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Co-founded by Brian Myers (aka WWE Superstar Curt Hawkins) and Pat Buck (current WWE producer), the Create A Pro Wrestling Academy is not only a top-tier wrestling school, but also a promoter of great independent live events in the New York area. Among CAP's alumni are MJF, Kris Statlander, Bear Bronson, Max Caster and VSK.
When I was in the newly-opened Bright Eye Beer Co. brewery in Long Beach, New York two weekends back, I saw a familiar-looking gentleman standing one table over, wearing an nWo hat. Wearing an AEW hoodie, I figured I'd give a "too sweet" and walk away, but quickly realized that was Patrick Fitzpatrick from Create A Pro; I'd seen him at previous Create A Pro live events.
Fast forward a few days, and we've agreed to tape an interview for Sportskeeda at my home; yes, the same home which MJF had referred to as a "disgusting apartment with an awful view" back in September 2019. In speaking with Patrick Fitzpatrick, you quickly realize that he is not only a veteran of the independent wrestling scene, but has found success working on the production end of the film, television and commercial worlds. We spoke about that for a bit, but mainly focused on Create A Pro - which has an upcoming live event on March 15th - and his journey from "fat to fit."
Audio of the full interview from February 26, 2020 is below for your listening pleasure, while part of the interview has been transcribed exclusively for Sportskeeda.
More on Patrick Fitzpatrick and Create A Pro can be found online at www.createaprowrestling.com. Fitzpatrick can be followed on both Instagram and Twitter via @DJPhatPat.
On the on-going growth of Create A Pro:
Patrick Fitzpatrick: You can just watch TV now and see how it's grown. Guys like MJF and Kris Statlander are now prime-time featured acts in their early 20s that just started training with the school literally within the last few years. It's a culture there that's really something that is gonna be producing people worth checking out.
On working with Pat Buck on his "Buzzkiller" videos:
Patrick Fitzpatrick: The well-dressed producer we were talking about, Pat Buck, he ended up getting a lot of "buzz," per se. It was a project that himself, myself and actually MJF, his student, we were coming up with a character and some different concepts for him, because he wanted to get himself back out there. He even allowed himself to get a little distracted. He was doing acting jobs and things like that, even though he's a wonderful coach, a wonderful mind...
It was about a year and a half ago that he decided he wanted to do this. We came up with some concepts for him. We came up with the 'Buzzkiller' gimmick, which was basically he was going to take out anyone with 'indie buzz' and part of it was that he was this guy that did no flips or anything like that. He was just gonna kick your ass. We shot the first promo, it's this promo that was shot where he's almost at this therapy group, that promo just blew up... I think within the first 24 hours it got 200,000 views. It was something ridiculous...
His life changed because of that one thing. We shot six other ones, only two of them made air, because just suddenly discussions with the WWE started happening.
