Chase Brown

Brown died late on Tuesday, October 13, 2026, at the age of 41. The cause of death has not been made public. His death was announced on October 14 by fellow wrestler Cheeseburger, who wrote that he received the news the day after attending a funeral for another friend in wrestling, and by the Facebook page Carolina Wrestling Channel. Fightful, F4W/Wrestling Observer, WrestleZone, Wrestling Inc. and other outlets reported his death.

Family and friends gathered for visitation from 1 p.m. and a memorial service at 2 p.m. on Sunday, October 18, 2026, at the APW building, 110 Helen Street, Chester, South Carolina. The pallbearers were Justin Brewer, Mason Burnett, Derrick Green, Cedrick Johnson, Peter Kaasa, Derik Vanderford and Keith Vincent. Pollard Funeral Home in Chester served the family.

Jonathan Chase Brown was born on August 21, 1985. His birthplace has not been made public. His father, Ronald S. Brown, and his sister, Kortney Brown, both live in Easley, in upstate South Carolina. He went by his middle name, Chase, and in later years he listed his home on social media as Buffalo, South Carolina, while working in nearby Rock Hill.

Brown earned a bachelor of arts degree in philosophy from Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Philosophy stayed at the center of his work. He described himself as interested in "Wrestling, Music, Philosophy," and his family called him a philosopher first. He later wrote that he "promptly used that education" to write and produce three concept albums before wrestling across America, and his New York Times Op-Doc presents him giving a philosophical explanation of why wrestling stories matter.

Brown debuted as a professional wrestler in 2012 and worked for promotions across the Southeast and the North, including Trans-South Wrestling, Action Packed Wrestling (APW) in Chester, South Carolina, PWX Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Union, Full Impact Pro, Pro Wrestling Bushido in Georgia and UltraWrestle. Early Trans-South Wrestling matches put him against Kameron Kade (December 7, 2013), John Skyler (November 15, 2014) and Caleb Konley. He said he was injured in 2014 while working out with Konley.

In the mid 2010s Brown came around Ring of Honor through its tryouts and joined its ring crew, putting in 12-hour television taping days while trying to earn a match. Colleagues said the whole crew was "insanely hyped" when he finally got his first ROH match. He made a handful of ROH appearances between 2015 and 2017, including Future of Honor bouts against Clutch Adams and in a tag team with Nick Comoroto against Matt Sells and Brian Johnson.

In Full Impact Pro he teamed with Peter Kaasa as Nuclear Kaasarole. The pair opened FIP Heatstroke in Ybor City, Florida, on August 7, 2015, beating Flying Solow (Jason Cade and Aaron Solow). On August 12, 2016, he faced Earl Cooter at FIP Heatstroke 2016 in Altamonte Springs, Florida, streamed on WWNLive. He also wrestled veterans such as Steve Corino and future stars such as Jonathan Gresham, and contested the NAWA light heavyweight championship against Thomas Extreme.

His Cauliflower gimmick set him apart. He came to the ring playing guitar and carrying a giant cauliflower that he would bite into, and wrestlers who knew him said Terry Funk gave him the name because of his cauliflower ear. He trained in catch wrestling and mixed martial arts and was remembered as a legitimate shooter and a tough competitor. He wrestled his final match in 2020.

Brown wrote and produced three concept albums collectively called After History, We Will Walk into the Sea Remembering the Shore, and was the lead singer of the band Senseless Beatings. He founded Briarcliff Sessions, a company whose mission was "to help people make music for and with each other," and hosted hundreds of music events, from open mic nights to album release shows, as well as jam sessions he named The Soundbox. He also produced session videos. As a senior sales associate and retail manager at the Music & Arts store in Rock Hill, South Carolina, with expertise in guitar and pro audio, he worked to connect students with music instructors and to "put more instruments in more hands for a more connected music community."

In 2017 Brown was the subject of The Aria of Babyface Cauliflower Brown, a five-minute documentary short directed by Tim Grant and produced by Jon Muedder for The New York Times Op-Docs series. Released on July 11, 2017, and set to music by Giuseppe Verdi, it features Brown alongside Matt Hardy and explains wrestling's babyface and heel as a story about fairness, struggle and how things ought to be. It played before features at the IFC Center in New York from October 6 to 12, 2017, and screened at DOC NYC.

Brown was associate producer of Choke Hold, a short wrestling drama made as an MFA thesis film at Columbia University and directed by Max McGillivray. He also appeared in it as the referee, and called it the spiritual successor to his Op-Doc. The film, with stunts by Jackson Drake and Peter Kaasa, screened at festivals and was released on the Omeleto channel in June 2025. Brown was also a background actor in HBO's comedy series The Righteous Gemstones.

Brown was married to Aleeia Bolton Brown. Their daughter, Emmanuelle Joette Brown, known as Emma-Jo, was born in 2025; Brown updated his social media profile to read "Dad in '25." His family said that of all his activities he prioritized being a devoted and loving husband and father above everything else. He was also described as a fitness enthusiast. He is survived by his wife and daughter, his father Ronald S. Brown and sister Kortney Brown of Easley, and his mother-in-law, Sheree Bolton of Charlotte, North Carolina.

Brown saw professional wrestling as moral storytelling. In his Op-Doc he described the babyface as a hero who "is only going to win if he can win fairly" against impossible odds, and the heel as someone without integrity who will exploit any opportunity, and he tied that story to ordinary people who are abused, exploited and underpaid. He defended wrestlers' toughness, saying in a 2016 interview that wrestlers drive "ten to 12 hours" to reach a building and fight, and he challenged UFC champion Conor McGregor's claims about wrestlers. On social media he wrote about rhetoric, charisma and connection, arguing that sharing specific details of one's life is "the best bridge to another," and about parenthood, urging people to "become who you are."

Brown is remembered as one of the most unusual characters on the Southeastern independent scene and as a performer who could explain why wrestling matters to people who dismiss it. His New York Times Op-Doc remains one of the most widely seen short films about the craft of wrestling storytelling. Peers including Cheeseburger, Joey Janela, Willow Nightingale, Donovan Dijak, Michin and Saquon Shugars remembered him as hardworking, funny and kind, a guitar-playing presence backstage who made long crew days pass quickly. Through Briarcliff Sessions, The Soundbox and his work at Music & Arts, he also left a mark on the music community of the Rock Hill area.