Shad Gaspard

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Shad Gaspard
Gaspard in 2016
Born(1981-01-13)January 13, 1981
New York City, U.S.
DiedMay 17, 2020(2020-05-17) (aged 39)
Los Angeles, U.S.
Spouse
Siliana Gaspard
​
(m. 2009)​
Children1
Ring name(s)Da Beast[1]
Shad
Shad Gaspard
Billed height6 ft 7 in (201 cm)[2]
Billed weight295 lb (134 kg)[2]
Billed fromBrooklyn, New York
Trained byOhio Valley Wrestling[1]
Rocky Johnson[1]
Al Snow[1]
DeWayne Bruce[1]
Debut2003

Shad Javier Gaspard (January 13, 1981 – May 17, 2020) was an American

mononymously as Shad.[3]

Gaspard signed with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in 2003, where he was assigned to their developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) and was a two-time OVW Southern Tag Team Champion with JTG, as part of Cryme Tyme. In 2006, Cryme Tyme was promoted to WWE's main roster, before both Gaspard and JTG were released from the company the following year. Cryme Tyme returned to WWE in 2008, but Gaspard was released again in 2010.

After departing WWE, Gaspard pursued an acting career that included several films and television roles,

The Game, and From Dusk till Dawn: The Series. He was also the co-creator of the 2011 graphic novel Assassin & Son and provided motion capture for video games, most notably for the protagonist Kratos in the 2018 game God of War
.

Gaspard drowned while trying to save his son on May 17, 2020. As a result of his heroic efforts, he was posthumously awarded the Warrior Award at the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony in 2022.

Early life

Shad Gaspard was born in the

Frank Lucas and currently owns McFay Contracting Inc. At age five, Shad was trained by his father in boxing, and at age eight he began training in a mixture of different martial arts such as judo, kickboxing, Jeet Kune Do, and Muay Thai
.

At age 16, Gaspard began prize fighting for promoter

Georgia Perimeter College. After leaving, he became a bodyguard for several celebrities, including P. Diddy and Mike Tyson.[6]

Professional wrestling career

World Wrestling Entertainment (2002–2007)

Tough Enough and Ohio Valley Wrestling (2002–2006)

Gaspard decided to become a professional wrestler, and he qualified for the finals of the reality television program Tough Enough 2 in 2002, but was disqualified and replaced after failing a physical.[5]

After Tough Enough, Gaspard was recruited by WWE talent scout

Carlos Colón Jr. in February 2004.[5] After Colón left OVW in October 2004, Gaspard left Bolin Services and formed several short lived tag teams with Osama,[1] Mike Mondo,[1] Ken Doane,[1] and Ryan Wilson,[1] before he began wrestling under his real name as a singles wrestler.[5]

Cryme Tyme (2006–2007)

Main article: Cryme Tyme
Cryme Tyme – Gaspard (right) and JTG, at an autograph signing in 2007

In early 2006, during his feud in OVW with CM Punk, Gaspard was joined by The Neighborhoodie and formed a new tag team known as The Gang Stars.[5][9] The Gang Stars won the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship on May 27, but they lost the titles to CM Punk and Seth Skyfire on July 28.[10]

On the September 4, 2006 episode of

SmackDown!, Deuce 'n Domino (with Cherry) defeated Cryme Tyme in an inter-brand match tag match.[14] While Deuce, Domino and Cherry celebrated their victory, Cryme Tyme appeared on the titantron and kayfabe stole their car, taking it to Brisco Brothers Auto Shop to sell it for parts chanting "Money, money, yeah, yeah".[14] In July, Cryme Tyme returned to OVW and regained the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship on July 21 from The James Boys (KC James and Kassidy James), becoming two-time tag team champions, but they lost the titles back to them the following day.[15][1][10]

On the August 13 episode of Raw, Cryme Tyme returned to their hometown of New York City, losing to then-World Tag Team Champions Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch in a non-title match by disqualification, when Gaspard used a chair on Murdoch.[16] On the August 27 episode of Raw, Cryme Tyme stole Murdoch's hat and gave it away to a fan, starting a feud between them.[17] However, on September 2, 2007, Gaspard and JTG were both released from their WWE contracts.[1][18]

Independent circuit (2007–2008)

After being released from WWE, Gaspard lost to Psicosis at a Pro Wrestling Alliance (PWA) event on September 22 in Houston, Texas.[19][20] Gaspard, along with JTG wrestled at the Jersey All Pro Wrestling's (JAPW) 10th Anniversary Show on October 27, 2007, defeating The Dirty Rotten Scoundrelz.[19] They left the promotion undefeated after defeating Style and Finesse (Mike Donovan and Rob Vegas) in January 2008's Reclaiming Hudson event.[21]

Return to WWE (2008–2010)

Cryme Tyme returned to WWE in 2008

On the March 31, 2008 episode of Raw, Gaspard and JTG returned to WWE as Cryme Tyme, defeating Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch.[22] Cryme Tyme began working with John Cena on the June 30 episode of Raw, when they helped him interfere during John "Bradshaw" Layfield's (JBL) match.[23] The following week, they again appeared together in a backstage segment, when they vandalized JBL's limo.[24] After a house show match, Cena confirmed that they had created a faction and announced that it was called Cryme Tyme Cenation (CTC).[25] Cryme Tyme also started a feud with the World Tag Team Champions Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase, stealing their championship belts for a time,[26] then losing a title match to them at the Unforgiven pay-per-view event.[27]

On April 15, 2009, Cryme Tyme were drafted to the

Luke Gallows, before Gaspard eliminated JTG, and Shad was later eliminated by William Regal.[33]

On the April 2 episode of SmackDown, after Cryme Tyme lost a match, Gaspard attacked JTG, thus turning

Goldust.[37] Their feud led to a strap match at Extreme Rules, which JTG won.[38][39] The two faced off again on the May 6 episode of Superstars, where Gaspard was victorious, thus ending their feud.[40] Gaspard made his final television appearance on the May 14 episode of SmackDown, where he defeated Jesse Guyver.[41] On November 19, 2010, he was released from his WWE contract.[42]

Japan (2011)

On February 5, 2011, Gaspard went to Japan and worked for Antonio Inoki's Inoki Genome Federation (IGF), where he teamed with Bobby Lashley in a loss to Atsushi Sawada and Erik Hammer.[43]

Return to the independent circuit (2011–2020)

After being released a second time by WWE, Gaspard returned to the independent circuit, and on January 22, 2011, he defeated Charlie Haas at FWE Retribution in New York City.[44] On March 31, 2012, he lost to Big Daddy V at WrestleRama in Georgetown, Ghana.[44] It was announced on June 19, 2014, that Gaspard and JTG were looking for booking interests labeled now as the slightly altered Crime Time, as JTG was released by WWE. They wrestled the first match on their Crime Time World Tour on August 23, 2014, for the Warriors of Wrestling promotion in Staten Island.[45] At the JAPW 18th Anniversary Show on November 15, 2014, Crime Time defeated Damien Darling and Danny Demento in a tag team match.[46] Gaspard then continued to wrestle alongside JTG, until his death in 2020.[47]

Personal life

Gaspard married Siliana, a fitness model and athlete, in 2009.[48] They had a son named Aryeh in April 2010.[49][50]

On March 5, 2011, Gaspard was arrested by police in Columbus, Ohio, for having allegedly refused the commands of a police officer and resisted arrest for jaywalking.[51][52][53] He was later cleared of all charges in July 2011.[54]

On December 11, 2016, Gaspard prevented the armed robbery of a gas station in Coral Springs, Florida, when he was approached by an intoxicated man who was intent on robbing the station. Gaspard shoved the man, took away his gun, and restrained him until police arrived.[55]

Disappearance and death

On May 17, 2020, Gaspard and his son were among a group of swimmers caught in a strong

Los Angeles County coroner's office. He was 39 years old.[62] On December 21, his widow filed court documents against the state of California and the city of Los Angeles, alleging negligence, dangerous condition of public property, and insufficient signs warning of the dangers of swimming in the area.[63]

Legacy and tributes

After his death saving his son, Gaspard was awarded by Pro Wrestling Illustrated readers with the PWI Most Inspirational Wrestler of the Year.

Warrior Award for his actions that day.[66]

Other media

Gaspard appeared in video games as a playable character in WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008,[67] WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009,[68] WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010,[69] and WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2011.[70]

In January 2012, he was advertised as appearing on

The Game,[71] as well as TV Land original situation comedy The Exes in October 2012.[72] He was also working on other upcoming films and often performed stunts. Besides wrestling and acting, Gaspard also did modeling and worked on a comic book.[73]

In 2013, Gaspard performed in the stage adaptation of "Pugilist" as

African American world heavyweight boxing champion (1908–1915), depicting the fighter's rise to the world heavyweight championship, and his tragic fall.[74]

In 2018, Gaspard provided the motion capture for protagonist Kratos of the video game God of War.[75][76]

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Notes
2012 Petunia XL
2014 Think Like a Man Too The Goldenrod
2015 Get Hard Big Ass Julian
2015 Brothers Ronnie Cross
2015 My First Miracle Jack
2015 Wrestling Isn't Wrestling Theater Audience Member Short film
2016 Officer Downe Brick
2017 Welcome to Willits Captain Carter
2017 Sandy Wexler — Performed stunts
2019
Bolden
 Aaron Harris
2020 Birds of Prey Lords leader Also performed stunts; Final role
Television
Year Title Role Notes
2012
The Game
 Shad 2 episodes
2012 The Exes Warren 1 episode
2013 Big Time Rush Marcus 1 episode
2014 The Haunted Hathaways Officer Bugliari 2 episodes
2014–2015 Key & Peele Actor 2 episodes
2015 Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn Lou 1 episode
2016 From Dusk till Dawn: The Series Olmeca 3 episodes
2017 In the Cut Tony 2 episodes
2018 The Last Sharknado: It's About Time Muhammad Ali TV movie
Video games
Year Title Role Notes
2017–2018 Batman: The Enemy Within Bane Performed motion capture and stunts
2018 God of War Kratos Motion capture[75][76]

Championships and accomplishments

See also

References

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External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Shad Gaspard.
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