Patrick Frary (born 24 December 1953) is an English

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

trainer, promoter, owner, and former professional wrestler, better known by his ring name "Rowdy" Ricky Knight. He is the owner of the

World Association of Wrestling World Association of Wrestling (WAW) is a British independent professional wrestling promotion founded by Ricky Knight, Sweet Saraya, and Jimmy Ocean in 1994 in Norwich, England. It is affiliated with the all-female promotion Bellatrix Female ...

promotion in

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

Professional wrestling career

Knight was working as a bouncer when he first met professional wrestler Jimmy Ocean. Ocean trained Knight, and the duo formed a

tag team Tag team wrestling is a type of professional wrestling in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. Tag teams may be made up of wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of establish ...

. Throughout the 1990s, they teamed together as The Superflys on the British circuit. The team was managed by Knight's wife

Sweet Saraya Julia Hamer (née Hamer; born 19 October 1971), better known by her ring names Sweet Saraya and Saraya Knight, is an English professional wrestler, trainer and promoter. She is also the mother of AEW wrestler Saraya. Early life Hamer was bo ...

. The Superflys wrestled in

All Star Wrestling All Star Wrestling (ASW) is a British professional wrestling promotion operated by Brian Dixon and based in Birkenhead, England. Founded as Wrestling Enterprises of Birkenhead in October 1970, it has also been known over the years as All Star P ...

, holding the

British Open Tag Team Championship The British (Open) Tag Team Championship is the top tag team championship contested for throughout the British wrestling circuit. It is currently being contested for in Brian Dixon's All Star Wrestling. Although the title was created just af ...

four times together. Knight, Sweet Saraya, and Jimmy Ocean formed the

in 1994 in

. Ocean left the business one year later. The promotion also included a wrestling school, The WAW Academy, which trained

Roy Knight Robert Ross "Roy" Knight (12 December 1891 – 11 September 1971) was a Co-operative Commonwealth Federation member of the House of Commons of Canada. He was born in Cookstown, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland and became a farmer and teach ...

and The UK Pitbulls. The WAW Academy is Europe's longest running wrestling school. As a member of the roster, Knight has held the WAW World Heavyweight Championship one time. He also held the WAW Tag Team Championship with Ocean.

Personal life

Knight was in prison for eight years, mostly due to violent offences. Knight is married to Julia Bevis, who wrestles under the name Sweet Saraya. They have two children, and he has two other from a previous marriage. His sons

and

Zak Zodiac Zak Bevis (''né'' Frary; born 29 May 1991) is an English professional wrestler. He mainly competes under the ring names Zak Knight or Zak Zodiac in World Association of Wrestling, which is owned and operated by his family. He also regularly le ...

wrestle on the

British wrestling Professional wrestling in the United Kingdom spans over one hundred years but became popular when the then new independent television network ITV began showing it in 1955, firstly on Saturday afternoons and then also in a late-night midweek slot. ...

circuit as the UK Hooligans. Their daughter Paige wrestled for

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vari ...

, winning the

NXT Women's Championship The NXT Women's Championship is a women's professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the American promotion WWE. It is defended on the NXT brand division, the promotion's developmental territory. Introduced on April 5, 2013, t ...

and the

WWE Divas Championship The WWE Divas Championship was a women's professional wrestling championship in WWE. The championship was created by WWE in 2008, and was introduced as part of the WWE brand extension via a storyline by then SmackDown General Manager Vickie ...

twice before retiring due to a serious neck injury. The family was featured in ''The Wrestlers: Fighting with My Family'', a 2012 documentary. The documentary was adapted into a feature film, ''

Fighting with My Family ''Fighting with My Family'' is a 2019 biographical sports comedy-drama film written and directed by Stephen Merchant. Based on the 2012 documentary ''The Wrestlers: Fighting with My Family'' by Max Fisher, it depicts the career of English profes ...

'', by

Dwayne Johnson Dwayne Douglas Johnson (born May 2, 1972), also known by his ring name The Rock, is an American actor and former professional wrestler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, he was integral to the develop ...

's production company

Seven Bucks Productions Seven Bucks Productions is a production company involved with various platforms and mediums, credited with creating original releases for television, film, emerging technologies, and digital networks. The studio was co-created and founded by Dwa ...

. The film was directed by

Stephen Merchant Stephen James Merchant (born 24 November 1974) is an English comedian, actor, director, presenter and writer. Alongside Ricky Gervais, Merchant was the co-writer and co-director of the British TV comedy series ''The Office'' (2001–2003), and ...

, with

Nick Frost Nicholas Jonathan Frost (born 28 March 1972) is a British actor, author, comedian, painter, producer and screenwriter. He has appeared in the ''Three Flavours Cornetto'' trilogy of films, consisting of ''Shaun of the Dead'' (2004), ''Hot Fuzz ...

playing the role of Knight, and premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2019.

Championships and accomplishments

(4 times) - with Jimmy Ocean *DAM Promotions **DAM Heavyweight Championship (1 time) *Extreme World Wrestling **EWW St George's Championship (1 time) *Herts and Essex Wrestling **HEW Heavyweight Championship (2 times) **HEW Tag Team Championship (3 times) - with Jimmy Ocean(1), Chuck Cyrus(1), and Karl Kramer(1) *Independent Pro Wrestling Germany **IPW Senior Championship (1 time) *Playhouse Wrestlefest **Wrestlefest Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Zack Zodiac *Premier Promotions **PWF Heavyweight Championship (1 time) **PWF Mid-Heavyweight Championship (1 time) **PWF Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with

* ''

Pro Wrestling Illustrated ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American internationally sold professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publi ...

'' ** Ranked No. 457 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the ''

PWI 500 ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American internationally sold professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publi ...

'' in 2019 *Real Deal Wrestling **RDW British Heavyweight Championship (1 time) **RDW Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with

*The Wrestling Alliance ** British Heavyweight Championship (1 time) **

(1 time) - with Roy Knight *

**WAW World Heavyweight Championship (1 time) **WAW Hardcore Championship (1 time) **WAW World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Jimmy Ocean **WAW Pontins Open Championship (1 time) **Easter Area Championship (1 time) *World Wide Wrestling League **W3L Heavyweight Championship (1 time) *X Wrestling Alliance **British Inter-Federation Cup (2007) - with Jo FX, Kraft, and Zack Zodiaccite web, url= https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=10744

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knight, Ricky English male professional wrestlers Sportspeople from Norwich 1953 births Living people 20th-century professional wrestlers