Wrestler Jerome ‘New Jack’ Young dead at 58 after heart attack in North Carolina, wife confirms

Professional wrestler Jerome ‘New Jack’ Young suffered a heart attack this Friday and died at the age of 58.

His wife Jennifer Young broke the news to the website PWInsider whose article was then shared to New Jack’s official Facebook page.

The fighter passed away in North Carolina, the state where he was living at the time as well as the state where he was born.

Dearly departed: Professional wrestler Jerome ‘New Jack’ Young suffered a heart attack this Friday and died at the age of 58

Jerome was only five years old when his own father, whom he described to VladTV as an ‘alcoholic,’ died of a heart attack.

Last year he said his mother ‘cheated’ constantly on his father – and that when the betrayed husband found out about it he stabbed her multiple times.

She survived that attack and was subsequently shot in the leg by Jerome’s father while attempting to leave him.

He began to make his bones as a professional wrestler in the early 1990s having adopted his stage name from the 1991 crime drama New Jack City.

Mask on: New Jack rose to fame as a brutal and controversial pro wrestling heel, part of a group called the Gangstas with colleagues like Mustafa Saed and Killer Kyle

Eventually he rose to fame as a brutal and controversial pro wrestling heel, part of a group called the Gangstas with colleagues like Mustafa Saed and Killer Kyle.

New Jack became known for splashy publicity stunts including a race-flipped reenactment of the Rodney King beating with white fellow wrestler Ricky Morton.

At one point New Jack also referred to the NAACP as ‘homegrown monkeys’ prompting the august civil rights organization to picket him.

Love of his life: His wife Jennifer Young broke the news of his death to the website PWInsider whose article was then shared to New Jack’s official Facebook page

He was undisturbed by the controversies, saying he did not ‘give a f***’ about the NAACP backlash and ‘did my own thing anyway.’

New Jack carried on a consistent wrestling career until 2013 when he fought a retirement match with Necro Butcher, beating him and then warmly hugging him.

However by 2016 he decided to return to the ring and has faced off against such names as Phil Baroni and Shane Douglas. 

Over the course of his life he racked up three ECW World Tag Team Championships and was inducted into the Legends Pro Wrestling Hall Of Fame among other honors.

Making the most of quarantine: New Jack, who is pictured on his Instagram last March signing books for fans, retired in 2013 only to return to the ring three years later