Bronson Reed

Bronson Reed
Birth nameJermaine Haley
Born (1988-08-25) 25 August 1988 (age 36)
Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Spouse(s)Paige Haley[1]
Children1
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Bronson Reed
J-Rock
Jermaine Hailey
Jonah[2]
Jonah Rock
Billed height6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[3]
Billed weight330 lb (150 kg)[3]
Billed fromAdelaide, South Australia
Black Forest, South Australia[3]
Trained byDamian Slater
Hartley Jackson
DebutMay 19, 2007

Jermaine Haley (born 25 August 1988) is an Australian professional wrestler. As of December 2022, he is signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Bronson Reed. In WWE, he is a former NXT North American Champion and the winner of the 2024 André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. He is currently out of action, due to a broken ankle, which he suffered at Survivor Series.

Professional wrestling career

Independent circuit (2007–2019)

Jonah Rock against Robbie Eagles in 2013

Debuting in 2007 under the ring names Jonah Rock and J-Rock, he spent 11 years working throughout the Australian independent circuit. While wrestling in Australia, Rock earned numerous titles. He is a former three-time Wrestle Rampage Australian National Champion, former one-time Explosive Pro Wrestling Tag Team Champion, former one-time Pacific Pro Wrestling Heavyweight Championship, former one-time Heavyweight Champion, former one-time Professional Wrestling Alliance Heavyweight Champion and a former one-time Melbourne City Wrestling World Heavyweight Champion, one-time Intercommonwealth Champion and one-time Tag Team Champion.[citation needed]

Rock's early work was not limited to solely appearing in Australian promotions. He also appeared in Japan's Pro Wrestling NOAH promotion, the British promotions Revolution Pro Wrestling and PROGRESS Wrestling, the German promotion Westside Xtreme Wrestling and the American independent promotion Pro Wrestling Guerrilla.[citation needed]

WWE (2019–2021)

In January 2019, Haley's signing was announced along with 11 other recruits where he would report to the WWE's developmental territory NXT. On 9 March, he would make his debut on an NXT live event wrestling under his real name losing to Riddick Moss. In June, his ring name was changed to Bronson Reed. On the 17 July episode of NXT, Reed made his official televised debut competing in the NXT Breakout Tournament as a face, where he defeated Dexter Lumis in the first round but was defeated by Cameron Grimes in the quarter-finals. On the 21 August episode of NXT, Reed was defeated by his former TMDK stablemate Shane Thorne.[citation needed]

Reaching 2020, on the 5 February episode of NXT, he was attacked by The Undisputed Era backstage after trying to come to the aid of Kushida. The following week, he challenged Roderick Strong to a match but was defeated.[4] On the 3 June episode of NXT, Reed was defeated by Grimes. Following the match, he was attacked by Karrion Kross. On the 17 June episode of NXT, Reed defeated Leon Ruff and called out Kross challenging him to a match for the next week.[5] The following week, Reed was defeated by Kross.[6] Next, Reed would enter a short feud with newcomer LA Knight, defeating him in a singles match. After gaining momentum, he focused on the NXT North American Championship. At NXT: Takeover XXX in August, Reed was unsuccessful in winning the title.[citation needed]

In April 2021, on Night 1 of NXT Takeover: Stand & Deliver, Reed won a Six-man Gauntlet Eliminator match, to become the #1 contender for the North American Championship. On Night 2 of the event, Reed faced the reigning champion Johnny Gargano in a losing effort, but defeated him on the 18 May episode of NXT in a steel cage match to win the title, becoming the first Australian and non-American wrestler to hold the NXT North American Championship. At NXT TakeOver: In Your House, Reed teamed with the NXT Tag Team Champions, MSK to successfully defend their titles against Legado Del Fantasma in a winner take all match. On the 29 June episode of NXT, Reed dropped the title to Isaiah "Swerve" Scott after interference from Hit Row, ending his reign at 42 days.[7] On the 27 July episode of NXT, Reed was defeated by Adam Cole in what would be his final WWE match in this stint. On 6 August, Haley was released from his WWE contract.[8]

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (2021–2022)

At Battle in the Valley on 13 November 2021, Haley, using the ring name Jonah, made his New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) debut, attacking FinJuice (David Finlay and Juice Robinson), establishing himself as a heel in the process.[9] After his debut, Jonah would go on short lived winning streak defeating Lucas Riley in his NJPW in-ring debut and then a month later defeating David Finlay. On 15 January 2022, Jonah suffered his first NJPW loss in a tag team match against FinJuice as he teamed with Bad Dude Tito. On 6 March, Shane Haste, assisted Jonah and Tito, in defeating FinJuice and reformed The Mighty Don't Kneel as a stable.[10]

On 12 June during Dominion 6.12 in Osaka-jo Hall, Jonah was announced as a participant in the G1 Climax 32 tournament starting in July, as a part of the A block.[11] Jonah scored 8 points in his block, narrowly missing out on a spot in the semi-finals. However, one of Jonah's wins was an upset victory over former IWGP World Heavyweight Champion and eventual tournament winner Kazuchika Okada.[12][13]

Impact Wrestling (2021–2022)

At Turning Point on 20 November 2021, Jonah made his Impact Wrestling debut, attacking Josh Alexander and leaving him bloodied.[14][15] They had a match at Hard To Kill, where Alexander defeated him.[16][17] After his loss to Alexander, Jonah would embark on a winning streak defeating the likes of Crazzy Steve, Black Taurus, Raj Singh, and Honor No More's PCO. His winning streak would come to an end at Rebellion, after being defeated by Tomohiro Ishii. His final match was a loss to PCO in a Monster's Ball match. On 6 May, Jonah announced his departure from the company.[18]

Return to WWE (2022–present)

Bronson Reed made his unannounced return to WWE on 19 December 2022 episode of Raw, where he helped The Miz defeat Dexter Lumis in a ladder match, establishing himself as a heel.[19] On 30 January 2023 episode of Raw, Reed defeated Dolph Ziggler to qualify for the Elimination Chamber match for the United States Championship at the namesake event,[20] where he was the first participant eliminated.[21] After being eliminated last in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal by Bobby Lashley, Reed engaged a feud with Lashley from the 10 April episode of Raw, which led to a match and both men were counted out, despite his exhaustion. A week later on Raw, Reed interfered in a match between Lashley and Austin Theory, which led to a beat down of Lashley, leaving him lying in the ring.[22] A few days later, on 21 April episode of SmackDown, Reed was added to a triple threat match for the United States Championship at Backlash,[23] where Reed was unsuccessful in winning the title, as he was pinned by Theory.[24] On 9 October episode of Raw, Reed won a triple threat match to become the number one contender to Gunther's Intercontinental Championship, but failed to win the title the following week on Raw.[25] On the WrestleMania edition of SmackDown, on 5 April, Reed won the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal.[26]

On the April 29 episode of Raw, Reed challenged for the Intercontinental Championship against Sami Zayn, which he lost by disqualification after Chad Gable attacked Zayn. One week later, Reed faced Gable when Zayn attacked Gable, causing another disqualification. Later that night, it was announced that Reed would challenge for the title in a triple threat match with Zayn and Gable at King and Queen of the Ring, where Zayn retained his title.[27]

On 5 August 2024 episode of Raw, Reed attacked Seth "Freakin" Rollins, hitting him with six Tsunami splashes.[28] For the rest of the summer, Reed feuded with Braun Strowman, with the feud ending on the 30 September episode of Raw, where Reed lost to Strowman in a Last Monster Standing match, due to interference by a returning Rollins.[29] On 2 November at Crown Jewel, Reed was defeated by Rollins.[30] On the 15 November episode of SmackDown, Reed aligned himself with The Bloodline (Solo Sikoa, Tama Tonga, Tonga Loa, and Jacob Fatu), revealing himself as the fifth member for their WarGames team against Roman Reigns, Jey Uso, Jimmy Uso, and Sami Zayn.[31] At Survivor Series: WarGames on 30 November, Reed and The Bloodline lost to Reigns, The Usos, Zayn and CM Punk in the match.[32] After the event, it was revealed Reed suffered a foot injury during the match, putting him out of action for an undisclosed amount of time.[33]

Personal life

Haley is married to his high school sweetheart Paige, who made an appearance on NXT after he won the NXT North American Championship.[1] He is of Samoan descent.[34] On 24 February 2024, Haley announced on X that his wife had given birth to their first child.[35]

Championships and accomplishments

References

  1. ^ a b Laughton, Max (16 August 2020). "Bronson Reed's surreal journey from not being able to afford training to the WWE big stage". Fox Sports Australia. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  2. ^ IMPACT Wrestling Staff (29 April 2022). "JONAH - IMPACT Wrestling". Impact Wrestling. Archived from the original on 29 April 2022. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
  3. ^ a b c "Bronson Reed". WWE.
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  5. ^ "WWE NXT Results - Io Shirai Attacks, Timothy Thatcher Training Session, Santos Escobar, More". Wrestling Inc. 17 June 2020.
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