Published: 11 seconds ago by Dave Adamson | Last Updated: 11 seconds ago by Dave Adamson
Dave has been a website writer for WrestleTalk since October 2022, having previously written for Den of Geek, among a number of wrestling, movie and television-related sites. Dave has been around the independent wrestling scene for more than a decade, including behind-the-scenes.
WWE
A former WWE star has opened up about their relationship with Rusev, serving as a coach at his KECH Pro Wrestling Academy.
Officially opened in May of this year, Rusev launched KECH Pro Wrestling Academy, recruiting former WWE star Gangrel as a coach.
Speaking on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Gangrel shared an insight his relationship with Rusev, saying:
“He’ll tell you we’re partners. I’m not so sure what we are, but he’s definitely the guy to put all the money into it.
“He’s definitely the founder of it, but he said he wouldn’t start it unless I came in and ran it with him or would be the head trainer.
“So, here I am trying to make all that happen.
“…He plans on doing a lot of time in and out, so we plan on rotating in and out. So if I’m here two weeks, I’ll be here, and then when he rotates in, he’ll be here for two weeks that I’m not here, so it’s scheduled down through the summer to be two and two with each other.
“He’s still in LA, he’s still happily married, and his wife’s out there doing a lot of stuff, different content things, acting, stuff like that.”
Gangrel revealed the conversation he had with Rusev about where he sees his own experience fitting as a former WWE star who still competes on the independent wrestling scene, stating:
“He comes in and I go, ‘You could teach them just as much as I could teach.’ He goes, ‘No, I need you here.’ I go, ‘No, you could teach them, you’re in the current product. You know what they want, you’re living it, you’re in it 24/7 you’re all in, you know what they’re looking for.’ But what I give them is the foundation.
“I’m a foundation and a footwork guy, so I’m a slow is smooth, smooth is fast. I’ll spend hours and hours on right foot drops and feeds and footwork and stuff like that. I know that a few of my students have had tryouts, and they’ll go, ‘Who trained you?’ They’ll go Gangrel. They’ll go, ‘Oh, I figured, because we could tell by the footwork.’ So I’m not boasting, but I’m just saying, I’m a foundation and a footwork guy.
“All the extra stuff, all the flips and the flops, and any attitude, that’s gonna come, that’s who they are, it’s gonna be an extension to who they are, and they’re gonna find that. But I’m there to instill a foundation, so when they come in here, and I’ll say, give me six extra months.
“I don’t believe in the three-month program, you’re out, or eight weeks, or twelve weeks. I’m the same way as I talk about slow is smooth, smooth as fast. I want you to be slow in the beginning, give you a foundation, and then I believe the back side. So I tell them, if you give me six extra months, I’ll save you six years of time. So they get their footwork right in the beginning, just a slow, slow build, get that foundation in, and then when they get past the ropes and stuff, when they get to that stuff like that, it’s gonna just fall into place, because the footwork’s there.”
KECH Pro Wrestling Academy runs out of Nashville, Tennessee, with the school’s Instagram account giving an insight into what they offer.
The Masquerade Comes To WWE
In 1998, Gangrel made his televised debut in then-WWF, complete with a gothic look and plenty of ‘blood’ as part of his entrance.
The name will be familiar to Vampire: The Masquerade fans, being a vampire clan in the popular role-playing game. The association with vampires wasn’t new to the real-life David Heath, who had previously pursued such a gimmick with his (at the time) wife, Luna Vachon.
Such was Heath’s commitment to his character in all its forms that he would secure the trademark for the term “Gangrel” with the United States Patent and Trademark Office across a number of categories, a filing that he maintains to this day.
As a WWE star, Gangrel formed The Brood alongside Edge & Christian, bringing the gothic horror theme to television. Also members of The Undertaker’s Ministry of Darkness, it was a timeless gimmick that still resonates to this day.
While Edge & Christian may have moved away from The Brood, Gangrel continues to compete under that name on the independent wrestling scene following his WWE release back in 2001. He would initially head to the independent wrestling scene as Vampire Warrior, a pre-WWE character, before returning to his more familiar name that he continues to use to this day.
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