Kevin Knight (wrestler)

Kevin Knight (born January 1, 1997) is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). He also makes appearances for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) where he is a former IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion.

Professional wrestling career

Early career (2019–2020)

Knight made his debut on August 2, 2019, wrestling for a range of Canadian and American independent promotions for the majority of late 2019 and early 2020.

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (2020–present)

Young Lion (2020–2022)

Knight entered the New Japan Pro-Wrestling LA Dojo in 2020 as a Young Lion, training under Katsuyori Shibata. Knight made his NJPW debut on December 12 at Super J-Cup, replacing an injured Karl Fredericks, where he teamed with Ren Narita, losing to Bullet Club's Hikuleo and Kenta.

In 2021, Knight competed on NJPW's American-based show ''Strong'', commonly teaming with fellow LA Dojo members, such as Karl Fredericks, Clark Connors and Alex Coughlin, often losing most of his matches, which is common for NJPW Young Lions. In July, Knight entered the Tag Team Turbulence tournament, teaming with The DKC, however, they were defeated in the first round by the West Coast Wrecking Crew. Knight continued to wrestle on ''Strong'' for the remainder of the year. In May 2022, Knight made his debut for All Elite Wrestling (AEW), teaming with The DKC, in a losing effort to The Factory's Aaron Solo and Nick Comoroto, after the match The Factory attempted to attack the duo, however, they were saved by their LA Dojo stablemates. This led to a match the following week, where NJPW's Knight, Connors, Fredericks, Coughlin and Yuya Uemura, defeated The Factory's Q. T. Marshall, Solo, Comoroto, Blake Li and Brick Aldridge, in a ten-man tag-team match. At Capital Collision, Knight was defeated by Comoroto in a dark-match. In June, Knight competed at AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door on the Buy-In, teaming with Coughlin, Uemura and The DKC, in an eight-man tag-team match, losing to The Gunn Club (Billy, Austin and Colten Gunn) and Max Caster. In October at The Night Before Rumble on 44th Street, Knight and The DKC, defeated Forever Hooligans ( Rocky Romero and Alex Koslov), who had reunited for one-night only. The following night at Rumble on 44th Street, Knight and The DKC teamed once more, losing to The Motor City Machine Guns and Aussie Open in a three-way tag-team match for the Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship, which The Motor City Machine Guns won.

Teaming with Kushida (2022-Present)

On November 20, Knight made his debut in Japan for NJPW, at Historic X-Over, teaming with Connors, Coughlin and Gabriel Kidd on the pre-show, to defeat Kosei Fujita, Oskar Leube, Ryohei Oiwa, and Yuto Nakashima. It was also announced that Knight would compete in the Super Junior Tag League, teaming with Kushida, who was often a trainer at the LA Dojo, whilst also making his debut in an annual NJPW tournament. During the tournament, Knight dropped the traditional black trunks worn by NJPW Young Lions, instead wearing bright orange gear and sunglasses, in order to better match his partner Kushida, whilst also signaling his graduation as a Young Lion. The duo ended the tournament with 4 points, failing to advance to the finals.

Following the tournament, Knight and Kushida continued to team together, with Knight debuting for Impact Wrestling on January 14, teaming with Kushida to defeat The Good Hands (Jason Hotch and John Skyler). On the January 18 episode of ''Dynamite'', Knight and The DKC returned to AEW, where they accompanied Kushida to the ring, during his TNT Championship match against Darby Allin. On January 20 in Impact Wrestling, Kushida and Knight lost to Bullet Club's Chris Bey and Ace Austin. On February 25, Knight lost to Kenny King. On March 30, at Multiverse United, a co-produced show between Impact and NJPW, Knight competed in a Six-way Scramble match for the Impact X Division Championship, but the title was retained by champion Trey Miguel. In April, Knight and Kushida began teaming under the name Jet Setters. On April 27, Knight and Kushida won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships, from Catch 2/2 (T. J. Perkins and Francesco Akira), marking Knight's first NJPW championship.

The following month, Knight competed in his first Best of the Super Juniors tournament, competing in the B block. Knight finished his tournament champaign with 6 points, failing to advance to the semi-finals. On June 4 at Dominion 6.4 in Osaka-jo Hall, Jet Setters lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships back to Catch 2/2 in a rematch.

Impact Wrestling / Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2023–present)

On June 29, 2023, it was announced that on July 15, 2023, at Impact Slammiversary that Kevin Knight will be facing Mike Bailey, Kushida, Jonathan Gresham and Alan Angels in a 5-way Ultimate X match to determine the #1 contender to the Impact X Division Championship. Later on Jake Something was added to the match making it a 6-way. During this match, Kevin Knight was not successful as Kushida was victorious at winning the match.

Championships and accomplishments

*New Japan Pro-Wrestling
** IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship ( 1 time) – with Kushida
*'' Pro Wrestling Illustrated''
**Ranked No. 252 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the '' PWI 500'' in 2023

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Knight, Kevin
1997 births
Living people
People from Atlanta
American male professional wrestlers
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions
Expatriate professional wrestlers in Japan
21st-century male professional wrestlers
Professional wrestlers from Georgia (U.S. state)