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The World Class Maniac
Jeremy Fritz (born December 15, 1979) is a Canadian professional wrestler currently signed to Impact Wrestling under the ring name Eric Young.

He is best known for his 12-year tenure working for Impact under its former banner of TNA from 2004 to 2016, where he was a one-time TNA World Heavyweight Champion, one-time X Division Champion, a three-time Legends/Global/Television/King of the Mountain Champion, and a four-time world tag team champion, having held the NWA World Tag Team Championship twice with Bobby Roode and the TNA World Tag Team Championship twice (once with Kaz and once with Kevin Nash and Scott Hall under the Freebird Rule), and the only male to co-hold the TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship, winning the title with female wrestler ODB. He is also one of only four men to win TNA's Grand Slam Championship. All together, Young won 11 championships during his career in TNA, and is considered a "TNA Original".

In 2016 he signed with WWE, where he performed in their developmental territory NXT as the leader of the SAnitY stable. The stable would be called up to the WWE SmackDown brand in 2017, but were all scattered and separately repackaged shortly thereafter, with Young serving as enhancement talent on the main roster. He was released in 2020 due to budget cuts related to the COVID-19 outbreak, and promptly returned to his former home at Impact to which he started a feud with Rich Swann for the World Championship after his loss in the main event of Slammiversary. Months later, he formed a faction with the returning Joe Doering and a newly minted (Cody) Deaner dubbed 'Violent By Design'.


"These Tropes doesn't belong to you. It belongs to us!":

  • Affectionate Parody: As "Super Eric", ⅓ of the Prince Justice Brotherhood with Curry Man and Shark Boy, of Superheroes.
  • Ax-Crazy: His heel turn in 2015 saw him become much, much more violent than he used to be, and he stayed that way even when going to WWE — in fact he found himself a crew of maniac rejects just like him to join him on NXT. Ironically, Nikki Cross is so crazy Eric Young has tried to calm her down (think about the implications of that for a second) and got an elbow to the face for his trouble.
  • Beard of Evil: Kept the large brown beard going after turning heel in 2015 and has also been purely insane since.
  • Be Careful What You Wish For: Wanted to show Abyss and Joseph Park that they were really one in the same. It worked. Too well.
  • Big Bad: As the leader of SAnitY.
  • Blood Lust: After Tommy Dreamer, biting his open wound while TNA was in the UK during 2015.
  • Butt-Monkey: Despite a short break in 2009, Eric during his TNA run was... Eric. Subverted after he spent time as the TNA World Heavyweight Champion, remained consistently in or near the title picture since losing the belt, and in 2015 turned into an Ax-Crazy heel who is taken very seriously.
  • Canada Eh: Young was a former member of Team Canada in TNA and in his World Class Maniac gimmick he has a Canadian flag patch on his jacket.
  • Card-Carrying Villain: Has been proudly crazy and evil since 2015. Even in his few occasional appearances as a lesser-evil "good guy" on NXT he would still acknowledge himself as a maniac.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: After his concussion and mentally challenged gimmick in 2010 were phased out, his comic relief gimmick was presented as this.
  • Continuity Nod: The first time he turned into a bitter heel and used the Blood and Fire theme song he became leader of a short-lived Foreign Wrestling Heel faction called World Elite. Years after going back face he beat one of his former World Elite stablemates to become the TNA World Heavyweight Champion. For his second Blood and Fire heel run he gave himself the nickname of the World Class Maniac, a likely nod to both of these.
  • Determinator: As a heel in 2015, he will never stop coming after and trying to screw Bobby Roode, unless the World Champion gets in EY's crosshairs and thus becomes his new target. Presumably this is why Roode walked out on Tye Dillinger as a tag team on the other side of SAnitY's debut — he wanted no part of Young coming after him again with a crew to boot.
  • Evil Sounds Raspy: If you can imagine the voice of Randy Savage who's swallowed a Mick Foley-sized bag full of rusty thumbtacks, you'll probably have a good idea of what it sounds like when he talks. This is due to his 16 (at least) throat surgeries.
  • Fan of Underdog: One way of explaining his sudden support of Joseph Park. In a case of Hoist by His Own Petard, this is also the reason MVP was ecstatic when Eric Young won the TNA World Heavyweight Championship and "allowed" him to hold onto it for a couple months.
  • Finishing Move:
    • A wheelbarrow elevated neckbreaker referred to as Youngblood. After forming SAnitY, it would also be refered to as The Edge of Sanity.
    • During his last years in TNA, he would also use the spike piledriver, the diving elbow drop, and the figure-four leglock.
  • Foreign Wrestling Heel: As part of Team Canada and later World Elite.
  • Happily Married: Kayfabe, with ODB in TNA.
  • Heel–Face Door-Slam: Had flirted with the idea of turning back face heading into a championship match with Kurt Angle until Austin Aries cut in line by cashing in his Feast or Fired title shot. Good luck reining this psycho in again after that.
  • The Mad Hatter:
    • He's gone crazy in 2013, or so he claimed to, and claims to enjoy it.
    • Went really crazy in 2015 after turning heel.
  • Multinational Team:
    • In TNA, World Elite, which featured Young (Canadian), The British Invasion (Doug Williams and Brutus Magnus) (British-English), Kiyoshi (Japanese), Homicide (Puerto Rican), Sheik Abdul Bashir (Iranian), Rob Terry (British-Welsh), and Kevin Nash (American).
    • In NXT, SAnitY, which featured Young (Canadian), Alexander Wolfe (German), Nikki Cross (Scottish), Sawyer Fulton (American) for a few weeks until he fell to a real life injury, and then Killian Dain (Irish) to replace Fulton.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Triggering Abyss. Even ODB could (and did) tell him this wouldn't end well for anybody.
  • Not Distracted by the Sexy: During his and ODB's run as Knockout Tag Team Champions, he's had Sarita and Rosita as well as Angelina Love and Winter try to seduce him to get an advantage or to drive a wedge between him and ODB. He bit for none of it.
  • Parts Unknown:
    • "An undisclosed location" during the "Don't Fire Eric" angle with Robert Roode. "Freedomland, USA" after he no longer had to work for Roode.
    • "Metropolis" as "Super Eric".
  • Pint-Sized Powerhouse: He's fully capable of John Cena levels of strength, like lifting two people on his shoulders and giving them a double death valley driver.
  • Power Stable:
    • In TNA/Impact, Team Canada, World Elite, The Band and upon his return, Violent By Design.
    • In WWE (specifcally NXT), SAnitY.
  • Put on a Bus: By choice, eventually ending up in WWE.
  • Red Baron: "Showtime" as a face. "The World Class Maniac" (self-titled) and "The Bearded Terror" (via Pope Dinero) as a heel.
  • Sanity Slippage: Ever since he fell from the top rope to the floor from Suicide's kick in 2010.
  • Shoo Out the Clowns:
    • Happened when he split from Kevin Nash, not long before his character regression.
    • Again when he turned heel in 2015, becoming an Ax-Crazy.
  • Shout-Out: Flips over the top rope and lands safely on the apron, ala young Ric Flair. He even does the strut and the figure-four leglock afterwards.
  • Spin-Off: Now hosts Off the Hook: Extreme Catches, a fishing show on Animal Planet.
  • Spirited Competitor: His aim was to be one as the TNA World Heavyweight Champion, defending the title every night under increasingly outlandish stipulations. MVP tried to get him to tone it down a little and enjoy his championship reign...because he was planning to end it soon.
  • Sudden Sequel Heel Syndrome: He was a face by attrition in his only NXT appearance prior to leading SAnitY, making a surprise challenge to the vicious and arrogant NXT Champion Samoa Joe.
  • This Loser Is You: Especially during the "Don't Fire Eric" angle with Bobby Roode.
  • Throw the Book at Them: He had previously been assaulted with a phone book by Kurt Angle and returned the favor during the main event of the November 8, 2007 iMPACT!.
  • Took a Level in Badass: He won the TNA World Heavyweight Title just an hour after winning a Royal Rumble-style gauntlet match for #1 contendership.
  • Underwear of Power: Until late 2010, then again in 2012.
  • Undying Loyalty: Along with Bobby Roode and Abyss, he was the last of the TNA Originals. Eric's an especially notable case, considering that for most of his TNA run he was mainly a Lethal Joke Character who really wasn't appreciated all that much, and yet he's willing to stick around longer than AJ Styles was. Apparently, his loyalty has worn thin when he, much like Aries, Roode and Samoa Joe, jumped ship to NXT.note 
  • Who's Laughing Now?: His Face–Heel Turn in late 2009. Did it again at the start of 2015 and once more upon his return to Impact in 2020.
  • Wild Card: In NXT alongside his stable SAnitY, EY acts more as a chaotic force cast in the role of face or heel depending on who he's feuding against. This could even be extended to his debut cameo appearance against Samoa Joe prior to being signed.

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