The WWE superstar known as Jesse was born Terry Gordy, Jr., on March 23, 1979, in Chattanooga, Tennessee.  His father is Terry Gordy, a famous wrestler, and Jesse has grown up around wrestling entertainment.  Before joining the WWE, he worked with the North American Wrestling Association (NAWA) and NWA Georgia.  He has held several titles with both groups, including the NAWA Heavyweight, Junior Heavyweight, and Wildside Heavyweight titles and the NWA Heavyweight and Junior Heavyweight titles.

In 2001, Jesse moved to the Far East to work in Japan with Pro Wrestling NOAH.  He wrestled with the group for a year, then returned to the US and joined the NAWA Ring Champions in Georgia.  Once there, he allied himself with wrestlers such as Nick Rampage, Jayson Phoenix, Tank Norton and Iceberg Slim. 

In 2005, however, Jesse would get his big break when the WWE offered him a developmental contract.  He was assigned to Deep South Wrestling, where he teamed up with Damien Steele.  In 2006, he and Henry Godwinn started doing Smackdown house shows, and during this time, Jesse went by the name Cousin Ray.

Jesse made his first WWE Smackdown appearance in a vignette on May 11, 2007, as Jesse Dalton.  He and Festus were first paired as the Dalton Boys, although that name was quickly dropped.  Instead, they simply went by Jesse and Festus.  The two first appeared in the ring in October of 2007 and defeated Mike Tolar and Chad Collyer. 

The two appeared on ECW the same month due to a talent exchange, and they won that match as well.  Returning to Smackdown, they would continue to do fairly well, although they lost an early Battle Royal match for the Tag Team title.

After Festus was drafted to Raw, Jesse began a new character named "Slam Master J" (a take off of a former character he had in Deep South Wrestling named Ray Geezy, a white rapper). Apart from his match against Charlie Haas, he has lost every match as Slam Master J.