CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. – A former professional wrestler apparently got the chance to use some old moves when he took down a man who tried to rob him at a South Florida gas station.
Former WWE star Shad Gaspard, 35, wrestled the would-be robber to the ground Saturday at a Valero gas station in Coral Springs.
Police said Jason Felix, 35, got mad after Gaspard refused to buy him a beer.
According to a police report, Felix approached Gaspard and lifted up his shirt, revealing that he had a gun.
"He lifts up his shirt and he reaches and grabs a gun," Gaspard told Local 10 News reporter Hatzel Vela. "So he puts the gun into his waist belt and he goes, 'You need to get out of here, man, because I'm about to rob this place.'"
A store clerk told police she saw Gaspard grab the gun and take Felix to the ground outside, pinning him there until police arrived.
"I grabbed him by the back of the head and I run him into the store door," Gaspard said. "And when I run him to the store door, I get him outside, I grabbed him in a rear choke and I throw him up and I get him on the ground."
Gaspard said he didn't use his former wrestling moves, but techniques he learned when working as a personal bodyguard.
"I just did what came natural. I wasn't trying to be a hero," he said.
Gaspard, who lives in California, made his WWE debut in 2006 as one half of the wrestling duo known as Cryme Tyme.
He is now back in Los Angeles, where he is working as an actor.
"I was supposed to have an audition for a super hero movie this week," he said while laughing.
Gaspard told Local 10 News that he doesn't believe people are inherently evil, but sometimes life, he said, pushes us too far and we do bad things.
"He didn't seem like an evil person," Gaspard said. "He just seemed like somebody (who) needs help."