| "ROWDY" RICKY KNIGHT by Richard Pyke |
| The current British wrestling scene is very short of 'characters',and twenty year plus ring veteran Rowdy Ricky Knight is one of this elite band, whose wrestling skill is undisputeable and his microphone skills rival those of Drew MacDonald and the master, Marty Jones. Knight can commandeer the mic at the beginning of his bout and have the entire hall either eating out of his hand or screaming for his blood, depending on his mood that particular evening. Anybody wanting a history of Ricky's start in the business and of the World Association of Wrestling (WAW) can find them on the Official WAW website. I'll leave any sycophantic 'This Is Your Life' style tributes to others more adept at that than me, it's not my style and I certainly don't think it's Ricky's style. I've known the man personally for about fifteen months now, and I know he doesn't appreciate BS in any form, so here's my impression of Ricky Knight and his career over the past twenty years. Having spent a great deal of my life (so far) living in Norwich, my wrestling education was obtained mainly from shows at the Norwich Corn Exchange. I first noticed Ricky Knight ( as he was to become) when he began working as a steward at Brian Dixon's shows at the venue. I didn't take much notice as he was part of a band of guys there to keep order when the more boisterous element of the crowd got out of order. For a few months it had been rumoured that Jimmy Ocean had been training a Norwich lad for the professional ring but we didn't know who it was. On the night of The Rowdy Man's Corn Exchange debut the MC announced a 'new local star' and Ricky took the long walk from the dressing room to the ring. To be honest, the reaction was less than ecstatic. The general reaction amonst the fans was, to paraphrase - " F*cking hell, it's that bouncer tw*t!!". Ricky was well beaten that night, as he was on numerous occasions after that when put in with the top heavy- and midheavyweight stars of the day. Even in those early days it was obvious that he was developing into a first class 'heel' character, and his wrestling improved with each outing. Even his local crowd were against him, and he took some good hidings in those early months. As he was later to tell me - " It was all good character - building stuff, and it taught me a lot." As anyone interested in the British wrestling scene will know, Ricky's wrestling career developed and culminated in the formation of the SUPERFLYS tag team with his mentor Gentleman Jimmy Ocean. Knight's roll initially was as a solid back up for Jimmy's high flying and high risk moves. It was a perfect action-man and powerhouse combination that was to climb up the national rankings, with the Superflys dominating the tag - team scene at a time when Britain had a proper tag team scene, and held the British tag-team Championship at a time when only one such belt existed. Ricky and Jimmy travelled the UK both challenging for and defending the belts, generating more heat in wrestling halls than I could remember since the days of Adrian Street and Boby Barnes, The Hell's Angels. Whilst the Norwich wrestling fans were proud of the Superflys for putting Norwich on the wrestling map, they still hated them when they appeared at the Corn Exchange. In particular, their contests with The Liverpool Lads, Robbie Brookside and the awesome 'Doc' Dean, were regarded as classics. The Rowdy Man also grew in stature as a solo wrestler, becoming one of the biggest and best value-for-money villains on the circuit. When wrestling was taken off the TV and ultimately went into decline in the early1990's, it was Ricky's ideal of giving value for money that came to the forefront. Fed up with seeing the dwindling wrestling audiences being ripped off by one-off promoters and the dreaded 'tribute shows', he formed the WAW with Jimmy and his wife Julia, the Sweet Saraya, with the intention of offering the fans shows in the finest British tradition. It is a tribute to Rick's tenacity and love of the business that the WAW carried on promoting throughout East Anglia, whist other promotions faded. Ricky also had the foresight to see that many of the established wrestlers were leaving the game, and that ultimately there would be a shortage of good workers, and so he started up the WAW Training School which is now run by Saraya. Ricky's imput and words of wisdom are always available at the training sessions. Rick's son Roy joined the ranks of the paid professionals at the age of thirteen, and Rick ensured that he got the same 'character building' introduction that he had. Having witnessed many of Roy's early contest, I would have to say that he took some tremendous beatings, often at the hands of his father. I firmly believe that without Rick's insistence that he learned the business the hard and proper way, we wouldn't be seeing 'The Zebra Kid' as probably the most exciting and hard wrestler on the scene today. Since knowing Ricky Knight personally, I have found him to be very forthright in his attitudes and opinions, and is not afraid of offending people if it's for the good of his beloved wrestling. He has been extremely critical of the apparent influence of so-called internet smarks and the over-Americanisation of the game in some quarters. He is also his own sternest critic and will have no hesitation in sharing his opinion with his wrestlers if he feels that a bout was under-par. In fact, his one statement to me when he gave me unlimited access to WAW was " Say what you like, but please be truthful. If you think anything is crap then say so." The bottom line with Ricky Knight is that he lives for wrestling. It's his life. It's a business that he knows, and as a promoter and wrestler his prime concern is for the lifeblood of the wrestling game - the fans. Ricky still puts himself through a punishing date-sheet every year, and at fifty plus years can still work younger wrestlers into the ground over a thirty minute contest. When, and if, he ever decides to retire from professional wrestling, the scene will be a much poorer (and boring) place without him.. (c) Richard Pyke 2003 |
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