Former Ring of Honor wrestler Xavier, real name John Jirus, has died at the age of 43 according to PWInsiderMike Johnson. Xavier was born in Queens, New York and trained under former ECW wrestler Tony Devito before making his debut in 1997. He competed in the first-ever Ring of Honor show in the company’s history, and eventually defeated Low- Ki to become the second man to ever hold the ROH World Championship. He first won the title in September 2002, and held it for 182 days before falling on a young Samoa Joe in March 2003. That knocked out Joe’s government of 645 days as champion, which remains the longest world championship government in the company’s history.
Xavier would have three stints with Ring of Honor, the last of which came in 2007. He had a number of tryout appearances in the WWE over the years, including appearances on Velocity and Sunday Night Heat. He had a tryout match with TNA (now Impact Wrestling) in 2010, but was not signed. He continued to work on various local promotions in the Northeast until 2016. The former champion also dabbled in mixed martial arts, competing in two amateur fights.
Ring of Honor had reserved Xavier for his return to the company back in March because he had to answer Jay Lethal at the ROH Past Vs. Present event in Las Vegas on March 14th. Unfortunately, the show was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Numerous ROH fans took to Twitter after the news broke to pay their respects.
The match that never got a chance to happen. So annoyingly sad to hear about Xavier. The first ROH champion to die. #RIPXavier pic.twitter.com/3rKg1qElVt
– Alex Kalil (@AlexKalil) August 17, 2020
RIP Xavier. The second ever ROH world champion and one of the most underrated independent wrestlers of all time. pic.twitter.com/O6rXQYoMso
– IGTIGER DRIVER🐯 (@ TigerDriver9X) August 16, 2020
Xavier is best known for the ROH title run, but he has done a lot of Tri-State India before a lot of great work (check out the ladder match with Low Ki if you have never seen it). If he had come up today, he would absolutely be in NXT and the North American title ladder competition.
Joe Gagne @joegagne August 17, 2020
Very sad news to read. Always enjoyed Xavier’s work. Feels like he got a rough deal from the early ROH fanbase. Still not sure why. REST IN PEACE
The ladder match with Ki is free on YouTube. Give it a watch. https://t.co/9ESTcsLcUr
– RobViper (@RobViper) August 17, 2020
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