Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter
WWE has parted ways with former WWE World Tag Team Championship and Spirit Squad member Johnny Jeter. His departure from the company completely fell under the radar, so much so that this news is actually quite a few months old, but wasn’t revealed until now.
Jeter held the World Tag Team Championship in 2006 due to his partnership with the Spirit Squad as any two members of the five member group could defend the belts at anytime. The group finally lost the belts from the makeshift team of Ric Flair and “Rowdy” Roddy Piper at Cyber Sunday 2006. The group was “killed off” on the November 27 Raw after they were defeated in a 5-on-3 match by DX and Ric Flair. After a triple submission, they were dumped into a large crate stamped “OVW. Louisville, Kentucky,” a reference to WWE’s developmental league at the time. After the break-up, Jeter made an appearance at the 30-man battle royal on the December 18, 2006 episode of Raw sporting some new wrestling attire. That was his last appearance on WWE television.
Jeter returned to Ohio Valley Wrestling in February 2007, where he stayed at least until the fall before his mysterious disappearance from the promotion. Jeter worked a number of dark matches prior to television tapings in August & September, and come October, was brought on SmackDown/ECW’s tour of Europe. He debuted under the ring name Jayden Jeter, working matches with competitors of ECW — all losses.
There were some rumors going around saying that WWE had plans to call up Jeter along with some other developmental wrestlers for a faction group in ECW, but it never materialized. ECW formed a “talent exchange” with SmackDown on October 16 and that pretty squeezed out a possible call-up to the main roster for Jeter.
Soon after, Jeter stopped appearing in OVW altogether for some reasons unknown, several months before WWE pulled their affiliation from the group. After WWE sent all of the contracted OVW talent to Florida Championship Wrestling, Jeter was the lone wrestler not to make the move. Furthermore, not including The Boogeyman for character reasons (and because he was injured anyway), Jeter was reportedly the only WWE talent to not attend the company’s festivities in Orlando WrestleMania weekend. In hindsight, Jeter may have been let go by then, which would explain his absence.
After Mike Mondo’s release from the company last week following a DUI arrest in Tampa, Kenny Dykstra and Nic Nemeth are the last two remaining former members of the Spirit Squad still under contract to WWE. Mitch (Nick Mitchell) was released over a year ago due to back problems and couldn’t do much besides cheer as a result. On the bright side, at least he’s involved in a relationship with former WWE Diva Torrie Wilson in Houston. Regarding Kenny Dykstra, considered by most as the group’s best prospect, his wrestling career is in a rut to say the least. He suffered a knee injury in January, but was healthy enough to wrestle again in late March. However, the company still has yet to bring back to the roster, and he hasn’t been appearing at FCW shows either. Before his injury, he was pretty much being jobbed out on SmackDown on a regular basis anyway. His future with the company remains in question. He also broke up with the one and only Mickie James sometime ago. At the moment, Nic Nemeth appears to have the best potential future out fo all the former members of the group as he had been working a number of dark matches and house shows in recent months under a cocky heel gimmick. It looked like he was on the verge of a call-up to the main roster last month, but WWE still has yet to pull the trigger on him for one reason or another. Also, he hasn’t appeared before a WWE crowd in over a month, so that may not be a good sign.
Back to Jeter, he started his wrestling career in OVW in 2001, so he was affiliated with the organization for roughly six years. Jeter was under contract to WWE for five years or so, since at least 2003. It remains to be seen if Jeter continues his wrestling career as he has yet to work any indy events.
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