Todd Grisham
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| Todd Grisham | |
|---|---|
| Born | January 9, 1976 Hattiesburg, Mississippi |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Todd Grisham |
| Billed height | 6 ft 2 in (188 cm) |
| Billed weight | 159 lb (72 kg) |
| Debut | 2004 |
Todd Andrew Grisham (born January 9, 1976) is an American presenter/announcer working for World Wrestling Entertainment and is host for Fox Soccer Channel's Major League Soccer broadcasts.
In the WWE, Grisham formerly co-hosted The WWE Experience with Ivory, but after her release, he hosted it alone until mid 2006, Josh Mathews started hosting the show. He also hosts WWE's premier web show, WWE Byte This!, and does play-by-play for Heat alongside Jonathan Coachman. In addition, he does backstage interviews for the RAW brand. He also began hosting Raw's UK catch-up program WWE Bottom Line after Marc Loyd was released from the company.
He also took over Marc Loyd's duty of doing WWE Canadian updates. In August, Grisham was effectively replaced for these segments by WWE Friday Night SmackDown interviewer and back-up commentator Steve Romero.
Grisham would also host WWE Unlimited segments, a web-only broadcast that allows viewers to witness events during commercial breaks of RAW. However, on May 1, 2006 Grisham was able to call the main event on RAW, alongside Jerry "The King" Lawler filling in for Joey Styles, who had just quit (kayfabe).
He hosts WWE Specials in the UK on Sky Sports, which are one-hour specials, normally, they have been released on DVD, but extra matches are not shown.
He hosts PPV Previews on Sky Box Office Channel 755, starting the week before a PPV.
On November 6, 2006 on RAW, Grisham got FU'ed by John Cena and a week later, he joined Jim Ross at the announcing booth after Jerry "The King" Lawler had been defeated in the "Masterlock Challenge."
On the January 15, 2007 episode of Raw, Grisham got hit with Sweet Chin Music by Shawn Michaels after asking about Michaels' upcoming handicap match against Edge and Randy Orton.
On February 19, 2007, he got slapped by Mickie James after asking how she felt when she lost the Women's Championship to Melina. All in all, people hate him.
Sportscasting
Grisham attended Wingate University on a soccer scholarship, later transferring to University of West Georgia where he received his degree in communications. His first professional job in the television industry was with KTVO of Ottumwa, Iowa where he worked for a year and a half. He then went on to work as a sportscaster for KOLD-TV for approximately five years before signing a two-year contract with WWE as an announcer, officially joining them on January 14, 2004. [1] [2] [3]
In 2007 he will be a host for Fox Soccer Channel's Major League Soccer broadcasts.[4]
Trivia
 | This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. |
- One notable slip in Todd Grisham's temporary ring announcing position occurred when he had called a number one contender's match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship (RAW) between Shelton Benjamin and Carlito, but instead accidentally calling it the Cruiserweight Championship (SmackDown). Commentators Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler used it as an excuse to how much they missed normal announcer Lilian Garcia who was injured the week before after a Samoan Drop from Viscera.
- Todd Grisham did another botched slip of enunciation during the Chris Benoit DVD Hard Knocks: The Chris Benoit Story during a match between the Pegasus Kid (Chris Benoit) and Japanese wrestling legend, Jushin "Thunder" Liger as Grisham would pronounce Jushin as "Justin", and Benoit would correct him.
- During an episode of WWE.com's Byte This!, he responded to a letter sent in by controversial superstar The Ultimate Warrior (Jim Hellwig) where the Warrior declined the invite to come to the show to talk about his DVD, The Self Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior. During the letter, Warrior went on to insult recovering cancer patient Bobby Heenan and called Todd Grisham "gay". Todd responded in good humor by saying he may have experimented in college, but that was no reason for that claim.
- Grisham also participated in a series of conversations on Byte This with fans of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling who interrupted the show to either proclaim TNA a superior product,or to insult Todd directly when he chose to sugarcoat and dodge TNA related questions, Todd held his own against the attacks and retaliated with his own retorts, some humorous, and some hostile (once calling one TNA fan a "retard").
- Todd Grisham has twice won the Wrestling Observer Newsletter award for Worst Television Announcer in 2004 and again in 2006.
- During a backstage interview with John Cena at Vengeance 2005, he was dubbed "Todd Pissham" by Cena.
- During a December 2006 interview with upcoming WWE talent Vladimir Kozlov, Grisham mistakenly called him "Viktor Kozlov", who is actually a hockey player.
- Besides some of the kayfabe injuries that Grisham had on RAW he also was injured and insulted by then heel, Carlito on Byte This. Carlito would spit a chewed apple in his face. Carlito would then pick Grisham's own apples and throw it in his crotch.
- Grisham replaced Jerry "The King" Lawler on March 19, 2007 after The Great Khali chokebombed him.