| Ring Name(s) | haVoc, C.J. haVoc, Covah, Max Mercer |
| Height | 6' |
| Weight | 230 lbs, 104 kg |
| D.O.B | December 25th, 1989 |
| Billed From | Hill Valley, California |
| Finishing move | Chin-Check (Sit-out cradle facebuster) |
| Debut | 2001 |
Max Mercer[]
Max Mercer is an American backyard wrestler from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is best known for his time in HWC and appearences with various other super shows. He is a 4 time HWC World Champion, holding the title during his last reign for 10 months and defending it 10 times. He has competed for several other championships throughout his career.
Early Years (2001-2008)[]
Max Mercer began his backyard wrestling venture in late 2001, after being inspired by a backyard wrestling documentary he saw late one night. He contacted some close friends and decided to make their own federation, originally named HWF (Hardcore Wrestling Federation) but was later renamed to HWC (Hardcore Wrestling Corporation) the following year. Max continued wrestling off and on with HWC for the next several years. At the age of 15 he began to take it a little more seriously with a match he held in front of a crowd of abour 20 people with long time friend and rival, Justin Hazard. After hearing how the crowd reacted to their match, he strived to get better and continue working on his craft. Without a permanent venue, this was hard to do. However, a friend of his agreed to host HWC shows at his house. Max built his own wrestling ring with a carpet laid on the ground, drainage pipes for ring posts, and clothesline for ropes. During this time Max Mercer began recruiting other wrestlers from his local high school and grew his roster to a size of about 10, wrestling bi weekly. Once they were forced out of their nearly 2 years later, Justin Hazard agreed to host further shows at his home. Max had talks with local promotion XBW about a possible inter-promotional show between the two groups, however nothing substantial came of this, but it inspired Max to work harder and get better at wrestling. By mid 2008, Max had saved up money to buy a wrestling ring. This marked the beginning of him taking his wrestling skills to the next level and working on improving himself.
2008, SWC, 13 Views, Super Shows, Flux Capacity, Retirement[]
Max continued working in HWC and recruiting other members. In October of 2008, Max officially changed his ring name to "C.J. haVoc" and would keep this name until 2011. Eventually, he managed to come into contact with another Pittsburgh based promotion in late 2010 known as SWC. During this time Max was introduced to the backyard wrestling community and the ideas of "super shows" which he previously had no prior knowledge.
Around this time, Max formed a tag team with long time rival, Justin Hazard, known as "13 Views" and had moderate sucess in and out of HWC. Their first offical tag team match was against The Pen Name and Focalin (Zebracakes) in a losing effort. They continued to work as a tag team throughout HWC and made a big impact, helping each other win singles matches. In July of 2010 they made their first super show appearence at SWC' Backyard Supremacy 5 in a triple threat tag match, ultimately losing to Johnny Stantz. On day 2, 13 Views then took on Big Will and Happy Psycho. Big Will and Happy Psycho managed to dominate Max Mercer for the majority of the match. Happy began to taunt the crowd, and climbed a picnic table, Max capitalized with a german suplex from the table to the base. Rallying the crowd for a tag, he managed to hit it. Justin Hazard rushed in trying to win the match for them. Eventually Max was forced back in and was defeated by Big Will's black out from the top of the table.
After their unsucessful matches at BYS 5, 13 Views focused more so on dominating their home fed of HWC. Beginning a bitter feud with Riot, Max would ultimately go on to recapture the HWC World Championship after several attempts in October of 2010. During which time, a rift began within 13 views. However, they continued to dominate HWC into the new year.
With the new year began a newly named regular program for HWC titled "HWC: Flux Capacity". This continues as their flag ship show as of this writing.
Max Mercer made his second super show appearence at CCW's Burn This City. 13 Views took on The Scharnhorst Brothers in an eventual losing effort. Though they dominated the Scharnhorts for the majority of the match, a simple miscommunication cost them the match as they managed to double team Justin Hazard and pick up the win. Their luck continued to go down hill as 5 members of HWC, including Max Mercer, fell victim to Tragedy and CJ Smith in a 5 on 2 tag match.
13 Views continued to dominate HWC after ward and Max awarded Justin Hazard a World title shot, in which Max Mercer won. Max also managed to defeat Riot to retain his title the following week in a brutal match.
Max Mercer's next super show appearence was at SWC's aBYSs, in which he had two singles matches. On day one, Max Mercer defeated Stookes with a Chin-Check within 4 minutes. Stookes managed to get the better of him in the early going, but one mistake later and Max was able to capitalize and pull out the win. However on day two, Max was paired to face X-Cal. The two fought hard and it seemed the match was going in the favor of Max as he dominated early and onward. Going for a death valley driver, X-Cal managed to slip from Max's shoulders and hit a thunderous clothesline, allowing him to pick up the win.
Max Mercer performing a half nelson suplex on XCal.
Max continued to defend his title and dominate HWC with Justin Hazard. During HWC: Flux Capacity 13, Max had a singles match with Focalin, in which Max lost after being hit with The Wretched. Max was suffering from a mild concussion from the previous week after facing XBW's O'Callahan. Justin Hazard's rage boiled over and he attacked Max mid match. Hitting him with a punt. This action ultimately led to these two meeting for the HWC World Championship one more time on August 20, 2011. After an incredibly hard fought battle between the two, Justin Hazard was able to pull out the win cleanly and was awarded the title personally by Max. As Max was congratulating Justin, he was caught off guard with a super kick that would dislocate his jaw, and cause another concussion. As Max lay helpless, Justin began to speak as to the reasons why. He blamed Max Mercer for making 13 Views weak and holding him back. He also revealed that he had joined Rad Hazard's Radical Movement. Max continued to try to get up as Justin beat him down repeatedly, presumably causing more injuries. Leaving Max helpless, Justin left the ring without a care. Three days later Max Mercer announced his retirement indefinitely.
Return-present[]
While Max continued to heal, he trained vigirously to get back into peak shape. HWC went on for several months. During HWC: Flux Capacity 20, held on April 1, 2012, Max Mercer made a surprise return as the special tag team partner of Just Dan and Riot, taking on the team of Justin Hazard, Nero and Warfare. Over the course of the match Max looked dominating. The team of Max Mercer, Riot and Just Dan eventually won after eliminating Nero and Warfare, where Justin Hazard refused to enter the ring and left.
On HWC: Flux Capacity 23, Max Mercer made his presence known during the HWC World Championship match between Mark Wakabashi and Justin Hazard. After failing to defeat Mark Wakabashi, Justin began to get frustrated and tried to walk out of the match after Wreckless (the referee for the match) was knocked down. A camera followed him as he made his way to the entrance way. After a brief pause a scuffle was heard and then Justin Hazard was tossed out of the garage back into the view of the camera. Max Mercer had appeared to stop Justin from running out on this match. The two fought briefly with Max getting the better of him. Max tossed Justin back into the ring. As Wreckless stirred, Mark Wakabashi hit the "Endless Summer!" and knocked Justin out cold, sucessfully capturing the HWC World Championship, which was then personally handed to him by Max Mercer.
Devastated by his title loss, the feud between Justin Hazard and Max Mercer seemed to die down for a moment. Max Mercer made his third super show appearence at DOA's Independence was Yesterday in July of 2012.
Max Mercer appearing at DOA: Independence was Yesterday!
He faced off against Shawn Jovi. Shawn Jovi managed to control the match for the opening moments, hitting a devastating clothesline to Max Mercer from the ring apron onto the ground below. Max soon took advantage of an error on Jovi's part and began to wear him down. Shawn Jovi managed to rally a few times throughout the match and even hit his finisher on Max, however Mercer managed to land close enough to the ropes to use them to break the pin fall. As Shawn Jovi lifted Mercer up again for his finisher, he was countered with a knee in the face and Max Mercer lifted him up and delivered a Chin Check, thus winning the match via pinfall.
The feud with Justin Hazard however soon returned. The reignition of their fued culminated when the two met for one last time in a 30 minute Iron Man match. Max Mercer seemingly had control of the match for the first few minutes, however a mistake on his part allowed Justin to capitlaze. The two fought back and forth, hitting their signature moves and each trying to make the other one suffer. After beating the hell out of each other for over 28 minutes, Justin Hazard stopped the assault from Max and began to speak. He informed him that he was wrong and understood his mistakes and was ready to receive his punishment for being a bad friend. He begged Max to finish it. Max began the attack brutally with less than a minute to spare. Max locked in a modified buffalo sleeper and in a photo finish, Justin Hazard tapped out with seconds to spare, officially awarding the match to Max Mercer with a score of 1-0. Justin Hazard lay motionless after the match as the HWC staff began to check on him.
In wrestling[]
Finishing moves
- Chin Check (Sit out cradle facebuster)
- LTD (Running bicycle kick)
- Mercy Lock (Modified Buffalo sleeper)
Signature moves
- Exploder suplex
- Sit out spinebuster
- Sit out powerbomb
- Chokeslam
- Climbing wheel kick
- Mercer-plex (Modified Regal plex)