By day, San Luis Obispo High School Special Education Paraeducator Roy Bean III can be seen around campus helping disabled students go about their day, but when nightfall comes, he assumes the title of professional wrestler Ricky Ruffin’. Expressions interviewed Bean to learn his story and witness how he balances the lives of both Roy and Ricky. He’s currently running for Wrestler of the Year, so you can vote for him at

Expressions: What do you do here?

Special Education Paraeducator Roy Bean III: I’m a Paraeducator. I work with developmentally disabled and fragile students for the majority of my job.

Expressions: What is your day like?

Bean: I help get the kids off the bus, then we’ll take them out sometimes, granted weather permits it—you’ve probably seen me around with kids in wheelchairs and stuff—and we’ll come back, we’ll do snack in the morning, have lunch with the kids, and work on various tasks and goals depending on the child, since everyone has a different set.

Expressions: When night comes and you put on the mask, who do you turn into?

Bean: First, there’s no mask. Ricky Ruffin is my stage name, and I wrestle for Vendetta Pro Wrestling, where I completed most of my training. With wrestling it’s just like any other school. If you want to be a welder, you go to welding school; you want to sell real estate, you go to real estate school; you want to be a professional wrestler, go to wrestling school, it’s just another trade.

Expressions: What was the inspiration for Ricky Ruffin’?

Bean: I had a lot of various things. My late grandfather loved professional wrestling. His favorite wrestler was Ric Flair, The Nature Boy, and he loved when Ric Flair would go “WOO”, that was kind of his thing. The Temptations [the musical group] is the main inspiration towards my wrestling career, and it’s something new, something fresh, something a lot of people haven’t seen.

Expressions: So did the influence from your grandfather put you on the path to pro wrestling?

Bean: It definitely put me on the path to professional wrestling. I knew by the time I was a teenager [at SLOHS] that that’s what I wanted to do.

Expressions: What kind of prep goes into the night of a match?

Bean: I do more than just wrestle, but as far as mental preparation and physical preparation I do a lot of stretching, a lot of warming up. My warm-ups are a little different because my character dances a lot, so you’ll catch me in the corner just going through some steps and motions and whatnot. And I just kind of keep the frame of mind. My character’s kind of modeled after the former lead singer of The Temptations—he sung “My Girl”— his name was David Ruffin.

Expressions: Do you have a favorite move or a favorite moment from a match you wrestled?

Bean: Now, I would have to say my favorite moment from a match would be winning the NWA Western States Heavyweight Championship, which now makes me the NWA Western States champion. I’m pretty much the Heavyweight champion from like Idaho over to the Pacific Ocean, and it was recently released that I’m now ranked fifth in the world for the NWA world title.

Expressions: How often do you wrestle and where could we find you wrestling at?

Bean: The majority of our shows are in the Santa Maria area, that’s where Vendetta Pro Wrestling is based. We also have a school in Santa Maria, Vendetta Pro Wrestling Academy, also known as Kayfabe College, where you can go and learn to be a professional wrestler if that’s what your heart desires. Our favorite venue seems to be the Radison Hotel by the airport, or as we love to call it, “Radison Square Garden”. We do a lot of fundraisers. Our last show was a fundraiser for a little boy who was in a car accident in Santa Maria—they had to amputate his hand— so we did a show for them and we’re going to do another one January 8th, so I recommend you guys come check it out..

Expressions: Do you think what you do here and what you do in the ring kind of mirror each other or are related in some sense?

Bean: I guess if you think about it hard enough. A lot of people see what we do and think “oh these guys, they’re faking this and faking that” but that’s not the case. These kids in here are the bravest kids I’ve ever met, and they’re heros for a lot of people. The stuff they go through every day just to be able to get up and try to walk or get out of bed every morning…they’re the real heros. So I found a way to, for a little bit of time, maybe an hour or two, take you out of your own mindset and [so you can] not worry about the problems you’re having at home, or the lack of financial help you’re getting, or whatever. And for those couple of hours you’re at our show, nothing else matters. For many people I’m some kind of hero. I’m just a normal guy out there doing my thing, but if I can put a smile on a kid’s face on a regular basis, cool.

Expressions: Do you have a favorite pro wrestler?

Bean: My favorite wrestler would have to be Ric Flair. He’s grandpa’s favorite, he’s The Nature Boy, and he’s immaculate on the mic. He’s the only 16-time world heavyweight champion, and the man has spent the majority of his career with a broken back and still did it. There’s a lot of people I have a lot of respect for; there’s “Ravishing” Rick Rude, and you’ve got to take your hat off for The Rock because he was the man on the microphone, everyone knows that. But if I’m gonna say my absolute favorite, I’d have to give you Ric Flair.

Vote Ricky Ruffin for 2015 Vendetta Pro Wrestler of the Year: http://www.vendettaprowrestling.com/2015-awards/