Jeff Cannonball

Guerriero announced in May 2025 that he had been diagnosed with ALS after a year of misdiagnosis and tests. His family said the disease progressed very rapidly, took wrestling away from him and would force him to stop working. He died at about 2am on Thursday, October 8, 2026, at the age of 39, from complications of ALS. The place of death has not been made public.

His wife, Terra Calaway, announced his death on X. She wrote that she had put on Dirty Work, his favorite movie, the night before, and that less than an hour after it ended "the funniest man on the planet has gone." She added, "I will mourn him for every single day of my life while honoring him by raising a son he would be so incredibly proud of." A tribute show by NHB The Chains that had been planned for September was postponed to November because of storms.

Jeff Guerriero was born in June 1987. His brother Nick has written that Jeff was born and raised in New Providence, New Jersey. Wrestling databases bill his hometown as Highland Park, New Jersey. His father was a longtime fan of the WWF and the WWWF before it, and Guerriero said he could not remember a time before wrestling. His earliest wrestling memory was his father bringing home a VHS copy of WrestleMania III and the thrill of seeing Hulk Hogan against Andre the Giant.

His father took him and his brother to an independent show in New Jersey when they were very young, where he had his photograph taken with Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake and was too scared to shake hands with Rick "The Model" Martel. He told Clrvynt in 2016 that elementary school assignments in his mother's dresser still said he wanted to be a wrestler. He watched through the Attitude Era, found Cactus Jack's Japanese deathmatches and FMW in his early teens, and later discovered CZW and IWA Mid-South.

Guerriero went to college, where he got back into following wrestling heavily and decided in 2008 to pursue it seriously. The college he attended has not been made public. After college he worked as a mental health and addiction professional, according to his family. His wrestling training came from New Jersey independent wrestlers Corey Havoc and Corvis Fear.

Guerriero debuted in 2010 for NWS, a New Jersey and Pennsylvania promotion, wrestling as Jeff Guerrero before adopting the name Jeff Cannonball. He credited Corey Havoc, Nicky Oceans and Corvis Fear with getting him into the business. From 2013 he worked for Juggalo Championship Wrestling, wrestled at the Gathering of the Juggalos at the invitation of booker Kevin Gill, and formed The Rogues with Brandon Kirk. The Rogues won the UWA Elite Tag Team Championships in 2014 and held them for a record 470 days.

After his first deathmatch against Matt Tremont at OnPoint Wrestling, Tremont and Devon Moore pushed for him at CZW. He worked CZW's Dojo Wars student shows and on June 11, 2016 faced Tremont in the first round of CZW Tournament of Death, which he called the best day of his career. He returned to Tournament of Death in 2017, beating G-Raver before losing to Conor Claxton in the semifinals, and competed in IWA Mid-South's King of the Deathmatch.

At H2O Wrestling he won the Heavyweight Championship from Shane Douglas on October 20, 2017, lost it to Stockade in January 2018 and won it back on February 9, 2018. He held the H2O Tag Team Championships with Mitch Vallen as The Lone Rangers from September 2019 to September 2020 and again in December 2021, and was a two-time H2O Danny Havoc Hardcore Champion. He won the ISW Falls Count Anywhere Championship from Sexxxy Eddy on July 13, 2019 and the STAR Pro Heavyweight Championship from Jimmy Rave on December 8, 2019.

He also wrestled for GCW, Beyond Wrestling, Limitless Wrestling, ICW No Holds Barred, Blitzkrieg Pro and LVAC, where he teamed with Puf as Club Soda, and worked for MLW in 2023 and 2024 as a member of The Calling. On June 22, 2024 he and Troy Locke, as The X-Express, won the vacant UWA Elite Tag Team Championships. UWA Elite honored him with Tag Team of the Year three times, Most Shocking Moment of the Year and, in 2024, Match of the Year for his final UWA Elite match. His last match came in December 2024.

Guerriero played in bands from the age of 15 and toured from 18. He was a member of the punk and hardcore groups Altered Boys and Black Kites, and played shows in several states and countries. While touring California, Altered Boys traded mock wrestling promos with the band Zero Progress. He said he focused mainly on wrestling after Altered Boys ended, but his punk roots stayed central to his character, from his Poison Idea entrance music to shirts that paid homage to Judge, Minor Threat and Tear It Up. The band Night Birds recorded custom entrance music for him.

Guerriero was married to Samantha Guerriero, a professional wrestler who performs as Terra Calaway. The two often teamed together and sometimes wrestled each other. She wrote that she spent ten years with him, and their son Milo was about a year and a half old in May 2025. He also had a brother, Nick, a former president of the New Providence PBA.

Outside wrestling he worked as a 911 emergency dispatcher for the Mountain Valley Communication Center, handling police, fire and EMS calls for Summit and Millburn. He made Short Soda Reviews videos, had his own soda and beard oil, and appeared in a horror film. His favorite movie was Dirty Work, and he considered Norm Macdonald and Don Rickles the funniest men alive.

Guerriero was straight edge and said he had decided drugs and alcohol were not for him before he found the straight edge scene. Wrestling records also billed him as "The Deathmatch Vegan". He saw punk and independent wrestling as the same kind of underground culture and preferred the intimacy of small shows to what he called the celebrity worship of the mainstream. He said wrestling taught him respect and that you have to earn everything.

Promotions and peers remembered Guerriero as much for his kindness as his toughness. GCW called him a Deathmatch Hall of Famer "beloved in the indie wrestling community" who "loved and was loved even more by his family". MLW, Fightful and wrestlers including Rickey Shane Page posted tributes on the day he died, and Danhausen and Jordynne Grace were among others who paid respects. The response to his ALS diagnosis, including CannonballFest, CannonBrawl and a GoFundMe that passed $120,000, showed how widely he was loved across independent wrestling.

GCW Deathmatch Hall of Fame, class of 2025, inducted by Tony Deppen on June 7, 2025 in Atlantic City. UWA Elite Hall of Fame, 2025, inducted by The BROtein Pack. UWA Elite Tag Team Championships, twice (with Brandon Kirk from 2014 for a record 470 days, and with Troy Locke in 2024). H2O Wrestling Heavyweight Championship, twice. H2O Danny Havoc Hardcore Championship, twice. H2O Tag Team Championships with Mitch Vallen. ISW Falls Count Anywhere Championship. STAR Pro Heavyweight Championship. UWA Elite Tag Team of the Year (three times), Most Shocking Moment of the Year and 2024 Match of the Year.

IWTV featured Guerriero in Episode 2 of its documentary series "The Life Of ___", in which wrestlers film their own lives, streaming from May 1, 2021. His Short Soda Reviews became a running bit in independent wrestling and once even appeared in the middle of a match. He was interviewed by Clrvynt in 2016 about punk and wrestling and spoke openly about his ALS diagnosis on the Iron-On Wrestling podcast in 2025. GCW streamed CannonballFest free on YouTube.