Jayce Kovacs

**Ricky Ashbrook** (born July 21, 1994) is an Australian professional wrestler currently signed to Gamma Pro Wrestling under the stage name **Jayce Kovacs**.

He has worked for several independent promotions throughout Australia, the United States, England, and Japan. He found the most success in the deathmatch wrestling scene being a former three-time BSWR Junior Heavyweight and Tag Team Champion, as well as a former CARNAGE Japan Junior Heavyweight Champion and their first foreigner to win their annual CARNAGE Carnival tournament in 2018.

## Early Life:

Ricky Ashbrook attended the same high school as fellow professional wrestler Nixie Caine and bonded over their enjoyment of the horror movie genre and its many tropes. They titled their clique the Losers Club as an homage to the 1990's It miniseries.

## Professional wrestling career:

### Black Label Wrestling:

Ashbrook made his in-ring debut in February 2014 competing for Black Label Wrestling. He competed primarily in the undercard as a scrappy babyface, though would go through 2014 and most of 2015 without a victory in the promotion. He would start making less appearances in the first half of 2015, later noted in a long blog post that he simply wasn't being asked to be there. Fearing he was getting stale, he signed on to be apart of the launching deathmatch wrestling division. In an interview on Kyle Radcliffe's "Wrestling Horror Stories", Ricky attributed this as both a blessing and a curse for his career as he would push himself to do dangerous spots just to keep getting noticed and booked. He was still aspiring to be a great professional wrestler during this time, so he would train harder on his actual wrestling abilities while also doing these deathmatches for more money but at greater risk. He became much more popular as his story of being a deathmatch wrestler as a means to keep his career alive circled and he quickly became a fan favorite, though, he would keep losing matches to keep this appeal for longer. Nearing the start of the new year, Ashbrook announced in a tweet that he was going abroad to England and the United States throughout 2016.

## Gamma Pro Wrestling (2020):

In early 2020, Ashbrook was announced to have signed with Gamma Pro under the Jayce Kovacs persona. He made his official debut at the second day of their Breakout event on March 4th, getting himself disqualified and eliminated from the single-elimination Gamma Pro Heavyweight Championship tournament against Nixie Caine. Later that night, He would assist Killian Crowe to defeat Naldo Lopez, aligning himself with Crowe. It was later announced this alliance would be going by the name, The Order. On March 25th, Kovacs and new member of The Order Silas Cassidy attacked Nash Calhoun and Danny Boomhauer following their victory over Raena Ripley and Dallas Madison, the latter helping fend back The Order.

## Character:

Ashbrook came up with the Jason Kovacs character after suffering a fractured skull in a match. Having been a fan of the Horror genre since he was a kid, he took some inspirations from multiple characters to repackage himself. Notably,

The mask he wears was inspired by Michael Myers from the Halloween franchise and Leatherface from the 1974 Texas Chainsaw Massacre film. It stylistically strikes a resemblance to Billy the Puppet from the SAW franchise and Heath Ledger's portrayal of The Joker from the Dark Knight 2008 film. In addition, he also stated he took inspiration for Ledger's method acting for the Joker to get into his Kovacs persona.

## Personal Life:

Ricky Ashbrook is best friends with Kyle Radcliffe, Lycan, McKinley Finch and Tristan Cross of The Rogues Gallery. Similarly to them, he bills himself from "The Abyssal Lodge" which is the name of Radcliffe childhood clubhouse turned cavern which is a homage to his friends he took a different career path in. He is also friends with Nixie Caine.

## In-Wrestling:

* **Finishing Moves:**
	+ *Brain Dead* (Brainbuster DDT)
	+ *Brain Eater* (Turnbuckle Brainbuster, sometimes onto the apron)
	+ *Bomb Scare* (Diving Senton)
	+ *Destination Fucked!* (Diving Canadian Destroyer; used in tribute of some other Australian.)
* **Signature Moves:**
	+ *Backpacker Killer* (Gory Bomb)
	+ Catching belly to belly suplex; occasionally into the corner
	+ *Cross Buster* (Running Death Valley Driver into the corner)
	+ DDT
	+ *Dead Kennedy* (Running European Uppercut)
	+ Diving senton to standing opponents
	+ *Gutters Kiss* (12-6 Axe Kick to the back of a bent-over opponents head)
	+ *Hangmans Trick* (Straightjacket Hangmans Neckbreaker)
	+ Inverted DDT
	+ Mafia kick
	+ *Patient Zero* (Cobra Clutch with Bodyscissors)
	+ Rope-assisted tornado DDT
	+ Running knee to an opponent sitting in the corner
	+ Saito suplex
	+ Spear followed by rapid punches
	+ Suicide Dive
	+ *Tearjerker/Roshambo* (Running low blow to a cornered opponent)
	+ *Vanity Killer* (Gedo Clutch, often proceeded by a low blow.)
	+ Various forms of choking
* **Nicknames:**
	+ The Fractured Man
	+ The Firestarter
	+ The Marauder
	+ The Knave
	+ The Drop Dead Kid
	+ Deathmatch Desperado
	+ The Australian Anarchist
	+ Jayce the Slasher
	+ The Haunted Vessel
	+ The Red Horse
* *Entrance Music:*
	+ "Don't Drag Me Down" by Social Distortion
	+ "American Jesus" by Bad Religion
	+ "Big Bang" by Bad Religion
	+ "Blue Monday" by Orgy
	+ "Dig Up Her Bones" by The Misfits
	+ **"Firestarter" by The Prodigy**