Most of the time Jason Halbert is an unassuming, gentlemanly pillar of the community – a devoted husband and father; Scout leader; and Little League baseball and Festus High School Band Boosters volunteer. He also works as an accounts payable analyst for Unigroup.
But at least every other month, “a little part of (Halbert) comes out to play. And when it comes out, it’s magnified 100 times,” he said.
That’s when Halbert, 42, of Herculaneum is working his alter ego as an owner and the “Evil Mastermind” CEO of New Genesis Wrestling, an independent pro wrestling organization that stages cards about every other month in southern Illinois, primarily Mascoutah.
“It’s a good thing I’ve got that,” he said. “If that little part came out other places, I’d get arrested.”
While Halbert doesn’t wrestle, he gets enmeshed in the chaos, boosting the “heel” or “bad guy” wrestlers and stirring up plenty of emotion from the audience.
“I figure I’m doing my job if I can’t hear myself talk above the boos of the crowd,” Halbert said. “I always stay three steps ahead of my opponents. I have a plan, and a backup plan.”
New Genesis Wrestling’s next card will be Saturday, April 20, at the Leu Civic Center in Mascoutah. For information, go to newgenesiswrestling.com.
A couple of his regular New Genesis wrestlers, both from Jefferson County, can attest to their boss’ duality.
Chris Vance Jr., 40, of Arnold, who’s better known inside the squared circle as Playboy Double H, one of the “heels” Halbert works the crowd for, said Halbert is indeed the Evil Mastermind.
“Well, he’s definitely the bad CEO. He doesn’t take anything from anybody, and we like him because he’s on our side. But outside the ring? He’s one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet.
“Inside the ring, he plays his part perfectly. Some guys, they want to play that part in real life and it doesn’t really work. Not Jason. He knows the difference between his ring personality and his real personality.”
Jason Carter, 32, of Festus, whose wrestling moniker is Chris Kade, agrees.
“Being an Evil Mastermind suits him well. Jason understands what the paying customers want to see, and what they want to see is the guy who says, ‘What I say goes no matter what.’ His persona is that you’re paying to be here, you can stay and watch or you can leave,” Carter said. “But he’s completely different outside the ring. He’s a great guy.
“He’s been a big help to me, both inside and outside the ring. When I’ve asked for advice, he’s willing to give it. Whether it’s a move that would work for me in the ring, or something with life, Jason has always been there for me.”
He learned the ropes early
Halbert said he stumbled onto pro wrestling by accident.
“My parents moved (from St. Louis) to Herculaneum when I was 10 or 11, and for the first couple of months, we didn’t have cable TV. We had six channels. But a WCW syndicated wrestling show was on one of them, and it sucked me in. After that, I sought out all the wrestling I could find, and after we got cable, there was plenty of it.”
Back in those days, Halbert said, he viewed the spectacle as reality TV.
“A kid that age believes in storylines,” he said. “I believed Kamala was really a Ugandan giant who didn’t know how to speak English. I guess I liked it because it was a black-and-white world. You were good or you were bad. And I was always more interested in the bad guys.”
By the time he hit his teens, Halbert said, he realized the truth about professional wrestling, but it didn’t matter. He enjoyed it just the same.
He said he enrolled in a pro wrestling training school in his late teens but knew he wasn’t cut out for it because of chronic knee injuries.
A few years after graduating from Herculaneum High School in 2000, he and two like-thinking Blackcat alums – Jason Heath (class of 1995) and the late Adrian Masters (Class of 1999) – started a pro wrestling podcast.
It caught the ear of a promoter from the World Powerhouse Wrestling circuit, who invited the three to an event in Collinsville, Ill. That led to all three of them landing regular duties, Halbert as the ringside announcer.
It wasn’t long until the promoters approached Halbert with a different role.
“They wanted me to be a manager, and I jumped at it. It gave me the freedom to do what I wanted, to be a bad guy. I kind of modeled myself as a combination of (legendary wrestling personalities) Bobby ‘The Brain’ Heenan and Paul Heyman.”
The owners of World Powerhouse Wrestling put their operation up for sale, and Halbert said he was part of one of three groups that were unknowingly pitted against each other to buy it. The circuit ended up being sold to a fourth party, but once the others learned that they were all interested in running a pro wrestling operation, they pooled their resources to start New Genesis Wrestling in 2021.
Justin Savage, Nick Adams and John Bach are the other owners of the circuit, which Halbert said provides family friendly entertainment.
“We’re offering something you can bring your family to,” he said.
Halbert said it’s more fun when you take sides, and he learned early on that the dark side of pro wrestling is the fun side.
“It’s easy to be the bad guy,” he said. “I tried to be a good guy, and you have to always be careful to do the right thing, move the right way, think before you speak. If you’re the heel, you can say whatever’s in your heart and get away with it. And when you do, people want to see you punched in the face.”
Halbert said he’s suffered even worse.
“I’ve gotten hurt so many times, and I’m not even a wrestler,” Halbert said. “I’ve had broken ribs, a messed-up shoulder, so many bumps and bruises I can’t even count, and one time I got a concussion.”
It’s a family affair
Halbert said his family has varying views on his avocation.
“My wife, Esther, knew what she was getting into when we got together,” he said. “She’s very involved in the front of the operation, taking tickets. selling shirts and merchandise at our shows. She likes to be in charge.”
His oldest child, Blake, 24, hasn’t attended an event.
“Hunter, who’s 10, isn’t all that interested,” Halbert said. “He knows I’m a bad guy, and he knows it’s not real.
“My son, Xavier (19), used to go to all the shows. He’d be right in the front row, booing me and yelling at me the loudest. I’d yell to the crowd, ‘Who’s that kid? He needs to be raised better!’
“He doesn’t come to all the shows now, but I told him a recent storyline involved me getting ‘arrested’ and he said, ‘I’ll be there!’”
New Genesis Wrestling’s next card will be Saturday, April 20, at the Leu Civic Center in Mascoutah. For information, go to newgenesiswrestling.com.