Now retired, former WWE wrestler Tucker Knight (real name Levi Cooper) looks back fondly on his time as a pro wrestler.
Cooper was part of the tag team Heavy Machinery in WWE before being released from his contract in 2021. He spent some time on the indies after his release but confirmed last October that he is retired from the ring. His final match took place in 2023.
Following his WWE career, Cooper is now the head wrestling coach at Skyview High School in Vancouver, Washington. Local news station KPTV produced a story on him that aired on Sunday night. Cooper said pro wrestling was a great way to spend his 20s, but the travel became too difficult for him once he had kids.
“Traveling before I had kids was 95 percent fun, but after I had my daughter it became really difficult emotionally. I wasn’t prepared for how difficult that was going to be,” the 34-year-old Cooper said. “It was a cool way to spend my 20s, man. It was a really special thing to get to do. It really is an art form. It encompasses a ton of stuff. You know, you’re like a live-action stunt performer basically that’s trying to tell a story with your body without words. It’s like, the outcome is pre-determined but go fall over outside on a mat that’s this thick [and do it] repeatedly. It takes its toll, it’s a full-on lifestyle.”
Cooper was an amateur wrestler in college before his WWE career. In WWE, he teamed with Otis on NXT and the main roster. The two are still friends with Otis visiting Cooper and the wrestlers at Skyview High last year.
The full news piece from KPTV can be watched below:
Levi Cooper — who formerly wrestled for WWE as one half of Heavy Machinery — is retired from the ring.
Cooper told Dr. Chris Featherstone of Sportskeeda that he is retired from pro wrestling and does not plan to return. He went by the name Tucker Knight in WWE and teamed with Otis both in NXT and on the main roster. Currently, Cooper is a high school wrestling coach.
“I just spoke with former WWE star Tucker of fka Heavy Machinery. He said that he has retired from professional wrestling and does not plan to return,” Featherstone tweeted. “He currently is a high school wrestling coach & raising his two kids. Best wishes.”
In April 2021, Cooper was released from his WWE contract. It’s been more than a year since he last wrestled on the indies.
Otis met up with Cooper last month, sharing a pair of photos to social media with the caption “2 hearts 1 soul.”
Tucker debuted as a heel singles competitor, losing to Humberto Carrillo in a perfectly acceptable opener before Ricochet took care of business against Angel Garza in a really strong featured contest.
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Humberto Carrillo defeated Tucker (6:02)
Tucker and Otis had matches on Main Event a few times over the last year, but Tucker’s defeat here marked both his singles show debut and just his second ever WWE singles match.
Carrillo doesn’t miss many weeks on this show. He’s had 18 matches this year on Main Event winning nine of them and apart from still being guilty of overselling at times, he’s pretty damn good.
The result was a little strange, but they worked the usual WWE methodical style, pulling off the smoldering heel vs. the plucky, high-flying babyface dynamic pretty well in the time that they had.
In the end, it was a top rope battle as Tucker crotched Carrillo and looked for a superplex, but Carrillo maintained his footing and grabbed a sunset flip, rolling Tucker up for the surprise win.
Ricochet defeated Angel Garza (8:35)
Ricochet hasn’t lost on Main Event since June and has been somewhat of a regular since March. An affable and grateful guy at the best of times, he’s perhaps starting to show that he feels its time they did something with him.
WWE tweeted that this past week marked one year since he took on Drew McIntyre on Raw. Ricochet took the bait and bit with a ‘maybe it’s time for a rematch??’ response. The double question mark says it all and it doesn’t take much of an imagination to envisage the kinds of comments it drew.
He and Garza was a lot of fun as you might expect. Although this would easily sit alongside anything on Raw right now, their match went quite long for a Main Event bout and just started to get pretty good as they went home.
It felt as though this could go either way as the story of the match was about them going toe-to-toe. After a close near fall, Garza went for the Wing Clipper and hit him with a pop-up knee strike, but Ricochet had enough left to hit a clothesline and connect with the Kick Back for the win.
More of this each week would be fine by me, but, like a lot of these matches, if they let them off the leash and gave them time, they would likely produce something stellar.
Final Thoughts:
The cynics may think that Tucker’s reward for turning heel on Otis was to work Main Event this week, but with no house shows right now, wrestlers trialling new characters or tag teams splitting and working as singles have nowhere else to go.
A new Mr. Money in the Bank was crowned tonight following the breakup of Heavy Machinery.
The Miz gained control of the Money in the Bank contract by defeating Otis at tonight’s Hell in a Cell pay-per-view. The Miz got the win after Tucker turned against Otis and hit him with the Money in the Bank briefcase.
The Miz and John Morrison were interviewed backstage after tonight’s match. Miz said he’s putting the WWE Champion and Universal Champion on notice. Miz said they won’t know when, how, or where — but he’s going to cash in the contract successfully.
Tucker walked up during the interview and told Miz this isn’t about him. Tucker said he and Otis were supposed to be a team, but Tucker was the workhorse and carried the load. Tucker said he did everything for Otis and treated him like a brother, but Tucker was always an afterthought. Tucker said Otis can’t function without him. Otis then attacked Tucker until he ran away.
Otis putting the Money in the Bank contract on the line against Miz tonight was announced at the conclusion of a series of “Law & Otis” segments on this past Friday’s SmackDown. JBL was the judge for the segments and was initially going to rule in Otis’ favor, but he then changed his mind after being bribed by Miz. In storyline, Miz had filed a lawsuit against Otis to try and take the Money in the Bank contract from him.
Tucker was drafted to Raw in the WWE Draft earlier this month. Otis remained on SmackDown. Miz and Morrison were also drafted by Raw.
This is the second time Miz has held the Money in the Bank contract in his career. In 2010, Miz cashed the briefcase in to win his first WWE Championship.
Another round of WWE Draft picks has been revealed.
WWE announced during this week’s episode of Talking Smack that Humberto Carrillo, Drew Gulak, and Tucker have been drafted to Raw. It was also announced that Murphy and Kalisto have been drafted to SmackDown.
Those five names were among the remaining wrestlers left in the night one draft pool after last night’s SmackDown. Mickie James, the rest of The Lucha House Party (Gran Metalik & Lince Dorado), and Shorty G were also in the night one draft pool but weren’t selected. WWE has noted that any undrafted wrestlers “will immediately be declared free agents and able to sign with the brand of their choosing.”
Tucker being drafted by Raw means that Heavy Machinery have been broken up in the draft. Otis was selected by SmackDown last night.
Murphy is joining Seth Rollins and Rey & Dominik Mysterio on SmackDown.
The draft will conclude on Monday’s episode of Raw. The updated rosters for Raw and SmackDown are listed below, along with the wrestlers in the night two draft pool:
Raw —
WWE Champion Drew McIntyre
Raw Women’s Champion Asuka
The Hurt Business (MVP, United States Champion Bobby Lashley, Shelton Benjamin & Cedric Alexander)
AJ Styles
Naomi
Women’s Tag Team Champions Shayna Baszler & Nia Jax
Ricochet
Mandy Rose
The Miz & John Morrison
SmackDown Tag Team Champions Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods
A six-man tag match will be part of WWE’s final build to Backlash.
WWE has announced that Universal Champion Braun Strowman & Heavy Machinery will face The Miz, John Morrison & Dolph Ziggler on this week’s episode of SmackDown. Miz & Morrison are challenging for Strowman’s Universal title in a two-on-one handicap match at Backlash on Sunday.
A storyline throughout last Friday’s SmackDown saw Miz and Morrison play pranks on Strowman in an attempt to make his life a living hell. After they destroyed his car’s windshield, Strowman flipped over a van with Miz and Morrison in it.
This will be the first time Tucker has appeared on SmackDown since April.
Strowman & Otis defeated Miz & Morrison in the main event of SmackDown on May 15. After the match, Otis teased cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase but then said he was only joking when Strowman turned around.
Otis defeated Baron Corbin by disqualification on SmackDown last week. Corbin got disqualified for using a steel chair, but Otis hit The Caterpillar on him after.
WWE has also announced that tomorrow’s SmackDown will feature a contract signing for Jeff Hardy vs. Sheamus at Backlash.
Plus, Daniel Bryan and AJ Styles will face off in the finals of WWE’s Intercontinental title tournament on SmackDown tomorrow.
A third title match is set for Raw’s season premiere.
WWE has announced that Raw Tag Team Champions Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode will defend their titles against Heavy Machinery on Raw this coming Monday (September 30). Seth Rollins will also defend his Universal Championship against Rey Mysterio on the episode, and Cedric Alexander will challenge for AJ Styles’ United States title.
Ziggler & Roode won the Raw Tag Team titles from Rollins & Braun Strowman at Clash of Champions earlier this month.
Heavy Machinery are currently part of the SmackDown roster. The WWE Draft will take place on SmackDown on Friday, October 11 and Raw on Monday, October 14. The Wild Card rule will no longer exist after the draft.
The Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Arizona is hosting the Raw season premiere. Here’s the updated lineup for the episode:
Universal Champion Seth Rollins defending against Rey Mysterio
United States Champion AJ Styles defending against Cedric Alexander
Sasha Banks vs. Alexa Bliss
Raw Tag Team Champions Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode defending against Heavy Machinery
After announcing a SmackDown Tag Team title match for Extreme Rules earlier in the day, another team was added to the mix on this week’s SmackDown.
Heavy Machinery defeated Kevin Owens & Dolph Ziggler in the main event of Tuesday’s show. The stipulation was that the winning team would be added to the SmackDown Tag Team title match at Extreme Rules. It will now be Daniel Bryan & Rowan defending their titles against Big E & Xavier Woods and Heavy Machinery in a triple threat match at the pay-per-view.
Heavy Machinery vs. Owens & Ziggler was set up during tonight’s opening segment. Owens and Ziggler argued on the KO Show and both wanted a title shot against WWE Champion Kofi Kingston. Shane McMahon responded by having them team together in a match where they could earn a Tag Team title shot.
After their loss, Owens attacked Ziggler and gave him a stunner. Ziggler had accidentally hit a superkick on Owens at the end of the match, which led to Heavy Machinery hitting The Compactor on Owens to get the win.
Bryan, Rowan, Big E, and Woods were on commentary at the start of Heavy Machinery vs. Owens & Ziggler. New Day started a brawl with Bryan and Rowan. Bryan hit a running knee on Big E, then Rowan slammed Woods through an announce table.
Bryan defeated Big E in a singles match earlier on tonight’s SmackDown after Rowan interfered.
The updated card for Extreme Rules is listed below. The PPV is taking place at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on July 14:
The Undertaker & Roman Reigns vs. Shane McMahon & Drew McIntyre in a no holds barred match
Universal Champion Seth Rollins & Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch defending against Baron Corbin & Lacey Evans in an extreme rules match (winners-take-all stipulation with both titles on the line)
WWE Champion Kofi Kingston defending against Samoa Joe
SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley defending against Alexa Bliss
SmackDown Tag Team Champions Daniel Bryan & Rowan defending against Big E & Xavier Woods and Heavy Machinery in a triple threat match
WWE Cruiserweight Champion Drew Gulak defending against Tony Nese
Episode twelve (taped October 13 at Plymouth Pavilions in Plymouth, England)
Quick recap
Fabian Aichner made his NXT UK debut, defeating Mark Andrews and looking good in the process. Isla Dawn beat Nina Samuels in a quick match, while Edie Dennis basically squashed Tucker. Jordan Devlin beat Flash Morgan Webster in a good main event match.
Also, Travis Banks returned from injury to confront Gallus, the new official name for the group of Wolfgang and the Coffey Brothers. In other news, Sid Scala officially was appointed assistant to NXT UK General Manager Johnny Saint.
Full rundown
The show opened with a graphic about Tom “Dynamite Kid” Billington passing away. A scrolling message at the bottom of the screen also wished his family, friends and fans the best.
This was the first show from the third set of NXT UK tapings and saw a number of debuts and returns, the first of which happened in the first segment. Joe Coffey, Mark Coffey and Wolfgang came out and Joe Coffey cut a promo in the ring. He said people had been calling them “ruthless”, then asked his brother for what other word they had been called. “Devious”, was the answer.
He asked Wolfgang for another term. “Underhanded”, was what Wolfgang told him. He said that this was absolutely right, he said that this was their kingdom and that they would be known as Gallus, which, according to Wikipedia means is a Lowland Scottish word for self-confident, daring, cheeky or stylish, impressive,
He said that this was their kingdom now and that there was no such thing as Big Strong Bois anymore. At that point, Travis banks came out and stood in the aisle. Joe Coffey asked him how he felt and that they had put him on the shelf. he dared Banks to get in the ring, noting that there were three of them and just one of him.
He then told him they could go one on one. Banks stormed the ring, but as he took Joe down, the rest of Gallus interfered and beat him down. Moustache Mountain ran out to make the save, sending the heels packing.
Nigel and Vic were in studio, talking about the last segment and then threw it to a backstage interview where Radzi Chinyanganya interviewed Fabian Aichner, who made his debut here. He said that there were some of the best competitors in the world here and he was looking forward to mix it up with them, just as he had done in NXT.
A graphic informed us that Aichner would do battle with Mark Andrews next.
A TLC promo aired.
Radzi was back with Jordan Devlin. Devlin asked if he had seen how far he had pushed Pete Dunne in his own home town and that he was confident another title opportunity would not be too far away for him.
He said that he was the Irish Ace and he looked at the NXT UK roster like a deck of cards and when he shuffles that deck and pulls out Flash Morgan Webster, he sees the Joker. He threatened to rip off Webster’s anorak, throw his helmet in the fifth row and said that the Ace always trumps the Heart. (which makes basically no sense in any kind of card game, but I digress)
Fabian Aichner beat Mark Andrews in 9:19 after a spinning sit-out power bomb
Aichner of course is the current EVOLVE world champion. He hails from South Tyrol which is a German speaking autonomous province in northern Italy, which originally belonged to the Austrian-Hungarian empire (there, you learned something). He started in 2011 and trained in Germany with former WCW “Wunderkind” Alex Wright and his English father, Steve Wright.
Aichner and Andrews shook hands for the start of the match. After some back and forth, Aichner showed his power by easily gorilla pressing Andrews, but Andrews reversed out of the move. He tried his somersault over the top rope from the apron, but Aichner once more caught him in mid-move, even though Andrews managed to turn the move into a lucha arm drag and followed with a huracanrana. Andrews followed this up with a topé.
Back in the ring, Aichner stopped Andrews, threw him high into the air and caught him for a backbreaker, which looked impressive. Nigel talked about Aichner’s trainer Steve Wright once wrestling Tiger Mask, in a similar display of strength and technique versus high flying. Andrews hit a standing corkscrew senton for a near-fall and turned a power bomb attempt into a huracanrana.
He once more tried his somersault over the roped but this time it ended in a hard face slam for him. Aichner turned him inside out with a clothesline and went for a brain buster which got turned into the Stunt Dog Millionaire. Andrews went up top but Aichner caught him mid-air and gave him a brain buster for a near fall.
Aichner then showed his athleticism with a spring board moonsault which missed. Andrews went for a moonsault of his own which got caught, but managed to turn it into a tornado DDT for a near fall of his own. He tried for a shooting star press but impressively managed to land on his feet as Aichner rolled to ringside.
Aichner pulled Andrews out and drove him into the steps, then followed with a running knee into the steel for good measure. This was a turning point, as Aichner supposedly embraced the dark side here. Andrews managed to get back in at 9 but got caught in a spinning sit-out power bomb for the pin.
This was a very good match and a great NXT UK debut for Aichner.
Vic and Nigel talked about the NXT UK Women’s championship tournament, which concluded last week.
A promo looked at Isla Dawn, the White Witch of NXT UK. She went by some ancient buildings and talked about her powers. A graphic announced Isla Dawn would meet Nina Samuels next.
A commercial for the AJ Styles WE 365 documentary aired.
Radzi was with Johnny Saint, asking him how he handled all the chaos going on in NXT UK right now. Johnny said that he knew he needed some help, so he had appointed Sid Scala as his assistant. At that point, Rhea Ripley walked up to them and towered over Scala.
She said they should be talking about her and find her some competition. Scala assured her that they were looking into it. Rhea at that point pinched him in the cheeks and mockingly stated tha the little assistant would be finding her an opponent. She walked off and told Johnny that she didn’t think much of his hired help.
Isla Dawn beat Nina Samuels in 3:20 after a gutwrench powerslam
They locked up and Isla managed to pull out of a head lock. Samuels took over with a chin lock and we were told that she had run the London marathon four times, so she had stamina. That was of little use, as Isla moved out of the way of a charging Samuels and hit some kickboxing kicks, a back drop driver and eventually her gut-wrench power slam for the quick win.
Some Eddie Dennis highlights aired and we were told that he would be in action against Tucker next
A WWE Shop commercial featuring the New Day aired; apparently there is a Book of Booty-Os. Sounds thrilling!
We saw highlights from last week’s tournament final between Rhea Ripley and Toni Storm. Toni talked about the crucial moment when her back got hurt off a spot of being thrown onto the edge of the apron (originally there was fear she would be out for a while with a back injury). She said that while Rhea was the first NXT UK Women’s champion, she herself would be the best champion and the the injury just made her stronger.
Eddie Dennis beat Tucker with the Next Stop Driver in 2:27
Denis was in control from the start with punches and hard whips. He hit his Black Hole Slam into a backbreaker on his knee, then locked Tucker in a cravat. Tucker briefly managed to come back with a back elbow from the second turnbuckle and a clothesline in the corner, but Dennis took his head off with a hard clothesline.
He hit the Severed Bridge into the corner and ended the match with the Next Stop Driver.
We were informed that Jordan Devlin would be in action next
A WWE Network promo aired
Johnny Saint announced via Twitter that Travis Banks would have a chance for retaliation against Gallus next week when he gets to face Wolfgang
Jordan Devlin beat Flash Morgan Webster in 12:04 after Ireland’s Call
Webster early on flipped out of some arm locks and they traded counters back and forth. Devlin eventually took over and kicked Webster into the corner. He hit his uranage/standing moonsault combination and taunted Webster. He picked the smaller man up and hit a backbreaker on his own shoulder, which looked impressive.
After a near fall, he locked in a sitting abdominal stretch. He threw Webster to ringside and smashed him into the apron before rolling him back inside. He taunted Webster some more and answered Webster’s comeback with a face rake. he screamed that Webster didn’t belong on his level nor into his ring.
Webster his the Modern Knee and consecutive dropkicks, followed by an enzuigiri into the corner and followed up with a huracanrana off the top rope. Devlin then did his pull-up by the arms into a backdrop driver spot, which always looks cool. Webster came back with a head-butt that sent Devlin to the outside. Webster followed him with a baseball slide and managed to avoid getting rammed into the steps and hit the Rude Boy Block off the steps on the outside.
He went for a somersault senton but Devlin got his kneed up and eventually landed Ireland’s Call for the victory.
