Monster Factory is aprofessional wrestling school located inPaulsboro, New Jersey, owned and operated byDanny Cage. It is considered to be the first publicly available professional wrestling school.Larry Sharpe opened the Monster Factory wrestling school with"Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers in 1983. The school's first famous pupil wasScott "Bam Bam" Bigelow, whose success brought a lot of attention to the school.[1]
Sharpe's first pupils includedTony Atlas,King Kong Bundy, andBam Bam Bigelow, who Sharpe broke in at New York City nightclubStudio 54.[2] Some were attracted to train at the school by Bigelow's success, which made the school notable enough to attract future attendeeRaven[3] whileTatanka would end up at the school by a chance meeting with Rogers in a video rental store.[4]
In February 2008, the school was threatened by a fire which had started at the building adjacent to the school, ANA Laboratories, and the building was evacuated by the school trainers. The fire was confined to the laboratory until its roof collapsed; however, according to Camden CountyChief Fire Marshal Paul Hartstein, only afirewall prevented the fire from reaching the school. The school had been in the middle of drills when the fire broke out, although all the students were safely evacuated to the outside parking lot.[5]
In 2011, Danny Cage purchased the name from Larry Sharpe. Monster Factory relocated to the Paulsboro Wrestling Club in Paulsboro,New Jersey. Following the move, Cage began to supplement training with seminars featuring WWE scoutGerald Brisco,Ring of Honor lead announcerKevin Kelly,[6]Ohio Valley Wrestling'sRip Rogers,Les Thatcher, as well as wrestlersMontel Vontavious Porter,Colt Cabana,[7]Stevie Richards,[8]Bob Evans,Robbie E,The Powers of Pain, andSean Waltman.[9] The Monster Factory also conducts birthday parties and ring rentals.
The Monster Factory puts on monthly shows that feature matches from the school's students as well as established stars. In late 2013, Cage had his first pupil signed to aWWE development deal.Stephen Kupryk, known at the Monster Factory as Tommy Maclin and now as Steve Cutler, left the Monster Factory in January 2014 and made hisNXT debut as Cutler in June 2014. In November 2014,Ultimate Fighting Championship fighterMatt Riddle enlisted in the school.[10] Additionally, Monster Factory students and graduates have appeared as extras and performers onWWE Raw,WWE SmackDown,WWE NXT,[11] andRing of Honor television[12] since Cage assumed control of the school.
In March 2023, a six episode documentary series produced byVox Media entitledMonster Factory was released byApple TV+. The series follows the lives of Danny Cage and six of his students:Notorious Mimi, Gabby Ortiz, Goldy, Bobby Buffet, and Lucas "Twitch" DiSangro.[13] It also features appearances from Monster Factory alumni Kevin Kelly,Q. T. Marshall,D'Lo Brown andThe Headbangers, as well asMandy Leon,Anthony Bowens, andCrowbar.
The Monster Factory's graduates include: