Before Royce Keys was picking apart opponents in WWE, he was wrestling and working with future stars on the independent scene in the Bay Area.
Keys performed for West Coast Pro along with fellow WWE star Jacob Fatu before each of them took gigantic strides into becoming the superstars fans cheer for today. West Coast Pro owner Scott Bregante detailed the company’s rise and impact on the industry in an interview with Fox News Digital before its shows took place during WrestleMania week last month.
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WWE SmackDown’s newest big man said West Coast Pro was a different experience than a lot of other places he worked on.
“A lot. Scott is one of my partners from way back. He knows everything that I’ve been through. Me and him have been through some things together,” Keys told Fox News Digital. “Definitely the West Coast has a different feel from any other place I’ve been. I’m not knocking any other place.
“The West Coast man, I think we grind harder, we get with it, we take what we want. For me, I like to say it’s in the water out here in the Bay. You drink the water out here, it’s something different.”
Fatu, who is set to challenge Roman Reigns for the World Heavyweight Championship at Backlash next weekend, was a top guy at West Coast Pro as well. Keys said he had “no doubt” that Fatu would emerge as big of a star as he is now in WWE.
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“That’s my dawg. We go back a dime and four pennies,” he said. “That’s my guy man. Me and him, driving in the car 10 hours to a show and back 10 hours in a beat-up Honda Civic and eating top ramen after practicing at KnokX Pro, grinding at APW and West Coast Pro. That’s my guy, man. We grinded out hard.
“Plenty of times he’s ate at my table, I ate at his table. Slept on his couch, he’s slept on my couch. That’s my guy. I’m very proud of him. I put all 10 toes down, I run with that dude seven days a week.”
The “grind” that Keys referred to helps shape pro wrestlers from all walks of life.
Long, and sometimes dangerous, car rides from venue to venue just to perform at a bingo hall or a high school gymnasium is a staple on the independent scene for many wrestlers.
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Keys wasn’t spared from it.
“I did a show in Reno one time and it was about six of us in the car,” he said. “No chains on the car. We drove through a blizzard. Normally it takes, from the Bay to get to Reno, about 3 1/2-4 hours depending on how you’re pushing the whip. But man, I was the one in the front seat driving maybe 3, 4, 5 mph through a snowstorm. It was like, you cannot see in front of you and when you could see, it almost felt like you were in a spaceship, like in ‘Star Wars, you know, like all the stars and all that stuff is coming at you, but it was snow.
“I remember driving from Oakland to Las Vegas – me and Jacob. Go wrestle, all right, well, we gotta get back. We got work the next day. Get back in the car, drive back 10 hours to the Bay from Vegas just to get the experience. I took something called a Mega Bus… leave on a Thursday, go train down at KnokX Pro with Rikishi, Gangrel, Black Pearl. Get on a bus, drive 7-8 hours to go train and have to come right back and do the same thing every week, every week, every week. This is a grind.”
But for Keys, there was no other option.
“Me, personally, I know what I want. There’s no Plan B. You gotta stick with Plan A.”
Now, both Keys and Fatu are featured weekly on WWE programming.
