Acey Romero Recalls Chickening Out Of A Potential WWE Tryout

During a recent interview with Cultaholic, former Impact Wrestling star Acey Romero revisited some of the memories he made rising through the ranks in pro wrestling. Romero trained with The Dudley Boys, Bubba Ray and D'Von, and he notes how the duo treated him exceptionally well compared to past trainers he had.

"So when I got there, basically the first school that I was at, the fancy pants school that I went to in Massachusetts, like, it was very hard. This was back in 2008, so it was very hard for me. Like the first day was awesome and then it became miserable just because of some of the people that were there at the time," he said. "And they were just very mean and it was a hard environment to learn in, and like, I couldn't even chain wrestle. I was there for a year and I didn't even have that, so, yeah.

"Going into Bubba and D'Vons' school, again, I was very nervous but it was like night and day," Acey said. "Like, these guys couldn't have been nicer. I had an interview with both of them about why do you want to do this, where did you train before. I told them and I told them about my experiences and Bubba was just like, 'You know what? If I walked into that school right now, they'd kiss my feet. No one deserves to be treated like that.' And I was just blown away, like, these guys are millionaires who were on TV when I was a kid and they're way nicer to me. They actually seemed like they gave a s–t whether I was there or not.

"And honestly, there was one point where I was there for like a week or so, and I was like, 'I don't know if I can do this.' I was getting home sick, and I talked to Bubba and was like, 'I'm having reservations with this stuff.' And he was like, 'You know what? I don't care about your money. If you want your money back, I don't care, but this must be important to you if you moved you life down here. So, I want you to think about it.' And I ended up being there for two years."

Prior to his days training alongside The Dudleys, Romero had intentions of joining FCW and becoming a top WWE star. But when he first attempted this feat, Romero admits that he was too scared to even open the door to the FCW office.

"I took about 9 months off or something like that, and then I moved to Rhode Island for wrestling. But in-between all that, I was cooking in a restaurant, which I found some success in that too, like I was making good money. And again, it's like, 'Oh, you're making good money.' And then, 'I'm moving to Rhode Island and I'm going to find a new job.' It's like, 'What, really? You're doing so well and now you're going to stop doing that and go do this in a place you've never lived before? But, you know, that's all part of the journey as they say.

"... I don't want to make a long story out of this, but everything I've had with wrestling, I felt like I have been lucky because when I moved to Florida originally for training, I just thought I could waltz right into FCW in Tampa," Romero said. "Because on their– I found out it was a WWE thing, so on their website there were options for classes. I was like, 'I'll just go down there, and I'll sign up for the beginners class, and then move on to the intermediate class, and then the advanced class, and then I'll be on Monday Night RAW in no time, right?

"Well, I move all my stuff down there, I relocate, I'm there and I drive to FCW. I pull in the parking lot, I see the sign in black and yellow, I see all of these very luxurious vehicles parked on the side of the building, these SUVs and stuff," he added. "I get out of the car, I walked towards the doors that were blacked out so you couldn't see in, but I'm sure you could see out. Took a couple steps, looked at the door, and I was like, 'Nope!' Got back in my car and drove away, so now– I just couldn't do it. I was scared."

Acey took the time to delve more into his thought process as he approached the building. He notes how now, working with a large organization like Impact Wrestling, he better understands to take those opportunities seriously.

"[I thought] you're a moron, why are you here? They're not going to want you, you're wearing swim trunks, flip flops, a tank top," Acey recalled. "Like, no sense of– I was just so ignorant to everything. There was no sense of, oh, if you want to do this, it's like a job application. Like, you should be dressed up maybe and you should have called ahead of time. You need to set an appointment up, you know? I was young, I was 22/23 and just a bozo. See, I didn't even make it inside."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit Cultaholic with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.