Kane Reveals Why He Started A Wrestling School, How It Compares To The WWE Performance Center
When Kane isn't chokeslamming opponents or fulfilling his duties as mayor of Knox County, Tennessee, he is usually training wrestlers at his school. Kane co-owns a wrestling school in Tennessee along with Dr. Tom Prichard and The Big Red Machine went on Steve Austin's podcast to tell how the school came to be.
"Tom Prichard is one of the top trainers in the entire world," said Kane. "He is just awesome. It is one of those things where people always come up to me asking how do they get into the wrestling business. Well, eventually you are going to have to go to a wrestling school if you want to be in WWE you have to learn the bumps and go to [the Performance Center in] Orlando, Florida."
Kane then said Booker T in Houston and Lance Storm in Calgary have some of the best wrestling schools around. But Kane then asked himself why is he telling people to travel thousands of miles when he can just open a school in Knoxville, Tennessee? Prichard already lived there and his resume can match up with any other wrestling trainer in the world.
"Tom has trained people like Kurt Angle and The Rock, all these different Superstars," said Kane. "For me, at this point this business has been very good to me. Sometimes I worry about the pipeline of talent, and anything I can do to help people get into it the right way, because a lot of people aren't going to be taking the right path, so anything that I can do to help people do it the right way I think it is beneficial to all of us, which I believe that is the reason why.
"For me, I thought it was just a waste of Tom's talent not to be doing this and that was a big motivator for me, really."
Prichard had previously stated on our WINCLY podcast here on Wrestling Inc. that the idea of the Jacobs-Prichard Wrestling Academy (JPWA) came to Kane during his mayoral campaign.
"We were having dinner during the campaign and we were talking about the various wrestling schools that were out there," Prichard stated. "Glen said, 'I wonder what we could do here in Knoxville, Tennessee with a wrestling school.'"
The WWE Performance Center is the final stop for everyone looking to make it to WWE, but JPWA is a place that can help aspiring Superstars reach that destination.
Kane talked about comparisons between his school and the Performance Center.
"It'll probably be some of the same stuff to some extent," stated Kane. "A lot of it is if you are looking at a lot of these different schools you have to consider how these folks can help me. It's not only about what you are going to learn, but how can they help you advance and I think of course Tom Prichard and I can do that as well.
"Eventually, if anybody wants to be in WWE at some point, then getting into the Performance Center is the path to WWE. So, in many ways this is the first step if you even want to get into WWE to do that. Then, you have people who just want to get into the wrestling business, which is great too. One of the nice things about what is going on in the independent scene is that it has really revitalized independent wrestling, which is another path to go to. But either way we are hoping to get folks who are starting out to give them the basics, which is in-ring performance, promos, that sort of stuff. Really, nowadays promoting yourself is just as important as anything and making a name for yourself on social media, and from there if you have people who are a little more advanced you can polish them up and help them take that next step."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit The Steve Austin Show with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Source: The Steve Austin Show
Peter Bahi contributed to this article.