"JIMMY! JIMMY! JIMMY FUCKING HAVOC!"
Jimmy Havoc (real name James Mcahren, born March 19, 1984, at Dartford, Kent, England) is a professional wrestler trained by Andre Baker and Jon Ryan, with a penchant for hardcore/death matches, who wrestles mostly at an independent level, in companies such as PROGRESS Wrestling, Defiant Wrestling, MLW, Impact Wrestling, CZW, International Pro Wrestling: United Kingdom and Insane Championship Wrestling.
Among his accolades, he's 1x PROGRESS Champion, 1x Defiant Hardcore Champion, 1x Defiant Tag Team Champion (w/Primate), 1x NWA United Kingdom Junior Heavyweight Champion, 1x IPW:UK World Champion, 1x cOw Interstate Champion, 1x All Wales Champion, 1x FPW Champion, 1x SWE Speed King Champion, 1x SWE Tag Team Champion (w/Joseph Conners and The Pledge), 1x TXW Smash Champion and 1x All England Champion. His most recurrent Tag Team partner is Mark Haskins, with whom he's 1x PROGRESS Tag Team Championship and 2x Defiant Tag Team Champion.
On 2019 he signed for All Elite Wrestling. However, he was let go in 2020 amid domestic abuse accusations. Several social media posts in 2021 indicate that he's gotten a regular job back in England and has no intention of wrestling again.
Jimmy F'N Tropes!
- Aborted Arc: Was going to take part of a storyline with Rosemary in TNA but this was dropped, as he was only part of the company for a short time.
- Ambiguously Bi: He's never actually confirmed or denied, but considering that he's kissed several male opponents, threatened to cut Ospreay's head off and fuck him (in that order), and once got drunk in an interview with Rockstar Spud and propositioned him...
- Arch-Enemy:
- Will Ospreay in Progress. The feud
involved a Loser Leaves Town match. - Also in Progress, Jim Smallman, the man responsible for his Face–Heel Turn.
- The Anti-Fun Police in general, and "No Fun/Chief Deputy" Damian Dunne in Defiant. Dunne was the one responsible for the end of Havoc's long run as Defiant Hardcore Champion.
- Japanese Deathmatch legend and FMW veteran Dr. Luther is shaping up to be this in AEW Dark.
- Will Ospreay in Progress. The feud
- Ax-Crazy: When your Red Baron is "The King of the Deathmatch", it's a requirement.
- Ever since his Face–Heel Turn in Progress, he's viciously beaten up company co-owner (and non-wrestler) Jim Smallman, threatened to set Mark Andrews on fire to get a title match, tried to cut Will Ospreay's ear off, seemingly killed and eaten someone, and tried to act on a threat to cut Ospreay's head off. He also took to actually carrying an axe around with him towards the end of his championship run, even taking a swing at Ospreay during their final match together.
- As part of IPW's goal to get all of the Defiant titles, he and Primate fought early for the Hardcore title, and closed Defiant #9 fighting for the Tag Team titles against Mark Haskins and Chris Ridgeway. So to offset the disadvantage of having to fight two violent fights on the same day, he brought a hatchet, which triggered most of Team IPW entering to the ring and ended in a DQ, allowing Primate and Jimmy to retain the titles.
- He once tried to cut off James Ellsworth's hands with an axe, and would have actually done it had Ellsworth not got out of the way in time.
- Badass Longcoat: Has a nice one in dark red leather.
- Bash Brothers:
- With Primate in Defiant. They often fight as a team as often as they fight themselves.
- With the Haskins couple (Mark Haskins and his wife Vicky), though their team often disintegrates. Not the fault of the Haskins, as heel opponents are quick to use Jimmy's Hair-Trigger Temper to their own advantage.
- Big Bad: During his run as Progress champion.
- Big Damn Heroes: Came back to rescue Jim Smallman from Marty Scurll at Progress Chapter 36.
- Book Ends: Jimmy Havoc's Progress title run started with a pinfall counted by Jim Smallman and ended with a pinfall counted by Jim Smallman.
- Breakout Character: Quite a few other companies started to use him as the top heel after seeing what he was like as one in Progress.
- Calling Your Attacks: "RAINMAKER!"
- The Cameo: Fought a match for WWE at WrestleMania 33 Axxess. He was defeated by TK Cooper.
- Color Motifs: Often wears either all black or all white, usually with splashes of red on top.
- Combat Commentator: At ICW Hey Look! It's That Mad Wrestling Thing Aff The Telly Tour - Pin Pals.
- Cool Mask: A black leather one adorned with spikes that covers his nose and mouth, worn for his ring entrance. He also had an identical one in white leather, which he wore when he dressed in white.
- Country Matters: Is routinely called a cunt by the audience, and will occasionally address his opponents as such.
- Create Your Own Villain: It could be argued that Jim Smallman's actions were the catalyst for his first Face–Heel Turn in Progress. Smallman made Havoc compete in a hardcore match against James Davis, after Havoc made it clear that he wanted no part of that style anymore and had been told by Nigel McGuinness, that "if you can hang with Zack Sabre Jr., you can hang with anyone". To convince Havoc to do the match, Smallman gave him a contract for any match he wanted at any time. Havoc, bitter that someone he considered a friend had in Havoc's own words "shortened my fucking life", attacked Smallman with a chair at the next show and would eventually challenge the new champion, Mark Andrews, to a match and got it by threatening to set Andrews on fire. Havoc then won the championship and started his two year long reign as champion.
- Ironically, the treatment he gave Will Ospreay caused him to snap too, right around the time Jimmy was improving. Ospreay's Progress incarnation would never be a face again, and eventually that bled over into his New Japan character too.
- Crowd Chant: "Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy fucking Havoc" when they like him, and "Jimmy, Jimmy you're a cunt" when they don't.
- Deadpan Snarker: Especially during the Q&A video he took part in during his reign as Progress champion.
- Depraved Bisexual: Threatened to rape Ospreay a couple of times.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: A large part of his motivation comes down to 'After all the times I fucked myself up in deathmatches for you and this company, why do you not treat me the way I deserve?'
- Emo: The hair, the nail polish, the theme song, described himself as 'perpetually sad' once...
- Evil Former Friend: To Zack Sabre Jr..
- Facial Markings: He has had his face painted on more than one occasion.
- Face–Heel Turn: In Defiant, he turned on Primate at the end of Defiant #12, and allowed himself to be pinned so Aussie Open could get the titles, on the grounds of being tired of what the company did to him. Then he revealed that Mark Haskins would be his new tag-team partner.
- Finishing Move: A short lariat called the Acid Rainmaker.
- Flipping the Bird: Constantly. To both his opponents, and his allies, especially Mark and Vicky Haskins.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Started out in Progress as a Face who lost almost every match. After a match with his career on the line, he turned heel and became a monster, winning the Progress Championship and having the longest title reign in the company's history.
- Good Is Not Nice: Just because he's a face doesn't mean he's lost his sadistic edge. He's taking to using barbed wire quite a bit and got quite creative with some of the weapons provided by the fans for his "Fans Bring The Weapons" match against Will Ospreay, such as slicing the skin in between his fingers with records and squeezing lemon juice into cuts.
- Hate Sink: He was absolutely loathed when he was the Progress champion.
- Iconic Item: He's very associated with an axe, thanks to how he repeatedly threatened Will Ospreay with one during their feud.
- I'm a Humanitarian: In one promo for Progress, he's seen cannibalizing a body, in gruesome detail.
- Intended Audience Reaction: His reign as Progress champion featured intentionally cheap finishes to title defenses against popular faces, in an effort to make the one where he loses all the more satisfying.
- Jerkass Has a Point: When he pointed out that for all Ospreay's melodrama in demanding to make their match a "Loser Leaves PROGRESS" match, which he then lost, he came back six months later when Jim asked him to, so he was already on pretty shaky ground.
- Knight of Cerebus: Became this when he turned heel in Progress. Before that, most of the heels were just assholes. Havoc was Ax-Crazy as described before. When he threatened to set Mark Andrews on fire for a title match, someone from the crowd shouted out "you're a psychopath".
- Light Is Not Good: He often wears white behind the longcoat.
- Malevolent Masked Men: Sometimes uses these as part of his entrance. Jimmy himself wears a mask that covers his mouth, resembling a surgeon's mask covered in spikes.
- The Mentor: Among his trainees you can find names like "Pastor" William Eaver, Chuck Mambo, Damon Moser, Dahlia Black, Jack Sexsmith, Jinny, Laura Di Matteo (Elizabeth) and Pollyanna. A comprehensive list can be found here.
- Metal Scream: Part of his entrance theme, "Psychotic Euphoric".
- Mythology Gag: During the IPW invasion, he mentions that he was an IPW champion for two years.
- Power Stable:
- "KYS", with the Dunne Brothers (Pete Dunne, Damian Dunne) and MK McKinnan.
- "Regression", with, James Davis, Rob Lynch, "The Omega" Isaac Zercher, and Paul Robinson.
- "Righteous Army", with Joseph Conners, Kay Lee Ray, and The Pledge.
- "Entropy", with Mark Haskins, "Flash" Morgan Webster and Vicky Haskins.
- Put on a Bus: Since Progress Chapter 21. He lost a hardcore match to Paul Robinson, his own stablemate, during which he made a subtle face turn. Then he was helped to his feet by Jim Smallman of all people, briefly waved goodbye to the crowd as they gave him a standing ovation and left the ring. He returned about a year later, having badly injured his knee and needing time to recover.
- Havoc was taken off AEW programming in 2020 when abuse allegations were brought against him.
- Red Baron: "Suicidal", "King of the Goths" and "The King of the Deathmatch".
- Shoryuken: As a signature move, even shouting "SHORYUKEN!" while doing so, making for quite a shocking contrast between chair shots and giving people papercuts.
- Shout-Out: Gave himself the last name 'Havoc' after the lead singer of AFI.
- Signature Move: The Curb Stomp, the Death Valley Driver, a Discus Forearm called "Roaring Elbow", a Diving Foot Stomp, a Scoop Spun into Air Raid Crash combo called "Go Home Driver", and a Sleeper Hold called "Suicide Silence".
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: Boy, does he.
- Stalker with a Crush: To Rosemary in TNA, if only briefly. As her ex-boyfriend, he wanted her back despite Rosemary clearly not reciprocating his advances. It didn't end well for him.
- Superpowered Evil Side: Regression era Jimmy was a lot more effective than Entropy era Jimmy. He actually lampshaded this in a promo, saying that while his opponents tried to mock him by calling him "James" and saying he'd lost his edge, he actually liked being James, since Jimmy is a total psycho.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: His Q&A: let the fans ask a guy they almost universally hate questions, and what do you get? A bunch of references and insults, with the occasional actual question sprinkled in.
- Tag Team:
- "Callous Hearts" with Clint Margera.
- "Hammerlock Wrecking Crew" with Jon Ryan.
- "Havoc & Haskins" with Mark Haskins.
- "Unnamed Team #47" with Zack Sabre Jr..
- Tournament Arc: A more comprehensive list of the tournaments he participated in can be found here.
- He's a two-time (2006, 2007) winner and one-time (2008) finalist of NWA UK Hammerlock's Hardcore Lottery Tournament. When the Tournament went to IPW: UK, he won the 2009 edition, and reached the finals at the 2010 and 2015 editions.
- He also won the 2017 CZW Tournament of Death.
- Trademark Favourite Food: Beer.
- Villain Decay: Ospreay (and later Spike Trivet and Drew Parker) are of the opinion that Havoc has become a shadow of his old self and hardly worthy of his name (Ospreay and Parker refer to him as 'James', saying he's no longer Jimmy), leading Havoc to be booked in a series of deathmatches with the intent of him finding the old Jimmy.
- Havoc justified this in a video, saying that when he was Jimmy the uber heel, he was in a really bad place, so maybe 'James' is a mere shadow of Jimmy, but he actually likes who he is as James, and he really doesn't like who he is when he's Jimmy. But Ospreay got Jimmy back anyway...
- Villain Song: Used 'I Hope You Suffer' by AFI as entrance music (before having to switch because of copyright reasons), and it fits his entire character so well that it might as well have been made for him.
- We Used to Be Friends: With Jim Smallman when he first turned heel.
