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William Jason (Jay) Reso (born November 30, 1973 in Kitchener, Ontario), better known by his stage name Christian is a Canadian professional wrestler. He is best known for his work in World Wrestling Entertainment, including his run in the dominant tag team Edge and Christian. Despite being a heel for most of WWE run, he gained some measure of popularity, especially in his native Canada for his cocky persona and his humorous promos. Although he was considered to be over with the fans, his push to main event status was inexplicably cut short and several months after being transferred to WWE's secondary show SmackDown! his resignation was announced by WWE.com on October 31, 2005.

World Wrestling Entertainment

The name Christian came from his earlier wrestling name, Christian Cage, which was a spur of the moment combination of the names of the actors, Nicholas Cage and Christian Slater. Trained by Ron Hutchinson, Christian's wrestling career began in June 1995 in a match against Zakk Wylde, a fellow trainee from Sully's Gym in Toronto. One of his first stage names was Canadian Rage. From very early in his career Christian formed one half of a tag team with Adam Copeland ("Edge"), first called "High Impact", later "The Suicide Blondes", and most recently simply "Edge and Christian". Also allied with Judd the Studd, the duo held titles in numerous wrestling promotions, and Christian held the East Coast Wrestling Association title before signing with the World Wrestling Federation (now World Wrestling Entertainment) in August 1998.

Edge and Christian

Christian had some early singles success, capturing the Light Heavyweight Championship in his debut match. However, his real success came while wrestling in the tag circuit. Christian was given the character of a vampire and formed a stable with Edge and Gangrel known as The Brood. The Brood briefly joined The Undertaker's Ministry of Darkness, but left after Christian was thrown out of the group.

The gothic angle was unsuccessful, but soon after, Edge and Christian began to reach their potential. On October 17, 1999, at WWE No Mercy, Edge and Christian competed against The Hardy Boyz in a Ladder Match for the Terri Invitational Tournament. Although the Hardys won the match, the careers of both tag teams soared, and fans gave them a standing ovation. After a run as faces most notable for their tendency to approach the ring via the audience, Edge and Christian redefined themselves as a bumbling comic duo of surfer / teenyboppers. They were most known for their "5 second poses," which mocked either the opponents or city they happen to be in and their finisher, "the con-chair-to" which was a double chair shot to an opponent. They began to hang out with Kurt Angle and repeatedly captured the World Tag Team Championships, as well as winning a triple threat ladder match and two TLC matches. In 2001, Rhyno debuted in the WWF, aligning himself with Edge and Christian.

Friction arose within the team after Edge won the annual King of the Ring tournament. Christian appeared to be jealous, and insisted on carrying Edge's trophy to the ring. His true colors were revealed to the world after he assaulted his on-screen brother and tag team partner Edge after he lost a WCW Championship Match to The Rock in September 2001. The former partners went on to feud over the Intercontinental Championship for several months. They dropped the storyline brotherhood gimmick when he and Edge broke out on their own.

Singles competition

Christian began a singles career, becoming known for throwing tantrums in the ring when he was unable to gain a pinfall. After a series of defeats, Christian announced that he was quitting the WWF. Diamond Dallas Page, then using the gimmick of a perpetually cheerful motivational speaker, persuaded him not to quit and adopted him as his protegè. Christian teased a face turn before betraying his mentor and solidifying his heel status. Christian faced DDP for the WWE European Championship at WrestleMania X8, but was defeated and once again threw a tantrum in the middle of the ring.

Christian then formed a tag team with fellow Canadian Lance Storm as part of the UnAmericans faction and then became the sidekick of Chris Jericho, with whom he once again won the Tag Team Championships. Christian helped Jericho eliminate Shawn Michaels from the 2003 Royal Rumble by dressing as Jericho and distracting Michaels, allowing Jericho to attack him from behind.

During the time when a heel The Rock drafted from Smackdown! to WWE RAW, Christian befriended him and was therefore told by The Rock himself that Christian was "his new favourite WWE Superstar". Delighted to hear that from the Rock, Christian began using many of The Rock's mannerisms, which varied from calling his fans "The Peeps" (similar to The Rock calling his fans "The People") to using The Rock's one arm raised victory pose. He even called himself "The New People's Champion" and used his newfound charisma to defeat Booker T at WWE Judgment Day for the vacant WWE Intercontinental Championship in a special 20 Man over the top rope battle royale. He claimed that The Rock called him to "bring home the Intercontinental Championship" and furthermore used his victory to establish himself as The People's Champion.

However, the Rock wasn't too happy about Christian's claims and his imitation of The Rock, so he would appear on Chris Jericho's Highlight Reel interview segment and confront Christian about this, stating that The Rock is "The one and only People's Champion". Unhappy about this, Jericho and Christian assaulted The Rock, only to fall victim to The Rock Bottom and The Book End when Booker T made the save. With this, The Rock officially turned face.

Captain Charisma

In 2004, Jericho and Christian split, beginning a long feud involving WWE Diva Trish Stratus, the on-camera love interest of Chris Jericho at the time, who Christian had injured on an episode of RAW. During a match between Christian and Jericho at WrestleMania XX, Trish betrayed Jericho, allowing Christian to defeat him. Trish then joined forces with Christian and his "Problem Solver" Tyson Tomko to make Jericho's life on RAW miserable. The team eventually split, with Tomko deciding to remain with Christian.

Christian's gimmick became that of a cocky, overconfident heel, although he is immensely popular in Canada. He dubbed himself "Captain Charisma" and on December 6, 2004 was forced to wrestle as Captain Charisma, complete with superhero costume, by his rival Chris Jericho, who was general manager for the night. Christian was often accompanied by Tyson Tomko, and usually won his matches with interference from Tomko or by some other creative method of cheating. Christian was loosely paired with Edge again several times in late 2004 and early 2005. Despite being a heel, he acquired a cult fanbase, who he refers to as his "Peeps", "Peepulation" (a play on the word "population") or the "Christian Coalition". He was given new entrance theme music, an edited version of "Just Close Your Eyes" by the rock band Waterproof Blonde.

At the 2005 Royal Rumble, Christian had an encounter with then-WWE US Champion John Cena and claimed that he was a better rapper than Cena. Over the next months, Christian began making promos denouncing John Cena as a 'poser'. Soon after Cena came to RAW from Smackdown, He went on to successfully defend the WWF Championship in a Triple Threat Match between himself, Christian and Jericho at Vengeance.

Between the run-ins with Cena, Christian participated in the "Money in the Bank" Ladder Match at WrestleMania 21. He was generally a non-factor, though one of the more memorable moments was when Tomko carried him half-way up a ladder, then Christian got his ladder knocked over by Kane, going over the top rope and landing in Tomko's arms. He also had a primary role in the parody trailer for Basic Instinct in connection with the "WrestleMania goes Hollywood" theme at the event.

On the June 30 episode of SmackDown!, Christian was the second-to-last man drafted to SmackDown! in the 2005 WWE Draft Lottery. He replaced The Big Show in a six-man elimination match for the new SmackDown! Title, and finished as the runner-up to John Bradshaw Layfield.

Christian bragged about how he was on the main event of both RAW and SmackDown! in the same week (even though he lost both times). However, he was defeated by Batista in a lengthy non-title match on the July 7, 2005 edition of Smackdown!. Christian was soon given his own interview segment on SmackDown! called "The Peep Show."

At The Great American Bash on July 24, 2005 in Buffalo, New York, Christian lost a match to Booker T. Christian then lost a Fatal Four Way match against Chris Benoit, Booker T and Orlando Jordan for Benoit's United States title at the No Mercy 2005 event, tapping out to Benoit's Sharpshooter.

On October 31, 2005, Christian quit WWE. According to Dave Meltzer, he was asked on the spot to sign a new contract during the tapings for the October 21, 2005 edition of SmackDown!. He wouldn't sign the contract, and his last match occured during the tapings for the November 4, 2005 edition of SmackDown!.. Despite his quitting, however, it is reported that Christian will be present at the RAW production, Taboo Tuesday, and will work if he is selected to compete in the RAW vs. SmackDown match featured on the card. Most likely, Christian (Jason) has a no compete clause similair to Brock Lesnar's and most everyone who either quits or gets fired from the WWE. It's said, "Good things come to those who wait" so perhaps after the no compete clause is up, we can expect to see Christian in TNA, following the footsteps of others such as D'Lo Brown, BG James (formerly Road Dogg), Jeff Hardy, Kip James (formerly Billy Gunn), Rhino (Rhyno in WWE) and Team 3D (formerly the Dudley Boyz) Christian would be a great addition to the TNA roster, unless WWE and Christian can come to terms in the near or distant future, then do not expect to see Christian on WWE television anytime soon.

Quotes

• "'Cause that's how I roll!"
• "'Cause I'm Captain Charisma!"
• "'I'm Captain Charisma, damn it!"
• "This is for all my peeps out there!"
• "Get ready, 'cause the Capt'n is about to make it happen!"

Finishing and signature Moves

• Un-Prettier / Impaler (standing rotating inverted double underhook facebuster)
• Diving reverse DDT
• Inverted facelock neckbreaker/backbreaker
• Texas cloverleaf
• Reverse tornado DDT ("CCT")
• One man con-chair-to
• Impaler DDT
• Gutbuster Drop
• Sitout Inverted Suplex Slam

Personal life

Reso married a German woman, Denise, on May 25, 2001. He has a tattoo (the head of a bulldog with a yellow rose in its mouth) on his upper bicep.

Championships and accomplishments

Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) ranked him # 454 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years". He also has been part of two PWI Awards. They were Match of the Year in 2000 and 2001. Both matches were Edge & Christian vs. The Dudley Boyz vs. The Hardy Boyz. In the East Coast Wrestling Association, he was once ECWA Heavyweight Champion and in Pennsylvania Championship Wrestling was PCW Heavyweight Champion once.

External links

• Wrestling Update - WWE Biography - Christian
• Jay Reso Fansite
• Christian Fansite
• Jay Reso Fansite

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• 1973 births
• Ontario sportspeople
• Canadian professional wrestlers