Early life[]
Roach Cooper (born Jason Gannon) was born the 28th September, 1986. He attended elementary school in Portland, Oregon but moved with his family to Oco Poco, Mexico before he started Junior High School. Once there Roach met his future wife, Lena. Cooper left school in Eight Grade and became involved in the illegal immigration of Mexicans into America. While on the Rio Grande selling fake passports and ID to Mexicans looking for a new life in America he became involved heavily with the cocaine trade. Roach was arrested by Texan marshalls at 16 and failed a psychological assessment before being sent to New Mexico's Mental Asylum. Cooper murdered a nurse inside the asylum and soon found himself in Juvenile Hall. He was freed at the age of 18 and could not find work with any industry within America, Mexico or Costa Rica. As such, he tried his hand at sports and music. Originally joining a death metal band named "Harsh Discrimination" he travelled with the band to Portugal and was arrested there for battery and assault. Roach was deported and kicked out of the band, moving back in with his parents in Oco Poco he joined a wrestling academy to try and develop a wrestling career.
Original Lucha Libre in Extreme[]
OLLIE was opened by Dos Hombres Excelencia, a Lucha Libre tag team who had made a name for themselves as major stars on the Mexican independent scene before travelling to Japan. Roach Cooper joined their professional wrestling school in 2004 and started his training beneath them. Roderigo Lopez (one of the trainers) took particular interest in Roach due to his acrobatic skills and his recklessness and lack of regard for his safety. Lopez tried as hard as he could to keep Roach off of cocaine and heroin, however, Cooper ignored his pleas and continued his drug usage during his training. Roach joined their advanced class in September, 2004 and was ready to graduate by December, the quickest anyone had gone through the course. The administrator of the school, Diego Pasquelle, got Roach into contact with an Australian touring promotion, Real Edge Wrestling and Roach joined their 2005 tour.
Wrestling career[]
Real Edge Wrestling[]
REW's owner, Carlos Dwyer, invested time and money into Roach Cooper to develop him as one of the bigger stars of the promotion. Roach managed to capture the REW World Heavyweight Championship before he turned 19, becoming the youngest REW World Heavyweight Champion ever. Roach would become involved in a feud with the psychotic Predator of REW. Predator became a major influence on Roach, teaching him various Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Muay Thai holds and strikes. Predator also tried to influence Roach in a positive way, trying to get him away from drugs and alcohol. Roach instead lashed out at one point and put Predator into the hospital for three weeks with a cracked eye socket. Carlos Dwyer stripped Roach of his title and fired him from his position in REW, cutting off all support that they had supplied for Roach, leaving him destitute in Australia.
Total Allstar Action[]
TSA's owner, Dimitri Houshmandzadeh, hired Roach as a new star of TSA who were trying to compete with REW in Australia. TSA made a tour of Pakistan in 2005 just after Roach turned 19. Roach was meant to be in the main event of the tour's final night, however, he no-showed the event. Dimitri did some digging and discovered that Roach had jumped the Pakistani border into India and travelled through India to Afghanistan. It would be two years before Roach would resurface in the wrestling world, approaching Dimitri asking for a job. Dimitri turned Roach down and told him he was blacklisted within Australia.
Championship Deathlock Wrestling[]
CDW was the new home of Roach Cooper once he arrived in Japan. He made a name for himself there with high flying daredevil moves and deathmatch wrestling that made him a Face in the hardcore style. Cooper adopted a darker gimmick when he joined the Dark Karnival stable with the Tokyo Lady Killers and GAIA. GAIA and Roach became increasingly close and soon became a tag team called GAIA with Gaijan. It was with GAIA that Roach won his first Tag titles by capturing the NFHU Jr. Tag Team Championships in a 20,000 Thumbtacks Tag Team Deathmatch. Roach spent the remainder of 2007 making a name for himself in CDW and eventually was offered a spot with Pro Wrestling New Technique in Canada. He decided to leave CDW and join PWNT. CDW was the one place that Roach had never been brought into disripute with because of his attitude or behaviour and at this point it seemed he was clean of his drug habit.
Pro Wrestling New Technique[]
Arriving in Quebec he became fluent in French, adding a 4th language to his ever expanding repoirtire. He won the PWNT Brass Knuckles Championship on his debut with the promotion and soon captured the PWNT French-Canadian Championship before unifying the belts. In early 2008 Roach no-showed an event with PWNT and the owner, Donille Owens, announced that Cooper no longer had any assosciation with Roach Cooper.
Two Worlds Wrestling Federation[]
Roach Cooper seemed like he was on the road to an early retirement until he was thrown a lifeline by old friend, Predator. Predator had recently been working with 2WWF and heard how Roach's career was going, he decided to put in some good words with 2WWF Talent Relations and soon got Roach into the promotion. Roach made his debut in the first round of Hell Games with no hype surrounding him and was a complete unknown. Many people suspected he was simply a jobber when he walked out. His opponent was a mystery as it was a returning superstar. It was revealed on the night to be Tony You'll and Roach and Tony faced off in the first round of Hell Games. Roach pulled out the shock victory and advanced to the next round of Hell Games. In the second round, Roach was teamed with Rob Chapman to face off with Ace Acid and Minkaro. Ace Acid and Minkaro pinned Rob for the victory and Roach lost in Hell Games by extension. This would also mark the first night Roach was found with drugs on his possession backstage at 2WWF. Joey Miles was the one who found Roach backstage off his face on crack cocaine and covered for him to keep him protected.
Roach soon found himself in a feud with a man who would become his mentor in 2WWF, Lx-Tim. Tim talked to creative after Roach was eliminated from Hell Games and managed to include Roach in a Fatal Four Way Ladder Match with Lx-Tim, Apollas Creed and Tony You'll. Roach made a name for himself in the match by leaping off a twenty foot ladder in the ring to the outside atop the other three competitors on the outside of the ring. Roach didn't win the match and also was scolded by 2WWF creative writers for adlibbing in an interview earlier in the night and breaking gimmick. At Revelations the next month Roach was involved in a Triple Threat with Ace Johnson and Klutz to decide the number one contender for the Internet Championship. Again Roach lost and after this turned into a darker gimmick. He became more sadistic as he refused to compete as the "young jobber" any more and told 2WWF creative to either push him as something different or he'd leave.
At Crosswired 2008, Roach faced off against newcomer Azryth in an Electrified Cell Match. Roach was scolded by staff backstage for taking some insane risks in the match, including getting himself electrocuted for at least a minute and hitting a spot that could have killed Azryth. Roach won the match to advance in the Internet Championship Tournament for Lethal Lottery. At Lethal Lottery Roach competed in a match for the Internet Number One Contendership and the LionHeart Championship. Jason Reid and Ricky Neilson joined him in a Triple Threat Ultimate X Match. The match ended in a controversial manner when Roach detached the briefcase for the Number One Contendership and then fell. Jason Reid looked to retain his LionHeart title but dropped the title into the arms of Roach who was awarded the title, starting his first 2WWF title reign. Once again drugs were discovered on his person at this show, this time by Dr. Siebert, a medical practitioner backstage. This time Roach was warned by corporate to clean up his act or risk termination.
At Violent Reaction, Roach's feud with Lx-Tim culminated in a match for the Internet and LionHeart Championships. Although Lx-Tim won, Roach proved to everyone he could hang with the big boys and in a creative meeting was told he would be given a bigger push. At 11th Hour this saw Roach Cooper's main event debut when he competed in the Redemption Chamber. Roach fell short of taking the title from Ace Acid and was pinned twice in the match, earning him two separate penalty periods. Roach was revealed to be the mastermind behind the kidnapping of Ace Acid's son after the culmination of the match and in his biggest push yet he was put into an intense feud with Ace Acid. Roach Cooper got his second 2WWF World Championship shot in a Salt in the Wounds match at Step Up. In one of the most savage matches ever seen in 2WWF, Ace Acid eventually won the match to retain his title by repeatedly smacking the head of Cooper in with a steel chair after tying him in the barbed wire ropes.
After this Roach was discovered yet again with drugs. He was found backstage before the match with cocaine and an excessive amount of vicodin in his bag, this time by Joey Miles again. Joey couldn't cover for Roach again and Cooper was fined by 2WWF. Soon after Roach went AWOL from 2WWF for a few months and was reported missing by his wife Lena. Roach turned up again in a non-wrestler role, managing Ken Taylor. Ken became LionHeart Champion in a feud with Crow and in the feud, Roach was legitimately injured after he was dropped while attached to a cross from 30 feet in the air. Roach required serious surgery on his leg and was expected to be out for three months. Roach made his return the week before Nemesis, only six weeks after his injury. He interfered in a match between Ken Taylor and Rob Chapman for the LionHeart title. Roach has said he'll be returning in a full contact aspect after Nemesis.
Title History[]
- REW World Heavyweight Championship
- TSA Universal Championship
- TSA Hardcore Championship [x6]
- CDW Jr. Heavyweight Championship [x2]
- CDW Jr. Tag Team Championship w/ GAIA [x2]
- PWNT Brass Knuckles Championship
- PWNT French-Canadian Championship
- PWNT Unified Championship [x2]
- 2WWF LionHeart Championship
Personal life[]
Roach is married to Lena Dominiguez, a Mexican immigrant in America. The two live in Portland, Oregon when Roach is not touring with 2WWF and are expecting their first child in seven months. Roach also legally changed his name in 2007 to Roach Cooper. Roach is estranged from his parents, however, is close to his Aunt in Oregon. Roach has a legitimate criminal record, having spent two years in a prison in Mexico for the murder of a midwife at a mental asylum, however, as he was a minor he was released at 18. He was also charged for assault and battery in Portugal and is not allowed within the country. Roach speaks four languages fluently, English, Spanish, Japanese and French. Roach also revealed that during his disappearance from 2WWF and anything else he attended Belevue Rehab Clinic for Drugs and Alcohol and is now clean from his substance abuse.
Roach Cooper's House of Fun[]
Roach opened the House of Fun Wrestling School in early 2009 and has already trained several 2WWF stars including, Ronnie Wright, Brian Harrison, Aidan Brave, The Manic Mauler and Lucy Malysiak.