By Katie Hudson
Logan Knight is a 20-year-old pro-wrestler from Edmond, Oklahoma. While he may be new in the Oklahoma wrestling scene, Knight is determined to turn this interest into an actual career.
Katelin Hudson: When did wrestling first become an interest to you?
Logan Knight: To be honest, the interest has been there since I was in diapers. I remember this match from when I was really little where this guy just beat the shit out of this other guy with a chair. It somehow fascinated me as a child. I think it was really just the performance aspect of it all.
KH: Has this been a lifelong dream of yours, or has the idea of becoming a wrestler something you’ve recently circled back to?
LG: I think the idea of performing has always been a dream of mine rather than wrestling. Wrestling has always been something I’ve enjoyed watching, but it wasn’t until last September that I found out about the local [wrestling] scene in Oklahoma. Before then, I found myself always being drawn to either sports or acting in high school. I’ve only been doing wrestling for a year now, but I think my background in both sports and acting has helped me succeed a lot. In my opinion, wrestling is 50% theater and 50% sport. With me already having a background in both athletics and performance, wrestling is the perfect fit for both of my interests.
KH: How were you able to go from a fan of wrestling to an actual wrestler?
LK: First, I saw a flyer for a wrestling show in Oklahoma City and I knew I had to go. I then stayed after to help clean once the show was over because it looked like a lot of work and I wanted to help [the wrestlers] out to thank them for such a good show. While I was helping, I ended up talking to X Avior, [a wrestler from the show], and he eventually asked if I was interested in wrestling. I basically said yes and the rest was history. Since then, he’s helped me out a lot.
KH: In what ways he has helped you out?
LG: He just got me in touch with a lot of local wrestlers. It was almost like a networking type situation. He also told me about places I could train and introduced me to the people that I now train with.
There aren’t any training schools [for wrestlers] in Oklahoma City right now, though. I have to drive about an hour and a half out to Bristow, Oklahoma to train. Right now, I do that about two or three times a week. It takes only about an hour if you take the turnpike, but the tolls started adding up, so now I take the backroads; which makes the trip a little longer.
KH: Is there anyone else that you’ve specifically grown close to within your wrestling league?
LG: Yeah, there’s this kid who’s 18 that trains in Bristow with me, and he has slowly become one of my best friends. His name is Derek and he’s helped me get light years better than I could’ve imagined. He’s easy to work with – which is really valuable in wrestling, especially for tag team matches. There’s just chemistry between us and our wrestling style. Between all the hours we spend training together and the way we get along, I have a feeling we will end up working together one day.
KH: Wrestling seems like a big time commitment for you. How do you find time to balance wrestling with everything else?
LK: I went to [the University of Central Oklahoma] for two semesters, but I ended up withdrawing for wrestling. Between working a full time job, college classes, being in a fraternity and wrestling, it got to a point where I had to ask myself: is this too much? And, yeah, it was, and I had to make a decision. It was either writing – which was what I was majoring in at UCO – or wrestling, and I chose what I was more passionate about at the time.
I mean, when I originally dropped, I had plans to go back…at this point, though, I’m probably not going to. I’m just at this point now where I have a lot of momentum. I’m about to get my [wrestling] license, and I’ve started to think about what I want my custom gear to look like. Now, I’m in wrestling for the long haul.
KH: Dropping out for something you had only been doing for 7 months at the time seems pretty sudden, were your parents able to easily adapt to your decision to quit school for pro-wrestling?
LG: My parents have always been super supportive of anything I do. I don’t have naggy, horrible parents like some people do. My parents don’t expect me to do everything they say, and they’ve never had an issue with anything I’ve done. Honestly, I know that seems pretty strange, but they’ve given me complete freedom over my life since I was 13 – I’ve also been living on my own since I was 16. My parents just trust my ability to make my own decisions for myself, and they’ve always been behind me on those decisions.
KH: It seems like you have a really good support system behind you.
LG: Yeah, I do. My parents are really encouraging. I’ll send them videos of things I learn in training and they just get so excited. Not to mention my stepdad – I swear this dude is my biggest fan. It’s all very encouraging to know they believe in me. There were times in which I even questioned my decision, but my parents have helped me realize I can absolutely make a career of this. This is my career now, and I am going to take this ball and roll with it as far as I possibly can.
Seth Prince 