Nathan "Adonis" Graves

Nathan Graves

Professional wrestler, mechanic

Nathan Jonas Graves (born July 2, 1965) is a infamous Greek-American retired professional wrestler, best known for his work in the World Wrestling Federation as Adonis. He is a distant member of the famous Hart wrestling family. Like others in his family, Graves has an amateur wrestling background, including wrestling at Walter Scott High School and West Rutherford University. 
His professional career began in 1983 after being recruited by Brett "The Hitman" Hart at a camp put on by the WWF. His professional monikers would earned him the nickname “Adonis,” with moves like the “the excecuter” and “the red and white attack,” as well as his trademark yellow combat boots and flashy outfits. His most popular act involved finding a female fan at the beginning of the show and give his sunglasses to her and steal a kiss.

In 1992, Graves was involved in the “Chicago Highjack,” a match described as one of the most controversial events in professional wrestling to this day by the WWF. It was alleged that Graves was rigged to win yet another championship belt when something went wrong in the final minutes of the choreography, leaving 2 fellow wrestlers permanently impaired, one with hearing loss, the other unable to walk. 

Graves escaped the high-profile case by disappearing from the spotlight for years. He resurfaced in 2005 when found working at mechanics in Detroit called “Jimmy’s” which his family owns. The last known photograph taken of the fallen star is said to bare little resemblance of the man once on top of the World Wrestling industry.

Graves never returned to the WWF and has often been referred to as the Houdini of wrestling. Though much controversy and speculation surround the incident, no conclusive evidence was every found to result in any arrests. To this day, Graves has not spoken about the events surrounding that day.