Victor Grimes (born January 3, 1963) is an American

professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

. He is best known for his appearances with Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), Xtreme Pro Wrestling (XPW), and the

World Wrestling Federation World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

(WWF). Grimes began his wrestling career in California's All Pro Wrestling, before working for the WWF. In the WWF, Grimes portrayed the character Key, a drug dealer. After a short tenure, Grimes debuted in ECW and joined the stable Da Baldies. He subsequently worked for XPW, where he continued his feud with New Jack that had begun in ECW. He also appeared in

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

's short-lived wrestling promotion Wrestling Society X.

Professional wrestling career

All Pro Wrestling (1996–1998)

Grimes began his career in California's All Pro Wrestling (APW) promotion, where he had a series of matches against

Erin O'Grady Michael John Lockwood (August 25, 1971 – November 6, 2003) was an American professional wrestler. He was best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation / World Wrestling Entertainment from 1999 to 2003 under the ring names ...

. This "little man vs. big man"

feud A feud , referred to in more extreme cases as a blood feud, vendetta, faida, clan war, gang war, or private war, is a long-running argument or fight, often between social groups of people, especially families or clans. Feuds begin because one part ...

between the two even escalated to the point of O'Grady running into Grimes with a

car A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as ...

World Wrestling Federation (1998–1999)

J.R. Benson JR, J. R. or Jr. may refer to: * Jr. or Junior (suffix), a name suffix Arts and entertainment * ''J.R.'' (album), an album by Jim Bob * ''J R'', a 1975 novel written by William Gaddis * "Jr.", a song by Codeine on the album ''Barely Real'' * J. ...

sent Jim Cornette a tape of Grimes and O'Grady's feud in APW and scheduled them for a dark match before a taping of ''

WWF Shotgun Saturday Night ''WWF Shotgun Saturday Night'' is a professional wrestling television program that was produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). It aired from January 4, 1997 through August 21, 1999 as a syndicated broadcast. ''Shotgun Saturday Night'' ...

'' on January 20, 1998. WWF officials signed both men to contracts. Grimes was moved to the Memphis developmental territories before being brought up to television under the

ring name A ring name is a type of stage name used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons, or projecting ...

Key. He made his televised WWF debut on the July 26, 1999 episode of ''

Raw Raw is an adjective usually describing: * Raw materials, basic materials from which products are manufactured or made * Raw food, uncooked food Raw or RAW may also refer to: Computing and electronics * .RAW, a proprietary mass spectrometry dat ...

''. As Key, Grimes portrayed a drug dealer

character Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...

along with

Droz Droz is a surname: * Joseph Droz (1773–1850), a French writer on ethics, political science and political economy * Numa Droz (27 January 1844 – 15 December 1899), a Swiss politician * Pierre Jaquet-Droz (1721–1790), a Swiss-born watchmaker o ...

and

Prince Albert Prince Albert most commonly refers to: *Albert, Prince Consort (1819–1861), consort of Queen Victoria *Albert II, Prince of Monaco (born 1958), present head of state of Monaco Prince Albert may also refer to: Royalty * Albert I of Belgium ...

and feuded with

The Godfather ''The Godfather'' is a 1972 American crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mario Puzo, based on Puzo's best-selling 1969 novel of the same title. The film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, ...

. The Godfather suffered an injury just as the feud between the two was developing, leading to Grimes being taken off TV.

Extreme Championship Wrestling (1999–2000)

The WWF encouraged Grimes to work for the Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) promotion to further develop his skills. There, Grimes joined Tony DeVito and Spanish Angel, replacing

P. N. News Paul Neu (born July 9, 1966) is an American professional wrestler. He is perhaps best known under the ring name P. N. News and for his stints in Extreme Championship Wrestling and World Championship Wrestling. Professional wrestling career Early ...

, in Da Baldies. The highlights of his ECW tenure were a fast-paced match against Kid Kash, an ECW World Heavyweight Title shot against Mike Awesome, and a Danbury Street Fight with Tommy Dreamer. During Living Dangerously in March 2000, a breakdown in communication between New Jack and Grimes led to both men tumbling off a 20-foot high scaffolding rig onto concrete. New Jack suffered

brain damage Neurotrauma, brain damage or brain injury (BI) is the destruction or degeneration of brain cells. Brain injuries occur due to a wide range of internal and external factors. In general, brain damage refers to significant, undiscriminating t ...

and was permanently blinded in his right eye, which kept him out of wrestling for several months. Grimes departed ECW not long after this incident.

Xtreme Pro Wrestling (2001–2003)

Following ECW's closing, New Jack went to Xtreme Pro Wrestling, and his feud with Grimes was re-ignited when Grimes surprisingly attacked New Jack from behind with a guitar at ''Payback's a Bitch'' event; New Jack was involved in a verbal dispute with XPW CEO Rob Black when Grimes appeared through the mat from under the ring and attacked New Jack, aligning himself with Black's faction, "The Black Army". The beginning of the newly ignited feud featured both men in a tag match, with Grimes teaming with

The Messiah In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; , ; , ; ) is a salvation, saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of ''Messiah in Judaism, mashiach'', Messianism#Judaism, messianism, and of a Messianic Age#Judaism, Messianic Age ...

and New Jack aligning himself with Supreme; during the match New Jack was powerbombed by Grimes through a flaming table, and New Jack was on fire for over 10 seconds. Other major points of the feud featured New Jack diving off the Los Angeles Grand Olympic Auditorium balcony over 30 feet onto two tables, with Grimes on top of both, at ''Redemption'' in May 2001, as well as Grimes throwing New Jack off the same balcony through many tables stacked below at ''New Year's Revolution'' in January 2002. The feud culminated in February 2002 in a scaffold match, as towards the end of the match, Jack broke from the script and legitimately shocked Grimes with a

taser A taser is an electroshock weapon used to incapacitate people, allowing them to be approached and handled in an unresisting and thus safe manner. It is sold by Axon, formerly TASER International. It fires two small barbed darts intended to ...

before throwing Grimes from the scaffold and sending him crashing to the ring 40 feet below; there were over 12 tables stacked on top of each other to break the fall, but Grimes missed all but two of them and came within less than a foot of missing the ring completely. Grimes broke his fall on the top rope, dislocating his ankle and suffering multiple other injuries in the process. In the 2005 documentary '' Forever Hardcore'', New Jack claimed that his intentions were to throw Grimes so hard that he would fall head-first onto the steel turnbuckle and die, as retaliation for the now infamous Danbury Fall at Living Dangerously 2000. Some believe this to have been a 'work' on New Jack's part as closer inspection of the footage appears to show that Grimes threw himself off the scaffolding at an unexpected angle and with more velocity than intended. When Shane Douglas took control of XPW following ''Baptized in Blood 3'', Grimes remained with the promotion and engaged in feuds with Douglas and Snuff. During a tag match between Douglas and Lizzy Borden against Grimes and Lucy, Grimes botched a superbomb on Borden through a table on the outside of the ring, as Borden missed the table completely and landed head first on the floor. Grimes also wrestled against several cruiserweights such as Psicosis, Little Guido, and Altar Boy Luke.

Independent circuit (2003–2006)

After XPW folded, Grimes went on to work for various Californian

independent promotions In professional wrestling, the independent circuit or indie circuit is the collective name of independent professional wrestling promotions which are smaller than major televised promotions. It is roughly analogous to a minor league for pro wres ...

Wrestling Society X (2006)

In 2006, Grimes took part in

's new wrestling show, Wrestling Society X. He made his debut for the WSX dubbed as "Vicious" Vic Grimes alongside

Arik Cannon Arik Cannon (born December 23, 1981) is an American professional wrestler known for competing in companies such as Chikara, Dragon Gate USA, IWA Mid-South, All American Wrestling and Wrestling Society X. He also runs the Minneapolis-based wrest ...

in a 3-on-2 handicap match against The Cartel, who Cannon had been attacked by a couple of weeks ago. However, Grimes and Cannon lost to The Cartel. Two episodes later, Cannon and Grimes competed against

Luke Hawx Oren Hawxhurst (born July 8, 1981) is an American professional wrestler, professional wrestling promoter, actor, and stuntman. He is best known under the ring name Luke Hawx and is also known for his time in Xtreme Pro Wrestling under the ring nam ...

and Al Katrazz, during which Grimes missed a

spear A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with fire hardened spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fasten ...

on Katrazz and landed into some light tubes at ringside, allowing Cannon to be pinned by Katrazz. Grimes remained with the promotion until its closure.

Late career (2006–present)

Following his appearances with Wrestling Society X Grimes returned to the independent circuit.

Other media

He appeared in the video game '' Backyard Wrestling 2: There Goes the Neighborhood''.

Championships and accomplishments

* All Pro Wrestling ** APW Tag Team Championship (

2 times "2 Times" is a song co-written and recorded by British Italian-based singer Ann Lee. It was released in 1999 as the lead single from her debut album, ''Dreams'' (1999). The single entered and peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart. Outside ...

) – with Little Dic Grimes (1) and Frank Murdoch (1) ** APW Universal Heavyweight Championship ( 1 time) *BRAWL Wrestling **BRAWL Heavyweight Championship (1 time) * Power Pro Wrestling ** PPW Heavyweight Championship ( 1 time) ** PPW Tag Team Championship ( 1 time) – with

**PPW Young Guns Championship (2 times) *'' Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' **PWI ranked him #270 of the ''500'' best singles wrestlers of the year in the PWI 500 in 2001 * Xtreme Pro Wrestling ** King of the Deathmatch Tournament (

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Grimes, Vic 1963 births American male professional wrestlers Living people People from Sacramento, California Professional wrestlers from California