Shad Gaspard

His father was a former enforcer for street gangs and later a personal security guard in the early 1970s; he worked for gangster 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 Hardbody Harrison, a former WCW wrestler and FX Tough Man Champion, in bar fighting tournaments such as boxing, kickboxing, MMA, and tough man competitions.

Although he was only 16 years old, he competed against adults who were up to 20 years older due to his large size.

He held win–loss records in MMA (35–7) and amateur boxing (57–26).

He was extensively involved in athletics during his high school years, specializing in wrestling, track, and basketball.

After high school, he continued to play basketball at Georgia Perimeter College.

After leaving, he became a bodyguard for several celebrities, including P. Diddy and Mike Tyson.

Shad Javier Gaspard (January 13, 1981 – May 17, 2020) was an American professional wrestler and actor.

He was best known for his time with WWE, where he performed under his real name, or mononymously as Shad.

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

He was of Curaçaoan and Haitian descent.

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.

He first trained with DeWayne Bruce from the WCW Power Plant for six months.

Afterwards, he was signed to a developmental contract by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), and he was assigned to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW).

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.

Gaspard made his OVW debut in 2003 under the ring name 'Da Beast', eventually joining Bolin Services stable, which led by Kenny Bolin.

Originally, he acted as Bolin's personal enforcer, until he was placed into a tag team with Carlos Colón, Jr. in February 2004.

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

In 2006, Cryme Tyme was promoted to WWE's main roster, before both Gaspard and JTG were released from the company the following year.

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.

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).

On the October 16 episode of Raw, Cryme Tyme made their in-ring debut by defeating then-World Tag Team Champions The Spirit Squad (Mikey and Johnny) in a non-title match.

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.

On the June 29 episode of SmackDown!, Deuce 'n Domino (with Cherry) defeated Cryme Tyme in an inter-brand match tag match.

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".

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.

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.

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.

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 the Jersey All Pro Wrestling's (JAPW) 10th Anniversary Show on October 27, 2007, defeating The Dirty Rotten Scoundrelz.

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, such as Think Like a Man Too, Get Hard, 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.