Former WWE star Kenn Doane will be the head trainer at the Massachusetts–based company’s school.
Beyond Wrestling is taking the next step in shaping the future of the industry by starting its own wrestling school.
The Beyond Institute of Pro Wrestling will officially open in January. Located in Worcester, Mass., at The White Eagle, the school will be housed at the same venue where Beyond runs its weekly Wrestling Open shows. Students will have the chance to learn from a seasoned veteran, as the head trainer is former WWE star Kenn Doane, who has a history of working with Impact Wrestling, Ring of Honor, NXT and, most recently, WWE.
The school is the creation of Beyond owner Drew Cordeiro, and he sees this enterprise as a chance to make a lasting impact in the industry, creating professional wrestlers ready to meet the challenges of a constantly evolving art form.
“Right now, we have Wrestling Open and our Beyond supershows,” Cordeiro says. “With Wrestling Open, we’ve basically taken the concept of an open mike night and applied it to professional wrestling. That’s allowed us to get our most promising prospects—and people who we weren’t even aware of in the wrestling game—in front of our passionate fans on a weekly basis. We also have our monthly Beyond supershows. The piece of the puzzle we’ve been missing is a wrestling school, and now we finally have a solution.
“This is the chance for us to work with people from the absolute start of their career. We’ll have people learning how to wrestle, graduating to Wrestling Open to get more repetition and branch out on a regional level, then to Beyond supershows, and then the final step, which is to get wrestlers to television.”
Doane will run the school. He performed in WWE as the Spirit Squad’s Kenny Dykstra, and he is a former student of the legendary Walter “Killer” Kowalski. His sessions will run on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, preparing students for Wrestling Open on Thursdays.
“Doane has television experience, and he can apply it now on an independent level,” Cordeiro says. “We’ll be able to teach the in-ring mechanics and all the elements that go into producing a show. That includes learning how to run the camera, work the door and learn how to wrestle safely.”
Hungry to produce the best wrestling possible and create a launchpad to the national level, Cordeiro is ready to apply the Beyond approach and vision to the next generation of pro wrestlers.
“The independent wrestling scene always sets the trends,” Cordeiro says. “We are excited to develop safe, entertaining new wrestlers.”
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Justin Barrasso can be reached at JBarrasso@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @JustinBarrasso.
