Many of you have dreams of becoming a pro wrestler - live your dream. Attend a pro wrestling training school. Don’t think you can’t live your dream? Think again! Look at Matt Hyson AKA Spike Dudley and Brother Runt who has wrestled in ECW, WWE and TNA. Matt started in APW Boot Camp with manager training. When APW discovered how talented this little guy was, we encouraged him to train as a wrestler. Now look!! He lived his dream… It didn’t come easy. He had to pay his dues in APW and then again in ECW and probably again in WWE and TNA later in his career. The fact is Matt Hyson has earned a living since 1996 in pro wrestling and all at 5′8″ and 135 pounds when he relocated from Rhode Island. He took the big step and signed up with the APW Boot Camp, worked his tail off, was humble, paid his dues and was at the right place at the right time when ECW came calling after we helped him market his portfolio and put it together.
Not many schools take that extra step above training but at APW, we do get involved in your career. Our staff books you on other events here locally and in Puerto Rico, Japan, Mexico and other top Indies like NWA Pro. We played a huge part in the marketing of talents like Michael Modest to WCW and Modest, Donovan Morgan and Bison Smith to a major promotion, Pro Wrestling Noah in Japan with President, Wrestling Legend Mr. Misawa.
You too can live your dream! Pro Wrestling isn’t for everyone. Don’t get in it for the money alone. Get in it for the love of the sport and you will go much further in this industry. Pick out the best wrestling school that fits your needs. Things you should consider are pricing, financing, place to live, reputation, length of training and finally cost and discounts. Things you should ask yourself: What can a school do for me? There are lots of schools that train you in 30 days to 6 months and with those schools if you’re lucky, you’ll find yourself struggling financially at the Indy level because it’s no secret, there is no money in Indy wrestling. Be smart, find someone that can give you unique hands on training. Find a school that will assist you in looking for a job if you are relocating and a place to live. Find a school that will look after your interests after you are trained and help you get booked with a major promotion. The school that does not look after you when you are done training is a school that is embarrassed of the product they just developed or a school run by the boys for the boys. Some schools are run by current wrestlers who have a selfish interest because they certainly don’t want to risk their job security by booking one of their graduates that might take their job.
GENERAL MANAGER and Beginners Fundamentals Camp Coach - Robert Thompson
Another thing you should be looking for is good solid, experienced instructors. Are the instructors in the ring training you or do they have some flunky or student training you while they are busy managing their careers or in an office smoking cigarettes and drinking beer and alcohol. With the APW Boot Camp, I am so proud that our Coalition of Instructors offers the best in training. With Robert Thompson as General Manager, you get someone that oversees the trainers and is a students trainer. Robert was our first student to sign up back in 1991 and has shown his loyalty by sticking with us for 16 years. The students love him and are loyal to him and in return he is loyal to them. He is in the ring with unique hands-on training whenever possible. Twice, Thompson turned down offers from ECW and had several impressive tryouts with the WWF and WCW but chose APW as his home to be able to raise his daughter and develop Future Legends. With our current Beginners Fundamentals Camp Coaches, Robert Thompson and J. J. Perez and Advanced Semi-Pro Camp Fundamentals coach, Dana Lee, you get trainers who teach with passion and takes his job seriously and cares how far you go. Dana has MMA training experience, which he incorporates into the first part of the training camp. Dana is also our resident daredevil and he works with students on the higher risk, high-flying moves if you want that as part of your in-ring arsenal. Dana is a student of the game.
Semi-Pro Fundamental Coach
Our Pro Camp consists of a coalition of the very best. APW Boot Camp graduate J. J. Perez is one of the more fundamentally sound instructors in our 16 years of training students and he is our Head Pro Camp Instructor. Our other Pro Camp Instructor, Oliver John was trained by one of the top legends of the 70’s, Mr. Paul DeMarco who wrestled all over the U.S. and had a terrific championship runs in the San Francisco regional territory in both singles and tag-team competition. Talk about passion. Oliver John teaches with the most passion I have ever seen anyone teach with and he understands how to explain in detail what you need to be doing in the wrestling ring. Our third Pro Camp Coach is MPT. Prime Time is the Head Instructor for the PCW Work Farm and we heavily endorse his training because he is another of the very few in this industry that isn’t a legend that fully understands what he is teaching about the inner workings of professional wrestling.
J. J. Perez - Pro Camp and Beginners Fundamentals Coach
Oliver John - Pro Camp Coach
MPT - Pro Camp Coach
Our top pro wrestling training school consists of three (3) separate camps. Extensive training is so important today. The lack of good trained talent combined with wrestling only once or twice a month for Indies can cause a serious stagnation of learning. Heck, half the time, you are wrestling an Indy match with someone that you are already better than. How are you supposed to learn by being in the ring with wrestlers you are already better than? It was much easier to gain experience in the regional wrestling days 20 to 30 years ago when the regional promotions had shows five and six days per week. Therefore, your training is so much more important today.
Personal Trainer “Strongman” Jon Andersen
Derek Sanders - Personal Trainer
We always have a team of Personal Trainers on board since Nutrition, Weight Training, cardio and supplements are always a huge part of building a body the good look major promotions want for television, which is so very important. Remember, no look, no television / no television, no contract!
I encourage you to take a look at the three camps in detail. Use our menus to navigate around the Boot Camp section of our website. Make sure to visit our listings of our top graduates page and our Boot Camp accomplishments page. I am sure you’ll recognize a few of the names from television. I am sure for those that have a knowledge of the history of pro wrestling at this level, you’ll be familiar with some of the accomplishments. Don’t forget to visit the pricing page and learn about the discounts offered and very affordable financing plans with no credit checks and no interest.
By all means remember to complete an online application to receive your brochure and don’t procrastinate once you have done that because for those that sign up within 30 days of completing the online application, receive a huge $1,000 discount which is almost 20% of your training fees.
So the serious need to get started and we look forward to training you!
All Pro Wrestling
Home of APW Boot Camp, the #1 pro wrestling training school in America.
