Product Code Database
Shaun Edward Ricker (born November 1, 1982) is an American professional wrestler and actor. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name LA Knight.
Ricker began his professional wrestling career on the independent circuit in 2003 and he joined the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) affiliated Championship Wrestling from Hollywood (CW) in 2010. Ricker signed with WWE in 2013 and performed as an enhancement talent under the ring name Slate Randall until being released in 2014. After adopting the ring name Eli Drake, Ricker signed with TNA in 2015 and won the TNA World Championship, TNA King of the Mountain Championship, the TNA World Tag Team Championship (with Scott Steiner) once each and twice won the Feast or Fired briefcase.
Ricker left TNA in 2019 and rejoined the NWA, winning the NWA World Tag Team Championship (with James Storm). He re-signed with WWE in 2021 under the ring name LA Knight and won the Million Dollar Championship once. Ricker was then repackaged as a manager and renamed Max Dupri in 2022 but later reverted to his original ring name. He gained increased popularity in early 2023 and won the WWE United States Championship twice, firstly at SummerSlam the following year.
Outside of wrestling, Ricker appeared on the reality television series The Hero and the comedy series Brooklyn Nine-Nine. He has provided motion capture for other WWE wrestlers for the WWE 2K video game series and voiced a fictional character in WWE 2K22.
On December 24, Ricker unsuccessfully challenged Adam Pearce for the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship. However, he won the Percy Pringle III Cup, where the winner earned a shot at any championship at any time and place. On May 5, 2013, Ricker won the 30-Man Red Carpet Rumble for the CWFH Heritage Heavyweight Championship in homage to his late friend and manager Paul Bearer. That same night, he successfully defended the title against Tyler Rust.
Ricker would lose the championship to Scorpio Sky in a Loser Leaves Hollywood match later that night; this match was scheduled to air on June 2, on tape delay, but was never aired due to the controversial finish. After the cameras went off, Ricker got on the microphone and thanked all of the fans for coming out, saying it would be the last time he would be seen in a ring for Championship Wrestling from Hollywood. All of the wrestlers came out from the back and gave Ricker a standing ovation. However, he made one more final television appearance, defeating Sky's fellow Experience members Big Duke and Xtian Cole.
Upon signing with WWE, Ricker was given the ring name Slate Randall and made his debut by defeating Yoshi Tatsu in a dark match during an October 2013 taping of WWE NXT. Following that victory, he competed as a jobber for NXT, losing to names such as Baron Corbin, Mojo Rawley, and Mason Ryan. He was released from his WWE contract on August 1, 2014.
On May 11, 2019, Drake lost a fatal four-way match at a Maverick Pro Wrestling event. He made his debut for World Wrestling Council in Puerto Rico at WWC Aniversario on August 17, wrestling Carlito Colon.
On the July 15 episode of Impact Wrestling, Drake turned heel when he cost Galloway a match against TNA World Heavyweight Champion Ethan Carter III. Drake defeated Galloway at No Surrender on August 5 but lost a No Disqualification rematch on August 19 at Turning Point. At Bound for Glory on October 4, Drake competed in the Bound For Gold Gauntlet, which was won by Tyrus. He then participated in the TNA World Title Series as a member of group Future 4, along with Jessie Godderz, Micah and Crimson, advancing in the round of 16 along with Godderz, where he lost in the round of 16 to Mahabali Shera, being eliminated from the tournament. At on January 8, 2016, Drake and Godderz competed in a 3-Way TNA World Tag Team Championship match, which The Wolves won.
On January 26, 2016, Drake won the Feast or Fired match and the briefcase that contained a title shot for the future TNA King Of The Mountain Championship. On the February 9 episode of Impact Wrestling, Drake was attacked by Grado, who had been fired after his Feast or Fired briefcase contained the pink slip. Later that night, Drake interrupted him backstage, telling him "he better shut up about whatever he thinks he knows" and attacked Grado again, having him escorted out of the building through the tunnel. On the following episode of Impact Wrestling, Drake lost to Grado, who was masked as Odarg the Great. On the March 15 episode of Impact Wrestling, he faced Grado in a ladder match with Grado's career on the line, but was defeated.
At Bound for Glory on October 2, Drake won the Bound for Gold Gauntlet by last eliminating Tyrus. After this, Drake started a feud against Ethan Carter III. On the November 10 episode of Impact Wrestling, Drake cashed in his Bound for Gold opportunity, but failed to win the TNA World Heavyweight Championship from Eddie Edwards. On the November 24 episode of Impact Wrestling, Drake faced EC3 in a title shot vs. voice match where if Ethan lost, he would lose his heavyweight title shot, and if Drake lost, he would not be able to talk for the rest of 2016; EC3 won by submission.
At on January 6, 2017, Drake and Tyrus unsuccessfully challenged Hardy Boyz for the TNA World Tag Team Championship. Tyrus helped Drake take the red case during the Race for the Case on the January 19 episode of Impact Wrestling. On the February 2 episode of Impact Wrestling, Drake cashed in his Race for the Case briefcase for a match against Ethan Carter III, but lost. After the match, he and Tyrus attacked EC3, but were assaulted by the Death Crew Council. On the following episode of Impact Wrestling, Drake abandoned Tyrus during their handicap match against The Death Crew Council, causing them to lose. A match was scheduled between Drake and Tyrus two weeks later, which ended in a disqualification victory for Tyrus. After the match, Drake proposed more money to Tyrus for keeping him as a bodyguard, which Tyrus accepted.
On the May 11 episode of Impact Wrestling, with help from Tyrus and Chris Masters, he attacked Impact Grand Champion Moose after his match against Marshe Rockett. On the June 1 episode of Impact Wrestling, Drake failed to win the Impact Grand Championship from Moose. At Slammiversary XV on July 2, Drake and Adonis lost to Moose and DeAngelo Williams.
On the March 15 episode of Impact Wrestling, Drake won a briefcase during the Feast or Fired containing an opportunity for an Impact World Tag Team Championship match, which he refused as he no longer had a tag team partner. He defeated Moose for his World Championship briefcase on the April 5 episode of Impact Wrestling after interference from Ohio Versus Everything. At Redemption on April 22, Drake and his tag team partner Scott Steiner defeated The Latin American Xchange to win the Impact World Tag Team Championship. On the April 26 episode of Impact!, Drake and Steiner defeated LAX in a rematch to retain the titles. Two weeks later, Drake cashed in his World Championship briefcase against Pentagón Jr., but failed to win the title. After losing the titles to D&E (Joaquin Wilde and Andrew Everett) on the May 17 episode of Impact Wrestling, Drake and Steiner had a match on May 31 at Under Pressure, which Drake won after a chair shot.
On the June 7 episode of Impact Wrestling, during his Fact of Life segment, Drake ranked Moose number one in his top five dummies in Impact. Moose confronted Drake later and challenged him for a match to determine the number one contender to the Impact World Championship at Slammiversary XVI. Drake accepted the challenge and attacked Moose. The following week at House of Hardcore, Drake lost to Moose. On June 25, Eli Drake signed a new contract with Impact Wrestling. On the July 12 episode of Impact Wrestling, Drake flirted with Grado's girlfriend, Katarina Waters, during a backstage segment. This led to a match between Drake and Grado later that night, which was won by Drake. After the match, he tried again to flirt with Katarina, but Drake was stopped by Joe Hendry. On the August 2 episode of Impact Wrestling, Drake aligned himself with the Cult of Lee (Cameron Grimes and Caleb Konley) and defeated Hendry and Grado. Drake issued various open challenges by this time, including one at Bound for Glory. At the event on October 14, Drake defeated James Ellsworth. After the match, Drake asked for a new challenger, a "Hall of Fame material" which resulted in Abyss, the newest Impact Wrestling Hall of Fame member, showing up and hitting him with a chokeslam through a table.
On the January 11 episode of Impact Wrestling, Drake confronted Eddie Edwards, talking down about his hardcore style, leading to a match on the February 22 episode of Impact Wrestling, where Edwards defeated Drake with a roll-up. Shortly after, Drake formed a tag team with Edwards, challenging the Lucha Bros for the Impact World Tag Team Championship on the April 19 episode of Impact Wrestling in a losing effort.
During this time, a match was booked between Drake and Tessa Blanchard at United We Stand. However, he legitimately refused to partake in the match and criticized intergender wrestling, and was replaced in the match by Joey Ryan. After his comments, as well as statements he had made disparaging Impact's booking of him, Drake was fired via email on April 7, ending his four-year tenure with the promotion. Following this, Impact tried to lock him into a non-compete clause due to breach of contract. On June 4, Drake released a statement speaking positively about his time at Impact and announced that he was now a free agent.
Knight aligned himself with Ted DiBiase on the May 25 episode of NXT after attacking Cameron Grimes during their segment. This culminated in a ladder match between the two for the re-introduced Million Dollar Championship at on June 13, which was won by Knight. During the championship ceremony on the following episode of NXT, Knight turned on DiBiase, attacking him before being driven off by Grimes. On the June 29 episode of NXT, Grimes challenged Knight for the title at , which he accepted on the condition that if Grimes lost, he would become Knight's personal butler. At The Great American Bash on July 6, Knight retained the title against Grimes, who became Knight's butler per the stipulation. On the August 10 episode of NXT, Knight agreed to defend the championship against Grimes at NXT TakeOver 36 on the condition that DiBiase would replace Grimes as Knight's butler if Knight won. At the event on August 22, Knight lost the title to Grimes following interference from DiBiase, ending his reign at 70 days.
On the November 23 episode of NXT, Knight turned face by confronting Grayson Waller, who had turned heel by berating the fans. At WarGames on December 5, Knight teamed with Johnny Gargano, Pete Dunne, and Tommaso Ciampa as Team Black & Gold, where they were defeated by Team 2.0 (Bron Breakker, Carmelo Hayes, Waller, and Tony D'Angelo) in a WarGames match. On March 8, 2022, at Roadblock, Knight lost to Waller in a Last Man Standing match. The following week on NXT, he faced Dolph Ziggler for the NXT Championship in a losing effort. After this, Knight started a brief feud with Gunther, culminating in a match at NXT Stand & Deliver on April 2, which he lost in what would be his final NXT match.
Knight made his first main roster appearance on the January 24, 2022 episode of WWE Raw, participating in a backstage segment with The Dirty Dawgs (Dolph Ziggler and Bobby Roode). In a dark segment before the April 15 episode of WWE SmackDown, Knight appeared as a heel manager by announcing his new stable, "Knight Model Management", and became the manager of Mace and Mansoor. The angle went to television on the May 20 episode of SmackDown, when he made his televised debut on the brand under the ring name Max Dupri, adopting the character of a talent agent. On the July 1 episode of SmackDown, Dupri announced Mace and Mansoor, under the tweaked names "ma.çé" and "mån.sôör", as Maximum Male Models. Later that month, he was joined by his storyline sister Maxxine Dupri. Dupri ended his relationship with Maximum Male Models on the September 30 episode of SmackDown. The following week, he beat down Mace and Mansoor and reverted to his LA Knight persona.
Over the next few months, Knight's popularity stayed with the fans even though he had a poor win-loss record. On the June 2 episode of SmackDown, Knight defeated Montez Ford to qualify for the men's Money in the Bank ladder match. At the namesake event on July 1, the match was won by Damian Priest, who threw Knight off the ladder to grab the briefcase. On the July 28 episode of SmackDown, Knight was confirmed to be an entrant in the Slim Jim Battle Royal match at SummerSlam on August 5, which he won by last eliminating Sheamus. Two nights later on Raw, after months of performing as a tweener, he turned face when he began a feud with The Miz. At Payback on September 2, Knight defeated Miz with John Cena as the surprise special guest referee. Two weeks later on the September 15 episode of SmackDown, Knight defeated Miz in a rematch, ending their feud.
On the September 29 episode of SmackDown, Knight assisted Cena against Jimmy Uso and Solo Sikoa of The Bloodline, replacing AJ Styles who had been injured by Jimmy and Solo. At Fastlane on October 7, Knight and Cena defeated Jimmy and Solo after Knight pinned Uso. Three days later, Knight returned to NXT as the special guest referee for the NXT Championship match between Ilja Dragunov and NXT North American Champion Dominik Mysterio. Knight would then enter into a feud with Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns, leading to a title match being announced for Crown Jewel on November 4, where Knight lost to Reigns after interference from Jimmy. At on January 5, 2024, Knight faced Randy Orton and Styles in a triple threat match to determine who would face Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at Royal Rumble, which ended in a no contest after The Bloodline took out all three competitors. SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis then announced that Reigns would defend his title in a fatal-four-way match against Knight, Styles, and Orton at the Royal Rumble on January 27, which Reigns won by pinning Styles.
Knight competed in the men's Elimination Chamber match at the on February 24, where he was eliminated by Drew McIntyre after Styles interrupted the match and attacked him. On the March 15 episode of SmackDown, Knight challenged Styles to a match at WrestleMania XL, which Styles accepted. On Night 2 of WrestleMania XL on April 7, Knight defeated Styles. The following week on SmackDown, Knight participated in the Undisputed WWE Championship Eliminator Tournament, defeating Bobby Lashley and Santos Escobar in the semifinals. Knight was defeated by Styles in the finals on the April 19 episode of SmackDown, ending their feud. In May, Knight entered the King of the Ring tournament, defeating Santos Escobar in the first round at a live event in Chattanooga but lost to Tama Tonga in the quarterfinals.
Knight began to gain a notable amount of popularity in early 2023; despite his feud with Bray Wyatt being written to re-establish the returning Wyatt as a monster character, Knight's ability to hold his own verbally throughout the feud led fans to start siding with him. In an interview with Chris Van Vliet, he stated that he first noticed how fast his popularity was growing when the crowd cheered loudly as his entrance music began upon walking out to confront Drew McIntyre and Sheamus on WWE SmackDown on March 3, 2023.
Since early 2023, fans and critics alike have been vocal about WWE's poor booking of Knight; this includes his high rate of losses since joining the main roster, not appearing at WrestleMania 39 despite WWE promising an "LA Knight moment" at the event, and losing the 2023 Money in the Bank ladder match after WWE acknowledged him as the clear favorite to win by allowing him more promo time than the other competitors in the weeks leading up to the match. Many former wrestlers and wrestling personalities, such as Konnan and Jim Cornette, have been critical of WWE's poor treatment of Knight and failure to capitalize on him despite his popularity continuing to grow among fans. Triple H, WWE's chief content officer and the head of its creative team, acknowledged Knight's popularity during the Money in the Bank post-show press conference and said that "great things come to those who wait". Cornette named Knight his "Wrestler of the Year" for 2023.
Knight's overall presentation began to improve when he was elevated to main event scene following SummerSlam in August 2023, as he entered a program with then-reigning WWE Championship Roman Reigns and his family in the Bloodline. Following his and John Cena's victory over Jimmy Uso and Solo Sikoa, Knight would unsuccessfully challenge Reigns at both Crown Jewel and Royal Rumble, the latter of which also featured AJ Styles and Randy Orton.
In 2015, Ricker appeared in the Brooklyn Nine-Nine episode "Boyle-Linetti Wedding" in a non-speaking role as Mario, a male bodybuilder who is getting married in a gym with Detective Terry Jeffords (Terry Crews) officiating.
In January 2020, Ricker shot scenes for the fourth season of the Netflix dramedy GLOW as a character named DJ Henderson, but the show was cancelled before the season could air.
In 2021, Ricker appeared in a CarShield commercial as The Overcharger, a heel wrestler dressed like an automotive repair technician and defiantly bragging about how nobody can stop him from unfairly charging used-vehicle-owning customers for repair work. He is instantly struck down by Ric Flair, the ad campaign's star and pitchman.
As well as voicing "Paragon Jay Pierce" in the MyRise mode of WWE 2K22, he performed the motion capture for other WWE wrestlers in many of the WWE 2K games.
On December 23, 2023, Ricker received the Key to the City in his hometown of Hagerstown, Maryland.
|
|
