Wrestler and actor Grado joins Saturday night TV show

WRESTLER turned actor Grado is going back to the future after joining the grapple stars bringing the sport back to Saturday tea-time telly.

He is thrilled to be following in the boots of 1970s ring kings he used to watch on video.

WOS Wrestling starts a 10-week run on ITV next Saturday, following a successful pilot episode on Hogmanay 2016.

“We thought it was going to get the go ahead earlier, so waiting for this has been the longest year of my life,” said Grado, 30.

“This is what I’ve always wanted, seeing wrestling back on prime time telly. It’s not on some channel on Sky in the middle of the night that nobody watches.

“This is Saturday night, it’s like Ant and Dec. It feels like payoff for all the nights wrestling in social clubs in front of 15 folk or getting pelted with eggs in a park in Cranhill.

“It’s amazing to be involved in something so special.”

World of Sport Wrestling was a British institution on the ITV sports show, fronted by Dickie Davies, for more than two decades.

Millions would tune in to watch stars like Mick McManus, but the Saturday night staple ended 30 years ago.

Grado said: “With the power of YouTube it’s easy to look back at bouts like Big Daddy versus Giant Haystacks at Wembley.”

“But even before that, when I was 14 and 15, I was trading to get videos of these guys from the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s sent to me from Japan.

“There was an old guy called Les Kellett that I’ve tried to base some of my style on. He was a comedy wrestler and I’ve looked back to see if I can get wee ideas off him.

“He wasn’t drunk, but he had that kind of stagger and his comedy timing was brilliant.“In real life he was hard as nails.”

And despite today’s stars being finely tuned athletes, Grado reckons they’d find it hard going against the larger-than-life figures from the sport’s heyday.

“The wrestlers of the past would beat up the ones from today,” laughed Grado. “All they want to do is go to the gym, play on their Xbox and be pals with each other. Back in the day they smoked fags, drank beer and looked like the men you’d see fighting outside a boozer.”

There’s a real all-ages family appeal to the fresh revival, with the series filmed in front of an enthusiastic audience in Norwich.

Among the wrestlers are former Love Island contestant Adam Maxted and Canadian professional, British Bulldog Jnr.

There is also more Scottish interest among the females with Viper, Grado’s fellow Ayrshire wrestler Kimberly Benson. “I used to train with Viper in a wrestling school in Linwood about 10 years ago. We’d do three nights a week and her profile has really exploded in the last few months. She’s amazing – put it this way, I wouldn’t want to mess with her.”

Grado, from Ayrshire, is combining his wrestling with a new acting career and is currently filming the fifth series of BBC Scotland hit Scot Squad, will be involved in the next series of sitcom Two Doors Down and will again be in panto at Glasgow’s Pavilion Theatre this Christmas.

“I’ve had some good returns from acting recently, but wrestling is what I’ve always wanted to do,” he added. “I’ve been lucky with injuries so far and if that continues, hopefully I’ll get a couple of years anyway to enjoy this.”

WOS Wrestling, ITV Saturday, 5pm.