| The Irish Airborne | |
|---|---|
| Tag team | |
| Members | Dave Crist Jake Crist |
| Name(s) | The Flying Mendoza Brothers The Irish Airborne Jake and David Crist Lotus and Crazy J Ring Rydas |
| Heights | 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) - Dave 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) - Jake |
| Combined weight |
393 lb (178 kg) 198 lb (90 kg) - Dave 195 lb (88 kg) - Jake |
| Hometown | Dayton, Ohio |
| Billed from | Dublin, Ohio - The Irish Airborne Southwest Detroit - Ring Rydas |
| Debut | 2003 |
| Promotions | ROH Chikara IWA HWA BPW IPW JCW |
| Trainer | Bill Kovileski Cody Hawk Matt Stryker |
The Irish Airborne is an American professional wrestling tag team consisting of brothers Dave Crist (born David Crist Jr on November 10, 1982) and Jake Crist (born John Crist on July 13, 1984) from Dayton, Ohio. They are based primarily in the Midwestern United States "indy circuit", most notably the Heartland Wrestling Association, where they won the HWA Tag Team Championship a record 6-times. Irish Airborne have also worked in Chikara, IWA Mid-South and Ring of Honor as well as Canadian promotions Far North Wrestling and UWA Hardcore Wrestling. The team currently also competes for Juggalo Championship Wrestling as the Ring Rydas, where they are the former JCW Tag Team Champions.
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Both Dave and Jake were fans of professional wrestling growing up, favoring wrestling styles of a more extreme nature such as the Hardy Boyz in the Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match and the promotion Extreme Championship Wrestling. The two brothers along with other friends from high school began a backyard wrestling promotion. The promotion drew attention from large numbers of students from their high school and even drew the attention of the local media in a news segment. They were introduced to their trainer Bill Kovaleski who himself was in the process of forming an independent promotion and was looking for young talent. From that point on, they began formally training as singles wrestlers under the names Lotus and Crazy J. At a local promotion named UCW, there was a chance encounter with Shark Boy, who invited the brothers to a match in his Buckeye Pro Wrestling company.
Under the names Lotus and Crazy J, the Crists made their debut in Buckeye Pro Wrestling against Dean and Chet Jablonski in which they were defeated.[1] The Airborne continued to wrestle their way through the ranks of BPW often feuding with the team of American Youth, ultimately defeating them on 24 February 2004 to become the BPW Tag Team Champions.[1] During their time in BPW, the Irish Airborne had chances to work on cross promotion shows with Heartland Wrestling Association and were eventually offered a match with the HWA.
Now achieving their high school goal, the Irish Airborne entered HWA. They became instant fan favorites due to their performance in BPW and the shared fan base. Their first match was a four way tag match teaming with Viper and Zeta against 4BJ, J.T. Stahr & Jimmy Turner & Ala Hussein.[2] Airborne had continued success in HWA leading to a tag team title championship victory against Necessary Roughness in May 2005. As success came quickly for the brothers, so did tension, ultimaly leading to a bloody feud that began in the Fall of 2005 and lasted through early 2006. The feud culminated in a best of seven series in which each brother would attempt to top the other in amounts of violence and wit. The feud finally ended in one of HWA's bloodiest and most gruesome ladder matches to date. Both men realizing neither could top the other ended the feud and began to wrestle as a team once again.
On 27 January 2006, the Crists were given an opportunity to wrestle a dark match in Ring of Honor against each other in which Lotus defeated Crazy J.[3] The following evening they were again given an opportunity to wrestle in a dark match, this time as a tag team against Shane Hagadom & Conrad Kennedy III in which they won. On 4 March 2006, at an Insanity Pro Wrestling show in Indianapolis, Indiana, the Airborne announced that they would be no longer be wrestling under the names of Lotus and Crazy J, but instead under their real names of Dave and Jake Crist. John decided to use the first name of "Jake" rather than John because at that moment there were too many well known Johns in professional wrestling. The name change was a way of growing up for the team and an ability to drop their older persona which in a small way had ties to the Juggalo movement related to the music group Insane Clown Posse. On 11 March 2006, at Arena Warfare the Crists were able to earn a roster spot with ROH as they took on and defeated Tony Mamaluke and Sal Rinauro at the old ECW Arena.
The Irish Airborne debuted in Juggalo Championship Wrestling on May 16, 2010 in a losing effort to JCW Tag Team Champions Thomaselli Brothers.[4] On May 26, the duo debuted as the masked tag team Ring Rydas.[5] Jake, as Ring Ryda Red, and Dave, as Ring Ryda Blue, lost to Thomaselli Brothers.[5] At Oddball Wrestling 2010, Ring Rydas defeated The Daivari Brothers (Shawn and Arya Daivari).[6] The following night at Bloodymania IV, the duo lost in a Fatal 4 way Tag Team match that also featured the Haters, Briscoe Brothers, and Kings of Wrestling.[6] At 2011's Up in Smoke, the duo defeated Mad Man Pondo and Necro Butcher to become JCW Tag Team Champions.[7] At the next JCW iPPV "St. Andrews Brawl" they defeated the Haters in their first titles defense.[8] On July 28, the Ring Rydas lost the JCW Tag Team Championship to U-Gene and Zach Gowen.[9] However, Gowen forfeited the championship after realizing that U-Gene cheated to win and gave the championships back to the Rydas.[9]
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