Grado (wrestler)
Grado
|
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| Birth name | Graeme Stevely |
|---|---|
| Born |
2 June 1988 Stevenston, Scotland, United Kingdom |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) |
Grado Grant Dunbar Matt Classic Odarg the Great |
| Billed height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) |
| Billed weight | 235 lb (107 kg) |
| Billed from |
|
| Trained by | Conscience Killian Dain Drew McIntyre Andrew Wason Adam Shame |
| Debut | 2004 |
Graeme Stevely (born 2 June 1988), better known by the ring name Grado, is a Scottish professional wrestler and actor, currently signed to Impact Wrestling. He is best known for his work with Insane Championship Wrestling (ICW) where he is a former ICW World Heavyweight Champion.
Grado first got into wrestling in 2002. He trained briefly with Red Lightning, Kid Fite, and Drew Galloway at British Championship Wrestling. He then went back to train a few years later with Scottish Wrestling Alliance as they were closer to home. He made his debut for the Scottish Wrestling Alliance (SWA) in 2004, under the ring name Grant Dunbar, as part of The Lowlanders with Glen Dunbar. They achieved little success, but held the SWA Tag Team Championships on two occasions.
After years of wrestling sporadically and performing as lead singer of Scottish metalcore band Prezident Prime, Grado returned to training at SWA, this time with new head trainer Big Damo. He made a Facebook video to sell tickets for a Scottish Wrestling Alliance show next to his home town, leading to a promo feud with Jackie Polo which included his first time dancing along to Madonna "Like a Prayer". These videos and promos became popular and Mark Dallas from Insane Championship Wrestling (ICW) hatched the "Get Grado Booked" campaign. During this time, Grado was the subject of a Vice documentary, The British Wrestler, which saw his popularity rise with American stars like Sonjay Dutt voicing their support. As part of the Vice documentary, Grado appeared to defeat ICW Heavyweight Champion Red Lightning at Super Smokin' Thunderbowl to win the ICW Heavyweight Championship. The match was later restarted as Red Lightning had his leg under the bottom rope. Red Lightning would go on to retain the title.
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