Today we’d like to introduce you to Ray Campos.
Hi Ray, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
In 1990, a man by the name of George de la Isla was traveling from Orange County, California to Houston, Texas. On his journey, his car broke down in Austin, Texas. He already had a wrestling school and a karate school in California, so he decided to stay, fell in love with the city and opened a wrestling school in Austin. He started USPW (United Superstars Power Wrestling)/USPW (United Superstars Pro Wrestling)/CTPW (Capital Texas Power Wrestling)/CTPW (Champions Texas Pro Wrestling)/QFC (Quest For Champions), and today AAPW (Americas Academy Pro Wrestling). I began my wrestling career in the Summer of 1995. I started training at the Givens Recreation Center in Austin, Texas and after three months, I made my wrestling debut. I began traveling all over Texas.
Eventually, I made my way to Louisiana, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. After five years of traveling and wrestling all over the southern region, I returned to George to become his apprentice. For ten years, I was George’s apprentice all while still wrestling all over the state. The apprenticeship included training new wrestlers, administration work, and producing wrestling shows for what was at the time, CTPW. In 2017, George’s health began to decline and we had always discussed what would happen to AAPW in the future. We had a meeting and I offered to buy AAPW from him. In November 2017, I officially took over and moved the company to our current location. Today, we have over 50 professional wrestling students. Three professional wrestling rings, a full production team, our podcast The Buckle Bomb, weekly wrestling live streams, and experienced trainers. Many of our students have gone on to wrestle for top wrestling promotions such as AEW, WWE, NXT, IMPACT, NWA, and many more. AAPW has all the tools to assist someone to achieve their lifelong dreams of being a professional wrestler.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It hasn’t always been easy. In 2003, I suffered a major career-ending injury to my lower spine in Nacogdoches, TX, that left me bedridden for over a month. I was told I would never walk again by my doctors however, that was not going to stop me. I was given an epidural that allowed me to stand up for the first time since the injury. From there, I went from walking with crutches to a cane to finally walking on my own. After that injury, I wrestled for ten more years before retiring in 2013. At the same time, I was also dealing with the fact that I was a gay man. I was already established as a professional wrestler at the time so I never had a lot of feedback from other pro-wrestlers at the time. There was one time in Belton, TX where I was sitting in the dressing room when my opponent showed up and made a derogatory comment to me about being gay. Other than small incidents like that, I never dealt with too much pushback during my career.
Due to COVID-19, AAPW took a hard hit. We had to close our doors like every other business in the area and we were unable to have our bi-weekly wrestling shows that brought in the money for our school. However, we are just now starting to make our comeback with more students joining and weekly wrestling shows.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about America’s Academy of Pro Wrestling?
America’s Academy of Professional Wrestling (AAPW) is the longest-running professional wrestling academy in Austin, TX. In fact, we’re one of the longest operating wrestling academies in all of Texas! Our training is designed to take a student from square-one and prepare them for the demanding world of professional wrestling. We are closely affiliated with several wrestling promotions and many of our graduates gone on to perform for elite professional wrestling organizations all over the world. We provide not only training but exposure for our students. Each week AAPW puts on a live show in front of fans and promoters. This real-life experience and exposure help our students gain the advantage over other schools that only provide training. In fact, many of our alumni have gone on to perform for high-profile professional wrestling organizations all over the world.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
Seeing my students succeed and achieve their dream of becoming a pro-wrestler. Watching my production team work together to create our live streams for our weekly shows. Having my pro-wrestling family grow every month with new students.
All of these combined is what makes pro-wrestling stay alive after all of these years. I get to pass on my knowledge and my torch, so to speak, to these students. I know that professional wrestling will continue because of the work that AAPW is doing.
Contact Info:
- Email: officialaapw@gmail.com
- Website: www.officialaapw.com/links
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/officialaapw/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/officialaapw/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/officialaapwatx
Image Credits
Jason Page- Photographer
