Jamie Noble

Jamie Noble
Noble in April 2015.
Birth name	James Howard Gibson[1]
Born	(1976-12-23) December 23, 1976 Hanover, West Virginia, United States[1]
Residence	Melbourne, Florida, United States[1]
Spouse(s)	Angela England
Children	2
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	James Gibson[2] Jamie Howard[2] Jamie Knoble[2] Jamie Noble[2] Jamie-San[1][2]
Billed height	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)[3]
Billed weight	202 lb (92 kg)[3]
Billed from	Hanover, West Virginia[3]
Trained by	Dean Malenko[1] Bill Weaver[2]
Debut	1995

James Howard Gibson (born December 23, 1976) is an American semi-retired professional wrestler, better known by the ring name, Jamie Noble. He is currently signed to WWE as a producer.

In addition to his appearances with WWE, Noble is known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling from 1999 to 2001 as Jamie Howard, Jamie-San and Jamie Knoble and with New Japan Pro Wrestling and Ring of Honor in 2004 and 2005 under his birth name. He is a former WWE Cruiserweight Champion and ROH World Champion.^[4][5]

Professional wrestling career

Early career (1995-1999)

Gibson was trained to wrestle by Dean Malenko and Bill Weaver. He debuted on the independent circuit in 1995.

World Championship Wrestling (1999–2001)

In 1999, Gibson joined World Championship Wrestling. After training at the WCW Power Plant, he made his first appearance with the promotion on July 11, 1999 under the ring name "Jamie Howard", teaming with Jet Jaguar in a loss to CG Afi and Jeremy Lopez in a dark match at Bash at the Beach. He made his televised debut on the September 28, 1999 episode of WCW Saturday Night, defeating Alan Funk. He went on to perform in the promotion's cruiserweight division.

In February 2000, Gibson was renamed "Jamie-San" and reintroduced to WCW television as a member of the East Asian stable The Jung Dragons, with Gibson wearing a mask to conceal the fact that he was Caucasian. The stable was made up of Gibson, Jimmy Yang, Kaz Hayashi and their valet, Leia Meow. Throughout mid-2000, The Jung Dragons feuded with rival stable 3 Count. Gibson made his pay-per-view debut at New Blood Rising on August 13, 2000, with The Jung Dragons losing to 3 Count in a double ladder match.

In November 2000, Gibson left The Jung Dragons and formed a tag team with former 3 Count member Evan Karagias. Gibson removed his mask and adopted the ring name "Jamie Knoble", with he and Karagias performing as "Noble and Courageous". Noble and Courageous feuded with the remaining members of The Jung Dragons and 3 Count. Gibson continued to wrestle for WCW until the promotion was purchased by the World Wrestling Federation in March 2001.

World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment (2001–2004)

Upon the acquisition of WCW by the World Wrestling Federation (later renamed World Wrestling Entertainment) in March 2001, Gibson was one of the WCW wrestlers to be signed by the WWF. He was assigned to the WWF developmental territory Heartland Wrestling Association for seasoning, where he won the HWA Cruiserweight Championship.^[6]

Gibson debuted on the main WWE roster under the ring name "Jamie Noble" on the June 6, 2002 episode of SmackDown! by attacking the Hurricane and was joined by Nidia in a trailer park trash gimmick. He won the WWE Cruiserweight Championship^[4] and feuded with Tajiri and Billy Kidman. Noble held the title for 147 days, until he lost the title to Billy Kidman at WWE Survivor Series on November 17, 2002. Noble then got an inheritance, making both Nidia and Noble rich.^[7] Noble and Nidia both turned face by befriending Torrie Wilson and Billy Gunn. Nidia finally left him after she was "blinded" by then heel Tajiri's black mist. He became a heel again by doing things he thought Nidia could not see (mainly using her as a human shield) and lied to her about them. During that time he also feuded with Rey Mysterio for the Cruiserweight Championship. The two would face off for the Championship and Noble lost. A Boyfriend vs. Girlfriend Blindfold Match was then scheduled for Noble and Nidia at No Way Out. Noble came out on top after cheating to see where Nidia was. He left WWE on September 15, 2004 when his steroid usage came to light following a staph infection. Gibson was then released from his contract at his request to take some time off.

New Japan Pro Wrestling (2004–2005)

Upon leaving WWE, Gibson began performing under his birth name. In September 2004, he began wrestling for the Japanese promotion New Japan Pro Wrestling, where he formed a tag team with Daniel Bryan, then called American Dragon. He made his final appearance with NJPW in February 2005.

Ring of Honor (2005)

In February 2005, Gibson began wrestling for Ring of Honor. On August 12, 2005, Gibson defeated CM Punk, Samoa Joe and Christopher Daniels in an elimination four-way match to win the ROH World Championship. He held the championship until September 17, 2005, when he was defeated by Bryan Danielson.^[5] Gibson made his final appearance with Ring of Honor in October 2005, rejoining WWE shortly thereafter.

Return to WWE

The Pitbulls (2005–2006)

Noble made his return to WWE on the December 17, 2005 episode of Velocity and would later frequently team up with fellow cruiserweight Kid Kash; during June 2006, Noble and Kash debuted a gimmick, where they wore dog collars, and barked and bit^[8] and had a short face run. The pair quickly turned heel and were soon named "The Pitbulls". They then entered the hunt for the WWE Tag Team Championship. The Pitbulls was disbanded after Kash was fired from WWE on September 27, 2006.^[9]

Various feuds (2006–2009)

Noble during a WWE event in 2007.

In 2007, Noble returned to competing in the cruiserweight division and performing as an enhancement talent against Rey Mysterio and Bobby Lashley. At No Way Out, Noble competed in a cruiserweight Gauntlet Match for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship. He was eliminated by his former WCW teammate, Jimmy Wang Yang.^[10]

Noble returned to television on the June 8 episode of SmackDown!, teaming up with Chavo Guerrero and Daivari against Paul London, Brian Kendrick and Wang Yang in a losing effort.^[11] On the June 15 episode of Smackdown, Noble competed in a Fatal Four-Way number one contenders match for the Cruiserweight Championship, which he lost to Jimmy Wang Yang and also involved Shannon Moore and Daivari.^[12] In July, Noble was unsuccessful in a triple threat match for the Cruiserweight Championship against then Champion Guerrero and Funaki. Noble then competed in the Cruiserweight Open at The Great American Bash but was pinned by Hornswoggle.^[13] Noble would then begin a feud with Hornswoggle that would see him lose in various humiliating fashions, usually by countout. Moore would constantly use his obsession with Hornswoggle to humiliate him as well.^[14]

After his feud with Hornswoggle ended, Noble began an angle where he was easily defeated in his matches as punishment for being disrespectful to then-SmackDown! general manager, Vickie Guerrero.^{[15][16][17][18][19][20]} He was eventually placed in a match with Chuck Palumbo, which was expected to be yet another squash. Noble, however, defeated Palumbo,^[21] which began a feud between the two, as well as involving Palumbo's "friend" Michelle McCool.^[22][23] After his fourth win against Palumbo he came out when Chuck threatened to hurt McCool. Later in a tag team match, Palumbo attacked Noble and McCool, becoming a heel in the process.^[24][25] As a result of the double turn, Noble became a face character once again.

Noble during an ECW event in March 2008.

As part of the 2008 WWE Supplemental Draft, Noble was drafted to the Raw brand.^[26] Noble was then involved in a storyline where he tried to impress Layla on multiple occasions only to antagonize and be beaten by larger opponents.^[27][28] He started a feud with William Regal over the course of the storyline, with the two trading wins, and Layla, between them.^[29][30] On the September 15, 2008 episode of Raw, the feud escalated following Noble's victory over Paul Burchill.^[31] Layla came out and told Noble it was over and she found a man worthy of her in Regal.^[31]

On the February 3 episode of ECW Noble asked then-ECW General Manager Theodore Long for an ECW contract and lost to The Boogeyman.

On the February 23 episode of Raw, Noble suffered a neck injury in a match with Mike Knox, and was taken to a local hospital. His injury meant that the scheduled segment between Chris Jericho and Ricky Steamboat that was meant to take place in the ring, had to take place on the stage instead.^[32] It was later confirmed that the injury was not severe.^[33] Noble made his return about one month later.

Semi-retirement and backstage producer (2009–2014)

During a match with Sheamus on the November 2, 2009 episode of Raw, Noble sustained a severe back injury after landing badly from a fall out of the ring. On November 10, 2009, Noble announced he was retiring from professional wrestling due to the effects of the injury and several other nagging injuries sustained over his career.^[34]

Upon retiring, Noble began working as a producer. He made occasional appearances on WWE programming and wrestled sporadically at house shows, including a bout with World Heavyweight Champion at the time Daniel Bryan on January 13, 2012.

J&J Security (2014–2015)

Noble (center) with J&J Security partner Joey Mercury (right) and Seth Rollins (left) in December 2014.

On the September 29 episode of Raw, Noble and fellow producer Joey Mercury aligned themselves with the villainous stable The Authority. They were later named "J&J Security", with Noble and Mercury acting as bodyguards to Authority member Seth Rollins.^[35] On the November 24 episode of Raw, Noble, along with Mercury, would wrestle their first televised matches in several years, when they teamed up with Rollins in a 3-on-2 Handicap match against John Cena and Dolph Ziggler in a losing effort.^[36]

On the February 5, 2015 episode of SmackDown, J&J Security once again teamed with Rollins, this time in a 3-on-1 handicap match against Daniel Bryan, once again in a losing effort.^[37] After weeks of tension between Rollins and The Authority, on the June 8 episode of Raw, J&J Security stood up to Rollins, leaving him, before defeating Rollins in a 2-on-1 Handicap match following interference from Dean Ambrose.^[38] However, on the June 22 episode of Raw, after Rollins apologized to The Authority for his behaviour and Brock Lesnar returning and attacking him, J&J Security and Kane would help Rollins attack Lesnar.^[39] Noble would legitimately suffer three broken ribs from Lesnar after being thrown into the barricade during the brawl.^[40] On the July 6 episode of "Raw", Brock Lesnar viciously attacked J&J Security, whom an afraid Rollins sent to the ramp with Mercury to stop him from getting his hands on Rollins by confronting him near their (J&J Security's) new Cadillac, which Rollins had just given them as a gift of his appreciation the previous week. Lesnar promptly beaten down Noble and locked him into a Kimura Lock submission maneuver, suffering a broken arm in the process. Following this, it was announced that both Noble and Mercury will be out of action indefinitely.

Noble and Mercury appeared backstage on the March 14, 2016 episode of Raw breaking up the fight between Roman Reigns and Triple H.

Personal life

Gibson attended Baileysville High School in Baileysville, West Virginia, where he met his future wife, Angela England. The couple have a son, Gage, and a daughter, Paige.^[1] He has two half brothers, Cody and Dale.

On September 28, 2016, Gibson was stabbed twice outside of his West Virginia trailer park home and was hospitalized after an alleged dispute with a driver.^[41] On October 5, 2016, it was revealed that he had a collapsed lung from the stabbing.^[42]

In wrestling

Noble at the 2003 WWE Fan Axxess.

• Finishing moves
  • Cross armbar^[31][43] – 2008–2009; used as a signature move previously
  • Dragon sleeper to a facedown opponent, sometimes with bodyscissors^[2][3] – 2006–2009
  • Gibson Driver (Double underhook powerbomb, sometimes sitout^[2] or from the top rope^[44]) – 2002–2005
  • Jumping reverse piledriver, sometimes while kneeling^[2] – 2000–2001, 2005
  • Noble Last Words (Diving leg drop)^[2][45] – 2000–2001; used rarely thereafter
  • Paydirt (Single underhook DDT^[2][46] – 2005, or a guillotine choke^[47] – 2004–2009)
  • Slingblade^[2] (Fireman's carry double knee gutbuster)^[14] – 2006–2009
  • Swinging neckbreaker^[2][48][49] – 2002–2003; used as a signature move thereafter
  • Trailer Hitch (Modified figure four leglock, sometimes preceded by a dragon screw or a rolling single arm DDT)^[2] – 2003–2005
• Signature moves
  • Camel clutch^[50]
  • Cloverleaf^[46]
  • Dropkick, sometimes to an opponent's knees^[50] or from the top rope^[43]
  • High knee^[46]
  • Multiple suplex variations
    • Belly to back^[43]
    • German^[46]
    • Northern Lights^[43]
    • Super^[48]
  • Reverse hammerlock^[46]
  • Single arm DDT^[46]
• Managers
  • Layla^[51]
  • Leia Meow^[52]
  • Nidia^[48]
• Nicknames
  • "By God"^[1]
  • "New Attitude"^[45]
  • "The Redneck Messiah"^[53]
• Entrance music
  • "A Country Boy Can Survive" by Hank Williams Jr.^[54] (independent circuit)
  • "Trailer Trashin'" by Jim Johnston (WWE)
  • "The Second Coming" by CFO$^[55] (WWE; 2014–July 6, 2015; used while accompanying Seth Rollins)
  • "King of Kings" by Motörhead^[35] (WWE; September 19, 2014 – July 6, 2015; used while part of The Authority)

Championships and accomplishments

• Heartland Wrestling Association
  • HWA Cruiserweight Championship (1 time)^[1][6]
• Independent Professional Wrestling
  • IPW Light Heavyweight Championship (1 time)^[56]
• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI ranked him #42 of the top 500 singles wrestlers of the year in the PWI 500 in 2002^[57]
• Ring of Honor
  • ROH World Championship (1 time)^[5]
• World Wrestling Entertainment
  • WWE Cruiserweight Championship (1 time)^[1][4]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jamie Noble.

• Jamie Noble on WWE.com
• Jamie Gibson at the Internet Movie Database
• Jamie Noble's profile at Cagematch.net, Wrestlingdata.com, Internet Wrestling Database