Tucked back in an Orlando, Fla., industrial park is a 26,000 square foot building known as the WWE Performance Center.
It’s a state-of-the-art factory and daily office for approximately 75 wrestlers all in some stage of development for WWE. Some currently star on the thriving third brand, NXT. Some come from backgrounds of no experience, still learning the basics of professional wrestling and sports entertainment.
As I entered the facility, I walked through the halls and noticed a trend I’d see all day. Every hallway covers its walls with giant framed portraits of WWE stars past and present. The hallways approaching the main hub of the center where the in-ring work takes place is all framed with former NXT stars who have gone on to WWE’s main roster, a visual reminder to the current trainees of the tools the Performance Center and NXT is providing them. Other hallways, like the staircase leading to the private talent-only, dorm-like common area, features frames of WWE legends. It’s a visual reminder of the men who came before them and the standards they set.
The head coach who oversees the day-to-day operations is Matt Bloom, a former offensive lineman at Pitt. In WWE, Bloom has wrestled as A-Train or Tensai. He also had great success in Japan as Giant Bernard. This 6-foot-8 veteran fits perfectly for this role for multiple reasons.
One reason is his international experience, which allows him to not only coach but mentor the growing international talents being signed and joining the Performance Center. This includes wrestlers from Japan, Australia, India, Canada and everywhere in between.
“I went to Japan and I didn’t know the language at all. I knew I liked sushi and I knew I liked their (wrestling) style, but that’s about it. I didn’t know their cultures or traditions,” Bloom said. He added that his international experience allows him to remember what it can be like for the international stars coming to America and the WWE Performance Center.
“I’m a little bit more prevalent to it because I have traveled outside the United States so I know to keep an eye on them,” Bloom said. “Make sure they are acclimating OK, make sure they know where the grocery store is, where their banks are and stuff like that. So to that point, having an international background has helped me in this role.”
CLICK HERE for how the classes the the center are organized and more.
Check out video inside the Performance Center and how its resources work.
