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Hartley Jackson (born 17 April 1980) is an Australians professional wrestler who primarily works as a freelancer for various Japanese promotions, including New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is a member of TMDK.
After working on the independent circuit in his native Australia, followed by a short stint in the United States, Jackson has spent the majority of his career in Japan. He has wrestled for the likes of Pro Wrestling Zero1 (Zero1), All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), Ganbare Pro-Wrestling, Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW), Gleat and Active Advance Pro Wrestling (2APW). Between 2018 and 2019, he served as an official coach and producer for the NXT brand at the WWE Performance Center, before returning to Japan to wrestle for Zero1 in 2020.
In 2007, he began his rise to a heavyweight wrestler and teamed with Shane Thorne to take on NWA Heavyweight Tag Team Champions, Karl Anderson and Joey Ryan in a set of matches for NWA Pro, which took place in Australia. Jackson got involved in an altercation with Australian sports journalist and news presenter, Mark Aiston, where the two would eventually square off in a professional wrestling match.
In 2011, Jackson would simultaneously hold the Zero1 UN Heavyweight Championship, PWA Heavyweight Championship and the EPW Australian national Championship titles. In 2014, Jackson wrestled NJPW's Shinsuke Nakamura during his first tour of Australia for Wrestle Rampage. Jackson continued to travel across Australia, winning the NWA Australian National championship. He formed the South Australian Serial Killers (SASK) tag team in 2014. Teaming with Bronson Reed, they went on to capture the MCW Tag Team Championship and WR Meltdown Tag Team Championship.
In October 2008, Jackson returned to Japan to take part in the "PROWRES EXPO 2008" in Tokyo's Ryogoku Kokugikan. In 2010, Jackson participated in his first tour for Zero1, where he would remain a fixture for the company. He formed a tag team with Steve Corino where they battled Akebono TarĹŤ and Shinjiro Otani for the Intercontinental Tag Team Championships. Between 2010 and 2016, Jackson split his time competing in his home country of Australia, along with locales like Nepal, New Zealand and Myanmar. Myanmar held their first ever professional wrestling event at the Theinphyu Stadium. The Myanmar Martial Arts Wrestling featured Jackson up against Masato Tanaka in a singles match.
Jackson competed in the 2013 Zero1 Tenkaichi Jr. Tournament, dropping to 99.9 kg to make the competing weight, competed in the 2017 Zero1 Furinkazan Tag Team Tournament and also competed in the 2018 Zero1 Fire Festival. In 2018, he also picked up an MVP award for his match against Yusaku Obata for the World Heavyweight Championship.
Between 2016 and 2018, Jackson moved to Japan full-time to work for Zero1. During this time, he became a member of the Voodoo Murders, where he went on to capture the United National Heavyweight Championship and the Intercontinental Tag Team Championship, which he held with Voodoo Murders leader, Yoshikazu Taru. Also in this time, Jackson participated in a series of Exploding Bat matches, fighting against Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling's Atsushi Onita.
Jackson returned to Zero1 in 2020 on a permanent basis. He has fought for the World Heavyweight Championship and was named as one of the participants in the 2020 Zero1 Fire Festival.
On September 3, 2022, Jackson defeated Yumehito Imanari to win the Spirit of Ganbare World Openweight Championship. He defended it two times before dropping the title to Mizuki Watase on December 27.
On August 15, 2024, during G1 Climax 34, Jackson returned to NJPW for the first time in eighteen years, replacing the injured Kosei Fujita and partnering Zack Sabre Jr. in a tag team match against Bullet Club War Dogs (David Finlay and Gedo). Jackson then appeared on the Road to King Of Pro-Wrestling and Road to Tokyo Dome tours, as well as at Yuji Nagata's annual Blue Justice show, where he was predominately used in six-man tag team matches. On December 23, Jackson wrestled his first singles match in NJPW, in a defeat to Jeff Cobb.
After a series of guest coach appearances, Jackson officially joined the WWE Performance Center as a part of the coaching staff in 2018. Jackson taught classes at the WWE Performance Center. Jackson helped recruit and scout wrestlers for the WWE both at the PC in Orlando and internationally. This included coaching at the first ever WWE Tryouts held in India, with over 70 participants. Jackson also helped train the talent from local independent promotions for WWE's recruitment camps. In 2019, Jackson amicably parted ways with WWE to continue his professional wrestling career in Japan. In 2020, Jackson returned to Japan where he is once again an active wrestler, but also took over head coach duties for Pro Wrestling Zero1 at their Dojo.
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