By Katelin Hudson
Logan Knight begins his day at 9 a.m. as a maintenance worker at the University of Central Oklahoma. He spends most of his days checking that things are running correctly and repairing mechanical equipment when necessary. While most can take comfort in the fact that a day’s work can turn into an evening of rest by 5 p.m., for Knight, that is when his real job begins.
That’s when he gets to powerslam opponents into mats.
Knight has vivid memories of parading around his childhood home in a fake World Wrestling Entertainment championship belt at age 4. Now, at 20, Knight is closer to his dream of becoming a professional wrestler than he ever could have imagined; the only problem is, he’s not very close to the place he trains.
Twice a week, Knight gets in his champagne-colored Hyundai Elantra, complete with fuzzy dice, and starts his trip from Edmond to Bristow to train at Body Progression Wrestling. The drive takes an hour using the turnpike, but he prefers to take Route 66, so instead, the trip takes an hour and a half.
While the drive may take a while, Knight doesn’t mind at all.
“It’s a fair payoff to be able to participate in something I enjoy so much,” Knight said. “It used to be hard juggling everything with wrestling, but now I set wrestling as a precedent and schedule everything else around it.”
The old Edmond North High School parking passes that are peeling off the windshield make clear this car has been with him since high school, but what’s less obvious is that Knight has had a passion for performing since he was in diapers.
Knight was a creative and sensitive kid, the kind who performed in theater productions, wrote poetry and played guitar. He wanted to evoke emotional responses in those that viewed his artistic abilities. He had a drive to perform.
As a bigger guy with broad shoulders and tall stature, Knight doesn’t fit the typical mold of a high school theatre kid. Despite this, Knight has a history of following his heart.
Knight moved out of his parents’ home to get a feel for living independently at age 16. At 18, he got a tattoo that represented his love for David Bowie. At 20, he dropped out of college to pursue his passion for pro wrestling.
Regardless of his performance talents, Knight struggled in high school. He struggled with being disliked, and said he was unsure how to handle mood swings that come with bipolar disorder.
“I would always be mad or sad or happy out of nowhere,” Knight said. “People thought I was on drugs because of it.”
While starting Zoloft and exploring creative outlets helped, the issues Knight had would continue into college.
After deciding to withdraw from UCO in April 2019, Knight moved back in with his parents. Two days later, PDQ – the restaurant chain Knight worked for – went out of business. He found himself jobless. Three days later, his stepfather lost his job and soon the family was evicted from their apartment. Knight and his parents feared becoming homeless. Knight feared for his future.
Not even a week had passed since Knight had committed to wrestling and he already felt defeated. He was angry and depressed.
But he refused to let this experience this take away his dream.
Knight might’ve found himself crying on the floor of his shower if this had happened in high school, but things were different now. He didn’t have time to feel sorry for himself. Knight continuously trained throughout this hard time and found that his worries were gone after practice. While the physical outlet helped him release stress, it was more the restraint of the sport that helped Knight overcome his hardships.
“While you’re in the ring everything is going a mile a minute, but you have to have a cool head – you have to be able to remember what you’re doing,” Knight said. “Yes, to a degree it’s fighting, but you equally need to be conscious not to hurt the person you’re in the ring with. You have to control yourself.”
Wrestling promotions found in Oklahoma are small and independent. Most wrestling fans refer to promotions like these as “indie wrestling leagues.” Indie wrestling promotions, like BPW where Knight trains, may be unheard of on a national scale, but it’s promotions such as these that pro wrestlers get their start.
Every pro wrestler has to start at an independent professional wrestling company. Wrestlers must gain experience and reputation before they can try out for major leagues like WWE.
That being said, Knight has moved up within the indie wrestling scene quite fast.
Knight went from seeing a local and independent pro-wrestling show – known as “indie wrestling”- in Oklahoma City, to networking with a wrestler from the show, to performing in indie wrestling shows. All within a year.
Now, Knight is not only in control of himself in the ring, but also in his daily life.
Derek Plum, a wrestler who regularly trains with Knight, emphasizes that Knight’s resolve to be in control is palpable.
“He’s of the most dedicated people I’ve trained with in a long time,” Plum said. “He doesn’t want to be mediocre…and he knows he’s in control of that; he’s working to be the best.”
Knight is determined to go far within the field of professional wrestling; he sees pro wrestling as a future career for himself. Going under the name Warren Powers – inspired by a superhero character named Warren Peace from the movie Sky High – Knight revels in the idea of making his childhood dream come to life; to become a superhero for the child who connects with pro-wrestling – much like Knight did when he was young.
Jake Travis, a friend who considers Knight like a brother, mentions Knight has always found comfort and determination in performing. Whether it be theater, music, writing or sports; Travis explains that Knight was born to become a pro-wrestler.
“He is built for wrestling,” Travis said. “He’s built physically, but he’s also built with the right interests and attitude that really make his gimmicks come to life.”
Putting on different personalities, or gimmicks, comes naturally to Knight. Instead of having to change his mindset to perform as both a hero or villain Knight attributes his ability to play different personas to the various roles he played throughout his high school career.
As Knight delves further into his wrestling career, he’s now working toward getting his wrestling license, along with conjuring up designs for his own custom gear. He plans to continue performing and moving up within the indie wrestling scene of Oklahoma. While Knight may have a long way to go, he’s made it clear he won’t be content until he’s the best.
“There was never really a prompt from me to step back from the emotional stuff that used to rule my life, but with wrestling it all just sort of happened,” Knight said. “Hopefully, as I continue with wrestling things will change for the better, because I really do see this as my career now, and I am going to take this ball and roll with it as far as I possibly can.”
Seth Prince 