Icarus

Ronald Grams (born July 26, 1982) is an American professional wrestler.

He is known for his 18-year tenure with the Chikara professional wrestling promotion, under the name Icarus since 2002, where he is a former Grand Champion, Campeon de Parejas and King of Trios winner.

He has also wrestled for Combat Zone Wrestling, Dragon Gate USA, Evolve Wrestling, Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla.

Grams received his initial training from Chikara founders Mike Quackenbush and Reckless Youth at the Chikara Wrestle Factory, where he was trained on the first term of the school alongside the likes of Hallowicked and UltraMantis Black.

Grams and Hallowicked were childhood friends and entered the school with the intention of becoming a tag team.

Grams made his professional wrestling debut on May 25, 2002, at Chikara's first ever show as Ichabod Slayne, a masked member of the rudo (bad guy) stable Night Shift, with partners Blind Rage and Hallowicked.

In their first professional wrestling match, Slayne and Hallowicked were defeated by Beauty and the Beast (Marshal Law and Love Bug) in a tag team match.

When Hallowicked began gaining success as a singles wrestler, Slayne and Blind Rage were left to represent Night Shift in the company's tag team division.

However, it wasn't long before problems rose between the two, culminating on June 28, 2002, in a ten-man tag team match, where Blind Rage's misstep caused Slayne to be pinned and as a result he was forced to wear a dress.

On November 16 Slayne surprised his tag team partner by appearing as a member of the opposing tecnico (good guy) team in an eight-man tag team match, where he, Mike Quackenbush, Love Bug and DJ Skittlez defeated Blind Rage, Eddie Kingston, BlackJack Marciano and Jigsaw, when Slayne pinned Rage.

On December 7, 2002, Slayne and Blind Rage faced each other in a Mask vs. Hair match, which Rage managed to win and as a result Slayne was forced to unmask.

Slayne returned to Chikara, without his mask and now using the ring name Icarus, on March 29, 2003, defeating his former stable mate and the reigning Young Lions Cup Champion Hallowicked in a non-title match.

Icarus received his shot at the Young Lions Cup on April 12, but was unable to dethrone Hallowicked.

On June 13 Icarus defeated Hallowicked in another non-title match, this time contested under Sudden Death rules.

On July 5, 2003, Icarus entered the first ever Tag World Grand Prix with a new tag team partner, the masked Gran Akuma, using the tag team name Team F.I.S.T. (Friends in Similar Tights).

After defeating The Conundrum (Jigsaw and Rorschach) in the first round of the tournament, Icarus and Akuma were eliminated from the tournament by Icarus' former stable mates Hallowicked and Blind Rage of the Night Shift, who would go on to win the entire tournament.

After the tournament Team F.I.S.T. began feuding with the Wildcards (Eddie Kingston and BlackJack Marciano).

2003 ended with the Wildcards taking advantage of a hairline fracture in Akuma's ankle and defeating Team F.I.S.T. in a No Disqualification match on October 18.

In 2004 the feud evolved with Jigsaw joining the Wildcards to form the Toxic Trio, which led to Mike Quackenbush coming to the aid of Team F.I.S.T. The feud came to an end on May 22, 2004, at Chikara's third anniversary show, when Icarus, Akuma and Quackenbush defeated the Toxic Trio in an Ultimate Jeopardy match and as a result both of the Wildcards were shaved bald.

After a disappointing 2005 Tag World Grand Prix, where Team F.I.S.T. was eliminated in the second round and two draws and a loss against the tag team of Mister ZERO and Shane Storm, known collectively as Men@Work, Icarus and Akuma turned rudo by attacking Storm and ZERO after a match on May 20, 2005.

The following day Chris Hero invited Icarus and Akuma to join him, Claudio Castagnoli and Arik Cannon in the stable known as The Kings of Wrestling.

On July 22 Icarus entered the third Young Lions Cup tournament.

After defeating Prophet in his first round match and Rorschach, Mickie Knuckles, Sabian, Arik Cannon and Ricky Reyes in the 6-way semifinal match, Icarus advanced to the finals of the tournament, where he was defeated by Shane Storm.

On September 16 Icarus received a rematch for the Young Lions Cup, but was once again defeated by Storm.

2005 ended with Icarus witnessing at ringside how Storm defeated his tag team partner Gran Akuma in a Mask vs. Mask match.

In 2006, Icarus targeted Jigsaw and started going after his mask on multiple occasions, which led to Chikara Commissioner Bob Saget booking the two in a Hair vs. Mask match.

On July 22, Jigsaw defeated Icarus and afterwards Jolly Roger and Mister ZERO, both of whom were in kayfabe forced to retire the previous year thanks to assaults from Icarus, returned to shave him bald.

Icarus bounced back on October 28 by winning the third annual torneo cibernetico match.

On November 12 Icarus and Akuma defeated the teams of Silver Bullet #1 and Silver Bullet #2, Incoherence (Delirious and Hallowicked) and Cheech and Cloudy in a one night tournament to earn the right to challenge for the Campeonatos de Parejas, held by their stablemates Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli.

F.I.S.T. cashed in their title match at the following event on November 17 and defeated Hero and Castagnoli two falls to one to become the second ever Chikara Tag Team Champions.

After the match, Icarus, Akuma and Hero kicked Castagnoli out of the Kings of Wrestling.

2007 began with Icarus and Akuma overthrowing Hero as the leader of the Kings of Wrestling, kicking him out of the stable and naming Chuck Taylor as their new third member.

In February Icarus, Akuma and Taylor entered the first ever King of Trios tournament, where they made it all the way to the semifinals, before losing to the trio of KUDO, Miyawaki and Yoshiaki Yago, representing Kaientai Dojo.

On May 27, 2007, at Chikara's fifth anniversary show, Icarus, Akuma and Taylor clashed heads with Chris Hero, Larry Sweeney and Claudio Castagnoli, who had been forced to re-join Hero after losing a match to him the previous month, over the rights to the name Kings of Wrestling.

Icarus, Akuma and Taylor won the match, when Akuma pinned Sweeney, but after the match all six members decided to put their differences aside and united to re-form the Kings of Wrestling.

During the rest of the year, the six were also joined by Mitch Ryder, Shayne Hawke and Max Boyer.

F.I.S.T. then began a feud with Los Ice Creams (El Hijo del Ice Cream and Ice Cream Jr.), which culminated in the fourth torneo cibernetico match, where the Kings of Wrestling (Icarus, Ryder, Hero, Castagnoli, Sweeney, Akuma, Taylor and Hawke) faced Team Mega Mucha Lucha (Lince Dorado, Incognito, Magno, Equinox, El Hijo del Ice Cream, Ice Cream Jr., Chiva III and Chiva IV).

The Kings of Wrestling easily defeated Team Mega Mucha Lucha, but in the end Castagnoli emerged as the sole winner of the match by defeating both Hero and Ryder and as a result won his freedom from the stable.

The following month at Bruised Icarus and Chuck Taylor, who replaced the injured Gran Akuma in the title match, lost the Campeonatos de Parejas to Incoherence (Delirious and Hallowicked), ending their reign at 343 days.

The Kings of Wrestling disbanded in December, when Castagnoli defeated Hero in a feud ending match, after which Hero left the company and the rest of the Kings broke off into two separate trios; F.I.S.T. (Icarus, Akuma and Taylor) and the Fabulous Three (Sweeney, Ryder and Hawke).