The Blade

Jesse Guilmette (born June 3, 1980) is an American professional wrestler, currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) under the ring name The Blade. He is best known for his tag team work with The Butcher under the name The Butcher and the Blade. Outside of that, he is known for his work in Impact Wrestling under the ring name Braxton Sutter and on the independent promotions such as Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) - where he was a one-time CZW World Tag Team Champion - under the ring name Pepper Parks. Professional wrestling career Early career Guilmette was trained by Les Thatcher. He has worked a number of matches under his legal name with the WWE, facing wrestlers such as The Boogeyman, Vladimir Kozlov and Shad Gaspard in squash matches. Independent circuit (2000–2019) In 2000, Guilmette began appearing for the Midwestern independent promotion Heartland Wrestling Association under the ring name Pepper Parks where he would be paired up with Chet Jablonski as the tag team, The A Squad. Debuting on July 27, 2000, the team faced Astin Ambrose and JJ Duquesne in a losing effort. Parks would wrestle for HWA for six years. During this time, he won the HWA Cruiserweight Championship on June 26, 2001, defeating Matt Stryker. On January 1, 2006, Parks gained his first heavyweight championship, defeating Jon Moxley in the tournament finals for the vacant HWA Heavyweight Championship. Parks would lose the title to Moxley on May 9, 2006 and regain it once again on November 11, 2006, defeating Chad Collyer in title vs. career match. His second reign lasted 28 days before vacating the title on December 5, 2006 and leaving HWA.