Source: Worcester Telegram & Gazette News
For Ken Doane, it was never a case of if he’d make it in the world of professional wrestling. It was just a matter of when.
The 21-year-old Doane, who grew up in Oxford and Charlton, has emerged as one of the brightest young stars in the industry and has recently been enjoying success as the World Wrestling Entertainment’s Kenny Dykstra — one of the RAW Superstars featured every Monday night on the USA Network.
And yes, each week he gets introduced as hailing from, “Worcester, Massachusetts.”
It’s all been quite a thrill for Doane, who started his career when he was just 13. Doane skipped a day of school and convinced his then-19 year old brother Mike to drive down to the WWE headquarters in Stamford, Conn., and ask for a job.
“(The receptionist) kind of laughed at me and asked if I should be in school,” Doane said. “I told her yes but, even though I’m 13, I am going to be a wrestler.”
The receptionist gave the Doanes a list of wrestling schools in the area, suggesting they should learn to wrestle first before applying for a job with the biggest wrestling company in America.
“I always loved wrestling, and I always wanted to be a wrestler. My mom has pictures of me dressing up as Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior, and I always knew this is what I wanted to do, I just never knew how to pursue it,” Doane said. “When I finally found out how to pursue it, I knew I was going full-force with it, and I’m not going to stop.”
They settled on training at Killer Kowalski’s wrestling school in Malden. Kowalski trained many notable stars, such as Triple H/Hunter Hearst Helmsley, Chyna, Perry Saturn and Prince Albert, but his style is old school and as a result Doane was stretched out pretty well by some of the best.
“I would go to school with a fat lip or something, but I never told the teachers I was wrestling,” Doane said.
One of the things Kowalski taught Doane was to become a student of the game, and to start watching tapes of himself and other established wrestlers in order to make himself better.
“I started watching the top guys and saw what they did different from the guys that aren’t top guys,” Doane said. “I started to take some of their styles and make it my own and try something different and still be a top guy. I think just me having an understanding of this business elevated me.”
Doane said his parents, Vickie who lives in Oxford, and his father, Ken, who lives in Dudley, were supportive of his passion, especially once they realized it wasn’t just a phase a 13-year old boy was going through.
“At first, I think they thought ‘Just let him do his thing and if this is what he wants to do, just let him do it and he’ll grow out of it,’ ” Doane said. “Then I didn’t grow out of it — I was dead-set on it. I’m going to do it, I’m going to make it big and I’m going to get famous, just watch. I’ll be on TV every week and you’re going to be watching me.”
While training under Kowalski, Ken and Mike started getting regular work on area independent wrestling shows. When Ken was 16, he and Mike started to get steady work as enhancement talent whenever the WWE came to the Northeast. In those matches Doane’s job was to essentially be a punching bag in order to make an established wrestler under contract look good.
“I’d be on TV every other month, and I’d start skipping school to do the shows,” Doane said.
That worked well, but occasionally one of his teachers at Bay Path Technical would see him getting beat up on television and realize he didn’t miss school because of the flu.
The sacrifices paid off when, just a week after graduating from school with a degree in cabinet making, the 18-year-old Doane was signed by the WWE to a developmental contract. Doane moved to Louisville, Ky., to work for the WWE’s farm system of Ohio Valley Wrestling.
Doane quickly established himself as one of the WWE’s hottest prospects, which he said led to some tension among his new classmates.
“In OVW, everyone is trying to get to TV, so if someone is borderline going to TV, people aren’t going to be fans of yours because they want to be in that spotlight,” Doane said. “It was competitive toward the end, but I knew if I did my thing I’ll prevail and make it to the top, and I’ve shown that so far.”
In January, 2006, Doane finally got his chance when he and four prospects were called up to the WWE to star on the RAW brand. His name was changed to “Kenny” and he and the rest of the call-ups were given the gimmick of a troupe of male cheerleaders calling themselves “The Spirit Squad.”
“Nobody thought it was going to work,” Doane said. “All five of us sat there and said, ‘Look, the odds are against us, nobody likes it, we need to take it and take it overboard and go 150 percent with this thing.’ All five of us took it and made it work and we were the longest reigning tag champions of the 21st century.”
The gimmick went from a short-term spot to one of the hottest things on the show. More importantly, Kenny was the most featured wrestler in the group and was given his chance to shine in the matches the Spirit Squad was involved in.
“I knew I could single myself out as the alpha male of the group, and I did that every chance I got, and I tried to stand out in a way,” Doane said. “I gave them no choice but to. I got over to the point where the crowd hated me, and they knew that people will pay to see you get shut up.”
Doane impressed the brass so much that when the Spirit Squad was disbanded, he was the only one of the five to remain on the main roster. His cocky character was rechristened “Kenny Dykstra,” as one of the WWE’s writers is a longtime fan of former baseball star Lenny Dykstra.
For the past few weeks, Doane, as Dykstra, has been booked in matches for the WWE Intercontinental Title and the ECW Heavyweight Title. He came up short both times, but was pushed hard by the commentators as being the youngest champion in WWE history if he won. In wrestling, sometimes it’s not the result of a match, but the perception of your character that’s the most important thing. Right now Dykstra has been telling fans he is the future of RAW — WWE’s flagship show that airs Mondays at 9 p.m. on the USA Network, along with Friday Night Smackdown, which airs locally at 9 p.m. Fridays on the CW Network and Extreme Championship Wrestling (10 p.m. Tuesdays) on the Sci-Fi Channel.
Also, Doane has been involved in a series of matches with legendary wrestler Ric Flair, beating the veteran three times, including a major win on last month’s New Year’s Revolution pay-per-view.
“I remember looking across the ring at him and thinking this guy has done so much and now he’s here,” Doane said about facing off against one the people he watched growing up. “He just started beating the crap out of me and I thought, ‘Next time, I don’t care how old you are, you aren’t going to be beating the crap out of me.’ ”
Doane is still a student of the game, devouring as many tapes as he can get his hands on. Many of his heroes growing up, like Arn Anderson and Dean Malenko, are now working for the WWE as road agents — people who critique the matches and help out the wrestlers. Doane picks their brains any chance he gets.
“It’s great because as soon as my matches are over, I’ll go back to them and ask them to tell me if something sucked,” Doane said. “If something sucked but they don’t tell me, it’s not going to help me get to the top. They have the greatest minds for this business. They explain it to you like it’s so simple, but I never thought of it like that.”
The business has been good for Doane, who has a house in Virginia and is engaged to WWE Diva Mickey James.
Mike is now an EMT and firefighter in Charlton, but still wrestles independent dates around New England. Doane is confident one day the two will be reunited in the ring.
Right now Doane feels he is on the cusp of superstardom and many wrestling websites say he is being groomed for a top spot down the line. Doane still is a fixture on Monday nights and on April 1 he will get his chance to shine on the biggest stage of all, as WWE presents Wrestlemania 23 — its Super Bowl — live on Pay Per View. Doane was part of last year’s event when Spirit Squad attacked Shawn Michaels during his match against WWE owner Vince McMahon, but this year it’s certain that Kenny Dykstra will get his own match to turn some heads.
“It’s so unpredictable,” Doane said. “Everything is timing, you have to wait for your next shot. When I get it, I hope to make more out of it than the last one I got.”
If history is any indication, Doane will do just that.
