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Former WWE superstar JTG was part of the popular tag team Cryme Tyme in the late 2000’s winning hearts and stealing.. well.. anything they could get their hands on. He recently sat down with JOB’d Out Wrestling (https://www.youtube.com/JOBdOut) to discuss his career, his opinion of wrestling today, the impact of the late great Shad Gaspard and more.
On why WWE broke up Cryme Tyme in 2010:
“At that time and moment (WWE) didn’t give a shit about tag teams and they made it pretty obvious. After Wrestlemania… they put together two singles stars (R-Truth and John Morrison) to be the champions, it was kinda like a spit in our faces. Like, you have a legitimate tag team right here but the writing was on the wall.”
Despite being broken up, WWE had no real plans for either member of Cryme Tyme as the two members bounced from brand to brand.
On why JTG had more fun in NXT than on the main roster:
“I had fun during those times because we were just given a pass just to be ourselves… they’d present us with an idea or some bullet points and we just had fun with it. I don’t think Vince or anybody of real importance was really watching the show or dissecting it so we got away with a lot.”
JTG joined Dolph Ziggler, Chris Masters, Curt Hawkins, Trent Beretta and Caylen Croft on MTV’s Silent Library where the then-Smackdown stars took on painful or disgusting challenges for money – but JTG fared the luckiest of the group only having to complete one challenge through the entire show:
“They couldn’t get me to flip over (the challenge cards) to do the stunts. I wasn’t getting any challenges and then (the producers) fixed it. I was like ‘alright, I’ll pick this card’ and I flipped it over and acted surprised”
In 2020, JTG’s longtime friend and tag team partner Shad Gaspard passed away while saving his son from drowning. This was not the only time Shad put himself on the line to protect and save others – which led to Gaspard being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2022. Even though Shad is gone, JTG wants to see Shad’s legacy remain for many years to come:
“I think with Shad, I want everybody to still remember him as a hero. I know that us being on TV – that kids look at WWE superstars as heroes and (Shad) always carried in the back of his mind that (he’s) not just going to be just a hero on the screen but he’s going to be a hero also in real life. He took that responsibility with him.”
You can find the full 30 minute interview here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_QE-uhR7nM
