragging about the damage, he caused to his opponents.

Young was also the subject of an episode of the Vice TV documentary series Dark Side Of The Ring in the second season which covered in detail his time in both ECW and as part of the then newly formed TNA Wrestling, the documentary would also cover his brief career as a bounty hunter from 2010-2016 and several of the more controversial moments of his professional wrestling career.

Including the now infamously known “Mass Transit Incident” where a young man convinced booker Paul Heyman that he was both 21 years old and a trained professional wrestler. Neither of those was true and the young man suffered severe injuries. The subsequent lawsuits would almost end both ECW and Young’s career.

He was also a subject of another famous Pro Wrestling documentary entitled Beyond The Mat which gave wrestling fans their first insights into their favorite competitors’ lives outside of the arena and world of professional wrestling.