What happened to Jason Jordan?
One of the biggest “what ifs” in recent years is WWE’s Jason Jordan. Although his WWE in-ring career was short, he had some memorable moments and was earmarked as one of the stars of the future.
A former Tag Team Champion in WWE and NXT, few superstars of his age could match Jason Jordan’s credentials at his age.
Jordan was fast becoming an excellent worker, was coming into his own as a delusional heel in the microphone and his character had made him the most hated man on the roster.
He was becoming a top star in the company before tragedy struck and his career was brought to an end (although WWE have not announced anything regarding his in-ring career since then).
In this article, we will look at what happened to Jason Jordan after a neck injury derailed his career and just what happened to the surprise son of Kurt Angle?
What happened to Jason Jordan?
NXT
Jason Jordan signed for WWE in 2011. He was offered a developmental deal with the company a year prior after a try-out, but opted instead to spend another year finishing his college degree before becoming a professional wrestler.
This was prior to the formation of NXT, so he was sent to Florida Championship Wrestling instead.
He signed in the July of 2011 and made his FCW debut 4 months later in November. Jason Jordan’s first match in his career came at a live event in front of a small crowd, where he teamed with Abraham Washington.
The duo lost the match to future WWE Champion Big E, and former FCW talent Calvin Raines.
He made sporadic appearances for the company over the next year, mainly appearing on the losing side of multi-man tag matches.
He wrestled for the company until it was transformed into NXT, but in the meantime he did win the FCW Tag Team Championships alongside his partner CJ Parker (now known as Bullet Club Gold’s Juice Robinson).
They were the last holders of the title before they were deactivated and replaced by the NXT Tag Team Championships.
He appeared semi-regularly in NXT over the next three years, teaming up with Tye Dillenger (Shawn Spears in AEW).
The pair were utilized mostly as jobbers as the pair tried to find a gimmick that worked for them in NXT. Jason Jordan found little success with this tag team partner, splitting up with him in 2015 just prior to finding his greatest tag team partner ever.
Jason Jordan and Chad Gable
In mid 2015, Chad Gable began his long and arduous journey into recruiting Jason Jordan as his tag team partner. Both men had similar backgrounds, excelling in amateur wrestling in college (Chad Gable even went to the 2012 Olympics in London) and seemed a perfect fit for each other.
However, Jason Jordan wasn’t happy with the partnership. He resisted Gable’s charms, deeming him too silly and not seeing him as somebody he could trust inside the ring.
He disliked Gable’s “happy-go-lucky” attitude and his catchphrases like “Ready Willing and Gable”, although he eventually came round and agreed to tag with him.
They immediately hit it off and their chemistry was infectious. Gable brought out the personality Jason Jordan had been lacking so far in NXT and can be credited with his transformation from lower-card jobber to champion in WWE.
In their first year, they made it to the semi-finals of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, falling to finalists Baron Corbin & Rhyno.
The loss, however, did not dissuade Jordan and Gable. Now dubbed “American Alpha” and drawing comparisons to “Team Angle” (this will be important later), the pair set their sights on The Revival’s (now AEW’s FTR) NXT Tag Team Championship.
The went on a winning run and earned their shot at the titles at NXT Takeover Dallas. However, they dropped the belts back to The Revival two months later at NXT Takeover: The End, ending their run in NXT and being called up to the main roster soon after.
They were called up to Smackdown during the 2016 draft, immediately becoming one of the top teams in the tag team division. They captured their final tag team championship together later that year, on the last Smackdown of 2016.
On December 27th 2016, they captured the Smackdown tag team championships from the Wyatt Family, but lost the belts just three months later to the Uso’s.
They would quietly split up in the following weeks, with Jason Jordan and Chad Gable wrestling in singles matches. This would turn out to be the biggest moment of Jason Jordan’s career as a hidden revelation would catapult him into the main event scene.
Kurt Angle’s son
In 2017, one of the most shocking and ridiculous WWE storylines in years occurred, and Jason Jordan was at the heart of it.
WWE announcer Corey Graves, one day on Monday Night Raw, revealed that he knew a secret about Kurt Angle. He went on for weeks refusing to tell him, until one day the cat was let out of the bag and Angle’s secret was revealed to all.
He had a son. Not one of the many children he already has (he has four daughters and one son), but another illegitimate child that he never knew about. A child that was born out of an affair over 20 years ago that had never come to light until that episode of WWE Raw.
It was revealed that Jason Jordan was Kurt Angle’s son. Jordan had known about his mother’s affair and joined WWE to not only achieve his dreams, but follow in his fathers footsteps and maybe one day to meet him.
While nearly everybody else thought that, if anyone, Chad Gable should have been Angle’s son, Jordan made a good go at the angle. He leaned into being the son of the Hall of Famer, acting more entitled and arrogant now his lineage was revealed.
He played the obnoxious “heel who doesn’t know why he’s being booed” perfectly, and had crowds furious when he would act so smugly in the ring, and blame his partner whenever he would lose.
His character work came on leaps and bounds during this time, drawing comparisons to his “dad” during his early years in the WWE.
He began teaming with Seth Rollins during this time, as an “odd couple” tag team. This was perfect, as the fans loved Rollins and absolutely hated everything Jordan did, making a fun dynamic between the two.
The duo were successful, managing to capture the WWE Raw Tag Team Championships and holding them for 34 days.
Sadly, this would be where Jason Jordan’s WWE career would end.
However, they lost the championship at the 2018 Royal Rumble to Sheamus and Cesaro, where Jason Jordan’s WWE career would come to an end when a devastating injury would cut his promising career short in the blink of an eye.
Injury
After his match at the 2018 Royal Rumble, Jason Jordan was written off WWE TV entirely. He and Seth Rollins never teamed up again and he was taken off of Raw to have surgery on an injury that, at first, seemed like a few months out of action and then right back into a rivalry with Seth Rollins.
WWE initially reported, after surgery, that Jason Jordan was injured and would be out of action for a year. But as the months went on, fans began to hear less and less about the son of Kurt Angle. He seemed to be forgotten about and any chance of his future in WWE seemed to be slowly fading away.
His injury caused Jason Jordan to miss out on some huge career moments. Kurt Angle revealed that his retirement match was meant to be against his son at Wrestlemania. This would have made sense and explained the whole idea for the angle between the two.
Sadly, due to his injury, he was replaced by Baron Corbin, a decision that has been criticised by many, including Kurt Angle.
Retirement
Jason Jordan retired from in-ring action in 2018 after his injury, although no official announcement was made. He last appeared on WWE TV in April 2020, alongside a number of Police Officers arresting Jeff Hardy during a segment on Monday Night Raw.
He was given a job backstage as a producer after his injury too. At first it was thought it was just a stop gap until his return to the ring, but as the years went on Jason Jordan’s retirement became public and he was promoted to lead producer overseeing all other producers at TV tapings, a huge step up for the former tag team champion.
Jason Jordan WWE return
It is unlikely that Jason Jordan will return to WWE in an in-ring capacity. His neck injury was so severe that it has kept him out of the ring for four years and very few, if any, wrestlers return after that long out of the ring with injury.
However, Jason Jordan’s former tag team partner Chad Gable thinks that a return to WWE for Jason Jordan could be possible. Speaking about a possible return for the star, Gable was quoted as saying “Never say never“
“It’s unfortunate what happened with his injury, but you never say never. He’s working on it, he’s trying to get back, and who knows? A reunion is always something that I would never be against.”
He also spoke to WrestleInc recently to reveal how Jordan is doing, revealing how they are still best friends and loves working with him in the WWE.
“So Jason, I still consider one of my best friends. I mean, we grew so close in those few years that we were a tag team. And now that he’s producing, I always say a quick ‘thank you’ every time that he’s on the producer sheet under my match or my segment because our mindsets are so similar, exactly the same. So he knows he needs to tell me very little, and I know that I need to ask very little of him because we’re basically going to say the same thing either way. We know how each other works, how we operate.”
“So it’s sad, but I’m happy to see him. He’s having a lot of success. He’s happy doing the job he is, and he is really good at it. So it’s cool to see.”
It is sad to think what happened to Jason Jordan at the start of such a promising career, and we hope that he can at least get one more match out of his life so he can hang up his boots on his own terms.
However, his “father” Kurt Angle has revealed that Jason Jordan is suffering greatly with his injury and is in constant pain without relief.
“You know what’s crazy he has problems to this day. His motor skills, his hands are on and off all the time. He just can never get right. I’m not sure why that’s occurring with him because with me at least I got relief at times. With him, he’s never gotten relief. He has been really struggling with it for years.”
Would you like to see Jason Jordan return to WWE?
FAQs about Jason Jordan
Q. What is Jason Jordan’s real name?
Jason Jordan’s real name is Nathan Everhart. He was given the name Jason Jordan when he signed for WWE in 2011 and joined up with their FCW developmental facility. He kept the name when he moved to NXT and up to the main roster.
Q. Where did Jason Jordan go to college?
Jason Jordan went to college at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. It was there he competed in amateur wrestling and became a three-time national qualifier for NCAA at the Division I level
Q. Is Jason Jordan still with WWE?
Jason Jordan is still with WWE and is currently employed as a backstage producer. Sadly his wrestling career is over due to neck injuries and he will never wrestle again in the WWE.
Q. How tall is Jason Jordan?
Jason Jordan is Six Foot Three, according to the WWE. However, they usually overbill their wrestlers heights so we can assume he is around 6 foot tall.
Q. What is Jason Jordan doing now?
Jason Jordan now works behind the scenes in WWE as a producer. The former World Tag Team Champion has retired from the ring and now pursues a career in WWE backstage, helping current WWE talent plan their matches out prior to the show.