| Evans in 2025 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Malachi Jeffers April 29, 2004 Greensboro, North Carolina, U.S. |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Je'Von Evans [1] Jay Malachi [2] Kid Blacka Merica [3] |
| Billed height | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) [1] |
| Billed weight | 180 lb (82 kg) [1] |
| Billed from | Greensboro, North Carolina [1] |
| Trained by | LaBron Kozone |
| Debut | January 26, 2018 |
Malachi Jeffers (born April 29, 2004) is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs under the ring name Je'Von Evans on the NXT brand. He was previously known under the ring name Jay Malachi on the independent circuit.
Malachi Jeffers was born in Greensboro, North Carolina. [4] [5] He attended the College Prep and Leadership Academy in Jamestown, where he played basketball and graduated in 2022. [6] [7]
Jeffers began training for a professional wrestling career under LaBron Kozone at the Fire Star Pro Wrestling (FSPW) Academy, becoming the youngest graduate at age 14. [2] He made his in-ring debut in a tag team match on January 26, 2018, under the ring name Kid Blacka Merica, teaming with Captain Blacka Merica to defeat Kevin Ramage and Ty Land. [3] In January 2019, he changed his ring name to Jay Malachi and formed a tag team with Jackson Drake known as the Wrestling Prodigies. [8] During his tenure with FSPW, he held the FSPW Heavyweight Championship, FSPW South Eastern Championship, and the FSPW Tag Team Championship. [2] He also wrestled regularly for the Premier Wrestling Federation (PWF), where he and Drake held the PWF Tag Team Championship twice in 2021. [9]
At Game Changer Wrestling (GCW)'s For the Culture 4 event on March 30, 2023, Malachi teamed with A.C. Mack, J.C. Storm, Jeffrey John and Suge D as part of The World, losing to West Coast (Alpha Zo, G. Sharpe, Kenny King, Mazzerati and Midas Kreed). [10] On July 1, he defeated Drake to become the number one contender for the PWF Undisputed Championship. [11] On August 10 and 11, he took part in West Coast Pro Wrestling (WCPW)'s West Coast Cup tournament, defeating Viento in the first round, before losing to Starboy Charlie in the quarterfinals. [12] [13] On October 22, he failed to win the PWF Undisputed Championship from Bojack. [14]
Malachi made his debut for Deadlock Pro-Wrestling (DPW) on March 12, 2022. [15] He unsuccessfully challenged Bojack for the DPW Worlds Championship on September 24. [16] On April 16, 2023, he defeated Alec Price and Drake in a triple threat match for the Golden Opportunity, granting him a future match for the title. [17] On September 17, Malachi defeated Jake Something, Mike Bailey and Tom Lawlor in a fatal four-way match to win the Carolina Classic, and then defeated Lucky Ali in a Carolina Warfare match to win the DPW Worlds Championship. [18] After successfully defending the title against Jordan Oliver on October 15 and Price on November 12, [19] [20] he vacated it on November 18 upon signing with WWE. [21]
On August 21, 2022, Malachi made his All Elite Wrestling (AEW) debut in a match taped for AEW Dark , where he lost to Fuego Del Sol. [22] He returned on January 28, 2023, teaming with Oliver Sawyer in a loss to the WorkHorseMen (Anthony Henry and JD Drake). [23] In his last appearance, on February 26, Malachi, Sawyer and Jackson Drake lost to Jay Lethal, Jeff Jarrett and Satnam Singh in a six-man tag team match. [24]
Prior to signing with the company, Jeffers participated in a WWE tryout in September 2023. [25] On November 14, he was reported to have signed with WWE and was assigned to the NXT brand under the ring name Je'Von Evans. [26] [27] After working on house shows and Level Up, [28] [29] he made his debut on the April 9, 2024 episode of NXT , defeating Scrypts. [30] The following week, he lost to then-NXT Champion Ilja Dragunov, but was endorsed by Dragunov after the match, as the two shook hands. [31] On the June 18 episode of NXT, Evans won a 25-man battle royal for an NXT Championship match against Trick Williams at NXT Heatwave on July 7. [32] However, the match turned into a fatal-four way match involving Ethan Page and Shawn Spears, which Evans lost. [33] At NXT Deadline on December 7, he participated in the Men's Iron Survivor Challenge, which was won by Oba Femi. [34]
Heading into 2025, Evans feuded with Page, [35] whom he lost to at NXT Vengeance Day on February 15, [36] but defeated in a New York City street fight at NXT: Roadblock on March 11. [37] He then challenged for the NXT Championship in a triple threat match on April 19 at NXT Stand & Deliver and the NXT North American Championship in a fatal four-way match on June 7 at Worlds Collide, but failed to win the titles. [38] [39] He also appeared on the May 30 episode of SmackDown , teaming with Rey Fénix in a loss to Legado Del Fantasma's Los Garza (Angel and Berto). [40] After defeating Jasper Troy at NXT The Great American Bash on July 12, [41] Evans defeated Williams to become the number one contender for the NXT Championship at NXT Heatwave on August 24, [42] but lost to Femi. [43] On the September 26 episode of SmackDown, Evans answered Sami Zayn's United States Championship open challenge in a losing effort. [44] He then began teaming with TNA X Division Champion Leon Slater, defeating Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA)’s Mr. Iguana and La Parka at NXT Halloween Havoc on October 26. [45] Evans and Slater then faced DarkState (Dion Lennox and Osiris Griffin) for the NXT Tag Team Championships at Week 1 of NXT: Gold Rush on November 18 but failed to win the titles. [46] At NXT Deadline on December 6, Evans won the Men's Iron Survivor Challenge to earn an NXT Championship match against Femi at NXT: New Year's Evil. [47] [48] However, Evans demanded his title match on the following episode of NXT, where he lost after interference from Ricky Starks. [49]
At Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA)'s Victory Road event on September 26, 2025, it was announced that Evans would face Leon Slater for the TNA X Division Championship on October 12 at Bound for Glory, [50] but the match ended in a no contest after DarkState (Dion Lennox, Cutler James, Saquon Shugars, and Osiris Griffin) attacked both Evans and Slater. [51]