Roy Knight (wrestler)
 |
| Roy Bevis | |
|---|---|
| Born | 25 February 1981 Norwich, England |
| Children | 3, including Ricky Knight Jr. |
| Family | Ricky Knight (father) Sweet Saraya (stepmother) Saraya Bevis (half-sister) Zak Zodiac (half-brother) |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Brian Knight Hooligan Bud Roy Knight The Zebra Kid Ricky Knight Jr. |
| Billed height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) |
| Billed weight | 210 lb (95 kg) |
| Trained by | Ricky Knight |
| Debut | 1995 |
Roy Bevis (born 25 February 1981)[1] is an English professional wrestler. He mainly competes under the ring name Roy Knight in World Association of Wrestling, which is owned and operated by his family. He has wrestled alongside his father Ricky Knight, his younger half-brother Zak Zodiac and his son Ricky Knight Jr.; with his son, he is a one-time British Tag Team Champion in Revolution Pro Wrestling (RPW).
Professional wrestling career
[edit]At the age of 13, Bevis made his debut in Lingwood in Norfolk, as the Zebra Kid partnering with the Canary Kid in a tag-team match against Jamie Lee and the Brixton Brawler. Since then, he has been faced with many challengers, including the likes of Robbie Brookside, Doug Williams and his own father throughout many independent promotions in the United Kingdom. Bevis has not limited his career to the UK either, making appearances in the United States in 2002 for the now defunct Xtreme Pro Wrestling against Jonny Storm, Joey Matthews and Jerry Lynn.
Bevis' most high-profile work in the UK was for the W.A.W.; he made his Frontier Wrestling Alliance (FWA) debut in 2002 winning a four-way match against Paul Travell, Scotty Rock and Mark Sloan at FWA Carpe Diem for an FWA All-England title match a few weeks later, a title he won. Throughout 2002 and 2003, Bevis traded FWA's All-England title back and forth with many of FWA's stars, but when Bevis vacated the belt due to injury on 18 October 2003, Hade Vansen won a provisional championship match against Flash Barker. On 26 March 2004, Bevis made his return in a last effort to win back the title in an undisputed FWA All England Championship match, but Vansen walked out of this match still the champion.
At FWA Carpe Diem in June 2004, Doug Williams defeated Bevis when Ricky Knight turned on him. This led to a long-lasting feud between father and son, which involved many of the Bevis family members. All of this was fuelled by Bevis' decision to wrestle full-time for the FWA instead of his father's promotion, World Association of Wrestling (WAW). In September 2004, this storyline came to an abrupt end when Bevis was jailed for nine months for drink-driving and for dangerous driving. After this spell in prison, promoters the FWA released a statement welcoming him back, saying: "While the FWA does not condone Roy's actions, we recognize that he has now served his sentence." During Frontiers of Honor, a cross-promotional show between FWA and Ring of Honor in the United Kingdom, Samoa Joe, their ROH Champion, faced The Zebra Kid in a match that would make the belt a "World Title" as it was being defended outside the United States.
After this Bevis would once again wrestle more for independent promotions in the United Kingdom, including his father's WAW, under the names "Roy Knight" and "Brian Knight". On 4 February 2006 at Real Deal Wrestling's King Of The Castle event, Bevis would make it to the tournament final to defeat Ricky Knight and win RDW Heavyweight Championship. However, not long after this WAW announced on their forum that he would be taking a break from wrestling, to sort out some health and personal issues.
Bevis made a return to the ring in 2007. In 2008, he went on to defeat Erik Isaksen (at The Talk, Norwich) to win become the first British wrestler to hold the WAW World Heavyweight Championship. Bevis would go on to make many successful title defences against Christian Eckstein, Danny Collins, Martin Stone and Scott Fusion. In October 2010, Bevis lost the WAW World Heavyweight Championship to Scott Fusion at WAW's annual spectacular; October OutRage 12. Fusion is the second British wrestler to hold the title.
On 19 November 2010 at a WAW show in Norwich, Bevis regained the WAW World Heavyweight Championship in a match featuring Scott Fusion teaming with Karl Krammer against Bevis and his father, Ricky Knight. The rules stipulated that if either man pinned either Fusion or Krammer, then Bevis would regain the title. Knight pinned Krammer for the victory and Bevis regained the title. He lost the championship to Danny Boy Collins in March 2012 in a Hardcore Tag Team match when he again teamed with his father against Collins and former ECW Champion Steve Corino. Collins won the title when he choked Bevis out after a missed Zebra Crossing.
Bevis has since reverted to the Roy Knight ring name and formed a tag team with his brother Zak Knight to become the UK Hooligans. In 2011, the UK Hooligans won the HEW Tag Team Championship from The Devil's Playboys (Bret Meadows and Sam Knee), and in September 2012, they defeated Army of Two (Scott Fusion and Aaron Sharpe) to win the vacant RQW European Tag Team Championship.
Personal life
[edit]Bevis is part of a professional wrestling family. His father and stepmother, known as Ricky Knight and Sweet Saraya respectively, are professional wrestlers, as are his half-siblings, Zak and Saraya Jade. Saraya Jade is signed to AEW under the ring name Saraya. The family run the World Association of Wrestling (WAW) promotion. In July 2012, Channel 4 produced a documentary about the Knights entitled The Wrestlers: Fighting with My Family.[2][3] Bevis has three children, and his eldest son Ricky Knight Jr. is also a professional wrestler. In January 2022, Bevis became a grandfather for the first time after the birth of RKJ's child.[4]
In September 2004, Bevis was jailed for nine months for drunk driving.[5] In June 2005, he was arrested for affray, possessing an offensive weapon, and assaulting a police officer after throwing a beer bottle across a pub and possessing a knife on a night out.[5] In August 2005, Bevis, playing as a striker for Thetford Town, knocked a referee unconscious during a match after being shown a red card.[5] After the incident, Thetford Town stated that Bevis was no longer playing for or involved with the team.[5]
Championships and accomplishments
[edit]- All Star Wrestling
- British Tag Team Championship (1 time)[6] – with Ricky Knight
- European Catch Tour Association
- ECTA Tag Team Championship (1 time)[7] – with Zak Knight
- Frontier Wrestling Alliance
- FWA All-England Championship[8][9] (3 times)
- Herts and Essex Wrestling
- Power Of Wrestling
- POW Tag Team Championship (1 time)[12] – with Zak Knight
- Premier Wrestling Federation
- Preston City Wrestling
- PCW Tag Team Championship (1 time)[15] – with Zak Knight
- Pro Wrestling Elite
- PWE Tag Team Championship (1 time)[15] – with Zak Knight
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- Real Deal Wrestling
- Real Quality Wrestling
- Revolution Pro Wrestling
- Undisputed British Tag Team Championship (1 time)[21] – with Ricky Knight Jr.
- Southside Wrestling Entertainment
- SWE Tag Team Championship (1 time)[22] – with Zak Knight
- Target Wrestling
- Target Wrestling Tag Team Championship (1 time)[23] – with Zak Knight
- World Association of Wrestling
- WAW World Heavyweight Championship (6 times, Current)[24]
- WAW British Heavyweight Championship (1 time)[25]
- WAW European Heavyweight Championship (1 time, Inaugural)[26]
- WAW European Heavyweight Title Tournament (2008)
- WAW King Of The Ring (2009)
- WAW British Cruiserweight Championship (1 time)[27]
- WAW World Tag Team Championship (6 times)[28] – with the Canary Kid (2), Hot Stuff (1), Ricky Knight Jr. (1), Zak Knight (3)
References
[edit]- ^ Roy Knight [@RealRoyKnight] (26 February 2022). "Love you sis ❤️" (Tweet). Retrieved 30 August 2022 – via Twitter.
- ^ Deacon, Michael (19 July 2012). "The Wrestlers: Fighting with My Family, Channel 4, review". The Telegraph. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
- ^ "The Wrestlers: Fighting with My Family". Channel 4. Archived from the original on 24 September 2012. Retrieved 23 September 2012.
- ^ Roy Knight [@RealRoyKnight] (24 January 2022). "My son and grandson #proud #family" (Tweet). Retrieved 30 August 2022 – via Twitter.
- ^ a b c d "Ref-attack wrestler facing jail for knife threat". Cambridge News. 26 August 2005. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
- ^ "British Tag Team Championship". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
- ^ "ECTA Tag Team Championship". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
- ^ "Independent Wrestling Results - July 2002". onlineworldofwrestling.com. Retrieved 6 July 2008.
- ^ "X Wrestling Alliance Title Histories". titlehistories.com. Retrieved 11 July 2008.
- ^ "HEW Living On A Prayer 7 - Tag 1". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
- ^ "HEW Helloween 2014 - Eye Of The Tiger". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
- ^ "POW Tag Team Championship". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
- ^ "PWF Light Heavyweight Championship". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
- ^ "PWF Tag Team Championship". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
- ^ a b "PCW Tag Team Championship". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
- ^ "2018 PWI 500". Cagematch. Retrieved 29 October 2018.
- ^ "RDW Heavyweight Championship". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
- ^ "RDW European Championship". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
- ^ "RQW Heavyweight Championship". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
- ^ "RQW European Tag Team Championship". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
- ^ "RevPro Undisputed British Tag Team Championship". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
- ^ "SWE Tag Team Championship". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
- ^ "Target Wrestling Tag Team Championship". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
- ^ "WAW Undisputed World Heavyweight Championship". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
- ^ "WAW British Heavyweight Championship". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
- ^ "WAW European Heavyweight Championship". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
- ^ "WAW Open Light Heavyweight Championship". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
- ^ "WAW World Tag Team Championship". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved 30 August 2022.