Daniel Michael McDonald (born December 19, 1973) is an American former

professional wrestler Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to real-life wrest ...

and trainer better known under his ring names, Danny Cage or The Ragin' Cajun.

Professional wrestling career

Cage was a high school cheerleader in New Jersey who became interested in training at the

Monster Factory Monster Factory is a professional wrestling school located in Paulsboro, New Jersey, owned and operated by Danny Cage. It is considered to be the first publicly available professional wrestling school. Larry Sharpe opened the Monster Factory ...

at age 12 at a time when his parents were going through a divorce. Cage's father wanted him to be productive with his life and to go to college but Cage, disappointing his father, wanted to pursue his dream of becoming a professional wrestler. Cage convinced his father to put money offered to pay for college toward training at the Monster Factory on the condition Cage got into good shape. Cage had a tryout in 1994 conducted by Larry Sharpe and Glenn Ruth, which Cage passed and was offered the opportunity to train. Cage's father rescinded his offer and Cage would put his dreams on hold until he attended a wrestling card in

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

where

Joey Matthews Adam Birch (born July 18, 1979), better known by the ring name Joey Mercury, is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his tenures in WWE and Ring of Honor. Birch was trained by fellow wrestler Jimmy Cicero and made his wrestl ...

and

Steve Corino Steven Eugene Corino (born May 29, 1973) is a Canadian professional wrestling trainer and former professional wrestler. , he works for the American professional wrestling promotion WWE as a trainer at the WWE Performance Center and as a produ ...

were competing. A friend named Toad advised Cage to return to New Jersey to pursue his dream. In September 1998, Cage began training at the Monster Factory. Cage competed as a pro wrestler until 2002 before hurting his back, crossing paths with notable Monster Factory alumni

Cliff Compton Cliff Treiber (born November 2, 1979) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, better known by his ring names Domino and Cliff Compton. He is best known for his work in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). Before being prom ...

and

Sheamus Stephen Farrelly (born 28 January 1978) is an Irish Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw (WWE brand), Raw brand under the ring name Sheamus. Prior to joining WWE, he wrestled on th ...

during his stay. Cage would return before retiring from the ring for good in 2005, having his last match with Q.T. Marshall.

Monster Factory

In 2011, Cage took a co-ownership role of the Monster Factory. Cage and Sharpe moved the Monster Factory to its original home town, Paulsboro, before assuming full ownership from Sharpe. In 2013, Cage added former

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

and ECW wrestler

The Blue Meanie Brian Heffron (born May 18, 1973), better known by his ring name The Blue Meanie, is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with Extreme Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation between 1995 and 2 ...

and former ECW wrestler Billy Wiles as trainers at the Monster Factory and began to supplement training with seminars with WWE scout

Gerald Brisco Floyd Gerald "Jerry" Brisco (born September 19, 1946) is an American retired professional wrestler. Brisco is best known for his time in the wrestling promotion WWE, where he was a backstage producer, and, during the 1990s, an on-screen charact ...

, former

Ring of Honor Ring of Honor (ROH) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Jacksonville, Florida. The promotion was founded by Rob Feinstein on February 23, 2002, and was operated by Cary Silkin from 2004 until 2011; the promotion was subs ...

lead announcer Kevin Kelly,

Ohio Valley Wrestling Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) is an American professional wrestling promotion, professional wrestling promotion and former developmental territory based in Louisville, Kentucky. The company is currently run by Al Snow, Matt Jones (radio host), Ma ...

Rip Rogers Mark Sciarra (born February 7, 1954), better known by his ring name Rip Rogers, is an American retired professional wrestler. Early life Sciarra was born in Seymour, Indiana on February 7, 1954. He graduated from Seymour High School in 1972 a ...

Les Thatcher Leslie Malady (born October 28, 1940), better known by the name Les Thatcher, is an American former Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He helps run Elite Pro Wrestling Training, a professional wrestling school in his hometown of Cinci ...

, as well as wrestlers

Montel Vontavious Porter Hassan Hamid Assad (born Alvin Antonio Burke Jr.; October 28, 1973), better known by his ring name Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP), is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, Manager (professional wrestling), manager, and sub ...

Colt Cabana Scott Colton (born May 6, 1980), better known by the ring name Colt Cabana, is an American professional wrestler, color commentator, and podcaster. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) as a wrestler and as a coach, and he performs the same ...

Stevie Richards Michael Stephen Manna (born October 9, 1971), better known by his ring name Stevie Richards, is an American retired Professional wrestling, professional wrestler and media personality. Since June 2024, Richards has hosted ''#The Stevie Richard ...

, "Brutal" Bob Evans,

Robbie E Robert Strauss (born October 1, 1983) is an American professional wrestler and Manager (professional wrestling), manager. He is signed to WWE, where he is a Producer (wrestling), producer, the on-screen assistant to the NXT general manager Ava (w ...

The Powers of Pain ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

, and

Sean Waltman Sean Michael Waltman (born July 13, 1972) is an American retired professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE under a legends contract. He is best known for his appearances for the WWE, World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) under the ring names ...

. The Monster Factory also conducts birthday parties and ring rentals. In 2014, Marshall was added as an additional trainer while other wrestlers, like

Jay Lethal Jamar Shipman (born April 29, 1985), better known by the ring name Jay Lethal, is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW). He is best known for his tenures in Ring of Honor (ROH), Total Nonstop Action Wrest ...

and Waltman began to drop by for informal training sessions. Cage's method of training has earned him praise from former WWE commentator Kevin Kelly, who has said: "Monster Factory takes seeds and grows crops in a setting that rivals the (WWE) Performance Center" and has seen students signed to WWE developmental deals and appear on

and

television. In March 2023,

Apple TV+ Apple TV+ is an American subscription over-the-top streaming service owned by Apple. The service launched on November 1, 2019, and it offers a selection of original production film and television series called Apple Originals. The service w ...

released a six episode documentary series entitled ''Monster Factory'' in partnership with

Vox Media Vox Media, Inc. is an American mass media company founded in Washington, D.C. with operational headquarters in Lower Manhattan, New York City. The company was established in November 2011 by CEO Jim Bankoff and Trei Brundrett to encompass ''S ...

. The documentary starred Cage and five Monster Factory students: Notorious Mimi, Gabby Ortiz, Goldy, Bobby Buffet, and Lucas "Twitch" DiSangro. It tells the story of their training and personal lives, as well as the origins of the Monster Factory school.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cage, Danny Living people American male professional wrestlers American professional wrestling trainers 1973 births Place of birth missing (living people) People from Cinnaminson Township, New Jersey People from Palmyra, New Jersey Professional wrestlers from New Jersey Sportspeople from Burlington County, New Jersey