AEW's Kevin Knight Talks Facing Young Bucks at WrestleDream, Training During Covid and Much More

This weekend, Kevin Knight will attempt to win his first AEW World Tag Team Championship alongside Kyle Fletcher when they battle The Young Bucks at WrestleDream.

Knight has had an interesting career so far. Since beginning his journey in 2019, he has wrestled worldwide, trained at the NJPW LA Dojo, signed with AEW, and already won multiple titles in the company.

He came into AEW as a babyface, winning gold in the trios division alongside the likes of Mike Bailey, Adam Page and Mistico. He also won the TNT Championship before turning heel and joining The Don Callis Family.

B/R spoke with Knight this week ahead of the PPV on a variety of topics.

Match Preparation and Teaming with Kyle Fletcher

Bleacher Report: You're about to challenge The Young Bucks at WrestleDream for the tag titles. What is the difference for you when preparing for a singles match and a tag or trios match?

Kevin Knight: Truthfully, it's all the same. The preparation is hard day in and day out. With a tag team partner as good as Kyle Fletcher is, as good as he is individually, we kind of go in knowing the game plan. We trust our instincts, and we have Don on our side, too, if we ever need to call in a backup plan.

He knows The Young Bucks better than anybody else on the roster, so we have that cerebral support on our side, so we use anything to get the upper hand.

B/R: You have had some great tag team partners from Kushida to Mike Bailey. How has teaming with Fletcher been, and did you find that chemistry right away?

Knight: Obviously, on screen you could tell before, there was a little bit of animosity there. We didn't want to tag with each other on screen and off screen. We were focused on our own goals. Once we realized, especially after All In, that as long as we keep a goal within the family, that's the common goal.

Once we realized that we are both powerful together rather than fighting against each other, we kind of just let the bygones be bygones. How sweet would it be to beat one of the best tag teams of all time for the belts?

Turning Heel and Joining The Don Callis Family

B/R: What was the transition like going from babyface to heel and joining a big group vs. being a solo act? What have you learned about yourself since then?

Knight: The biggest thing is that when I joined The Don Callis Family, I was already a TNT champion, so when I did that, it was in hopes of becoming Jet Two Belts. So I knew I had to secure some kind of backup. A dedicated family watching my back while I had the TNT title.

Switching from a solo act to in a group, it's still kind of been the same because we are all studs. I've known Jake Doyle for a long time. I've known Mark Davis for a long time. Me and Okada have known each other for a long time. Everybody has the same kind of goals.

B/R: Do you have a preference between working heel or babyface?

Knight: It's all the same thing. I really don't like the term heel or babyface because we all just have motives. We all want to win gold. Nobody got into this business to be a heel or a babyface. We all got into this business to win, and it's all about how you go about doing that.

Babyface is cool. You've got the support of the fans, hopefully. But then when you're a heel, you've got to do things your own way and by any means necessary, and I think it naturally makes you a heel. You may take a shortcut here or there, you may hit the guy with a belt or take a cheap shot every once in a while, but it's all for the same common goal, and that's winning gold.

Being heel, you have more freedom to express yourself because we're not looking for the approval of the audience. We're just doing it because we want gold.

Training During the Pandemic

B/R: You started your career in 2019. How did Covid impact things for you since it came so early in your career?

Knight: I was blessed to be able to attend one of the last New Japan seminars in late 2019, like right before the pandemic. And that's kind of when I got my shot with the dojo, so I was already kind of locked in with the dojo before the pandemic hit. So when it hit, I was already in a verbal agreement with New Japan to sign up for their young lion program.

I already knew Rocky Romero and [Katsuyori] Shibata, and the New Japan office, so it was just a matter of when to report to the dojo. But the thing that really affected me was when we first started doing tapings during the pandemic, it was in front of absolutely nobody.

So not only am I learning a new style of wrestling as a young lion, but you don't know the timing or the reaction or how the crowd would react, because there was absolutely no response. So it was like relearning how to wrestle. What's that movie that is like a dream inside a dream? Inception. It was like wrestling Inception.

Once the audiences did come back, it was learning that rhythm while doing the New Japan style. That was the biggest effect to me.

B/R: Do you think that might have helped you in some way?

Knight: Everything happens for a reason. I don't know if it helped me or it hurt me, but it definitely was a challenge. Maybe it made me work harder. Maybe it made me scream louder. Maybe it helped me in that type of way.

But I feel like wrestling, in its essence, needs the people, and the people need us. It's a mutual relationship. So I feel like it was a detriment just because I didn't get to feel the people as I was learning this new style. For like a whole year, it was straight silence. So for me, it helped, but it didn't at the same time. So I feel like it wasn't too big of a factor.

Getting Into the Business

B/R: Were you planning on pursuing wrestling, or was there something that pushed you to do it?

Knight: I always loved pro wrestling growing up, but I never knew how to get into it. I didn't know there was a career path. I played football growing up, but there were no kids in professional wrestling, at least not where I grew up, and if there were, I didn't hear about it.

After college, I had a regular job working behind a desk, and I Googled how to become a professional wrestler because it was the only thing I wanted to do at the time. So I feel like it was something I pursued. There was no outside help. Nobody told me to get into it.

I wasn't discovered at a gym or anything like that. It was literally all me finding the school, paying for it, and having the regular journey like most indie wrestlers have. I happened to have the opportunity to join New Japan at an early age and took off from there.

B/R: Who were the wrestlers you were obsessed with growing up?

Knight: As a kid, by far it was Jeff Hardy, mainly because of his look and his energy. He just looked different from all of the other wrestlers. He didn't wear trunks and wrist tape. He wore face paint and came out dancing. And obviously, the high-flying moves are cool.

He just looked so different from everybody else, and that drew me in. You've got guys like The Rock, so entertaining. Then I got to do my research when I was young, and I really liked Mr. Perfect. Just his arrogance and how confident he was. And how he did nothing wrong, or at least his character persuaded me to think that.

Those three are like my top three, and I try to take a little bit from each of those guys.

Avoiding Injuries

B/R: You work a high-risk style. Have you had any major injury scares?

Knight: Knock on wood, I haven't had any injuries, and that is something that I pride myself on when it comes to wrestling. Funny enough, I didn't know much about taking care of my body when I was playing sports, but once I got into wrestling, especially at the LA Dojo, that's when I got introduced to yoga, mobility and taking care of your body.

When I'm not in the ring, I'm constantly stretching. I'm always getting massages. I'm always looking up new ways to take care of my body, whether that's with nutrition or anything, honestly. I make sure that everything that I do is controlled and that I don't get hurt, so I make sure I do all of the work beforehand to prevent that from happening.

The Don Callis Family as Pokémon

When we interviewed Kyle Fletcher, he assigned a Pokémon to each member of the Don Callis Family. Since Knight is also a fan of the franchise, we offered him the opportunity to do the same. Here is a list of who he picked for each member:

• Don Callis: Fire Gym Leader/Pokémon trainer
• Kyle Fletcher: Gyarados
• Kevin Knight: Blaziken or Dragonite
• Trent Beretta: Plusle
• Rocky Romero: Minun
• Jake Doyle: Nidoking
• Mark Davis: Snorlax
• Brian Cage: Machamp
• Lance Archer: Haxorus
• Hechicero: Alakazam
• El Clon: Magneton
• Kazuchika Okada: Mewtwo

Movie Review

B/R: "We always like to end our AEW interviews with a movie review. Is there anything you would like to talk about?"

Knight: "I just watched this movie on the way to France: Backrooms. I don't know what you think about it, but I thought it was absolutely phenomenal how they tied together the actual backrooms and how it ties to your memories and your traumas, and how the guy never overcame it and he kept bringing others.

"I just thought it was shot great and had a great overall message. That was one I thoroughly enjoyed on my way to Paris."

Quotes edited for conciseness and clarity. You can check out the full interview in the embedded video.