Scobille first became involved in the wrestling industry in June 1998 as a general assistant for Pro Wrestling Worldwide (PWW), a
promotion based in
Grand Rapids, Michigan where his brother, Nick, was working. Scobille spent nine months performing various tasks, including providing
color commentary and acting as the company
webmaster. After PWW
folded, Scobille began working for the Lakeshore Wrestling Organization (LsWO), and was made a
referee on March 6, 1999, substituting for a referee who was on
vacation. He began training as a wrestler under veteran Joe "El Tejano" Ortega, a former student of
Jose Lothario and the founder of the LsWO, in
Holland, Michigan in March 1999, and wrestled his debut match on May 1, 1999 at the age of fifteen as "Jimmy Jacobs", losing to Michael Stryker. Scobille completed his training in August 1999 and went on to wrestle for various
independent promotions in the
Michigan area on the weekends, while attending
high school and working as a
furniture mover during the week.
[2] After graduating, he attended
college for three years before deciding to focus on his wrestling career as a full-time job in May 2005. He created multiple
characters; perhaps the most notable being "The Barbaric Berzerker", which also functioned as a nickname attributed to Jimmy Jacobs and was a tribute to
The Berzerker and
Bruiser Brody. As The Barbaric Berzerker, Jacobs would wear large,
furry boots,
stomp on his opponents' hands, and constantly shout "Huss!". One of his earliest characters was "Jumpin' Jimmy Jacobs", a gimmick which saw him hop to the ring on a
pogo stick while wearing a
top hat.
More recently he's also played the part of the "Super Amazing Monkey" ("S.A.M." for short), a gorilla mascot for Fight Sport Midwest.
Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South (2002–2009)From 2002 to 2005, Jacobs worked for
Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South (IWA Mid-South). One of his matches in IWA Mid-South was against future tag partner Tyler Black in an Ironman Tables match which he lost. It was this match where he innovated (most likely an accident) the
flip tombstone piledriver when Black was going to Tombstone Jacobs through a table himself.
[citation needed] On September 17, 2004, Jacobs defeated
Delirious in a
ladder match to win the vacant
IWA Mid-South Light Heavyweight Championship. On December 12, Delirious defeated Jacobs in a rematch to win the title. On April 1, 2005, Jacobs defeated
Danny Daniels to win the
IWA Mid-South Heavyweight Championship. At an AAW show on November 26, 2005, Jacobs threw the IWA Mid-South Heavyweight Championship in a garbage can, citing he needed to get paid after the shows he had been scheduled to wrestle on for IWA Mid-South that weekend had been cancelled. On January 21, 2006 he lost the IWA Mid-South World Championship to
Arik Cannon and left the promotion. He returned in a surprise appearance on September 30, 2006, and has since made more surprise appearances and had a few matches, however in an "unofficial" capacity. On January 5, 2007, Jacobs wrestled his first match back as he faced his former friend
Josh Abercrombie. Jacobs would end up losing that match due to outside interference. On April 12, 2008, Jacobs defeated long-time nemesis
B.J. Whitmer in a no-rope, barbed wire match to end their feud. On March 7, 2009, Jacobs defeated
Quick Carter Gray to win the IWA-MS Light Heavyweight Championship for the second time. On June 5, 2009, Jason Hades defeated Jacobs for the title.
Ring of HonorEarly appearances and Lacey's Angels (2003–2007)Jacobs joined
Ring of Honor (ROH) in 2003 along with rival
Alex Shelley with whom he'd
feud against or occasionally
team with early on in ROH. After
Dan Maff left the company as a result of a
fallout with his trainer
Homicide, Jacobs formed a
tag team with Maff's former partner,
B.J. Whitmer. On April 2, 2005, Jacobs and Whitmer defeated
Samoa Joe and
Jay Lethal for the vacant
ROH Tag Team Championship. They lost the title to
The Carnage Crew on July 9, 2005, but regained them on July 23. They went on to lose the title again, this time to the team of
Sal Rinauro and
Tony Mamaluke, on October 1, 2005.
Jacobs and Whitmer continued to team as part of Lacey's Angels managed by
Lacey. The team broke apart as Jacobs was more concerned with winning Lacey's affections than winning matches. Jacobs would go on to make music videos for ROH professing his love for Lacey. After Jacobs and Whitmer split, the two began feuding in brutal matches. In one match at the
Dragon Gate Challenge on March 30, 2006 Whitmer slipped on the top turnbuckle while attempting a super
powerbomb that dropped Jacobs head and neck first on the ropes and edge of the ring. The two continued to wrestle several minutes longer. At
In Your Face on June 17, 2006, Whitmer super powerbombed Jacobs into the crowd. Jacobs went on to injure Whitmer at
Gut Check on August 26, 2006. It was later revealed in a storyline that Lacey was sleeping with
Colt Cabana. Lacey arranged for the two to be a tag team. Cabana left the team because he was annoyed at Lacey, and tried to explain to Jacobs that she was using him. Jacobs seemingly accepted Cabana's explanation, before assaulting him. Whitmer made his way back from injury and continued his issue with Jacobs. When
Brent Albright joined Lacey's Angels, their matches soon became tag team matches, where Whitmer and Cabana would face Jacobs and Albright. It later progressed when
Daizee Haze joined forces with Whitmer, and Lacey, in turn as the leader of the group, hired an "assassin",
Mercedes Martinez. At
The Chicago Spectacular: Night 2, Lacey was injured after Whitmer accidentally struck her in the face with a spike when Jacobs moved out of the way. Jacobs would go on to make his third music video (in which he has been described as being "demented") expressing his feelings on her disfigurement.
On March 31, 2007, in his native town of Detroit, Jacobs battled
B.J. Whitmer in what the
Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter called an instant classic. The two concluded their year long feud in a
steel cage match. Jacobs won the match, but afterwards, it was announced that Jacobs had lost a tooth and torn his
Anterior cruciate ligament (an injury he previously sustained), and Whitmer had suffered a neck injury. While Jacobs was injured, ROH decided to continue the Lacey-Jacobs storyline with 4 small vignettes shown on
YouTube, detailing a trip that Lacey spent in Chicago with Jacobs; afterward, he accompanied Lacey to the
ring for her matches, in which they appeared to have swapped personalities. In August 2007, Jacobs returned to ROH winning three straight matches by defeating
Rhett Titus on August 24, Mitch Franklin on August 25 and
Chris Hero on September 14.
The Age of the Fall (2007–2009)Main article:
The Age of the FallFor months leading into the ROH return to Chicago there were cryptic messages on a blog of a stable entering ROH that was code-named "Project 161". After making a successful return to ROH, Jacobs, the returning
Necro Butcher and the debuting
Tyler Black attacked the
Briscoe Brothers immediately following their ladder match with
Kevin Steen and El Generico, which confirmed that Jacobs was behind Project 161. Jay Briscoe was hung upside from the rigging that was used to hoist the titles from the ladder match and, as Jay's blood dripped onto Jacobs, he announced the beginning of
The Age of the Fall. The angle was so controversial that ROH decided to remove the footage from the
pay-per-view that was being taped at the event. The footage was heavily requested by ROH fans, however, so it was shown on the ROH Videowire for the week of September 15, and a "blood edit" of their debut is featured on the DVD of the event,
Man Up. Later on in the event, Tyler Black and Jack Evans faced off in a dark match until both Jacobs and Necro Butcher got involved.
The Irish Airborne (David and Jake Crist) entered the ring to save Jack Evans, which lead to a six-man tag team match between The Age of the Fall and the team of Evans and the Irish Airborne. The match ended a
no contest as Necro Butcher attacked the referee.
The day after their debut, their website revealed that all the blog entries had been written by
Tyler Black. In an interview with a German website, Jacobs revealed there would be more people involved. This was incorporated into British promotion 3CW in early November when Jacobs was revealed as the newest member of a similar faction in the promotion known as The Lost, managed by Sean David.
[4] Jacobs faced
Sterling James Keenan on November 11 in a "Street Fight" in Middlesbrough, England.
[5] A woman named
Allison Wonderland would also become a follower of Jacobs on November 30, debuting in Dayton during a 4-Way Tag Team Scramble match. At
Unscripted III, Jacobs defeated former ROH World Champion
Bryan Danielson with his new finisher, the
End Time. At
Final Battle 2007, Jacobs and Tyler Black defeated the Briscoe Brothers to win the ROH World Tag Team Championship. On January 25, 2008, Jacobs teamed with the returning
Joey Matthews, the newest member of The Age of the Fall, in a losing effort against
Roderick Strong and
Rocky Romero of the
No Remorse Corps. The following night, Jacobs and Black lost the ROH World Tag Team Championship to the No Remorse Corps'
Davey Richards and Romero in an Ultimate Endurance match, also involving
Brent Albright and BJ Whitmer of The Hangmen 3, and Austin Aries and Bryan Danielson. On February 22, 2008, Jacobs introduced
Zach Gowen as the newest member of the group. Following the announcement the two of them were defeated by the Vulture Squad of
Jigsaw and
Ruckus. The group at this time had an open invitation for
Austin Aries to join them, writing blogs and posting YouTube videos about and directed at him.
Tammy Lynn Sytch had made a counter offer to Aries of her services (including offering money and sex) against him joining the group. On March 30, 2008, Aries left the ring with Lacey, who was going to 'convince' him, and it was implied that the two had sex. At this show
Rain accompanied the group to the ring, as she has done in
Full Impact Pro, because the show was in Florida. On April 19, Lacey left the group, siding with Austin Aries romantically. Aries also turned down the invitation into the group. Jacobs, heartbroken by Lacey leaving him, broke down in the ring to the chants of "Cry, Jimmy, Cry!" from fans and being covered with streamers. Later in the show Jacobs showed signs of a mental breakdown as he hit himself in the head with his trademark spike, to the concern of his fellow group members. The
main event was changed as Jacobs pulled out. "The Vulture Squad" (
Ruckus,
Jigsaw and
Jack Evans) were then beaten by the combination of Matthews, Black and Gowen (who replaced Jacobs). Post match Jacobs called out Aries and the two brawled, before Aries was attacked Black, Matthews and Gowen. Jacobs went to attack Aries with his spike, but stopped when Lacey begged him not to. On October 25, Jacobs and Aries then had an Anything Goes match where Jacobs won, but lost a Dog Collar match to Aries on November 8, after losing a large amount of blood.
[6] In a match set to end the feud, Jacobs lost to Aries in an
"I Quit" match at
Rising Above. During the match Lacey returned and almost threw in the towel for Aries, but Aries begged her not to. Lacey then prevented Tyler Black from throwing in the towel for Jacobs, forcing Jacobs to say "I Quit". As a result of the loss to Aries, Jacobs attacked Black at
Final Battle 2008 in December. Jacobs and Black continued to feud for several months, and on June 27, Black defeated Jacobs in a steel cage match. Afterwards, over a dozen men dressed in black clothing and black masks climbed into the cage and attacked Black, while Jacobs proclaimed that the Age of the Fall was not over. The following night, after
Kenta had defeated Black, Jacobs and his followers attacked Black again and tried to hang him upside down above the ring, but were stopped by Kevin Steen, El Generico and Delirious. They hung Jacobs upside down above the ring, with Black declaring that the Age of the Fall was finished. During mid-July 2009, it was revealed that Jacobs had left ROH. A video package was shown on
Ring of Honor Wrestling, where Jacobs announced that he was leaving, and he later confirmed his departure in an interview on July 14.
Other promotions (2003–present)Throughout 2003 and 2004, Jacobs worked for
Combat Zone Wrestling, where he was
managed by then-girlfriend
Becky Bayless. In May that year, he won a match against
Eddie Guerrero via disqualification on
SmackDown, followed by Guerrero giving Jacobs a follow up beating. Jacobs was part of the first season of
Wrestling Society X, a
promotion that aired on
MTV. He competed as part of an
emo tag team with
Tyler Black, known as D.I.F.H. (Doin' It For Her). They mainly competed on the WSX web show WSXtra, where they earned a place in the tag title tournament,
which didn't take place as the company folded before it was set to happen in season 2. Jacobs made his debut for Action Zone Wrestling in Hawaii at
Halloween Hangover 3 on October 24, 2007, in a losing effort to local wrestler Akua. Jacobs made his Wrecking Ball Wrestling debut on February 15 2009 losing to the top contender Billy Club.
[1] On December 15, 2009, the promotion
Evolve posted a video on their YouTube page called "Unknown", hyping someone named "Abstract Wrestler". Over the next two weeks, more videos were posted, until a final video was posted on December 26, revealing that the wrestler was Jacobs. The video confirmed that Jacobs would appear on Evolve's first show on January 16, 2010. At the event Jacobs defeated
Kenn Doane.