The Crist Brothers were an American professional wrestling tag team consisting of brothers David Crist Jr. and John Crist, who are best known by their ring names Dave Crist and Jake Crist. They are best known for their time with Impact Wrestling where Jake was a one-time Impact X Division Champion.
For much of their career, they wrestled on the Midwest independent circuit, most notably for the Heartland Wrestling Association (HWA) as The Irish Airborne, where they won the HWA Tag Team Championship a record six times. They also wrestled for Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW), Chikara, IWA Mid-South (IWA MS), and Ring of Honor (ROH), as well as Canadian promotions, Far North Wrestling (FNW) and UWA Hardcore Wrestling (UWA). After years of being The Irish Airborne, they changed their name to Ohio Is 4 Killers (OI4K). The team also competed for Juggalo Championship Wrestling as The Ring Rydas, where they are former JCW Tag Team Champions. They are also known for their time in Impact Wrestling, where they are one-time Impact World Tag Team Champions.
Professional wrestling career
Buckeye Pro Wrestling (2004) Under the names Lotus and Crazy J, the Crists made their debut in Buckeye Pro Wrestling against Dean and Chet Jablonski in which they were defeated. The Airborne continued to wrestle their way through the ranks of BPW often feuding with the team of American Youth, ultimately defeating them on February 24, 2004 to become the BPW Tag Team Champions. During their time in BPW, the Irish Airborne had chances to work on cross promotion shows with Heartland Wrestling Association and were eventually offered a match with the HWA.
Heartland Wrestling Association (2004–2006) Now achieving their high school goal, the Irish Airborne entered HWA. They became instant fan favorites due to their performance in BPW and the shared fan base. Their first match was a four-way tag match teaming with Viper and Zeta against 4BJ, J.T. Stahr & Jimmy Turner & Ala Hussein. Airborne had continued success in HWA leading to a tag team title championship victory against Necessary Roughness in May 2005. As success came quickly for the brothers, so did tension, ultimately leading to a bloody feud that began in the Fall of 2005 and lasted through early 2006. The feud culminated in a best of seven series in which each brother would attempt to top the other in amounts of violence and wit. The feud finally ended in one of HWA's bloodiest and most gruesome ladder matches to date. Both men realizing neither could top the other ended the feud and began to wrestle as a team once again.
Name change and Ring of Honor (2006–2007) On January 27, 2006, the Crists were allowed to wrestle a dark match in Ring of Honor against each other in which Lotus defeated Crazy J. The following evening they were again allowed to wrestle in a dark match, this time as a tag team against Shane Hagadorn & Conrad Kennedy III in which they won. On March 4, 2006, at an Insanity Pro Wrestling show in Indianapolis, Indiana, the Airborne announced that they would no longer be wrestling under the names of Lotus and Crazy J, but instead under their real names of Dave and Jake Crist. John decided to use the first name "Jake" rather than John because at that moment there were too many well known Johns in professional wrestling. On March 11, 2006, at Arena Warfare the Crists were able to earn a roster spot with ROH as they took on and defeated Tony Mamaluke and Sal Rinauro at the old ECW Arena.
Combat Zone Wrestling (2011–2012; 2014–2016)