{"id":57337,"date":"2019-11-03T20:18:25","date_gmt":"2019-11-04T01:18:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonprowrestling.com\/?p=57337"},"modified":"2019-11-03T20:18:25","modified_gmt":"2019-11-04T01:18:25","slug":"indie-veteran-ace-steel-joins-wwe-performance-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2019\/11\/03\/indie-veteran-ace-steel-joins-wwe-performance-center\/","title":{"rendered":"Indie Veteran Ace Steel Joins WWE Performance Center"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a report by Dave Meltzer in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter<\/strong><\/a>, US indie veteran Ace Steel<\/strong>, best known as the trainer and mentor of former WWE World Champion CM Punk<\/strong>, has joined the WWE and will be joining the training staff at the WWE Performance Center. In another report<\/a> confirming the news, PWInsider<\/strong>‘s Mike Johnson states that after a successful previous guest trainer spot this year, Steel was hired to oversee the in-ring action for the WWE and Netflix<\/strong> co-production on the upcoming wrestling-themed film, The Main Event<\/strong><\/em>. After impressing WWE staff, he was hired to the PC last month.<\/p>\n

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A Chicago native, Ace Steel got his start in 1991 with Windy City Pro Wrestling (WCPW)<\/strong>, where he spent the next decade working in the Midwest indie scene. In 2000, he made his debut with IWA Mid South<\/strong>, and in 2003 headed to Japan to work with Pro Wrestling NOAH<\/strong>. In 1998, alongside his own trainers Danny Dominion and Kevin Quinn, he opened Steel Dominion Wrestling School, where he would train future stars like CM Punk and another indie veteran, Colt Cabana<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Ace Steel & CM Punk as Hatebreed in TNA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 2002, he was signed with TNA\/IMPACT Wrestling<\/strong>, debuting in the tag team Hatebreed<\/strong>, alongside his student, CM Punk. The duo lasted a brief time before departing the company, heading to Ring of Honor<\/strong>, where they would reunite with Cabana and form The Second City Saints<\/strong> stable. A close friend of the late legend Harley Race<\/strong>, Steel would work as a trainer as well as a performer for Race’s World Wrestling League (WWL)<\/strong> for much of the past 15 years. Following his ROH stint, after several one-off enhancement appearances for WWE, he signed a developmental deal with the company and worked for WWE in Deep South Wrestling (DSW)<\/strong> and Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW)<\/strong>. He lasted a year before departing and returning to ROH for a last run with the company.<\/p>\n