Ricky Knight

Last updated

Ricky Knight
Birth namePatrick David Frary
Born (1953-12-24) 24 December 1953 (age 71)
Spouse(s)
​
​
(m. 1990)​
Children Saraya Bevis
Roy Bevis
Zak Zodiac
Professional wrestling career
Billed from Norwich, England
Trained byJimmy Ocean [1]
Debut1978

Patrick David Frary (born 24 December 1953) is an English professional wrestling trainer, promoter, owner, and former professional wrestler, better known by his ring name "Rowdy" Ricky Knight. [2] He is the owner of the World Association of Wrestling promotion in Norwich.

Contents

Professional wrestling career

Knight was working as a bouncer when he first met professional wrestler Jimmy Ocean. Ocean trained Knight, and the duo formed a tag team. [1] Throughout the 1990s, they teamed together as The Superflys on the British circuit. The team was managed by Knight's wife Sweet Saraya. The trio appeared on Reslo, Orig Williams' Welsh-language wrestling programme on S4C. [3] The Superflys wrestled in All Star Wrestling, holding the British Open Tag Team Championship four times together. [4] Their final title reign ended in 1998 when Knight and Ocean fell out (kayfabe) and Ocean beat Knight in a singles match for the title then chose the Canary Kid as his partner. Three years later in 2001, Knight won the TWA version of the title with son Roy as the New Superflies. [5]

Knight, Sweet Saraya, and Jimmy Ocean formed the World Association of Wrestling in 1994 in Norwich. Ocean left the business one year later. [1] The promotion also included a wrestling school, The WAW Academy, which trained Roy Knight and The UK Pitbulls. The WAW Academy is Europe's longest running wrestling school. [4] As a member of the roster, Knight has held the WAW World Heavyweight Championship one time. He also held the WAW Tag Team Championship with Ocean. [6]

Personal life

Knight was in prison for eight years, mostly due to violent offences. [2]

Knight is married to Julia Bevis, who wrestles under the name Sweet Saraya. [2] They have two children, and he has two other from a previous marriage. His sons Roy Knight and Zak Zodiac wrestle on the British wrestling circuit as the UK Hooligans. Their daughter Paige wrestled for WWE, winning the NXT Women's Championship and the WWE Divas Championship twice before retiring due to a serious neck injury. [2] The family was featured in The Wrestlers: Fighting with My Family, a 2012 documentary. [2] The documentary was adapted into a feature film, Fighting with My Family , by Dwayne Johnson's production company Seven Bucks Productions. The film was directed by Stephen Merchant, with Nick Frost playing the role of Knight, [7] and premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2019.

Championships and accomplishments

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jonny Storm</span> British professional wrestler

Jonathan Whitcombe is an English professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Jonny Storm. He has worked for many independent promotions across the United Kingdom, including the Frontier Wrestling Alliance, Real Quality Wrestling and One Pro Wrestling. He has also worked in the United States, for promotions such as Ring of Honor, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, Combat Zone Wrestling, and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, as well as working in Japan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jimmy Snuka</span> Fijian American professional wrestler (1943–2017)

James Reiher Snuka was a Fijian and American professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Don Muraco</span> American professional wrestler

Don Muraco is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation from 1981 to 1988, where he held the WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship on two occasions and was crowned the inaugural winner of the King of the Ring tournament in 1985. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2004 and the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tommy Rich</span> American professional wrestler

Thomas Richardson is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Tommy "Wildfire" Rich. He is a one time former National Wrestling Alliance World Heavyweight Champion and Smoky Mountain Wrestling Heavyweight Champion. He primarily appeared in Georgia Championship Wrestling and Memphis throughout the 1980s, as well as World Championship Wrestling, Smoky Mountain Wrestling and Extreme Championship Wrestling throughout the 1990s. He is a 1974 graduate of Hendersonville High School.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kendall Windham</span> American professional wrestler (born 1967)

Kendall Wayne Windham is an American retired professional wrestler best known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling. He is the son of Blackjack Mulligan and the brother of Barry Windham.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jimmy Garvin</span> American professional wrestler

James Williams is an American retired professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Jimmy Garvin. A member of the Fabulous Freebirds, Garvin is best known for his appearances with promotions including the American Wrestling Association, World Class Championship Wrestling, and World Championship Wrestling.

Robert Welch is an American manager and retired professional wrestler, better known by his ring names Robert Fuller and Col. Robert Parker. Robert and his brother Ron co-owned Continental Championship Wrestling for a time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve Corino</span> Canadian professional wrestler

Steven Eugene Corino is a Canadian semi-retired professional wrestler signed with WWE as a trainer at the Performance Center and a producer for the promotion's developmental brand NXT. He is best known for his tenure with Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) from 1998 to 2001 and Ring of Honor (ROH) from 2002 to 2006 and 2009–2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jimmy Valiant</span> American professional wrestler

James Harold Fanning is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name "Handsome" Jimmy Valiant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">C. W. Anderson</span> American professional wrestler

Christopher Wright is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, C. W. Anderson. He is currently signed to Major League Wrestling (MLW). He is best known for his appearances with Extreme Championship Wrestling from 1999 to 2001.

Roy Bevis 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).

The UK Pitbulls are a professional wrestling tag team that consists of brothers Bulk and Big Dave. They previously held a number of titles in the United Kingdom, United States, as well as 11 countries worldwide. Their career as a tag team ended for some years when Dave sustained an injury in a strongman contest. They held 20 tag team championships. They were named "England's Most Dominant Tag Team" by Total Wrestling Magazine. After Big Dave's injury and a sustained period of rehab over many years the pair are wrestling again as the UK Pitbulls and have featured in Fightmare Norwich 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bart Sawyer</span> American professional wrestler

Steven Stewart, known by his ring name Bart Sawyer, was an American professional wrestler, color commentator, and occasional actor. He was best known for his time in Championship Wrestling USA and the United States Wrestling Association during the 1990s. In his career, Sawyer also wrestled for Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling, House of Pain Wrestling Federation, Memphis Wrestling, NWA Georgia, NWA Main Event, NWA Worldwide, World Xtreme Wrestling and W*ING. Additionally, he competed as a preliminary wrestler in World Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation.

Ricky Landell is an American former professional wrestler. He is best known for competing in various independent promotions, the most notable being Ring of Honor, Pro Wrestling ZERO1-MAX / Pro Wrestling Zero1 and AWA Superstars of Wrestling / Wrestling Superstars Live.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saraya Bevis</span> British professional wrestler (born 1992)

Saraya-Jade Bevis is an English professional wrestler. She is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where she performs mononymously as Saraya. She is currently the leader of The Outcasts and is a former one-time AEW Women's World Champion. She is also known for her time with WWE under the ring name Paige. She was the youngest female champion in WWE history, a two-time WWE Divas Champion, and the inaugural NXT Women's Champion. She also remains the only woman to hold both a WWE and NXT Women's Championship simultaneously.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sweet Saraya</span> English professional wrestler (born 1971)

Julia Hamer-Bevis, better known by her ring names Sweet Saraya and Saraya Knight, is an English professional wrestler, trainer and promoter. She is the mother of AEW wrestler Saraya, who was known as Paige in WWE.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Haskins</span> British professional wrestler

Mark Haskins, is an English professional wrestler. He is known internationally for his time in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, as well as his appearances in Ring of Honor, Progress Wrestling, Revolution Pro Wrestling, Dragon Gate, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, and International Pro Wrestling: United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zak Zodiac</span> British professional wrestler

Zak Harley Bevis is an English professional wrestler signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he performs under the ring name Zak Knight and a member of The Outcasts stable. He also performs for AEW's sister promotion Ring of Honor (ROH).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">World Association of Wrestling</span> British independent professional wrestling promotion

World Association of Wrestling (WAW) is a British independent professional wrestling promotion founded by Ricky Knight, Sweet Saraya, and Jimmy Ocean in 1994 in Norwich, England. It is affiliated with the all-female promotion Bellatrix Female Warriors which is also owned by Saraya Knight. The promotion features British-style wrestling and uses British rules.

Ricky Bevis, better known by his ring name Ricky Knight Jr., is an English professional wrestler, working with Revolution Pro Wrestling (RPW), where he is a former Undisputed British Heavyweight Champion.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Interview: Zak Knight, Sweet Saraya and Ricky Knight". The Student Pocket Guide. 1 July 2016. Retrieved 2 March 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Deacon, Michael (19 July 2012). "The Wrestlers: Fighting with My Family, Channel 4, review". The Telegraph. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
  3. ↑ Reslo programme guide (including listings for matches by Superflies, Jimmy Ocean and Ricky Knight with Saraya in their corner) ITV Wrestling, JNLister
  4. 1 2 3 4 "The History of WAW". World Association of Wrestling. Archived from the original on 26 November 2018. Retrieved 2 March 2017.
  5. ↑ All Star Wrestling British Tag Team Championship, Wrestling-Titles.com
  6. 1 2 3 "Ricky Knight". World Association of Wrestling. 22 March 2019. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
  7. ↑ Fleming, Mike Jr. (8 February 2017). "Lena Headey & Nick Frost Join Dwayne Johnson In 'Fighting With My Family'". Deadline. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Ricky Knight - Titles". CageMatch. Retrieved 2 March 2017.
  9. ↑ "DAM Spring Showdown 2". CageMatch. 21 April 2006.
  10. ↑ "HEW Living On A Prayer 12". CageMatch. 25 March 2016.
  11. ↑ "IPW Germany Kick In The Eastereggs". CageMatch. 6 April 2019.
  12. ↑ "Playhouse Wrestlefest IX". CageMatch. 16 February 2008.
  13. ↑ "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2019 - the Internet Wrestling Database".
  14. ↑ "WAW/DAM Promotions". CageMatch. 27 September 2002.
  15. ↑ "WAW". CageMatch. 22 July 2006.
  16. ↑ "WAW October Outrage 5". CageMatch. 25 October 2003.
  17. ↑ "XWA War On The Shore". CageMatch. 7 April 2007.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.