The Age of the Fall, previously known as Project 161 before its debut, was a villainous American professional wrestling stable, primarily in Ring of Honor and its sister promotion Full Impact Pro, but also in other independent promotions such as Pro Wrestling Guerrilla.
History Ring of Honor
2007 For months leading into the ROH return to Chicago there were cryptic messages on a blog and website of a stable entering ROH that was code named "Project 161". Jimmy Jacobs was one of the names mentioned who could be behind this along with Adam Pearce and a few other Chicago-based ROH wrestlers. At one point, posts related to Project 161 flooded the ROH message board, but ROH booker Gabe Sapolsky claimed these were actually fans' doing. Many fans noted that an upcoming pay-per-view taping (Man Up) would be the 161st ROH show, and it was no coincidence that the stable stated they would appear at the show.
After making a successful return to ROH, Jimmy Jacobs, the returning Necro Butcher and the debuting Tyler Black violently attacked The Briscoe Brothers right after a brutal ladder match with Kevin Steen and El Generico. This meant Jimmy Jacobs was indeed behind Project 161. Jay Briscoe was hung upside from the rigging that was used to hoist the titles from the ladder match. This was a disgusting scene as the blood of Jay Briscoe dripped onto Jimmy Jacobs' solid white clothes, and at one point into his mouth, as he announced "The Age of the Fall has begun". The angle was so controversial that ROH decided to remove the footage from the pay-per view that was being taped at the event. However, the footage was also heavily requested by ROH fans, so it was shown on the ROH Videowire for the week of September 15. Also, a "blood edit" of their debut is featured on the DVD of the event, Man Up. Later on in the event, Tyler Black and Jack Evans faced off in a non-PPV match until both Jimmy Jacobs and Necro Butcher got involved. The Irish Airborne entered the ring to save Jack Evans, which led to a six-man tag between The Age of the Fall and the makeshift three-man team of Jack Evans and the Irish Airborne. The match battled to a no-contest as Necro Butcher punched out the referee during the middle of the match.
The day after their debut, their website, which now redirected to Ageofthefall.com revealed that all the blog entries had been written by Black. In an interview with the German website www.genickbruch.com, Jacobs revealed there would be more people involved. A woman named Allison Wonderland would also become a follower of Jacobs on November 30, debuting in Dayton, Ohio at the Reckless Abandon event, during a 4-Way Tag Team Scramble. At Unscripted III on December 1, Jimmy Jacobs gained arguably the greatest victory of his career, defeating former ROH World Champion Bryan Danielson with his new finisher, the End Time.
At Final Battle 2007 on December 30, 2007, Jacobs and Tyler Black defeated the Briscoe Brothers to win the ROH World Tag Team Championship.
2008 At January 25ths Breakout, Jacobs teamed with the returning Joey Matthews, the newest member of The Age of the Fall, in a losing effort against Roderick Strong and Rocky Romero of the No Remorse Corps. The following night at Without Remorse, Jacobs and Black lost the ROH World Tag Team Championship to the No Remorse Corps' Davey Richards and Rocky Romero in an Ultimate Endurance match involving Brent Albright and B. J. Whitmer of The Hangmen 3, and Austin Aries and Bryan Danielson.
On February 22 at Eye of the Storm, Jacobs introduced Zach Gowen as the newest member of the group. Following the announcement the two of them were defeated by the Vulture Squad of Jigsaw and Ruckus. The group at this time had an open invitation for Austin Aries to join them, writing blogs and posting YouTube videos about and directed at him. Tammy Sytch had made a counter offer to Aries of her services (including offering money and sex) against him joining the group.
On March 29, 2008, at Supercard Of Honor III, Jacobs and Black defeated The Briscoes in a Relaxed Rules Match when Jacobs countered the springboard Doomsday Device into The End Time. Rain accompanied the group to the ring along with Lacey, showing the first (and to date only) time an AOTF member in Full Impact Pro was recognized in ROH. A contributing factor to this appearance was that the show was in Florida where Rain lives. Prior to the match, Jacobs referenced to a 'homeless man' who was shown on camera, saying he had bought him a ticket so he could enjoy the show. The man in question was Mr. Milo Beasley, also a member of AOTF in FIP, but he was neither named or acknowledged as being part of the group. During the match he was driven through a table by a legdrop off a balcony after saving AOTF from suffering the move. Later in the show, AOTF approached Aries after his match, again making the offer for him to join them. Aries left the ring with Lacey, who was going to 'convince' him, rejecting Tammy Sytch's offer (who came out to try to stop Aries leaving with Lacey). Black and Jacobs then held Sytch to allow Rain to slap her, before The Briscoes ran in to make the save.
At ROH's Take No Prisoners pay-per-view on March 16, Black pinned Delirious to win a Four Corner Survival match which also involved Go Shiozaki and Claudio Castagnoli. This earned Black a ROH World Championship match in the show's main event. During the broadcast Jacobs 'interrupted' the broadcast, repeatedly seen speaking alongside Gowen and Wonderland to 'followers' of AOTF. In a Philadelphia Street Fight The Briscoe Brothers (with Daizee Haze) were victorious over Butcher and Matthews (with Lacey). Black was defeated by champion Nigel McGuinness in the championship match. Many called Black's effort a breakout star performance, which had the crowd fully supporting the usually hated AOTF member.
At Return Engagement on April 19, Lacey left the group, siding with Austin Aries romantically. Aries also turned down the invitation into the group. Jacobs, heartbroken by Lacey leaving him, broke down in the ring to the chants of "Cry, Jimmy, Cry!" from fans and being covered with streamers. Later in the show Jacobs showed signs of a mental breakdown as he hit himself in the head with his trademark spike, to the concern of his fellow group members. The main event was changed as Jacobs pulled out. The Vulture Squad (Ruckus, Jigsaw and Jack Evans) were then beaten by the combination of Matthews, Black and Gowen (who replaced Jacobs). Post match Jacobs called out Aries and the two brawled, before Aries was jumped by Black, Matthews and Gowen. Jacobs went to attack Aries with his spike, but he stopped when Lacey begged him not to.
The AOTF would later ambush Lacey outside of an exercise business in a video posted on their website, where Jacobs produced his spike from his cane before the video cut off. After the video was posted, Lacey was not seen in ROH, SHIMMER or anywhere in wrestling. On the June 5, 2008 edition of the ROH Video Wire, Austin Aries stated in a sit down interview with Dave Prazak that Lacey would not be returning to Ring of Honor as a result of the Age Of The Fall's ambush. In August 2008 the Wrestling Observer confirmed Lacey had quit wrestling to return to school, so the "ambush" served both to further the feud between Jacobs and Aries, and to write Lacey out of the storyline completely.
On June 6, Black and Jacobs recaptured the ROH World Tag Team Championship in a one-night tournament in Hartford, Connecticut at Up for Grabs. They defeated Delirious and Pelle Primeau, Austin Aries and Bryan Danielson via DQ, and Kevin Steen and El Generico en route to beginning their second reign. The following night in Philadelphia at Respect Is Earned II, they defeated Aries and Danielson to retain the titles when Black pinned Danielson with the phoenix splash.
On June 27 in Dayton, Ohio at Battle For Supremacy, Black and Matthews were defeated by Kevin Steen and El Generico when Steen pinned Matthews following the Package Piledriver. Necro Butcher defeated Austin Aries in a "Relaxed Rules" match. After sending Butcher through a table Aries told him to stop doing Jacobs's dirty work for him. Aries then refused to fight back, and after taking a beating was put away with a chair shot to the head.
The next night, June 28, at Vendetta II in Chicago Ridge, Illinois, Aries pinned Jacobs in a "Relaxed Rules" match. During this match, MsChif interfered by blinding Aries with her green mist and was officially made a member of the stable in the group's next blog entry. Stipulations for this match said the winner would pick the loser's match for the next Chicago Ridge event, and Aries picked a No Disqualification match between Jacobs and Necro Butcher. Also during this event Butcher and Black defeated Steen and Generico when Butcher pinned Steen with a roll up after a chair shot to the face from Black.
At this time, AOTF members Matthews and Gowen were not booked for further ROH events. Although neither has been officially written out or removed from the stable, it is considered they are former members due to no longer being on the ROH roster or on shows.
On July 25 at "Northern Navigation" in Toronto, Black and Jacobs were defeated by Austin Aries and Jay Briscoe in a Non-Title NO DQ Match. The bout featured involvement from Mark Briscoe and Necro Butcher; Jacobs ordered Butcher to stab Aries in the eye with a spike but Necro threw it down instead and walked off. Briscoe eventually pinned Black following a springboard Doomsday Device. The next night at "New Horizons" in Detroit, Bryan Danielson defeated Black via referee stoppage after repeated elbow strikes to the head. During this match Black used a turnbuckle powerbomb that actually broke the top turnbuckle off the corner, breaking the top rope. This forced staff to switch the bottom rope for the top, meaning the rest of the show was worked with no bottom rope. Jacobs would brawl with Aries at various moments during the entire show which culminated in a fist fight on top of a 20-foot ladder. Necro Butcher walked out and tipped it over sending them both crashing through a table below.
On August 1, 2008, in Manassas, Virginia st "Fueling The Fire", Black and Jacobs retained the ROH World Tag Team Championships defeating Go Shiozaki and Naomichi Marufuji while Roderick Strong pinned Necro Butcher in a Relaxed Rules Match. The next night at "Death Before Dishonor VI" in New York City, Austin Aries defeated Jacobs and Butcher in a Three Way Dance when he pinned Jacobs with a brainbuster / 450° splash combination. Despite entering together, Jacobs and Butcher would argue during the match; Aries hit Butcher in the back with a chair and threw it to Jacobs. Butcher turned around and assumed it had been Jacobs who had struck him and delivered a punch to the face and a chair shot of his own before leaving the ring and heading to the back. In the show's main event, Black would be pinned by ROH World Champion Nigel McGuiness following two straight lariats in a Four Man Elimination Match that also included Bryan Danielson and Claudio Castagnoli.
On August 15 at "Age Of Insanity" in Cleveland, Ohio, Delirious joined the stable, having changed from his usual 'crazy' antics since being turned down by Daizee Haze (and thus heart broken). Jacobs and Wonderland came out during his match with Rhett Titus, encouraging him to beat down Titus even more. After the match Daizee Haze came out tried to convince Delirious not to join, but failed as he left with his new stablemates. Later in the night Delirious and Jacobs were defeated by the Briscoes in a tag team match, while Aries defeated Black in a 1-on-1 match.