| Cryme Tyme | |
|---|---|
 JTG (left) and Shad Gaspard (right) in 2009 | |
| Tag team | |
| Members | JTG/The Neighborhoodie Shad Gaspard |
| Name(s) | Crime Time Cryme Tyme The Gang Stars Shad Gaspard and The Neighborhoodie Shad Gaspard & JTG |
| Billed heights | JTG: 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) Shad Gaspard: 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)[1] |
| Combined billed weight | 527 lb (239 kg)[1][2] |
| Billed from | Brooklyn,New York |
| Former member(s) | Eve Torres (valet) Slam Master J |
| Debut | May 24, 2006 |
| Disbanded | May 17, 2020 |
| Years active | 2006–2010 2014–2020 |
| Trained by | Ohio Valley Wrestling |
Cryme Tyme was an Americanprofessional wrestlingtag team consisting ofJTG andShad Gaspard, best known for their tenure inWWE.
The team was an over-the-top parody of stereotypicalstreet thugs.[3] The tag team first disbanded in 2010, though reunited in 2014 and continued wrestling until Gaspard's death in May 2020.
Gaspard qualified for the finals of thereality television programTough Enough 2 in 2002, but was disqualified and replaced after failing a physical.[4] He was recruited by WWE talent scoutTom Prichard and trained withDeWayne Bruce for six months[5] before debuting inOhio Valley Wrestling (OVW) under thering nameDa Beast.[6] He acted as part of thestable Bolin Services, acting as anenforcer.
JTG meanwhile had debuted asJust Too Good in OVW and after two matches, he was repackaged asThe Neighborhoodie and subsequently placed into a tag team with Gaspard, who began performing under his real name. Collectively, their team was named "The Gang Stars". They won theOVW Southern Tag Team Championship by defeatingRoadkill andKasey James on May 24, 2006, in their first match as a team. After they won thechampionships, they entered into afeud withCM Punk who teamed up withKane to defeat them andSimon Dean in ahandicap match. Punk and Kane won a title match bydisqualification, but they did not win the titles. They retained the titles in agauntlet match, but later in the month lost the championships to Punk and Seth Skyfire on July 28. The following day, they lost a number one contendership match toThe Untouchables (Dice Domino andDeuce Shade).[7] The following year, the team returned to OVW, this time under the name "Cryme Tyme", and regained the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship on July 21 from The James Boys (KC James andKassidy James). They lost the titles back to them the following day.[8]
In late 2006, WWE promoted The Gang Stars to the mainRawbrand roster, starting by having them worklive events anddark matches. On the September 4 episode ofRaw,vignettes began airing to promote the debut of the team, now dubbed Cryme Tyme, showing them "training" for their pending debut on the show.[9] Before the vignettes aired, WWE placed a statement on their website, WWE.com, stating:[3]
Tonight a new tag team, Cryme Tyme, will be introduced to theRaw audience. In an effort to humor and entertain our fans the tag team known as Cryme Tyme will be parodying racial stereotypes.
Shad Gaspard and JTG do outlandish, outrageous "stunts" to ready themselves for tag team action onRaw. This attempt at Saturday Night Live like humor is bound to entertain audiences of all ethnic derivations.
We hope you enjoy the weekly adventures of Cryme Tyme.
The vignettes, which aired weekly, featured Cryme Tyme robbing people while an announcer dubbed their actions "training exercises" designed to work on things like "speed", "agility", "drive", "endurance", and "intensity".[10][11] Cryme Tyme wrestled asfan favorites at live events and in dark matches, finally making their television debut, defeatingJohnny andMikey of TheSpirit Squad on the October 16 episode ofRaw.[12]
After arriving onRaw, they were depicted covertly stealing things—such asJerry Lawler's laptop,[13] and a plasma screen TV[14]—duringinterviews and while celebrating wins with the announce team.
On November 5, the team made theirpay-per-view debut atCyber Sunday, defeatingLance Cade and Trevor Murdoch,The Highlanders (Rory and Robbie McAllister), andCharlie Haas andViscera in a four teamtornado tag team match.[15] Later that same month, they were featured in aRaw segment that parodiedMichael Richards's "Laugh Factory incident".[16] In the skit, a wrestler (Nick Berk) — acting as a stand in for Richards — recreated the scene of the incident by using racial slurs and insults until Cryme Tyme confronted him on stage. Nervous, he offered an apology, but Gaspard kicked him in the head and JTG made aSeinfeld-esque joke by saying, "What's the deal with theBloods and theCrips? Can't they all just get along?". This event was the beginning of a series of vignettes and skits featuring Cryme Tyme interacting with different, unexpected audiences.[17][18]
Around the same time, they began a feud withThe World's Greatest Tag Team (Shelton Benjamin andCharlie Haas), during which Benjamin began to express disgust with Cryme Tyme's antics, calling them offensive and harmful to the black community.[17] During the storyline, Haas started "acting black", but after the World's Greatest Tag Team handed Cryme Tyme their first loss on the January 29, 2007, episode ofRaw,[19] the program was dropped, with Cryme Tyme appearing mainly onRaw's sister showHeat, only appearing onRaw in backstage segments.
On July 21, 2007, Cryme Tyme appeared at an OVW event and wrestled the OVW Southern Tag Team Champion The James Boys (K.C. and Kassidy James), winning the championship for the second time.[20]
The duo returned toRaw in July with a newgimmick, which saw them taking items and auctioning them off to the crowd.[21] This led to a feud with thenWorld Tag Team ChampionsLance Cade andTrevor Murdoch,[22][23] but both JTG and Gaspard were released from their WWE contracts for undisclosed reasons on September 2, 2007, before the feud was resolved.[24]
After leaving WWE, they continued teaming together on the professional wrestlingindependent circuit, using the alternate spelling "Crime Time". They appeared atJersey All Pro Wrestling's (JAPW) 10th Anniversary Show, defeating the Dirty Rotten Scoundrelz.[25] They left thepromotion undefeated after defeating Style & Finesse (Mike Donovan and Rob Vegas) in January 2008's Reclaiming Hudson.[26]
The duo also made several solo appearances on the solo circuit. Gaspard lost toPsicosis at aPro Wrestling Alliance (PWA) event in September while his partner, appearing under the altered nameJay-TG made several appearances on the Derby City Wrestling (DCW) television programme.
JTG and Gaspard returned to WWE under the Cryme Tyme name on the March 31 episode ofRaw in 2008, defeating Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch.[27] Cryme Tyme began working withJohn Cena on the June 30 episode ofRaw when they helped him interfere duringJohn "Bradshaw" Layfield's match.[28] The following week onRaw, they again appeared together in a segment when they vandalized JBL's limo.[29] After alive event match, Cena confirmed that they had created a faction and announced that it was called CTC or "Cryme Tyme Cenation".[30] Separately, Cryme Tyme started a feud with then World Tag Team ChampionsCody Rhodes andTed DiBiase, stealing theirchampionship belts for a time,[31] then losing a title match to them atUnforgiven.[32] The CTC quietly separated after Cena's injury.
On April 15, 2009, Cryme Tyme were drafted to theSmackDown brand as part of the2009 supplemental draft.[33]Eve Torres later became theirvalet, accompanying them to the ring and appearing in backstage segments with them. Later, Torres and Cryme Tyme got into a feud withThe Hart Dynasty. They competed in six-person mixed tag team, singles and tag team matches. On the July 31 episode ofSmackDown, they became the number one contenders to the UnifiedWWE Tag Team Championship by defeating The Hart Dynasty, but Cryme Tyme was defeated by then championsJeri-Show (Chris Jericho andBig Show) atSummerSlam.
Cryme Tyme was supposed to compete for Team SmackDown atBragging Rights. However, due to health concerns regarding Gaspard, Cryme Tyme (along with most of the SmackDown team) was replaced byMatt Hardy,R-Truth, The Hart Dynasty andFinlay. On the March 5 episode ofSmackDown, they had a number one contenders match to fightThe Miz and Big Show for the Unified WWE Tag Team Championships againstJohn Morrison and R-Truth and The Hart Dynasty, but they failed to win the match. The following week onSmackDown, Cryme Tyme were facing The Hart Dynasty, but were attacked byThe Undertaker while he was sending a direct message toShawn Michaels for a match atWrestleMania XXVI.[34]
At WrestleMania XXVI, both members of Cryme Tyme competed in the dark match battle royal, where JTG would be eliminated by Gaspard. Just days later onSmackDown, after a quick loss toJohn Morrison and R-Truth, Gaspard was enraged and attacked JTG for not coming to his rescue in the match, thus turning Gaspardheel.[35] Backstage after the match during an interview, Gaspard toldJosh Mathews, "No more Time... no more Cryme Tyme... This ismy time". The next week onSmackDown, Gaspard came to the ring and announced that he was done with Cryme Tyme and announced again that it was his time.[36] Afterwards, an enraged JTG came out ready to fight him, but got kicked in the face by Gaspard for his troubles. This would lead to a strap match atExtreme Rules, which was won by JTG.[37][38] The two had a standard rematch on the May 6 episode ofSuperstars, which Shad won by pinfall, thus ending their feud.[39] Gaspard was then sent toFCW developmental territory, while JTG stayed on the SmackDown brand. Gaspard was later released from his WWE contract on November 19, 2010, along with five other wrestlers.[40]
A few months after he was released from WWE, Shad signed with Japanese wrestling promotionIGF in February 2011.[41] He was also focusing on his acting career. In June 2012, Shad said their team was being copied byThe Prime Time Players.[42] JTG was released from WWE on June 12, 2014.[43]
It was announced on June 19, 2014, that JTG and Gaspard were looking for booking interests labeled now as the slightly altered "Crime Time". On August 23, 2014, Crime Time andThe Blue Meanie were defeated by Chachi, JGeorge and Mike Verna at WOW Under the Lights 3.[44] At JAPW 18th Anniversary Show, Crime Time defeated Damien Darling and Danny Demento.[45] On March 3, 2016, at XWA Xtreme Rumble, the duo were defeated byColt Cabana and Dick Justice.
JTG and Gaspard continued to wrestle together on the independent circuit until Gaspard’s death from drowning on May 17, 2020.[46][47] Their final match took place on February 15, 2020 at former WWE wrestler Santino Marella's Battle Arts promotion inMississauga,Ontario,Canada. Gaspard was given the Warrior Award at theWWE Hall of Fame in 2022.
