Raymond Roy Jr

Owner of Surveillance Solutions and Pro-Wrestler

I rst met Raymond Roy Jr. when he was installing video surveillance cameras at a company I worked for. en I learned he use to be a pro-wrestler under the ring-names of Roy Raymond, e Stormtrooper and e Mountie. He fought the British Bulldog, King Kong Bundy, Razor Ramon, Steve Cold Stone Austin and Lex Luger. I wanted to know how a famous pro-wrestler went from a pro to owning a video surveillance company. We hit it o right away. Ray is extremely outgoing, friendly and 100% French Canadian like me.

By L.A. Reilly

LA: Tell me how you became An American Professional Wrestler

RR: I was in the marines and then worked for an auto repair shop. I had many connections with the world wrestling federation. As a joke I said “I’m done with repair work and I want to join the circuit” So I called up Vince McMahon the CEO of WWF. He told me to meet him at his place in Stamford CT. I went and met with Vince and Macho Man Randy Savage. At the time I was li ing weights and was about 300 pounds of solid muscle and stood 6”4. Vince said if I could survive wrestling school he would dra me. So he gave me a check to give a guy in Boston named Killer Kowalski. He’s going to teach you how to wrestle. I went to meet him and the training was brutal. Way worse than marine boot camp. I did very well and nished in three years. A lot of big names in WWF came out of Killer Kowalski’s School of Wrestling including Chyna and King Kong Bundy. When the dra came around he picked me up. ey gave me a contract, I got licensed and stayed there for 14 years (1993-2007). It was a lot of work. I lived in the gym every day and traveled all over the world. A normal day in the wrestling business: Get up in the morning, go to the gym, eat, production meeting, eat, production meeting, go to the arena, sit around for 3 hours before your match, go back to the hotel, get on a plane and y to the next state and do it all over again. When we ew overseas we had a VIP plane. I’ve been halfway around the world for free. I did this 273 days a year. I was on SmackDown, Raw and Saturday Morning Superstars. It was like a ferris wheel you can never get o of. You do the same thing over and over again. I’ve broken my palette, lost all my front teeth, broke my jaw, scar on my head, fractured my sternum, hyperextended both knees and multiple concussions. When people get hit in the ring with chairs it’s real. You’re only as good as your last show. You have to keep going.

LA: What were your favorite memories of your wrestling career?

RR: On funny memory involved WWF Mr Fuji who was an old wrestler. He use to walk around with a gym bag and would change all the combination locks on the wrestlers lockers. And the wrestler would have to do something funny to get him to unlock their locker. ere were a lot of practical jokes. ere were a lot of good times and a lot of sad times. RR: I liked Blackjack Mulligan, Haystacks Calhoun and Bruno Sammartino

LA: What was your favorite match you’ve been in?

RR: It was de nitely my caged match with King Kong Bundy

LA: Tell me about your wrestling characters and did you have a theme song?

RR: I started out as e Stormtrooper in the amateur league which I chose myself. When I got to WWF I was Roy Raymond and then e Mountie. I used some Metallica intro songs when I was Roy Raymond.

LA: at’s Ray the pro-wrestler. What about Ray the businessman. When did you start Surveillance Solutions. Tell me what made you leave wrestling and start a surveillance company

RR: My contract ended and I had had enough. I got married and moved to Scituate. I was concerned about break-ins to my house. I saw a surveillance system in a store, bought it and installed it. I could monitor it on my phone. I showed it to one of my friends and he wanted one. I went out and bought a kit and installed it in his house. Now his friends wanted them too. I started doing it on weekends making really good money. I invested some money and bought equipment. en I came up with a name and logo. e reason why I have a logo with a wheel is because my mind never stops. I’m always thinking. Before you know it I had business cards made and started banging on doors. I ended up getting some big names like Kirkbrae Country Club and Shaws. We’ve been in business for 21 years.

LA: You service some big name companies like McDonalds, Panera and United Rentals. When you install cameras, how do you decide where to put them and how many they need?

RR: Generally if the business is perfectly square we will put 2 cameras in each corner so you have a better shot of seeing their face.

LA: You service residential & commercial, which one do you think you service the most?

RR: Residential use to be 1 of 10 homes and now it’s 6 of 10. Commercial business do mainly upgrades. ey have an existing system. We take out the old and install a new up-to-date unit.

LA: You have to keep up with the latest technology.

What changes have you seen in equipment over the years?

RR: When I rst started the cameras were plastic and 420 TVL then they went up to 1000 lines. Now they are 4K resolution and some have audio built in. Technology has been crazy in the past 6 years. Some cameras have night vision, heat sensors, facial recognition and text overlays. Technology changes every 6-8 months. If I don’t keep up with it, it will roll right over me.

LA: Have you ever been recognized by clients when you install video surveillance?

RR: All the time. Some wrestling fans even sign on because I was a pro-wrestler.

LA: Have you ever witnessed any embarrassing or illegal situations on camera?

RR: I had a guy who wanted 10 cameras outside and 10 cameras inside installed because he didn’t trust his wife. I had to hide it and install when no one was home. e guy came home one day and found his dog bleeding to death. He called me to nd out what happened. I played back the footage. e dog had gotten o the property and the wife had a spade shovel in her hand and hit the dog and slashed him open. She got arrested for animal abuse. e things people do are unbelievable.

LA: at’s Ray the Pro-wrestler, Ray the Businessman. Tell me about the other projects you are involved in

RR: I started Brothers of the Band because all my friends would call me up asking me where to go see bands. I had to go on each bands website to see who was playing out. So I decided to start a web page to post where everyone was playing. en I started a fundraiser. It’s called Rock for Autism. e rst year we did it at e Last Resort. We had 4 bands playing and raised $9,000. Last year we raised $22,000. I book the best of the best!

Surveillance Solutions is located at 101 Comstock Parkway, Suite 3, Cranston