Interview: Joel Redman aka Oliver Grey

Joel Redman is a British wrestler who’s probably best known as Oliver Grey during his time with WWE developmental territory NXT until his final television appearance on May 8th 2014.

The 28-year-old from Exeter, Devon, England, wrestled all over the UK for a number of years before joining WWE. During his time in NXT he worked with many of the NXT stars that have gone on to make it on the main roster including an NXT tag team championship run with Adrian Neville.

We caught up with the British grappler to talk about his time in NXT, the WWE Performance Centre and Adrian Neville making it onto the main roster plus much more.

How did you first get into the sport of professional wrestling?

My dad played rugby to a pretty decent standard and as a kid I was made to play rugby to start with and I then began to transition into wrestling and judo for a while. I was pretty good at judo and my friends who were wrestling fans took me to a wrestling show in Exeter – after seeing my first wrestling show we would do our own wrestling matches. I eventually started my own wrestling school in Exeter, a company called Revolution British Wrestling and I founded it when I was 16-years-old. Wrestlers from around the country would come and train us.

When growing up who were some of the wrestlers that you enjoyed watching?

I wasn’t a wrestling fan as a kid at all, my friends were fans and I didn’t really see the attraction until I was about 14 or 15-years-old. When I first started getting into wrestling at that age I used to watch WWE Sunday Night Heat on Channel 4 and some of the wrestlers that I used to really enjoy watching were the likes of; Chris Benoit, Kurt Angle, and Eddie Guerrero, those guys made it look real to me.

I was never really a fan of Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock or Hulk Hogan, I was more drawn to the more athletic, technical wrestlers.

Where you a fan of any of the British wrestlers whilst growing up?

The first British wrestler I saw was Doug Williams and then when I went to WWE I started watching more of the old World of Sport wrestling and I would try and base my style on the World of Sport stuff, trying to make myself a bit different to the American wrestlers that they had there at the time.

What did you make of the British wrestlers that had been in WWE and TNA before you, the likes of Wade Barrett, Drew McIntyre, Sheamus, and Magnus?

I had actually met the majority of them previously before I went over to America, so I knew them and I knew of them. I remember the first time I met Sheamus, he was doing a tour for BCW (British Championship Wrestling), I remember him being so big and muscular but I thought I had a different to style to all of those guys, I see myself as a more mat based wrestler.

Knowing those guys and seeing them make it in America, did that make you think it would be possible for you to make it over there?

I remember my first time thinking about America and going over there to wrestle I bought William Regal’s autobiography. I thought William Regal was just an English guy similar to myself and he made a massive name for himself in America with WCW and WWE.

I would read his book and try to see what he did, how he got there and how he started off in wrestling…picking up tips from him.

You signed for WWE in 2012, what was that moment like?

I had gone to a tryout previously which had gone okay but they didn’t offer me a contract. I was invited to another tryout six months later and it was just one day at a SmackDown taping, the first time I had a tryout it was before Raw and SmackDown, so I wasn’t sure if I was going to get offered the job.

I went to the SmackDown taping and it was everyone standing around the ring and you tag in and out and you wrestle for a bit. I was wrestling and Jamie Noble noticed my wrestling and he got in the ring and wrestled with me for a while.

After that they asked me some questions about my background and then offered me a contact. When I was walking back to the stage area Triple H was walking towards the ring and he shook my hand and welcomed me to the team which was a pretty cool moment.

What was your time in NXT like?

NXT has just gone on to bigger and better things, there is more the connection now with the name WWE, a very strong connection with the two. Triple H would often be down at the Developmental Centre and I’ve heard he now watches the cameras at the performance centre from WWE’s head quarters in Connecticut. The Performance Centre is an incredible place to go and the facilities they have there are just unreal.

It’s a lot bigger now than when I first joined the company, when I first joined they had just started filming at Full Sail University. Now that is a more regular thing and they go there to film every 3 weeks or so and doing monthly specials and even taking the show on the road. NXT has evolved and it will be interest to see where it goes next.

As well as a number of British wrestlers throughout the WWE roster at the moment, there is a number of British trainers at the Performance Centre with the likes of Norman Smiley, William Regal, Dave Taylor and Robbie Brookside – do you think the WWE want to implement a more British style of wrestling?

I would like to think so, it was a dream for me to have those guys there because it was the style that I was always attracted to, especially Norman Smiley. I was a wrestling fan and perhaps I wasn’t the student that I should have been and I hadn’t seen much of Norman Smiley’s work prior to going to NXT. During my time in NXT I’ve realised that Norman Smiley is probably the most incredible technician you’ll ever see, the stuff he can do in the ring is unparalleled – he was a pleasure to train with.

Robbie brookside is an incredible wrestler, he is really good at giving a different look at wrestling to what other coaches would and I think that helped a lot of the students there.

What have you made of the likes of Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns and Paige during their time on the main roster?

It’s been great seeing all of those guys and girls go on from NXT and to make it on the main roster. There is no one there that I had any issues with at the Performance Centre. I had always loved Bray Wyatt’s character, for me he was outstanding.

We would do our communication workshops with Dusty Rhodes every week in a small room and sometimes you would be tired in the evening, but Bray Wyatt would go there and do a one minute promo and captivate everyone there every week for a year. He is just so good on the microphone.

During your time in NXT you won the NXT Tag Team titles with Adrian Neville, what was that like?

It was a great moment for the both of us, we were just kind of thrown together before the tournament. One of the original members of The Ascension was released from his contract in NXT, so they needed another team as part of the tournament, so we were kind of a last minute thing thrown together and we both thought we would be eliminated in the first round.

We beat 3MB (Heath Slater and Drew McIntyre) in the first round, then we won our semi-final and suddenly we were in the final against the Wyatt Family for the tag team championships which was kind of surreal.

To win that match was amazing, I hadn’t been there that long, Neville had only been there for about three months, we were on a rollercoaster really.

Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party.

YouTube privacy policy

If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh.

What have you made of Adrian Neville’s recent move to the main roster?

There is no arrogance, there is no ego, Neville and I became really good friends and I don’t think he realises actually how good he is at times. He is one of the best wrestlers in the world, and he doesn’t understand that sometimes, he just thinks he’s not that great but it’s refreshing to see people like that, who are so good and so humble as well.

What was your highlight from you time in NXT?

Undoubtedly winning the tag team championships with Adrian Neville was my personal highlight – to hold those titles in your hand on television was an incredible feeling and one that I will never forget.

What was the reason for your departure from NXT?

I had a knee injury which set me back for nine months, and it limited the style of wrestling that I was doing at the time, which was annoying because it’s hard to come back from that and recover. When I did come back Martin Stone and myself were doing some tag team stuff that was going really well and we were going to be back on TV, then I had a recurrence of an old lower back injury so I was sat out for another six weeks.

I was kind of cursed with injuries during my last year with NXT which was annoying. I then came back to England for my grandfather’s funeral and I have my son who I hadn’t seen for a while and he had begun walking and saying a few words and I realised I had missed a lot of his life being away.

When I went back I had to be honest with myself, and I wasn’t wrestling like I could due to the injuries plus I was missing my son and England, which led to me having a poor attitude and got me in trouble with the office and things started to tumble from there really. When I was eventually released it wasn’t a sad day, I think I was smiling actually when they told me.

You were involved in TNA’s British Bootcamp 2, do you think we could see you in TNA or WWE in the future?

At the moment I’m just enjoying being back home and being part of the British wrestling scene because it’s thriving with an incredible amount of talent. Obviously I have to think about my career and if an offer from TNA came in, it would be something that would interest me. WWE, of course I would like to go back but I would need to get in a better frame of mind before I do and I would need to make sure it is definitely what I want to do.

There is a wide misconception that WWE is the only place to wrestle, but there are other options, if you look at it in a broader sense there is wrestling in every country and it’s so good to travel to different countries and experience different cultures, so that is kind of what my aim is now.

For more information on Joel you can follow him on Twitter @NXTOliverGrey

COMMENTS

Please read our Commenting Policy before you join in with the discussion.

Note: If you have email notifications enabled, please check your email spam folders to ensure emails are not missed.

Name*

Email*

0 Comments

Inline Feedbacks

View all comments

Cookie	Description
_pxvid	This cookie is used for detection of the browser and distinguishing whether it is a real user or malicious bot.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-advertisement	The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Advertisement".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics	This cookies is set by GDPR Cookie Consent WordPress Plugin. The cookie is used to remember the user consent for the cookies under the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-non-necessary	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Non Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance	This cookie is used to keep track of which cookies the user have approved for this site.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-preferences	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Preferences".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-uncategorized	The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Uncategorized".
CraftSessionId	This cookie name is associated with the Craft web content management system, where is functions as an anonymous session identifier.
csrftoken	This cookie is associated with Django web development platform for python. Used to help protect the website against Cross-Site Request Forgery attacks
DSID	To note specific user identity. Contains hashed/encrypted unique ID.
JSESSIONID	Used by sites written in JSP. General purpose platform session cookies that are used to maintain users' state across page requests.
PHPSESSID	This cookie is native to PHP applications. The cookie is used to store and identify a users' unique session ID for the purpose of managing user session on the website. The cookie is a session cookies and is deleted when all the browser windows are closed.
viewed_cookie_policy	The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.

Cookie	Description
b30msc
btc
CMST
cref
d
gpl
i
icts
ig_did
mdata
na_rn
na_sc_e
na_sr
na_srp
session_depth
visitor-id

Cookie	Description
__gads	This cookie is set by Google and stored under the name dounleclick.com. This cookie is used to track how many times users see a particular advert which helps in measuring the success of the campaign and calculate the revenue generated by the campaign. These cookies can only be read from the domain that it is set on so it will not track any data while browsing through another sites.
__stid	The cookie is set by ShareThis. The cookie is used for site analytics to determine the pages visited, the amount of time spent, etc.
_ga	This cookie is installed by Google Analytics. The cookie is used to calculate visitor, session, camapign data and keep track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookies store information anonymously and assigns a randoly generated number to identify unique visitors.
_gat_gtag_UA_60765351_1	Google uses this cookie to distinguish users.
_gid	This cookie is installed by Google Analytics. The cookie is used to store information of how visitors use a website and helps in creating an analytics report of how the wbsite is doing. The data collected including the number visitors, the source where they have come from, and the pages viisted in an anonymous form.
ad-id	Provided by amazon-adsystem.com for tracking user actions on other websites to provide targeted content
demdex	This cookie is set under the domain demdex.net and is used by Adobe Audience Manager to help identify a unique visitor across domains.
DigiTrust.v1.identity	Registers data on visitors’ website-behaviour. This is used for internal analysis and website optimization.
dmvk	This cookie is set by DailyMotion who display videos, it registers statistical data of visitors' behaviour on the website.
gid	This cookie is installed by Google Analytics. The cookie is used to store information of how visitors use a website and helps in creating an analytics report of how the wbsite is doing. The data collected including the number visitors, the source where they have come from, and the pages viisted in an anonymous form.
GPS	This cookie is set by Youtube and registers a unique ID for tracking users based on their geographical location
is_unique	This cookie is set by StatCounter to determine how people are using the website
is_visitor_unique	This cookie is set by StatCounter to determine how people are using the website
sc_is_visitor_unique	This cookie is set by StatCounter to determine how people are using the website
v1st	This is set by DailyMotion to display videos.

Cookie	Description
__asc	This cookie is used to collect information on consumer behavior, which is sent to Alexa Analytics.
__auc	This cookie is used to collect information on consumer behavior, which is sent to Alexa Analytics.
__qca	This cookie is associated with Quantcast and is used for collecting anonymized data to analyze log data from different websites to create reports that enables the website owners and advertisers provide ads for the appropriate audience segments.
_cc_aud	The cookie is set by crwdcntrl.net. The purpose of the cookie is to collect statistical information in an anonymous form about the visitors of the website. The data collected include number of visits, average time spent on the website, and the what pages have been loaded. These data are then used to segment audiences based on the geographical location, demographic, and user interest provide relevant content and for advertisers for targeted advertising.
_cc_cc	The cookie is set by crwdcntrl.net. The purpose of the cookie is to collect statistical information in an anonymous form about the visitors of the website. The data collected include number of visits, average time spent on the website, and the what pages have been loaded. These data are then used to segment audiences based on the geographical location, demographic, and user interest provide relevant content and for advertisers for targeted advertising.
_cc_dc	The cookie is set by crwdcntrl.net. The purpose of the cookie is to collect statistical information in an anonymous form about the visitors of the website. The data collected include number of visits, average time spent on the website, and the what pages have been loaded. These data are then used to segment audiences based on the geographical location, demographic, and user interest provide relevant content and for advertisers for targeted advertising.
_cc_id	The cookie is set by crwdcntrl.net. The purpose of the cookie is to collect statistical information in an anonymous form about the visitors of the website. The data collected include number of visits, average time spent on the website, and the what pages have been loaded. These data are then used to segment audiences based on the geographical location, demographic, and user interest provide relevant content and for advertisers for targeted advertising.
_kuid_	The cookie is set by Krux Digital under the domain krxd.net. The cookie stores a unique ID to identify a returning user for the purpose of targeted advertising.
_px2	This cookie is set by PerimeterX who provide security analyst oversight.
_pxff_tm	This cookie is set by PerimeterX who provide security analyst oversight.
_pxhd	This cookie is set by PerimeterX who provide security analyst oversight.
ab	This cookie is generally provided by agkn.com and is used for advertising purposes.
ad-privacy	Provided by amazon-adsystem.com for tracking user actions on other websites to provide targeted content to the users.
ayl_visitor	This cookie registers data on the visitor. The information is used to optimize advertisement relevance.
bafp	This cookie is from Media.net and is used to deliver targeted advertising across their network sites ensuring users see relevant advertising.
bafp_t	This cookie is from Media.net and is used to deliver targeted advertising across their network sites ensuring users see relevant advertising.
bfp_sn	This cookie is from Media.net and is used to deliver targeted advertising across their network sites ensuring users see relevant advertising.
bfp_sn_pl	This cookie is from Media.net and is used to deliver targeted advertising across their network sites ensuring users see relevant advertising.
bfp_sn_rf_8b2087b102c9e3e5ffed1c1478ed8b78	This cookie is from Media.net and is used to deliver targeted advertising across their network sites ensuring users see relevant advertising.
bfp_sn_rt_8b2087b102c9e3e5ffed1c1478ed8b78	This cookie is from Media.net and is used to deliver targeted advertising across their network sites ensuring users see relevant advertising.
bfp_sn_t_8b2087b102c9e3e5ffed1c1478ed8b78	This cookie is from Media.net and is used to deliver targeted advertising across their network sites ensuring users see relevant advertising.
bfp_sn_td_2d31c94105a0aa6d1ceaea0c86c6b656	This cookie is from Media.net and is used to deliver targeted advertising across their network sites ensuring users see relevant advertising.
bito	This cookie is generally provided by bidr.io and is used for advertising purposes.
bitoIsSecure	This cookies are generally provided by bidr.io and is used for advertising purposes.
bsc	The cookies is set by ownerIQ for the purpose of providing relevant advertisement
CMID	This cookie is linked to advertising and tracking the products users were looking at.
CMPRO	This cookie is linked to advertising and tracking the products users were looking at.
CMPS	This cookie is linked to advertising and tracking the products users were looking at.
dc_id	This cookie is used to deliver adverts more relevant to you and your interests. They are also used to limit the number of times you see an advertisement as well as help measure the effectiveness of the advertising campaign. They are usually placed by advertising networks with the website operator's permission. They remember that you have visited a website and this information is shared with other organisations such as advertisers.
did	The purpose of the cookie is to identify a visitor to serve relevant advertisement.
didts	The purpose of the cookie is to identify a visitor to serve relevant advertisement.
dpm	The cookie is set by demdex.net. This cookie assigns a unique ID to each visiting user that allows third-party advertisers target that users with relevant ads.
eud	This cookie is from Rocket Fuel and is used to deliver targeted advertising across their network sites ensuring users see relevant advertising.
euds	This cookie is from Rocket Fuel and is used to deliver targeted advertising across their network sites ensuring users see relevant advertising.
everest_g_v2	The cookie is set under eversttech.net domain. The purpose of the cookie is to map clicks to other events on the client's website.
evo5_popin_instance	Prevents an interaction from reoccurring for visitors not accepting 3rd party cookies.
id	This cookie is set by DoubleClick (which is owned by Google) to build a profile of the website visitor's interests and show relevant ads on other sites.
IDE	Used by Google DoubleClick and stores information about how the user uses the website and any other advertisement before visiting the website. This is used to present users with ads that are relevant to them according to the user profile.
io.narrative.guid.v2	This cookie is generally provided by io.narrative.io and is used for advertising purposes.
KADUSERCOOKIE	This cookie is generally provided by pubmatic.com and is used for advertising purposes.
KTPCACOOKIE	This cookie is generally provided by pubmatic.com and is used for advertising purposes.
matchliveramp	This cookie is provided by w55c.net and is used for advertising purposes.
mc	This cookie is associated with Quantserve to track anonymously how a user interact with the website.
mxpim	This cookie is generally provided by mxptint.net for advertising purposes.
na_tc	This is a Social Media sharing tracking cookie.
NID	This cookie is used to a profile based on user's interest and display personalized ads to the users.
nnls	The purpose of the cookie is to identify a visitor to serve relevant advertisement.
pxrc	The purpose of the cookie is to identify a visitor to serve relevant advertisement.
pxvid	This cookie is set by PerimeterX who provide security analyst oversight.
rlas3	The cookie is set by rlcdn.com. The cookie is used to serve relevant ads to the visitor as well as limit the time the visitor sees an and also measure the effectiveness of the campaign.

Cookie	Description
__jid	Cookies set on the website by the third-party commenting platform Disqus.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional
disqus_unique	These cookies are set by Disqus so that users can comment on website/platform.
G_ENABLED_IDPS	The cookie is used by Google and is used for Google Single Sign On.
mid	The cookie is set by Instagram. The cookie is used to distinguish users and to show relevant content, for better user experience and security.
na_id	This cookie is set by Addthis.com to enable sharing of links on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter
ouid	The cookie is set by Addthis which enables the content of the website to be shared across different networking and social sharing websites.
ov	This is a generic functional cookie that provides enhanced functionality and personalisation.
ts	This cookie is generally provided by PayPal and supports payment services in the website.
vuid	These cookies are used by the Vimeo video player on websites.

Interview: Joel Redman aka Oliver Grey

You might also like

FIND THE TOPICS YOU WANT...

Recommended for you