There are two ways to get Jack Cartwheel talking — ask him about school or ask him about cartwheels.
At least that was the case after his debut with Toronto’s Demand Lucha promotion at the end of June at Parkdale Hall, where he had won the main event against El Hijo del Vikingo and Speedball Mike Bailey.
First the school part.
Under his real name of Jack Cartwright, he just finished at Chapman University in Orange, California.
“I graduated a couple of weeks ago. And I was a double major in Business and Economics,” he told SlamWrestling.net proudly, launching into plenty more detail.
“At first I came in to try to be a business with the emphasis on entrepreneurship, but I quickly liked a economics professor a lot. I just was really attracted to the way that it explained how everything was connected and how the money supply chains with the fiscal system and all the stuff with like the Fed and all that stuff — it just sounded really interesting, very theoretical,” he said. “However, the last year and a half of my schooling had been a lot more financial stuff.”
Cartwright was part of a group of about 20 students that managed the school’s endowment fund, with a $3.2 million portfolio. They’d talk about investments, which stocks to buy or sell, or real estate opportunities.
“That’s my schooling stuff. I like talking about that because I think it’s important,” he said.
The schoolwork hasn’t applied as much as he thought it would to his pro wrestling career.
“I took one class on social media and ecommerce and stuff like that, and looking at myself when I’m trying to understand how I can manage doing this full-time at an independent stage, I need to be able to run my own income statement, I need to be able to find my cash and find the receipts and all this stuff,” he explained. “I was just looking at the revenue streams that I have, and I know that I can be doing a lot better in terms of selling on the internet, getting money through social media, getting money through sponsors, rather than just getting paid for doing matches and selling T-shirts.”
The end of school also ended his football days. He started playing in Grade 6, and competed through middle school and at Rio Americano high school (playing offense and defense). With the Chapman University Panthers, an NCAA Division III school, Cartwright was a 5-foot-7, 191-pound running back.
In high school, he also lettered in amateur wrestling and gymnastics, where he excelled at floor exercises and vault.
Hence the cartwheels, his other passion.
He trained as a pro wrestler under Scoot Robertson and Sir Samurai at Supreme Pro Wrestling Training Academy. That was in 2018, and he’d get in to learn his new craft two or three days a week. Cartwright was not, however, a long-time pro wrestling fan not really getting into it big-time until age 16.
Jack “The Rocketwheel” Cartwheel debuted as a pro wrestler in the spring of 2019. Since then, balancing school and in-ring action, he’s managed to start to carve out a name for himself in rings near and far. Two upcoming tours for Japan’s Gleat promotion, in August and September, have him excited. Much of his hype has come from appearances with Game Changer Wrestling and in Mexico.
Now, he’s all-in.
“I just feel like recently it’s been it’s been getting easier,” Cartwheel said regarding his wrestling over the last few months. “Sometimes you feel good, because you have a new set of gear. Sometimes I feel like I’ve just been connecting the right dots recently, doing the spots that I know connect with the crowd and having the charisma that I know can connect with the crowd and have the the right tone at the right timing.”
Timing is certainly a keyword when it comes to the cartwheels, which can come at all times of the match, in and out of the ring. But those rings can be differently sized.
“I always get sketched out about the sizes of rings. You’ve got the 16s, the 18s, the 20s, the 20s,” he began. “On a 20 foot ring, you’ve got to take an extra step and I know that because I’ve messed up too many times on a 20×20 ring. ‘Oh my god, a 20×20, I have to do an extra step before the cartwheel.'”
There’s a bonus to the cartwheels before the match starts. “It’s a good way to feel out the ring with my hands before I have to bump on it. When I get in there, I’m doing a slow cartwheel. I’m actually feeling the ring and how much mounts it has to it.”
And not every cartwheel goes right, especially with messy ringsides.
“Sometimes you just can’t avoid that. You fall with the punches. It’s not ideal, but you should try to be a lot more aware of that, or I need to be a lot more aware that and throughout a match,” he said. “Not everything is happening in the ring, you have dangers outside of the ring that could affect you as well. You could have a certain fan that you got to taunt with or taunt to, sometimes there’s a whole side of the ring that has a much better audience than every other side.”
Cartwheels are universal for Cartwheel. Audiences everywhere get it, even if the crowds themselves are unique.
I actually missed a couple but this gonna be a regular thing!! 11? pic.twitter.com/EIjD745Lfb
— 🤸 (@jackcartwheel) June 28, 2023
“Mexican crowds are so laid back and cool, man, you do your regular stuff and it’s just fire,” Cartwheel said. “I would just say that there’s some purists in America who think they’re a little bit better than they are, and they’re a little bit stringent with claps. You’re here to watch wrestling, you’re here to have a good time, watch me do a cartwheel and then clap for it.” He’s on the massive TriplemanÃa XXXI show on August 12, in Mexico City, challenging AAA Mega champion Hijo del Vikingo in a four-way that also includes “Speedball” Mike Bailey and Daga.
As for Toronto on June 29 for Demand Lucha, it was something else.
“Toronto, it’s been probably one of the best crowds that I’ve seen or heard. I listened to the other matches going on. I’m like, ‘Holy sh-t, what could they be doing that is this over?’ And then I go in there and we start our match, I’m like, like, it’s not that they’re doing insane stuff, this crowd just f–king rocks,” he raved.
It turned out that there was family in the crowd.
“My mom completely was born and raised here in Toronto. I’m a dual citizen,” he revealed. “I definitely have a lot more experience in Toronto than I feel like I give off. I’ve been coming here at least once every other year since I was a kid.”
It was the third bout for Cartwheel in Toronto, having been a part of the GCW debut in town. The first time was an odd one, when he was in town for Passover. “I found a show to do like,” he recalled. “I wrestled Shane Sabre. It was a dope match. I liked it a lot. There was around 500 chairs, around 30 people who were there.”
Given the push Demand Lucha gave him in his debut, it’s fair to say that Cartwheel is expected back in town.
TOP PHOTO: Jack Cartwheel cartwheels at the Demand Lucha show at Parkdale Hall, in Toronto, on June 29, 2023. Photo by John Gallant, @hocusfocuspix
RELATED LINKS
- Jack Cartwheel socials: Instagram * TikTok * Twitter * ProWrestlingTees
- Demand Lucha website: demandlucha.com
