Shad Gaspard

Early life Shad Gaspard was born in the Brooklyn borough of New York City on January 13, 1981.

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.

After Tough Enough, Gaspard was recruited by WWE talent scout Tom Prichard and allowed to attempt a career as a professional wrestler. Afterwards, he was signed to a developmental contract by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), eventually joining Bolin Services stable, which led by Kenny Bolin. Mike Mondo, 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.

On the September 4, 2006 episode of Raw, a series of vignettes began airing, hyping the debut of Cryme Tyme (Gaspard and The Neighborhoodie, with Neighborhoodie's ring name changing to JTG). The duo made their pay-per-view debut at Cyber Sunday, where Cryme Tyme defeated Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch, Charlie Haas and Viscera and The Highlanders (Robbie McAllister and Rory McAllister) in a Texas Tornado match (as voted by the fans). A few months later at the New Year's Revolution pay-per-view, Cryme Tyme won a Tag Team Turmoil Match against The Highlanders, The World's Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin), Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch, and Jim Duggan and Super Crazy, earning them a shot at the World Tag Team Championships. On April 1, 2007, at WrestleMania 23, Cryme Tyme made a cameo appearance and started a dance party with Eugene and some WWE legends in the backstage area. 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". 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. However, on September 2, 2007, Gaspard and JTG were both released from their WWE contracts.

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. Gaspard, along with JTG wrestled at Jersey All Pro Wrestling's (JAPW) 10th Anniversary Show on October 27, 2007, defeating The Dirty Rotten Scoundrelz.

Return to WWE (2008–2010)

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

On April 15, 2009, Cryme Tyme was drafted to the SmackDown brand as part of the Draft. They made their debut on the brand on the May 1 episode of SmackDown, hosting a dance contest between Eve Torres and Layla. The team made their in-ring debut on the May 22 episode of SmackDown, where they teamed up with John Morrison to defeat The World's Greatest Tag Team and Ricky Ortiz. On the July 31 episode of SmackDown, Cryme Tyme defeated The Hart Dynasty (David Hart Smith and Tyson Kidd) to become the number one contenders for the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship. At SummerSlam, they failed to capture the titles against Jeri-Show (Chris Jericho and Big Show). On March 28, 2010, at WrestleMania XXVI, Gaspard competed in a battle royal, with Gaspard and JTG eliminated Luke Gallows, before Gaspard eliminated JTG, and Shad was later eliminating by William Regal.

On the April 2 episode of SmackDown, after Cryme Tyme lost a match, Gaspard attacked JTG, thus turning heel and disbanding Cryme Tyme in the process. The next week on SmackDown, Gaspard taunted JTG by showing footage of the attack, and JTG attempted to attack him, but was laid out by Gaspard. The following week, after JTG's match against Caylen Croft, Gaspard attacked JTG, but was eventually fought off. On the April 22 episode of WWE Superstars, Gaspard, now sporting a new attire and a new theme song, defeated Goldust. Their feud led to a strap match at Extreme Rules, which JTG won. The two faced off again on the May 6 episode of Superstars, where Gaspard was victorious, thus ending their feud. Gaspard made his final television appearance on the May 14 episode of SmackDown, where he defeated Jesse Guyver. On November 19, 2010, he was released from his WWE contract.

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.

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. On March 31, 2012, he lost to Big Daddy V at WrestleRama in Georgetown, Guyana. At the JAPW 18th Anniversary Show on November 15, 2014, Crime Time defeated Damien Darling and Danny Demento in a tag team match. Gaspard then continued to wrestle alongside JTG, until his death in 2020.

Personal life Gaspard married Siliana, a fitness model and athlete, in 2009. Their son was born in April 2010.

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.

Legal issues 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. He was later cleared of all charges in July 2011.

Disappearance and death On May 17, 2020, Gaspard and his son were among a group of swimmers caught in a strong rip current in the Venice Beach neighborhood of Los Angeles. He told lifeguards to save his son before saving him, but disappeared underwater soon after. His son was safely rescued. The Coast Guard's search team was joined by professional wrestlers JTG, John Morrison, and Chris Masters. On May 19, after searching 70 square nautical miles (240 km2), the Coast Guard suspended the search. On May 20, Gaspard's body was found washed ashore in Venice Beach and was identified by the Los Angeles County coroner's office. He was 39 years old. 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.

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. Dave Meltzer also announced that he would include a "Shad Gaspard Award" for outside the ring contributions for the betterment of society. In 2021, Meltzer created the Shad Gaspard/Jon Huber Memorial Award, named after Gaspard and fellow wrestler Jonathan Huber, who also died in 2020. In 2022, WWE also honored him with that year's Warrior Award for his actions that day.

Other media Gaspard appeared in video games as a playable character in WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010, and WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2011.

In January 2012, he was advertised as appearing on the BET television series The Game, as well as TV Land's original situation comedy The Exes in October 2012. 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.

In 2013, Gaspard performed in the stage adaptation of "Pugilist" as Jack Johnson, the first African American world heavyweight boxing champion (1908–1915), depicting the fighter's rise to the world heavyweight championship, and his tragic fall.

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

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 Bollywood film debut 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

2017–2018 Batman: The Enemy Within Bane Performed motion capture and stunts 2018 God of War Kratos Motion capture Ranked No. 85 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2010 Superstars of Wrestling Federation SWF Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with JTG VIP Wrestling VIP Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with JTG World Wrestling Alliance WWA Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with JTG Wrestling Observer Newsletter Shad Gaspard/Jon Huber Memorial Award (2020) WWE WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2022 – Warrior Award)