{"id":15432,"date":"2024-03-26T15:13:50","date_gmt":"2024-03-26T15:13:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saunazilla.com\/uncategorized\/an-interview-with-professional-wrestler-sam-gradwell\/"},"modified":"2025-09-30T12:29:51","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T12:29:51","slug":"interview-with-professional-wrestler-sam-gradwell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saunazilla.com\/en\/blog\/interview-with-professional-wrestler-sam-gradwell\/","title":{"rendered":"An interview with professional wrestler Sam Gradwell"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>Do you even slam?<\/em>&nbsp;Well, this guy sure does. We had a unique opportunity to go behind the scenes of the international world of pro wrestling. We sat down with British super talent, <strong>Sam Gradwell<\/strong>, and had a nice chat as he visited Finland for the <strong>SuperSLAM!<\/strong> wrestling event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden;\">\n    <iframe \n  src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UIvccgI6PWQ\"\n  frameborder=\"0\"\n  allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\"\n  allowfullscreen\n  referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\"\n  title=\"YouTube video player\"\n  style=\"position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;\">\n<\/iframe>\n<\/div><div class=\"page-summary-div\">Sam Gradwell from Blackpool England, is a veteran in European professional wrestling. Sam Gradwell was a regular on the WWE NXT UK television programme. Starting his pro wrestling career in Grand Pro Wrestling, he has wrestled across the world now for 15 years. The Finland pro wrestling scene has greeted Sam Gradwell now on four occasions and Sam Gradwell is a one-time SLAM! Wrestling Finland champion.<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sam Gradwell was close to reaching the top level in Europe when <strong>WWE<\/strong> was running its <strong>NXT UK<\/strong> program on television. Right now, as of this writing, it seems that in 2024 WWE is planning to launch its new <strong>NXT Europe<\/strong> brand and will likely sign several top European talents again. Will we continue to see Sam Gradwell here in Finland, or only in WWE programs? Time will tell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His wrestling career began in 2007, training at <strong>Grand Pro Wrestling&#8217;s<\/strong> wrestling school in Manchester. <strong>Johnny Brannigan<\/strong> took Sam under his wing and helped him along the way. After building a name for himself in the independent circuit for years, WWE started getting interested in him between 2017\u20132018. From 2020 onwards, he was already a regular in the NXT UK brand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"802\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/saunazilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Sam-Gradwell-with-SLAM-Wrestling-Finland-championship-belt.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-10322\" srcset=\"https:\/\/saunazilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Sam-Gradwell-with-SLAM-Wrestling-Finland-championship-belt.jpg 802w, https:\/\/saunazilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Sam-Gradwell-with-SLAM-Wrestling-Finland-championship-belt-241x300.jpg 241w, https:\/\/saunazilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Sam-Gradwell-with-SLAM-Wrestling-Finland-championship-belt-768x958.jpg 768w, https:\/\/saunazilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Sam-Gradwell-with-SLAM-Wrestling-Finland-championship-belt-600x748.jpg 600w, https:\/\/saunazilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Sam-Gradwell-with-SLAM-Wrestling-Finland-championship-belt-800x998.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 802px) 100vw, 802px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Sam Gradwell posing with his SLAM! Wrestling Finland championship in Helsinki.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Gradwell is a well-traveled and seasoned professional with a 15-year career. So far he has wrestled in the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, China, Hong Kong, Poland, and now, of course, Finland on several occasions. In the <a href=\"https:\/\/saunazilla.com\/en\/blog\/history-of-professional-wrestling-in-finland\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"15428\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Finnish pro wrestling scene<\/a>, he is booked by <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.slamwres.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">SLAM! Wrestling Finland<\/a><\/strong>, an international wrestling organization operating in Finland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On October 14, 2023, Sam Gradwell won the SLAM! Wrestling Finland championship from <em>&#8220;The Wildman&#8221;<\/em> <strong>Heimo<\/strong> in Helsinki, which is probably the reason for his highly confident appearance on camera. We should mention that on the same day we did the interview (Feb. 10, 2024), Gradwell lost the championship to <em>&#8220;The Rebel&#8221;<\/em> <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/saunazilla.com\/en\/blog\/michael-starbuck-majalahti-rebel-and-pro-wrestling-pioneer\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"15436\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">StarBuck<\/a><\/strong> in their rematch in Helsinki.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Check out the full interview and listen to what the guy has to say. The conversation touches on Finland, reindeer, and personal life as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Who is Sam Gradwell?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Sam Gradwell<\/strong> is a professional wrestler from <strong>Blackpool<\/strong>, Lancashire, England. Born on June 1, 1991, he began his wrestling career in 2009 and has competed in various promotions, including <strong>WWE<\/strong>&#8216;s <strong>NXT UK<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">When did Sam Gradwell make his pro wrestling debut?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>He made his professional wrestling debut on February 20, 2009, under the ring name <strong>Ricky J. McKenzie<\/strong> with Grand Pro Wrestling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What are some of Sam Gradwell&#8217;s career highlights?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Sam Gradwell has held several titles throughout his career, including the <strong>GPW<\/strong> Heavyweight Title and the <strong>SLAM! Wrestling Finland<\/strong> championship. He also participated in the inaugural <strong>WWE United Kingdom Championship Tournament<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">\n{\n  \"@context\": \"https:\/\/schema.org\",\n  \"@type\": \"BreadcrumbList\",\n  \"itemListElement\": [\n    {\n      \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n      \"position\": 1,\n      \"name\": \"Home\",\n      \"item\": \"https:\/\/saunazilla.com\/en\/\"\n    },\n    {\n      \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n      \"position\": 2,\n      \"name\": \"Blog\",\n      \"item\": \"https:\/\/saunazilla.com\/en\/blog\"\n    },\n    {\n      \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n      \"position\": 3,\n      \"name\": \"An interview with professional wrestler Sam Gradwell\",\n      \"item\": \"https:\/\/saunazilla.com\/en\/blog\/interview-with-professional-wrestler-sam-gradwell\/\"\n    }\n  ]\n}\n<\/script>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Do you even slam?&nbsp;Well, this guy sure does. We had a unique opportunity to go behind the scenes of the international world of pro wrestling. We sat down with British super talent, Sam Gradwell, and had a nice chat as he visited Finland for the SuperSLAM! wrestling event. Sam Gradwell from Blackpool England, is a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13838,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[177],"tags":[178,179,180],"class_list":["post-15432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-people","tag-pro-wrestling","tag-sports"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saunazilla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saunazilla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saunazilla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saunazilla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saunazilla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15432"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/saunazilla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15432\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28091,"href":"https:\/\/saunazilla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15432\/revisions\/28091"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saunazilla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saunazilla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saunazilla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saunazilla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}