Jay Swift

Jason Gallardi is a professional wrestler currently working for True Honor Wrestling under the ringname Jay Swift. He is a THW Triple Crown winner, having won the tag team, International and World Championships, and is also the 2011 Gateway to Glory match winner. Previously, he has worked for the NIWF, where he won the Provincial Championship upon his debut, FCW, and HCW, where he was the first HCW Chaos World Champion, and the only one to win it twice. He is to be inducted into the THW Hall of Fame, Class of 2012, in July 2012.

Beginnings
Swift was born on December 19, 1984 to Victor Gallardi and Catherine Sampson Gallardi in Phoenix, Arizona. Little is known about his childhood. His father was believed to be a chiropractor, though that is not confirmed. His mother worked as a medical assistant at Phoenix Memorial Hospital from 1989 to 2000. Swift's initial interests in wrestling are not known, but it is believed that his father got him interested. Once he entered high school, Swift tried out for, and made the varsity high school wrestling team. His high school career turned out to be phenomenal as he went 184-0 through his entire four years and won four state championships at his weight class. He was the centerpiece for what was an otherwise moribund wrestling team. However, during his sophomore year, he faced adversity as his mother's twin sister Cassandra, on orders from his uncle Rick, killed his father. For 11 years, he believed that she killed his mother too, but he would eventually find out that his mother fought back and killed her in self-defense, then disappeared and emancipated him for his own good. Swift would finish high school living alone and making ends meet by a combination of working at various fast food restaurants and his parents life insurance.

Fortunately for Swift, his wrestling skills got him attractive scholarship offers from the top wrestling programs such as Minnesota and Iowa State. However, he decided to stay in Arizona and attend the University of Arizona. There, he would continue his amateur dominance, winning four national championships. Upon graduation from Arizona in 2007, Swift was left with a very difficult decision: it was to train for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, as he had an offer from the US Olympic team, or try and make ends meet in the professional ranks. After his final collegiate win, Swift made the decision to go pro.

UPCW
Literally days after his commencement ceremony, after sending out tapes to various promotions, Swift signed with an independent Canadian wrestling promotion known as United Provincial Championship Wrestling on May 12, 2007. The day after, on May 13, he met a southern Californian woman, an aspiring wrestler in her own right, to become his manager, Marina Valdivia. Five days later, on May 18, Swift, as a heel, wrestled in his first professional match, a triple threat Provincial Championship number one contender's match with Azrael and Misty Blaze, which the latter would win after pinning the former.The same night, it was announced that UPCW was merging with their parent company, the NIWF. Five days later, at UPCW's final show, Swift was entered in a battle royal to determine the UPCW representative in a fatal four way for the Unified World Championship at the Hellbound Pay-Per-View. Swift finished fourth in an impressive performance. UPCW became NIWF Friday Night Terror, and both his and Marina's contracts were one of the select few picked up by the NIWF.'

NIWF
On May 27, at NIWF Hellbound, Swift was in a triple threat I Quit match for the now renamed NIWF Provincial Championship against the champion Bret Harris and Misty Blaze. Swift made Harris quit, and thus, in just his third professional wrestling match ever, Swift got his first taste of championship gold and immediately became the face of Friday Night Terror. That same night, he interfered in the main event and cost DeWolf the match, sending the former world champion into a career tailspin in which he would never recover from. A few short days later, Swift defeated Harris again in a steel cage match to send him off the Terror brand. Both he and Marina started to become majorly prominent on the fledgling brand, with Marina getting in the ring herself. At NIWF Global Warfare on June 24, 2007, Swift defeated Johnny Dreamer in a tables match to successfully defend his championship. Furthermore, he and Marina joined Kris Destiny and Tomas Montgomery to form the Syndicate. In July, Swift picked up a huge win over NIWF legend Julio Stitchez, further cementing his rising stock in the company. That same month, at the PPV, Swift retained his championship against Tony DeLuca. In August, he would again defend his title against Tim Timmons. With Marina claiming the NIWF Women's Championship, the couple was by far the two faces of Terror. August though, brought change. Swift made another defense against Jamal 5000 and was selected to participate in his first world championship and main event at Baddlands on August 26, 2007 against Julio Stitchez and Kyle Murphy. Days before however, Marina had backstabbed Kris Destiny and Swift chose to go with her and leave the Syndicate, ending the faction. While Swift lost the match (Julio pinned Kyle) due to interference by Kris Destiny, revenge was taken as he, Marina, Anthony Bloodbath and Zero McHannon beat down the worthless hack and formed the Death Sentence in the process.

Further change occurred days later when Swift was defeated for the Provincial Championship by Fido. Just a few short weeks after this, the Terror brand was disbanded and he and Marina were both moved to the Sunday Night Storm brand. At September's pay per view, Rumble Roulette, Marina would backstab Swift and on October 8, having broken up over the weekend, the two had their first match ever against each other in the Storm Championship tournament semifinals, which was a victory for Marina. Swift would continue to be in the NIWF, with his last match being at NIWF Terror Tactics on October 29, 2007. A four way involving Destiny, AJ Miller and Zero to determine who would challenge for the NIWF World Championship, Swift fell short after Zero pinned Miller. At this time however, Swift was negotiating a new contract with the NIWF, which was set to expire on October 31. But on that night, the NIWF pulled a legitimate screwjob on Marina, humiliating and degrading her in front of a worldwide audience. Disgusted by management's actions, Swift allowed his contract to expire and he closed negotiations with the NIWF.

First Run
Shortly after his NIWF departure, Swift became a part of the United Wrestling Alliance by signing with both FCW and HCW (then known as XHCW and UHWF respectively). He made his debut on Monday Night Genocide on November 19, 2007 in a losing effort to Kaanen Thorne. After a brutal battle the following week at the Last Call Brawl with former Syndicate stablemate Tomas Montgomery, Swift was a part of the roster, but aside from beating Jake E. Dangerously at UWA Supercade in December (as a UHWF representative no less), there was not much notable that occurred as 2007 ended. In 2008, after tough breaks to start the year, Swift finally pulled through as he defeated KJ Holliday in a bullrope match on March 3, 2008 to win the vacated Extreme Championship. The next week, he immediately had a successful title defense. Swift managed to defend the title three times and during his reign, he'd join the Profit Posse alongside the world champion Trax, Montgomery and Chris Clemens. However, on April 7, Swift lost the title in controversial fashion to Boxer. The Posse was falling at the seams and after the April 21 Genocide, Swift was released from his contract.

Second Run
Three months later however, Swift and FCW agreed to terms and he returned to the company. He started out well, avenging his loss to Boxer by defeating him in a triple threat match, however, that, and a Shores of Victory match 6th place finish in August would be the only highlights in this go around. After three months of frustration, Swift walked out of the company, never to return. Swift has stated that his second run in FCW was by far the lowest point of his entire career.

Honor Championship Wrestling (2007-2009)
Swift signed with HCW (then UHWF) along with FCW following his NIWF departure. Unlike his FCW tenure however, his time in HCW managed to take him to the next level. In his second match in HCW in November 2009, he won a battle royal at the Championship Chaos PPV to gain a UHWF TV Title shot. On December 3, 2007, Swift became a champion again as he defeated Kris Calloway with help from his new manager/girlfriend Violet Matthews. This marked Swift's first championship win since the NIWF Provincial Championship. He finished out 2007 strong with a win over Jake Dangerously at UWA Superrcade to win a future UHWF World title shot, which would come in handy later. Going into 2008, the UHWF split into two brands: the flagship Monday Night Hardcore brand, and the upstart Friday Night Chaos brand. Swift would be assigned to Chaos, and just like NIWF Friday Night Terror, he would be one of the faces of the fledgling show.