Early career (1998–2001) Born in
Biel, Switzerland, Marco Jaggi was a fan of wrestling growing up and became interested in entering the business as a teenager. Opportunities to do so in Switzerland were virtually non-existent at the time and, after looking for wrestling schools elsewhere, took a flight to Germany to train with the Wrestling Catch Fans Berlin promotion. Jaggi trained 6-hours a day for three weeks prior to making his debut in June 1998, but wrestled in only four matches during the next three years. He was unable to attend the school year round and could only visit Germany during summer holidays where he would train for a short period, wrestle one opponent, then return to Switzerland. Between 2001 and 2005, Jaggi attended numerous wrestling clinics held by the likes of
Jorge "Skayde" Rivera,
Mike Quackenbush,
Ian Rotten,
Joe E. Legend and Ecki Eckstein. He later claimed to regret starting his career "too early" and, later as a trainer, advocated students should train for a minimum of half a year.
Swiss Money Holding (2001–2003) In 2001, Jaggi joined
Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw) based in
Essen, Germany. It was shortly after his debut that his trainer SigMasta Rappo and HATE suggested he form a tag team with another of his students
Claudio Castagnoli.
Swiss Money Holding made its debut against Euro Threat (HATE and SigMasta Rappo) at wXw's "Taste It Twice" supercard on May 13, 2001. He and Castagnoli, another Swiss wrestler, worked well together and their
"heel" in-ring personas, a parody of
Swiss bankers, almost immediately caught on with the fans. They defeated Euro Threat two months later to become the first wXw Tag Team Champions, and would win the titles two more times within a year. Their televised matches for wXw, aired by Southwestern German Broadcasting Corporation, made them one of the most visible tag teams of the promotion and, in time, the two began wrestling in other German and European promotions as well. On September 29, 2002, Jaggi won the Swiss Wrestling Federation Heavyweight Championship, and with Castagnoli, became the first German Stampede Wrestling Tag Team Champions on March 29, 2003. Other organizations they appeared for included Athletik Club Wrestling, European Wrestling Fighters, and the New Alliance of Wrestling Athletes in Germany,
Austria's Riotgas Wrestling Alliance and Wrestling Warriors Austria, and Freestyle Championship Wrestling in
the Netherlands. They also faced Hero and Quackenbush as Swiss Money Holding, and Hero in singles matches throughout the year.
Touring the United States (2003) Impressed by their performance, Chris Hero invited Jaggi and Castagnoli to perform in the United States. That summer, the two toured the country appearing at shows for a number of
independent promotions on the
East Coast and
Midwestern United States. On July 4, 2003, Swiss Money Holding made their US debut for
IWA Mid South defeating Chris Hero and Mark Wolf at the "We Are Family" supercard in
Clarksville, Indiana. The following night, they participated in
Chikara's
2003 Tag World Grand Prix in
Allentown, Pennsylvania. They defeated Senior Assault Team (Melvin Snodgrass and Lester Crabtree) in the first round, but were eliminated along with the SuperFriends (Chris Hero and
Mike Quackenbush) after fighting to a time limit draw. They made a second appearance at the IWA Arena on July 12 and, the next night, Jaggi and Castagnoli appeared in a third supercard, "X-treme Combat III", for Xtreme Intense Championship Wrestling in
Warren, Michigan. In the main event, Swiss Money Holding wrestled in a
3 Way Dance against Jaimy CoxXx and
Alex Shelley and XICW Tag Team Champions Gavin Starr and
Jimmy Jacobs.
Singles career (2003–2006) Shortly after their return to Europe, Castagnoli opted to return to the United States to compete full-time for Chikara. Jaggi then brought in Marc Roudin, a young
cruiserweight wrestler they had both trained, to take Castagnoli place. Though Castagnoli would return to team with Jaggi and Roudin, Swiss Money Holding being billed as a 3-man tag team, his continuing involvement with Chikara (and later
Ring of Honor) resulted in Jaggi mostly teaming with Roudin for the next few years. Jaggi would continue to win titles with both men, however, appearances by all three members were rare. He also began to make a name for himself as a singles competitor. On March 6, 2004, Jaggi defeated Michael Kovac to become the first heavyweight champion for German Stampede Wrestling and toured
Algeria with Force Francophone de Catch five months later. In early-2005, he also became the first ROE Switzerland Heavyweight Champion during its "March Madness Tour '05" when he defeated
The Honky Tonk Man in
Weesen, Switzerland on March 12. Over the next year, he would face opponents such as
Samoa Joe,
Colt Cabana,
Steve Corino,
Nigel McGuinness,
Naomichi Marufuji,
Kenta Kobashi and
Doug Williams. On April 9, 2005, Jaggi teamed with Marc Roudin to regain the GSW Tag Team Championship from Eric Schwarz and Michael Kovac. In Italian Championship Wrestling, he won the ICW Heavyweight title from Red Devil at ICW's "Il Numero Uno" supercard in
Belluno on April 12. Jaggi lost the ICW title to Kaio in
Rimini a month later. At its June 25 supercard, The Wrestling Event, Jaggi teamed with
A-Train in a tag team match against Kaio and
Test in
Varese, Italy. He later wrestled Kaio for the title later that night but the match ended in a no-contest. A month later in
Toulouse, France, Jaggi took part in an 8-man championship tournament to crown Force Francophone de Catch's first 2FC Champion on July 3. Defeating
Spud to advance to the finals, he lost to
Jonny Storm in a 4 Way Dance with
Bryan Danielson and
Jody Fleisch; Jaggi had eliminated Danielson and Fleisch before being pinned by Storm. On September 23, 2005, Swiss Money Holding was scheduled to appear for Italian Championship Wrestling's "Pandemonium IV" in
Sondrio, Italy to face its tag team champions the Party Boyz (Ace and Andres Diamond). When Ares showed up without a partner, there was some confusion as to which team member would be joining him. While conducting an in-ring interview with the Party Boyz, General Manager Amarillo attacked both men revealing himself to be Ares' secret partner. In their title match later that night, Amarillo was pinned by Andres Diamond. At the end of the year, Jaggi won the
wXw World Heavyweight Championship from
Robbie Brookside on October 2, 2005, and again from Mike Quackenbush at a Chikara show in
Reading, Pennsylvania, almost six months later. On January 27, 2006, he entered wXw's 16 Carat Gold Tournament and was eliminated by
Ian Rotten in the first round. That same night he defended the heavyweight title in separate matches against Bernard Vandamme and
Mickie Knuckles. In April, Jaggi wrestled a 2-day card for the Fighting Spirit Federation in
Marseille, France. On April 15, he teamed with
April Hunter in a mixed tag team match against
Nikita and Red Devil. Jaggi and his old ICW rival met again the following night when they both lost to
Lance Hoyt a 3 Way Dance. Also that month, he entered a championship tournament in
Roth, Germany, for the German Wrestling Promotion but lost to
Monty Brown in the opening round. On May 6, he and Steve Douglas lost to ICWA World Junior Heavyweight Champion Jonny Storm in a 3 Way Dance at the International Catch Wrestling Alliance's "Revolution III" in
Bruay-sur-l'Escaut, France. A day later, he won the FSF Heavyweight Championship in
Montreuil-Juigné. He successfully defended the title against
Chad Collyer and Absolute Andy before losing to Johan three months later. At wXw's "True Colors", Jaggi entered a trios tournament with Bad Bones and
Emil Sitoci. They defeated the High Class Catch Club (Adam Polak and Baron von Hagen) and
Tracy Smothers in the opening round, but lost to Doug Williams,
Takashi Sugiura and
Yoshinobu Kanemaru in the finals. In the fall of 2006, Jaggi visited Japan during
Pro Wrestling NOAH's "Autumn Navigation" tour. He spent most of the tour wrestling tag team and trios matches with fellow European wrestlers Murat Bosporus, Nigel McGuinness, Scorpio and Doug Williams. Among Japanese wrestlers he faced included
Jun Akiyama, Masashi Aoyagi, Tsutomu Hirayanagi,
Mitsuharu Misawa,
Yoshinari Ogawa,
Akitoshi Saito,
Takuma Sano,
Akira Taue and
Muhammad Yone. He also teamed with
Kentaro Shiga and Yoshinobu Kanemaru to defeat
Go Shiozaki,
KENTA and
Tamon Honda in
Utsunomiya, Japan, on October 11, and with Shiga and
SUWA to defeat Honda,
Shuhei Taniguchi and
Tsuyoshi Kikuchi at the Yokkaichi Memorial Hall in
Mie four days later. Jaggi's last match on the tour was a trios match with Doug Williams and Nigel McGuinness beating Ippei Ota,
Kishin Kawabata and
Masao Inoue at Tokyo's
Budokan Hall on October 29, 2006. The match was later broadcast on Japanese television.
Swiss Money Holding (2006–2008) Throughout his time as a singles competitor, Jaggi was also teaming with Claudio Castagnoli and Marc Roudin. During their first year together, he and Roudin regained the GSW Tag Team Championship from Eric Schwarz and Michael Kovac and held the titles for 15 months. They would also win the ROE Switzerland and Fighting Spirit Federation tag team titles in early-2007. On December 10, 2006, Swiss Money Holding made their debut in International Pro Wrestling: United Kingdom where Jaggi and Castagnoli unexpectedly defeated Dragon Phoenix and Bubblegum for the IPW:UK Tag Team Championship in
Colchester, England. There was some controversy surround their victory as Bubblegum had been a substitute for the recently injured co-champion
Spud. After defending the titles at wXw's "Back To The Roots VI" in Germany, Jaggi returned to IPW: UK with Roudin and silenced their critics by defeating the former champions The Dragon Hearts (Phoenix and Spud) in a rematch in
Orpington on February 18, 2007. The team successfully defended the titles against Team NOAH (Doug Williams and Go Shiozaki) on April 22, and The Dragon Hearts at the "A Taste Of IPW" show a week later. he and Roudin managed to save their titles via a disqualification loss. Their luck finally ran out the following night when The Kartel beat them for the titles at Orpington Halls. on September 23. A month later, Swiss Money Holding defeated SigMasta Rappo and British Stallion at "Winter Heat" for Swiss Championship Wrestling on December 15, 2007. On January 19, 2008, Jaggi and Castagnoli faced fellow stablemate Marc Roudin and Chris Hero for the wXw Tag Team titles. Roudin and Hero had won them from AbLas (Absolute Andy and Steve Douglas) in
Oberhausen, Germany, the previous November. At "IPW: UK vs. The World", Swiss Money Holding once more attempted to win back the IPW: UK titles from The Kartel at Broxbourne Civic Hall on March 15 but failed to defeat them. This was their last appearance in the promotion. At the end of the year, Castagnoli and Roudin entered the
2008 Tag World Grand Prix in
Oberhausen, Germany, on November 4, 2008. They were eliminated in the first round by The UnStable (
Vin Gerard and
STIGMA) when Gerard pinned Roudin.
United States independent circuit (2009–present) , with Tursas (center) at the
2010 King of Trios Around this time, Jaggi announced his intention to wrestle full-time in the United States prior to his marriage to American female wrestler
Allison Danger in June 2008. Moving to
Emerald Isle, North Carolina, he began competing for independents in
the Carolinas and in the
Mid-Atlantic United States. Kirby Mack sprained his right elbow during this match. After six years, the official SMH reunion between Jaggi and Castagnoli took place at the end of Chikara's “Three-Fisted Tales” show in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on November 22, 2009. When Jaggi revealed himself as the masked man who had been stalking
UltraMantis Black, Castagnoli turned
heel and attacked ally Mike Quackenbush. After beating the entire
face roster Castagnoli aligned himself with Jaggi, Tursas, Pinkie Sanchez,
Tim Donst,
Sara Del Rey and
Daizee Haze to form the
Bruderschaft des Kreuzes. After picking up the three points needed in order to challenge for the
Campeonatos de Parejas in just one weekend, Castagnoli and Jaggi defeated
The Colony (Fire Ant and Soldier Ant) on March 20, 2010, to win the titles, making Castagnoli the first two-time Campeon de Parejas in Chikara history. In April Castagnoli, Jaggi and Tursas defeated the teams of
The Osirian Portal (Amasis and
Ophidian) and Sara Del Rey, Team Perros del Mal (
El Alebrije, Cuije and El Orientál), Team Big Japan Wrestling (
Daisuke Sekimoto, Kankuro Hoshino and
Yuji Okabayashi) and The Colony (Fire Ant, Soldier Ant and Green Ant) over a three-day tournament to win the
2010 King of Trios. Ares avenged the loss on November 21, defeating UltraMantis Black in a
Falls Count Anywhere match with help from Tursas. At the season nine finale on December 12, Ares and Castagnoli lost the Campeonatos de Parejas to Jigsaw and Mike Quackenbush. Ares returned to Chikara in late 2013 alongside BDK as part of the Flood stable. On September 19, 2014, longtime BDK member Jakob Hammermeier had the rest of the stable turn on Ares, taking over the leadership of BDK. ==Personal life==