Wikipedia

LA Knight

American professional wrestler

Shaun Ricker (born November 1, 1982) is an American professional wrestler and actor. He works for the WWE using the ring name LA Knight on the SmackDown brand and is the current United States Champion in his first reign. He is also known for his time in Impact Wrestling as Eli Drake.

LA Knight
Ricker as Eli Drake in November 2017
Birth nameShaun Ricker
Born (1982-11-01) November 1, 1982 (age 42)
Hagerstown, Maryland
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Deuce
Dick Rick
Dick Rick Leykis
El Hijo de Trump
Eli Drake
LA Knight
Max Dupri
Shaun Ricker
Slate Randall
Billed height6 ft 1 in (185 cm)[1]
Billed weight240 lb (109 kg)[1]
Billed fromHagerstown, Maryland
Los Angeles, California
Trained byCody Hawk
DebutFebruary 15, 2003

Ricker began his wrestling career in 2003. In 2013, he started working with WWE. He worked in NXT using the Slate Randall. He was released in 2014. He signed with Impact Wrestling in 2015. Ricker found success at Impact. He won the Impact World Champion and the TNA King of the Mountain Champion. He also won the Impact World Tag Team Champion with Scott Steiner. Ricker also won Impact's Feast or Fired briefcase two times.

Ricker left Impact in 2019. He signed with NWA. He was the NWA World Tag Team Champion with James Storm. He left the NWA in 2021 to rejoin WWE. He returned to NXT and was renamed LA Knight. He was moved to the main roster in 2022. Ricker was given a manager role as a talent agent named Max Dupri. He led the Maximum Male Models group. A few months later, he left the group and changed back to his LA Knight persona and started wrestling again. He quickly got a large amount of fan support because of his promo skills. He was booked to lose most of his matches at this time. This changed because of the support he got from fans.

Outside of wrestling, Ricker appeared as a cast member on Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's 2013 reality seriesThe Hero. He had a small role in a 2015 episode of the comedy series Brooklyn Nine-Nine. He also provided the motion capture for other WWE wrestlers in many of the WWE 2K series of video games.

Shaun was raised in Hagerstown, Maryland, graduating from North Hagerstown High School. He attended West Virginia University for 1.5 years later withdrawing due to financial issues. [2] After college, he returned to Hagerstown before moving to Ohio.

Career

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Beginnings and Heartland Wrestling Association (2002–2009)

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Ricker started his career on February 15, 2002, at the National Wrestling Alliance Wildside, a Georgia-based promotion, using the name Deuce. On that day, he teamed up with Onyx, and they lost a match to Johnny Psycho and Shadow Jackson.

In May 2003, he joined the Heartland Wrestling Association (HWA), an Ohio-based promotion, where he continued to use the name Deuce. On November 9, 2004, he became the HWA Television Champion after defeating JT Stahr. He held the title until January 4, 2005, when Brian Beech became the new champion.

Starting in May 2005, he adopted the ring name Dick Rick. On October 31, 2006, he left the promotion after losing a match for the HWA Heavyweight Championship, with his career in the promotion at stake.

Championships

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Drake as Impact World Champion

References

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  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "WWE Profile Page - LA Knight". ESPN. November 2022. Archived from the original on January 27, 2023. Retrieved January 26, 2023.
  2. ↑ Ali, Kaif (2024-07-19). "LA Knight Tells Cody Rhodes Why Everyone Hated Him in WWE". EssentiallySports. Retrieved 2024-08-07.
  3. ↑ Kreikenbohm, Philip. "CWFH Heritage Heavyweight Championship". Cagematch. Archived from the original on January 25, 2022. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
  4. ↑ "NWA/CWFH Heritage Tag Team Title (California)". Wrestling Titles. Archived from the original on April 27, 2014. Retrieved July 15, 2013.
  5. ↑ Ronquillo, Steven (May 6, 2013). "5/5 CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING FROM HOLLYWOOD 'RED CARPET RUMBLE' LIVE REPORT". PWInsider. Archived from the original on May 12, 2013. Retrieved May 11, 2023.
  6. ↑ "Ironman Heavymetalweight Title". Wrestling-Titles.com. Archived from the original on July 29, 2017. Retrieved August 12, 2016.
  7. ↑ ESPN.com (December 26, 2023). "Pro Wrestling 2023 awards: The best male and female wrestler, feud, faction, promo and more". ESPN. Archived from the original on December 28, 2023. Retrieved December 29, 2023.
  8. ↑ Kreikenbohm, Philip. "FSW Heavyweight Championship". Cagematch. Archived from the original on June 14, 2021. Retrieved January 30, 2020.
  9. ↑ Kreikenbohm, Philip. "EWF Heavyweight Championship". Cagematch. Archived from the original on January 25, 2022. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
  10. ↑ Kreikenbohm, Philip. "Great Goliath Battle Royal (2011)". Cagematch. Archived from the original on January 25, 2022. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
  11. ↑ "Heartland Wrestling Association Television Title". Wrestling Titles. Archived from the original on November 21, 2006. Retrieved June 24, 2023.
  12. ↑ Kreikenbohm, Philip. "M1W Tag Team Championship". Cagematch. Archived from the original on June 3, 2022. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
  13. ↑ Kreikenbohm, Philip. "M1W Tag Team Championship Tournament (2010)". Cagematch. Archived from the original on January 25, 2022. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
  14. ↑ Kreikenbohm, Philip. "NWA World Tag Team Championship". Cagematch. Archived from the original on April 10, 2022. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
  15. ↑ Staszewski, Joseph (December 26, 2023). "The Post's 2023 pro wrestling awards". New York Post. Archived from the original on December 27, 2023. Retrieved December 29, 2023.
  16. ↑ "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2018". The Internet Wrestling Database. Archived from the original on December 8, 2018. Retrieved August 21, 2020.
  17. ↑ Kreikenbohm, Philip. "PWR Heavyweight Championship". Cagematch. Archived from the original on January 25, 2022. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
  18. ↑ "TNA/IMPACT Wrestling World Heavyweight Title". Wrestling-Titles.com. Archived from the original on April 22, 2022. Retrieved May 13, 2023.
  19. ↑ "TNA/IMPACT Wrestling World Tag Team Title". Wrestling-Titles.com. Archived from the original on March 26, 2022. Retrieved May 13, 2023.
  20. ↑ "TNA Television Title / TNA King of the Mountain Title". Wrestling-Titles.com. Archived from the original on February 26, 2022. Retrieved May 13, 2023.
  21. ↑ Kreikenbohm, Philip. "Gauntlet for the Gold (2016)". Cagematch. Archived from the original on January 25, 2022. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
  22. ↑ Kreikenbohm, Philip. "Gauntlet for the Gold (2017)". Cagematch. Archived from the original on January 25, 2022. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
  23. ↑ Kreikenbohm, Philip. "Race for the Case (2017 – Red Case)". Cagematch. Archived from the original on September 27, 2021. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
  24. ↑ Kreikenbohm, Philip. "Feast or Fired (2016)". Cagematch. Archived from the original on January 25, 2022. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
  25. ↑ Kreikenbohm, Philip. "Feast or Fired (2018)". Cagematch. Archived from the original on January 25, 2022. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
  26. ↑ Kreikenbohm, Philip. "UCW Heavyweight Championship". Cagematch. Archived from the original on January 25, 2022. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
  27. ↑ Meltzer, Dave (February 2023). "February 2023 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Results of the 2022 Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards". Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
  28. ↑ Meltzer, Dave. "February 26, 2024 Observer Newsletter: 2023 Observer Awards issue". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved February 23, 2024.
  29. ↑ "Million Dollar Championship". WWE. Archived from the original on April 30, 2023. Retrieved May 13, 2023.
  30. ↑ Mukherjee, Subhojeet (2024-04-07). "LA Knight Wins Breakout Star of The Year at 2024 Slammy Awards". Ringside News. Retrieved 2024-07-31.

Other websites

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