It is with deep sadness to report that former Ring of Honor World Champion Xavier (real name John Jirus) has passed away at the age of 43.

Xavier, who was born and raised in the New York City area, was trained by former Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) superstar Tony Devito and worked for the aforementioned Ring of Honor from 2002-2004, before additional appearances in 2006 and 2007. He also made appearances on the independent scene for promotions including Northeast Wrestling, Chaotic Wrestling, New York Wrestling Connection, East Coast Wrestling Association and Jersey All Pro Wrestling and was scheduled to return to Ring of Honor to wrestle Jay Lethal at ROH Past vs. Present in March, but that event was canceled due to COVID-19.

Xavier also worked enhancement matches for the WWE during his career, in particular as part of WWE Velocity back in 2003 against Chuck Palumbo, Bill DeMott and Spanky. Xavier returned to WWE television in 2005 as an extra in several angles during the year, while on the final WWE Velocity episode of 2005, he used the name John Xavier during a match against Paul Burchill. Xavier re-emerged on WWE television in 2007 when he teamed up with Scotty Charisma to face off against the team of Hacksaw Jim Duggan and Eugene. Xavier also had a tryout match for TNA Wrestling (now IMPACT Wrestling) back in 2010, working a match against Doug Williams.

On behalf of everyone associated with Wrestling-News.Net, we would like to extend our condolences to the family, friends and fans of John “Xavier” Jirus.