Dave Graves

**David Markovich Gromov** (born December 11, 1991), better known by his ring name, **Dave Graves**, is a mixed martial artist and professional wrestler in CWL currently competing in the Genesis brand. He previously competed in Prime Time Pro Wrestling (PTPW), Chaotic Wrestling, and in Mixed Martial Arts with Legacy Fighting Alliance (LFA).

## Background

### Early Life

The son of Jewish-Russian 'refuseniks' living in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C. after the fall of the Soviet Union, Dave Graves was born as David Markovich Gromov (Давид Маркович Громов). In elementary school, Gromov was bullied for being Jewish, leading his parents to enroll him in a martial arts class in 4th Grade, beginning a lifelong love of martial arts for Gromov. Entering high school, Gromov began training in boxing and kickboxing, learning to compensate for his small stature with accurate striking and effective defense. At the same time, Gromov began to become interested in professional wrestling after befriending a classmate who was a fan of a prominent wrestling promotion. Upon graduating high school, Gromov delayed college to pursue a career as a fighter, moving to the Midwest, developing his striking with Duke Roufus at Roufusport MMA in Milwaukee, before moving to Saint Paul, Minnesota, where he trained Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at Bellum Jiu Jitsu. Gromov only seriously pursued professional wrestling as a possibility after an ankle injury during BJJ training left him sidelined in the MMA scene, and Gromov returned to Maryland to recover.

## Professional Wrestling

### Prime Time Pro Wrestling

In late 2015, Gromov made his debut in professional wrestling, adopting his ring name Dave Graves. Graves' unique wrestling style, based on technical and realistic striking and grappling, quickly became popular as a matchup against the more flamboyant styles prevalent in PTPW.

### Three Deadly Venoms

Graves befriended fellow newcomers Jay Scott and Karl Stone, leading to the formation of a new faction in PTPW, the Three Deadly Venoms. This freshly minted faction made an initial unsuccessful attempt to capture a championship in PTPW. Because of this setback, Graves and Stone challenged Scott for leadership of the faction, and the three fought a triple threat for control. Stone won, and under his leadership Scott and Graves went on to win the PTPW Tag Team Championship in 2016 at the *Grappitol City* event. This title reign would unfortunately not last long, with Graves and Scott losing their title just a year later, at PTPW's *Really Badd Blood* event. This loss splintered the TDV group and severely damaged the friendship between Scott and the rest of the group. Graves left PTPW wrestling after this, and decided to re-enter MMA.

## Return to Mixed Martial Arts

### Legacy Fighting Alliance

Gromov returned to Mixed Martial Arts just as Legacy Fighting Alliance was establishing itself, and competed in LFA's early events on the East Coast. Gromov's depth of striking experience made him a dominant fighter in his wieght class, but he intermittently struggled when facing technical grapplers. Gromov had a brief feud with 'Sugar' Sean O'Malley, beginning with Gromov's brutal front kick KO victory over O'Malley's teammate Kyler Phillips, but ended after O'Malley defeated Gromov in their match at LFA 11, submitting Gromov with an arm-triangle choke at 3:47 of the 2nd round. This defeat prompted Gromov to return to professional wrestling, splitting his time between wrestling and martial arts training.

## Wrestling Resumed

### Chaotic Wrestling

Gromov returned to wrestling at the Chaotic Wrestling promotion, once again under the name Dave Graves, but now integrating more facets of MMA into his style, entering the ring in competition trunks, and wearing the distinctive four-ounce open gloves of competitive MMA. At the Chaotic Wrestling promotion, Graves encountered an old acquaintance, Jay Scott. Scott and Graves soon began a feud after Graves displayed the signature Three Deadly Venoms hand sign after defeating the reigning CW New England champion Josh Briggs. This angered Scott, and Scott ambushed Graves after this match, deploying his Starjammer finisher in villainous fashion.

Graves responded to this by dispatching Scott with his Powderkeg kick, the same kick he used to such great effect in MMA, sidelining Scott with a concussion after their *Breaking Point* match. Graves took Scott's betrayal to heart, and when Scott tried to reconcile with Graves when he returned in a few months later, Graves instead flattened Scott with a Big Iron elbow. This only intensified their feud, which produced several thrilling matches, ending with Jay Scott defeating Graves in late 2017, causing Graves to leave the promotion for good.

### Layoff

This humiliating loss spurred Gromov to take an extended hiatus from professional wrestling, where he pursued his studies, and focused on martial arts training. This meant his return to professional wrestling in 2020 meant shaking off a fair amount of ring rust.

### CWL

Dave Graves reentered the squared circle with CWL's Genesis brand, making his debut against Genesis Champion James Kenny. In this brutal match, Kenny used unsportsmanlike attacks to demoralize Graves, and continued attacking him even after the referee had stopped the match. This initial defeat for Graves was followed by another tough loss, when Graves faced former training partner and friend Johnny Gemini. The bout between Gemini and Graves was a war, with Gemini withstanding a Big Boot from Graves to land his Gemini Driver, pinning Graves for the three-count.

Graves' luck finally turned at the 11/14/2020 episode of Genesis, where he defeated Royal Ambassador in a one-on-one match, securing the pinfall and his first victory under the CWL promotion.

In a Triple Threat match at the 11/21 episode of Genesis, Graves took on Loto Oesefa and Victor Shaw, putting on a brutal wrestling clinic, delivering crisp, harsh blows to both wrestlers before getting the three-count victory.

Graves took on Damien Morrigan in the 11/28 episode of Genesis, and after a hard fought back-and-forth match, Morrigan pinned Graves after hitting his finisher.

On the 12/12 episode of Genesis, Graves lost to Itchimanji Fuse by pinfall after a competitive match.

On the 1/2/2020 episode of Genesis, Graves faced off against Manuel Rodriguez. Graves dominated the match early on, landing a Suicide Dive through the bottom rope and a Big Boot, but Rodriguez clawed his way back into the fight and pinned Dave Graves after slamming him down from the top rope.

At the 1/9 episode of Genesis, Graves took on Drew Faller. Though the match was largely competitive, Faller landed a running knee strike on Graves and was able to pin him immediately afterwards.

After challenging Golden Mask when Golden Mask first announced his debut in Genesis, the pair finally met on the 1/16 episode of Genesis, and through an exciting match, where both wrestlers landed their best moves, Graves finally laid Golden Mask flat with the Big Iron, pinning him for the three count. After the match, Graves was ambushed by Nastico and Kyro, who stomped on him repeatedly after attacking him from behind.

## In Ring

### Finishers

Powderkeg Kick (Discus Big Boot)

Big Iron (Forearm Smash)

### Signatures

Quick Draw (German Suplex/Ripcord Lariat)

Big Boot