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Pro Wrestling

Levi Cooper (July 24, 1990) is an American professional wrestler previously signed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) under the ring name Tucker.

Early life

Cooper attended North Marion High School where he was a successful amateur wrestler. He wrestled at collegiate level for Portland State University, California State University, Bakersfield and Arizona State University, and placed 8th at the NCAA Wrestling Championships in 2011, earning him All American status.

Professional wrestling career

World Wrestling Entertainment

NXT (2013–2019)

Cooper joined WWE after graduating college in 2013. He was assigned to the WWE Performance Center and took the ring name Tucker Knight.

Knight made his professional wrestling debut at a NXT live event in Starke, Florida on January 24, 2015, facing Tye Dillinger. He made his television debut on the July 1, 2015 episode of NXT, working as an enhancement talent in a loss to Baron Corbin. Knight continued to make sporadic televised appearances as an enhancement talent throughout the remainder of 2015 and the start of 2016.

Heavy Machinery (2016-2020)

In July 2016, Knight formed a tag team with Otis Dozovic. On October 1, the officially became known as Heavy Machinery. The duo participated in the 2016 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, losing in the first round to the team of Austin Aries and Roderick Strong. On February 24, 2017, Heavy Machinery had their first title match challenging the The Authors Of Pain (Akam & Rezar) for the NXT Tag Team Championship. Although they did not succeed in winning the titles, they met The Authors Of Pain the following month on March 17, but were again defeated by the champions. The duo returned and had their first televised victory on the March 29, 2017 episode of NXT, defeating the team of Mike Marshall and Jonathan Ortagun. Three months later on June 15, Heavy Machinery challenged The Authors Of Pain in a second rematch but did not succeed in winning the titles. They lost again two nights later in a title rematch on June 17. They continued meeting The Authors Of Pain in a succession of title rematches during the remaining course of June and into July resulting in the champions successfully retaining their titles against Heavy Machinery. On August 25, Heavy Machinery met the new Tag Team Champions and members of team SAnitY Alexander Wolfe & Killian Dain, but did not succeed in winning the titles. On November 30, Heavy Machinery joined a 20-Man Battle Royal won by Trent Seven. By December 16, Heavy Machinery finished 2017 with a victory defeating Steve Cutler & Wesley Blake.

Heavy Machinery returned for the January 11, 2018 house show to join a Fatal Four-Way No. 1 Contendership match for the NXT Tag Team Titles involving Riddick Moss & Tino Sabbatelli, Steve Cutler & Wesley Blake and the winning team Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford). On February 2, Heavy Machinery joined the first round of the 2018 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic where they were eliminated by the Street Profits. During the February 16 edition of NXT, Heavy Machinery joined another Fatal Four-Way No. 1 Contendership match for the NXT Tag Team Titles where they were defeated by The Forgotten Sons (Steve Cutler & Wesley Blake). On the March 4 edition of NXT, the team had their title match challenging The Undisputed ERA members Bobby Fish & Kyle O'Reilly but did not succeed in winning the titles. On April 8, during the fourth day of the WrestleMania Axxess event, Heavy Machinery had another title opportunity to win the PROGRESS Tag Team Championship belts held by the British promotion's defending champions team Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake & Zack Gibson). Although they defeated Drake and Gibson, Heavy Machinery did not win the tag titles due to the victory being won by disqualification. During the April 11th NXT Tapings, Heavy Machinery wrestled two tag matches, one against the War Raiders (Hanson & Rowe) and the other against Riddick Moss & Tino Sabbatelli. On April 27, Knight entered the 50-Man Greatest Royal Rumble match, eventually won by Braun Strowman. During the course of May, Heavy Machinery competed against tag teams including TM-61 and The Undisputed ERA. During a June 2 house show, Knight won a Number One Contendership battle royal match to earn the opportunity to challenge for the NXT North American Championship. He later lost in his title match against the reigning North American Champion Adam Cole.

Heavy Machinery went on to finish the remainder of June in tag matches against teams including The Forgotten Sons, Fabian Aichner & Marcel Barthel and The Undisputed ERA. In a change of pace during the July 12 house show, Knight wrestled in singles competition, losing to Kona Reeves. Returning to television on the August 1 episode, Heavy Machinery defeated the Australian tag team The Mighty (Nick Miller & Shane Thorne). During the July 27 house show, Heavy Machinery challenged reigning champions and Undisputed ERA members Kyle O'Reilly & Roderick Strong. Two nights later during the July 29 house show, Heavy Machinery challenged The Undisputed ERA in a title rematch but were once more defeated in their championship attempt. During the course of August and September, Heavy Machinery met teams including The Forgotten Sons, Adrian Jaoude & Cezar Bononi, The Coffey Brothers and The Undisputed ERA. Beginning the next month with a match during the October 5 house show, Heavy Machinery defeated members of The Forgotten Sons, Jaxson Ryker & Wesley Blake. They returned eight nights later during the October 13 house show, teaming with NXT recruit Keith Lee in defeating Kona Reeves & The Mighty (Nick Miller & Shane Thorne). Team Heavy Machinery made their televised returned during the November 7 episode (taped on October 17), during which they defeated Forgotten Sons members Steve Cutler & Wesley Blake. Three nights later, Heavy Machinery returned for the October 20 house show, competing in a Fatal Four Way Elimination No. 1 Contendership match for the NXT Tag Team Championship against The Forgotten Sons (Steve Cutler & Wesley Blake), Adrian Jaoude & Cezar Bononi and Danny Burch & Oney Lorcan. During the October 26 house show, Knight competed in a Fatal Four-Way match against representatives of rival tag teams including Montez Ford (of team Street Profits), Nick Miller (of team The Mighty) and Rowe (of the War Raiders). Knight ended the month during the October 27 house show competing in a Number One Contender Battle Royal match for the NXT North American Championship.

Returning the following month during the November 2 house show, team Heavy Machinery teamed with rookie Stacey Ervin Jr. in a tag match defeating The Forgotten Sons (Jaxson Ryker, Steve Cutler & Wesley Blake). Eight nights later during the November 10 house show, team Heavy Machinery teamed with rookie Jessie Elaban in a mixed tag match defeating Chinese recruits Boa, Rocky & Xia Li.

Main roster (2019)

During the January 7 episode of RAW, team Heavy Machinery and several members of NXT, including Lars Sullivan, EC3, Nikki Cross and Lacey Evans were featured in a vignette announcing their impending debuts on the main rosters.

After competing in a number of dark matches team Heavy Machinery made their televised main roster debuts beginning on the January 21 episode of Monday Night RAW, during which they defeated fellow NXT alumnus team The Ascension (Konnor & Viktor). Eight nights later, Heavy Machinery made their second main roster debut on the January 29 episode of Smackdown Live. There, they competed in a No. 1 Contendership Fatal Four-Way Elimination match for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship. Heavy Machinery returned the following month on the February 4 episode of RAW held in Knight's home state of Oregon. There, they competed in a No. 1 Contendership Fatal Four-Way match for the RAW Tag Team Championship. Returning for the February 5 and February 12, episodes of Smackdown Live, Heavy Machinery competed in dark matches defeating fellow NXT alumnus and members of team SAnitY, Alexander Wolfe & Eric Young in unaired tag matches. By February 2019, Heavy Machinery individually shortened their ring names to Tucker and Otis.

Smackdown (2019-2021)

After the April 16 update of the 2019 WWE draft, Tucker and Otis made their televised debut during the June 11 episode of Smackdown Live in Sacramento, California. There they defeated local wrestlers A.J. Kirsh and Dave Dutra. The following week during the June 18 episode of Smackdown Live, Heavy Machinery defeated The B-Team. Heavy Machinery continued wrestling throughout the summer months, concluding their Smackdown year with a match on the September 4 episode, defeating John Morrison & The Miz. Heavy Machinery was split after teammate Otis was drafted to the RAW roster during October 2020. The following year Knight made his final in-ring appearance on the April 9 episode of SmackDown during which he competed in the André The Giant Memorial Battle Royal. He was released four days later on April 15.

In wrestling

  • Entrance themes
    • "Full Out" by Eve S. Dowdle (NXT; 2016–October 19, 2016)
    • "Deny Them Pain" by Saltybeats (NXT; October 19, 2016)
    • "Heavy" by CFO$ (used while teaming with Otis Dozovic)

Championships and accomplishments

  • Pro Wrestling Illustrated
    • Ranked #404 in 2017 PWI Top 500 Singles Wrestlers
    • Ranked #261 in 2018 PWI Top 500 Singles Wrestlers
    • Ranked #185 in 2019 PWI Top 500 Singles Wrestlers

External links

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