Name: “Golden” Grant Carter
Height: 6’5″
Weight: 262
Date of Birth: September 23, 1979
Hometown: Asbury Park, New Jersey
Theme Music: “It’s My Life” by Bon Jovi
Finisher(s)
– Gold Strike – Snapmare Driver – Carter’s been working hard on this. This is his great equalizer – the one thing he can hit that’ll KO ANYONE he hits it on. He’s been trying to hit it from different positions and as counters to different moves in the Combat Corner to great success. We’ll see if it can translate to the ring.
MDK Move(s)
– None
Signature Move(s)
– Ten count punch in the corner – he loves drawing off the fans’ support so you can expect this in every match so they can cheer for him
– Short-arm clothesline. His long arms make this especially effective as he can get a little more distance between him and the victim than most guys do with this move.
– Airplane Spin – Todd Michaelson taught it to him early as a “basic move” and Carter kinda fell in love with it. He tries to get enough rotations to get the fans to start counting them.
AWA Titles Held
None held.
AWA Tournaments/Major Events Won
None won.
Biography:
“Golden” Grant Carter had a childhood… but we don’t care about that.
Fast forward ahead to the early 00s when Carter is managing a hard rock club in New York City. One Saturday night, his head bouncer called in and said he was stuck in Philly due to weather and couldn’t make it. Turns out he was moonlighting as a pro wrestler. Carter fired him…
…and then had second thoughts. The next time his bouncer went to work a show, Carter tagged along. He instantly thought he had the potential to be a pro wrestler and signed on at a local training school – a school that took ten thousand dollars from him and then closed up shop. He was pissed and gave the pro wrestling business the proverbial middle finger.
Fast forward to 2008, Carter sees an ad on local television for pro wrestling school. He swears at the TV… but starts to wonder. Could he still do it? He decides to give the school a call. The trainer is willing to take his money… but says he’ll never make it as a wrestler. An enraged Carter cuts a promo on the guy in the middle of the school. The trainer’s grin got bigger and bigger throughout the verbal asskicking and at the end of it, he offers to train Carter to be a manager.
Carter accepts and soon after, he makes his debut as “Golden” Grant Grimes managing the Mad Samoans. That lasts for a few months and then he gets to manage “Bad” Bruno Rocca. Then he gets another tag team called the Marauders. Soon, he’s managing his own stable – The Gold Mine.
Carter’s enjoying his gig but he’s also seeing that it doesn’t pay a heck of a lot. His overtures to the major promotions go mostly unanswered as the wrestling business is in a bit of a downturn. He keeps working wrestling as a side job… he keeps getting better… and he keeps seeing wrestlers that just aren’t very good getting paid more than him because they’re taking the hard shots inside the ring.
In 2011, Carter drops everything in his life and moves to Dallas, Texas in hopes of getting a job with the AWA. He shows up at a Saturday Night Wrestling, somehow talking his way past security, and encounters Todd Michaelson. Michaelson starts to have security toss him when Carter starts to tell him his story. Michaelson listens with interest and ultimately allows Carter to stick around to watch the show.
Two days later, Michaelson offers Carter a job as a manager… starting immediately on AWA television.
Carter declines to the shock of Todd Michaelson. He wants to be a wrestler.
Michaelson tells him all the reasons he’ll fail but Carter doesn’t care. He wants to be a wrestler. Michaelson refuses, Carter says he’ll train without getting paid. Michaelson agrees to that.
Three months later, Grant Carter is signed to an AWA contract… the lowest paying contract they’ve ever given. Many in the Combat Corner see it as charity – “The old man will never make it.”
They were wrong.
As 2015 began, “Golden” Grant Carter’s determination has gotten him to where he always dreamed of being – the squared circle. He has his golden opportunity.