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Over the last few weeks, we've spoken with the likes of Lio Rush, Mark Andrews, Chris Van Vliet and Fred Rosser, AKA Darren Young, on Dropkick DiSKussions, but Episode 5 eclipsed all others when Grado came all the way from the 'tap end ae Stevenson' to speak to myself in Rufus T Firefly in Glasgow.
Grado, by his own account, shocked the world when he became a viral sensation, going from wrestling in front of 20 fans in Maryhill to winning the Insane Championship Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship in the SECC from Drew McIntyre - with a little help from the Hardcore Legend, WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley. That rise, though, was no coincidence. There was no luck involved.
In fact, Grado has worked incredibly hard to be where he is now - and he's well deserved of the acclaim, not just from wrestling fans, but from mainstream television viewers in Scotland and beyond.
Grado, it's yersel!
It's yersel! Not heard that in 30 seconds.
How's it going?
I'm good. I'm good. I'm kept busy. I've got my Football Daft podcast, I'm doing that every week, I'm still on the road wrestling. I'm no longer in Impact. My contract ran out in February, so basically, since then, I've been doing my podcast, I've got my game show, Test Drive, that's on BBC Scotland.
Fingers crossed, we're waiting on confirmation for new series of Scot Squad and Two Doors Down - and pantomime! Which I do every year, it's a total graft - which I love doing. We do around 80 shows between the end of November all the way into January, man, so it's a graft and a half but I love doing it, it's great. The similarities between pantomime and wrestling are mega, man.
You returned to ICW at Shug's Hoose Party V. The guy who introduced you on the way back in was WWE Hall of Famer and Impact Hall of Famer Jeff Jarrett...
Jeff Jarrett - I'm really close to Jeff. Obviously I've not been as close to him recently because, right now, he's Vince McMahon's right-hand man. He's on his jet, he's with him every day, so I don't get to talk to him as much because obviously the situation with WWE, he's no longer available because the plan was for me and JJ at Fear & Loathing.
So, I was gutted because Jeff re-signed me. My contract was up with TNA a couple of years ago and he managed to get me re-signed, so that created a little relationship because we were involved in that and ITV World of Sport, so we got really close.
Whenever I was in America, I was always round at Jarrett's gaff. I was there with his family, spent a lot of time with him over the summer two years ago, so for him to introduce me back was brilliant.
I love that video, watching back, just when he's got the Hall of Fame jacket, like "I got a guy and he's from Steven-ston!"
Honestly, the best feeling in the world because I'd been away from ICW and I'd missed it so much. It's definitely true what they say. The heart... What is it they say?
Absence makes the heart grow fonder!
Absence makes the heart go stronger! So it was great to be back in ICW, and I've got to say, I've never been so fevered about ICW than what I am just now. I'm doing a feud just now with Ravie Davie, and I'm loving it. I'm loving it just now.
NEXT: Grado discusses Drew McIntyre
COMING UP: Grado opens up about wanting to be more involved in ICW
Ravie Davie - a guy very similar to yourself?
Definitely, man. He's got pictures coming up to me when he was a boy, a lot younger, with Grado signs in the front row, taking selfies with me, but I see a lot of Ravie Davie in myself, so I like to try and give him a wee bit of inspiration, try and show him the ropes - basically to give him a bit of advice, man, because he's got a character, man, he's got a character, and the biggest thing in wrestling is characters!
This is what wrestling needs, a lot more characters.
I find these days there's a lot of times when wrestling, when I'm watching and some of the wrestlers are giving interviews and they're talking as if they're on Match of the Day. Do you know what I mean?
They're talking as if... [MONOTONOUS] "You know, the match was good, and da, da, da..."
It's missing that "HNNGH!" You know? A bit of character, razzmatazz, all that carry-on, I love it - and Ravie Davie's got that, so I'm loving working with him and, as I say, it's great to be back at ICW because that is the first place where they made me, it's the place where everybody saw me, and the way ICW's being run just now is the best it's been run in years, so it's amazing to be back.
The ICW crowd are the best fans in the world. I get American wrestlers like, "Hey, you gotta get me in ICW, brother" because they want to come and see it because it's such a spectacle.
My brother, who's not, by any means, a wrestling fan at all - he loves coming just to see it, the live show, you know yourself. Even if you don't like wrestling, give ICW a show - sorry, give ICW a...chance. It's got everything - from the music blasting, the crowd chanting, the stunts that we pull, the drama. It's like ECW, or what ECW was in the late '90s. It's a very special company and being back there - I love it.
Of course, you said there it's the best feeling ever going back. My next question was actually going to be, "Can anything beat this moment...?" My favourite Grado moment, my favourite ICW moment, one of my favourite moments in wrestling history - SECC 2015. You and Drew McIntyre, Mick Foley rooting you on. You end up with Mick Foley's vest and win the ICW World Heavyweight Championship.
Mick Foley left his $20 bill in his pocket. I remember the next day going, "Ah, ya dancer! A f**king score!" Brilliant! it was amazing!
No, Drew is the best guy in the world to wrestle, I learned so much from him. I'm not the most technically gifted wrestler in the world by any means.He helped make me look like a star, and I loved that match. I've not watched it a lot. It's a thing that always pops up on YouTube and obviously the pop when I win is emotional as hell, man. It was great.
And for Foley to be there as well, for a big mark like me, it was something else and I can be proud of that because we sold that out, like, a month in advance and we didn't have that many yanks on it. We had Rhyno on it who was really just built as a midcarder.
Obviously we had Foley. He's part of it as well but selling that show out, Grado vs Drew, 4,500-5,000 people - that was just amazing, man.
He told me before the match, "Yeah, buddy, what we're going to do, man. I think we've got an idea, I shoot you in the ropes, you come back and give me the hurricanrana."
I went, "F*** off. I can't f***ing hurricanrana you, ya dafty"
I go, "No, I'll do it." I was nervous before the match, my nerves completely went because I'm going, "Well, this is going to be s***e. I'm going to make a c*** of this hurricanrana."
Actually it ended up alright. It was the slowest, daftest, s***est, f**king hurricanrana, but it actually worked. I done it a few times in TNA, I done it with Eli Drake, it's good to do every now and again because the crowd don't expect me to do it.
A fat, wee pudding like myself, a wee pudding like myself hurricanrana-ing folk was a good feeling.
NEXT: Feuding with Abyss
COMING UP: Grado opens up about wanting to be more involved in ICW
The Drew match was tremendous.
You heard The Rock say in the papers the other week that he is the next big thing, and he definitely is. Big, handsome guy, promo skills, that f***ing stupid accent. But other than that, he's an absolute monster and he's a star.
You say you're not the most technically gifted, the hurricanerana proved you are, but technically gifted aside, you've got the thing you said a lot of people are missing - charisma...
But you need charisma, man. You need to make an impression as soon as you walk through that curtain, and too many people these days walk down to the ring to their generic music, they don't have much of a character. You need to buy into somebody straight away. Someone like Sha Samuels, you need Sha. He can just come out...
[HE BELLOWS]
He's got his character, he's nailing it right now. He's so over. I'm saying that 'cause I'm his best mate, but still. He is... You just look at him, he is a character, he is a movie star, he could be Danny Dyer. He could be on EastEnders, know what I mean?
Characters like him is what we need more of, and ICW's got it. There's plenty of other wee guys as well. Leyton Buzzard is brilliant. He's excellent. Wee Keiran Kelly is tremendous. Kez Evans, he's coming onto a game as well.
There's a lot of promising, young guys in ICW so it's looking good for the future. The guys at the Asylum are doing a great job - [Jack] Jester, Wolfie [Wolfgang], BT [Gunn], and now Andy Wild. There's no better place to train than to go to the Asylum.
I don't want to keep putting you over here, but my favourite thing about you, you went to America, you did not change. You were the same Grado from ICW. Was that a conscious decision you made or did you know, "I've got to be myself."
I had to be myself. Don't get me wrong, there was a couple of backstage segments that they got me to do and I thought, "What the f*** is this?" because they were getting me to quote phrases from a '70s American game show, and I thought, "How the f*** are punters are going to believe that believe that I would know phrases from a game show?"
Obviously I had to rein it in a wee bit, but the stuff I enjoyed most when I was in America near the tail end of it was working with Joe Hendry, I loved working with Joe. Joe is the man. He's gone to Ring of Honor now.
Working with Abyss... Abyss is the most gentle giant! Love him. And do you know what? I got an opportunity. We were doing TV tapings at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. We had six days and Abyss was meant to wrestle, the next night, in a match, in a Monster's Ball, and the wrestler had to pull out of it. They always say in wrestling, "Business is done at the bar." Right? I'm standing with JB [Jeremy Borash], Billy Corgan, Hurricane Helms and they're thinking, they're trying to book, "Who can we have in the Monster's Ball?"
"I'll do it. I'll f***ing do it. I'll do it no bother." They're all laughing and going, "Whatever." The next day, we turn up at TV tapings and get handed out our creative, and I'm like...
[HE STARES BLANKLY]
Hurricane Helms goes, "Monster's Ball, kid, you got it tonight." I go, "You're kidding me on, man," so we did it live on pay-per-view, it was January 2016, and I loved it. Monster's Ball match, came out and the rib on that was funny because Abyss is known for wearing a bumbag, right? He wears a fannypack all day, every day. I mean, I wear one quite a lot.
But the rib on that was funny because I come out dancing, opened a challenge, and he comes out and goes, "What kind of man wears a fannypack?" And I'm like, "You wear one every f***ing day!"
I always remember, he goes, "You like dancing? You wanna go to the ball? Let's go to the Monster's Ball!"
I've got goosebumps just thinking about it.
See when I was young, I believe I was the first ever guy to see a TNA show in Scotland. June 19th, 2002, they done Wednesday night pay-per-views and someone recorded the show for me on a Wednesday. This was before torrents and downloads, and I believe I'm the very first Scottish person that seen a TNA show - so for me to be involved in a Monster's Ball, a live show, was something else, man, I loved it.
Don't get me wrong, the Bound For Glory match I had was a f***ing nightmare but that's a totally different story.
NEXT: Grado opens up about life before wrestling
COMING UP: Grado discusses wanting to be more involved in ICW
The Miz, there's Batista, and there's Grado. What have they all got in common? Eh...
You all transcend wrestling. Every single one of you have taken to acting. You're in Scot Squad, you're in Two Doors Down...
I always say, I said this last week... Folk will be getting p***ed off with me saying this, but...
The Rock's done movies, he's done The Mummy, he's done The Scorpion King, but how many f***ing episodes of River City has he done?
I love that wrestling, my passion, has given me a pathway to act and be on the stage. When I was younger, I always wanted to be on the stage, man. Ever since I was a wee boy, it didn't matter whether it was wrestling, acting or being on the stage - I wanted to be an entertainer, man, that's what I wanted to be.
Sometimes I need to sit back and think about how lucky I am. I do Two Doors Down, and that was a programme that I watched with my mum and dad, it was a show that meant so much to me, we watched it every week. I believe that Two Doors Down is f***ing brilliant.
I remember I was in Florida, and I got the email, "Would you like to be a guest appearance on Two Doors Down?" And I nearly burst out crying. It was brilliant. Mixing the wrestling and the acting is great.
Not only that, a wee exclusive as well, here's a wee story for you.
I was actually working in the Fire Brigade for ten years.
Not many folk know this! I worked in the control room for the Fire Brigade taking 999 calls, so I was juggling wrestling, acting, and the Fire Brigade. I was sometimes doing TNA shows, TNA loops. I was doing Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, flying home on Friday night, landing into Glasgow Airport at 4am, sleeping for two hours in Glasgow Airport and then going to a day shift in the Fire Brigade.
Then going to do a booking that night, somewhere in Scotland, wrestling at night. There was a time where I was just constant. I mean, I still am busy, busy, busy, but that's what was happening and I just had so many different things on, and I had to cut the Fire Brigade off - which obviously I didn't want to do because I took great pride in being in the Fire Service, it was brilliant.
You can actually find a video of me online, I got a... On one of my first night shifts in the Fire Brigade, I took a call from a couple that were trapped inside a tenement building, not far from here. They were trapped in a fire, and the lady and the guy... The lady was pregnant, there was a guy, they were trapped in a bathroom, there was no windows, there was smoke, this was on the ninth or tenth floor, and I was on the phone call for 40 minutes helping them, trying to get them through, instructing them until the fire fighters came, so I'm on the phone.
I always remember, the guy's name was Gary and I'm going, "Gary, Gary, how's the smoke?" "It's coming through the doors." "Well, Gary, get your jeans off, mate, stop the smoke from coming in," and I'm like, "Just think positive, your girlfriend's pregnant, think positive, you're going to get through this," and it lasted 40 minutes - and I ended up getting a commendation off the Fire Brigade - which is like an achievement, award type thing. That ended up being on STV News. That was in 2009. It's about ten stone ago.
Being in the Fire Brigade was such a privilege for me, I loved it, but it just came to such a point where, you know, I was always asking for days off for wrestling, and the novelty of people working for me was wearing thin, do you know what I mean?
I'd go, "Can you work for me Saturday night? I've got this show" And the first couple of times, they're going, "Oh, I'm helping Grado's career," then it got to the point where it was like, "Right, Grado, you're taking the p*** here." There's too many Saturday nights you're needing off.
So I had to make the move, bite the bullet and leave the Fire Brigade, which was sad but, so far, fingers crossed, it's working well. I'm still being kept busy, and I'm still enjoying it.
NEXT: Grado opens up about life before wrestling
COMING UP: Grado discusses wanting to be more involved in ICW
The reason you had to leave was obviously that you're wrestling daft - that leads onto another wee exclusive that you said you were going to give us.
So I do Football Daft with Ewen Cameron each week, which I'm really enjoying. I've always wanted to do a podcast. Because we're always on the road, listening to podcasts is a big thing that the boys do. You listen to... I remember I bought equipment, £300 worth of equipment for podcasting a couple years ago. I don't even think I f***ing opened the box. My plan was to always do a podcast because I like sitting and talking s***e.
Ewen Cameron asked me to do it, Football Daft. The media company, The Fore Network, they asked if I wanted to do Wrestling Daft, a wrestling podcast.
So, we've got a co-host who I think is going to surprise a lot of people who is going to be... I can't announce who it is yet because he has not signed on the dotted line but I hope it gets around soon because I think it's going to be really good. Hopefully get guys like you to come on.
We base a lot of Football Daft around the fans, so we want to get fans involved. We have a feature on Football Daft now where punters can phone in, give their opinions. We want to have that on Wrestling Daft, fans phoning in, wrestlers coming from around the world, wee bit of comedy, wee bit of chitchat. Promoting shows, British guys promoting stuff so look out for that in the coming weeks and months, man.
We know Wrestling Daft is coming up. Obviously you're back in ICW, you said about the TV shows, hopefully Scot Squad's going to come back. Ravie Davie, you're going up against, you mentioned that earlier. Anything else next for Grado?
What's your ambition? Where are you planning on going from here? Are you going to keep grinding away or do you have some end goal in sight?
I don't even know. Do you know what? I done my Grado's Big Family Wrestling Bash, round at the Pavilion, so you know I've been doing pantomime at the Pavilion for the last four years. When ITV World of Sport toured, they decided not to go to Glasgow because it's quite an oversaturated market.
They didn't want to go there. I had a lot of families going, "Well, we want to come and see World of Sport," so I spoke to the guy that runs the Pavilion and said, "Why don't we put on a version or style of World of Sport and have it in the theatre?" He said it was a great idea. In May, we done 1,100 people.
Family show. I always want to aim my shows at families because you've got to remember, a lot of the wrestling crowds, wrestling fans are young children and it's easier to impress the children. They can get hooked and they can love it but it is dragging the parents... You don't want the parents to be going, "F***ing hell, hurry up."
NEXT: Grado's ambitions
When I booked it, I loved it and I wanted a lot of drama. That's why we booked a segment the likes of big Crater. He's 36 stone, big, heavy, massive, huge, heavyweight wrestler - which, by the way, ITV wanted him to be called Stench. Which I thought would have been a f***ing great name. Stench!
So, we did an open challenge. Mark Dallas was his heater, his mic guy, his mouthpiece.
"Is anybody at the back? Does anyone in the back want to come out and fight this guy?"
Wee Kieran Kelly came out. Just the vision... Do know what I mean? Kieran Kelly who is nine stone soaking wet. The vision... Families love that. They get to see that.
We wanted to mess about with the music. Jester and Sabryna, they were the kind of gothic tag team. I wanted them coming out to Beautiful People [by Marilyn Manson]. You know...
[HE SINGS RIFF]
The lights, all the production was perfect, because we had pyro, so it was just trying to put on a show that would engage the children but obviously the mums and dads as well. Adding the drama and the storylines. We had the opener with Martin Kirby, who is one of the most underrated wrestlers in the world. He can work comedy, he can work fast style,hardcore, anything - he can do it. We had him against Justin Sysum who, again, looks like a movie star, great guy.
I would like to do more of that, take that on the road, Grado's Big Family Wrestling Bash, and get more folk involved in that. As I say, wrestling fans enjoy all types of wrestling but it's trying to get other... Transcend the mums and dads, who might not be quite so sure of it, do you know what I mean? They've got to enjoy it as well.
So I've only got one final question for you, man. We spoke a lot about wrestling, we have done here. You're a Rangers man, like myself. I've got one controversial question to ask you.
Oh, no, here we go.
Nacho Novo or Dado Prso?
Nacho Novo, because he's agreed to come on my podcast, my Football Daft podcast.
There's another exclusive right there!
Or if, Dado, if you want to come on it as well, mate, come on.
You need to wear a headband, or a bumbag around your head.
Before we go, I just want to say to the British wrestling fans. In 2012, we did a Vice documentary that followed me, ICW, it followed some other British wrestling companies.
Then it went to Insane Fight Club in 2014 and the fans came out, man. The fans came out in their numbers and we managed to pack out SECC, managed to... Done all right at the Hydro. Which, by the way, I love that SWG3 venue, that is a f***ing quality venue.
Thanks to all the British wrestling fans for coming out and coming to see our shows, and making our dreams come true because when we first started wrestling, in the early 2000s, we were wrestling in front of 60, 70 people. It was... You know, there was no production values, c***s were f***ing making an entrance, coming out the fire exit.
The grim f***ing assembly halls with red curtains and all that, just instantly gave you the fear.
I just want to thank all the fans that ever came out through the years that have managed to put the money in the pocket, come to the shows and supported us so that we can make our product better, we can have the fancy lights, the better rings, better equipment to put on a better show, because the British wrestling scene is the best wrestling scene, in my opinion, in the world right now and that's why, you know, the big dogs are coming and picking everybody up and stuff like that.
Thanks to everybody that ever followed me on Twitter, Instagram and all the rest of it. Thank you so much.
You mentioned SWG3 - Fear and Loathing I believe is there this year. Fans need to check it out, whether it is on ICW On Demand or in person. [Tickets available here]
I'm fevered for Fear and Loathing this year. What happened last year? Ir was with James Storm, I loved that. That was brilliant. This year... What we've got planned - big, man. It's going to be big. It's going to be f***ing big. I can't wait.
I'm loving it and I want to be more involved in ICW now because... I've got experience. I don't want to sound like a f***ing big-headed c***, but I've got experience because I've been away, I've seen how TV works and stuff like that, and I want to be more involved in ICW. My mind is always racing. I always want to... I want to put my finger in every pie and just be... What do you call it? Jack of all trades, master of none.
100%. Thank you so much for joining me, man. Absolute pleasure.
No bother, my man. Cheers, troops.
You can follow Grado on Twitter here, Instagram here.
You can also check out Insane Championship Wrestling on Twitter here, or subscribe to ICW On Demand here.
