Rusev and Gangrel have officially opened the doors to their new wrestling school, KECH Pro Wrestling, in Nashville, Tennessee.

After previously discussing plans to launch a training facility together, Rusev has now made the project a reality alongside his longtime mentor. The school is aimed at training both adults and children who want to pursue professional wrestling.

The academy announced the launch on social media with the following message:

“The mats are down. The ring is up. The doors are open. Thank you to everyone who showed up, trained, watched, asked questions, and believed in what we’re building. This is only the beginning. KECH Pro Wrestling Academy is officially underway. Train like a pro. Trained by a pro.”

The opening marks a major milestone for Rusev, who has frequently spoken about wanting to help develop the next generation of wrestlers while also giving Gangrel a stable home for his old-school style of training.

During an earlier appearance on Chris Van Vliet’s Insight podcast, Rusev spoke in detail about teaming up with Gangrel for the academy and praised the veteran’s no-nonsense approach to wrestling fundamentals.

“We have Gangrel who’s going to be the other trainer as well,” Rusev said. “He is [moving to Nashville], yes. He’s a Florida guy, but he’s been screwed so many times by all these people who promise him things. And he’s helped me so much. He helped this other Bulgarian kid who came from Bulgaria to wrestle, Metal. He trained him as well. So it was time for me and him to do something that he’ll be able to finally be like, ‘Hey, this is it.’ He’s great, man. His training is great. It’s very old-school training. And maybe some people don’t want to hear that, but he’s real. He’s going to keep it real. He’s going to teach you real. He’s not going to be like, ‘Hey, let’s do a little bit of this, a little bit of that.’ No. He’s really big on basics, and that’s what people lack a lot of the times.”