RE-POST: Ricky Knight vs the Zebra Kid: The Road to Vendetta (2004)

When the FWA powers-that-be asked me to contribute my thoughts regarding the Zebra Kid/Ricky Knight situation, I can see why they came to me. I've chronicled the careers of both men over the past few years, so I guess I'm an expert on this situation in a way.

The thing is, many FWA fans were surprised when Ricky cost Zebra the FWA title recently. If truth be known, I could see this coming a long time ago. This situation began long before Carpe Diem.

But to get an insight into why this situation arose, you have to look into the past of these two men.

Rowdy Ricky Knight's career spans more than twenty years. In that time, he's wrestled many of the greats, including the Dynamite Kid and Jushin "Thunder" Liger. He has held numerous singles titles, but will always be remembered for his British Tag-Team title reign as one half of the Superflys with Jimmy Ocean.

It's not just as a wrestler that he has excelled. He has taken the World Association of Wrestling to the upper echelons of the British wrestling industry. Mixing old school ideals with new school ideas, Knight has turned WAW into one of the most talked about independent promotions not just in Britain, but in the world.

Knight has also excelled as a trainer, and one of his greatest accomplishments in this field was the training of his own son, the Zebra Kid.

Roy Bevis is a natural sportsman. He is a semi-professional footballer with a gift so natural that he could turn his mind to any sporting activity and excel at it. But it's as the Zebra Kid, as a professional wrestler, that he has earned his name.

Debuting at the age of fourteen, he was literally thrown in at the deep end, honing his skills on the holiday camp circuit while competing against the greats of the British wrestling scene from the very beginning of his career. One of the men he wrestled against on a regular basis was his own father, Ricky Knight.

Knight never went easy on his son in any match, and Zebra took on the style of wrestling that earned him the reputation as one of the hardest hitter in the game from his father. His father wasn't going easy on him, so why should he go easy on the old man?

As the years went by, Knight's pride in his son's blossoming career was obvious. They continued to beat the hell out of each other in the ring, but also teamed together when Ocean entered semi-retirement. This father-and-son combination, which drew comparisons with the King Ben/Kid McCoy team of years gone by, won the tag-team straps of All-Star Wrestling and Premier Promotions.

Two years ago, when Jonny Storm and Jody Fleisch were earning high praise for their performances around the world, Ricky Knight telephoned Alex Shane's TalkWrestling radio show to bemoan the fact that his son, who he considered to be just as good as Jody and Jonny, wasn't getting the breaks he deserved. Upon hearing this, the FWA offered Zebra a spot, wrestling in a four-way, number one contender's match for the All-England title. Zebra won that match, and defeated Mark Sloan for the title a few weeks later.

Under the bright lights of the FWA, the Zebra Kid shone, defending the All-England title against a wide variety of opponents, earning high praise with each and every match. Within a year, the Zebra Kid became one of the top three wrestlers in the FWA, alongside Flash Barker and Doug Williams.

His success in the FWA, coupled with his WAW British title triumph against Knight, earned him a spot in Rob Black's XPW promotion in America. Zebra quickly won over the American fans with his hard-hitting style, and also won fans backstage. Former ECW World Champion Jerry Lynn was full of praise for the youngster.

Knight watched his son's progress, and while he publicly professed pride in Zebra's accomplishments, deep down those of us close to both men could tell that Knight was beginning to harbour a deep-seated jealousy towards his own son.

During the second year of the Zebra Kid's FWA career, Knight began to accompany him to the shows. Many of the fans in attendance, and on the Internet, began to ask when the Rowdy Man was going to make his FWA debut. Knight couldn't give them an answer.

It's possible that Knight thought his son could get him a slot on the FWA roster, and when this didn't happen, this could have contributed to Knight's growing resentment.

It seemed fitting that two years after his debut at the first Carpe Diem show, the Zebra Kid received an FWA title shot against Doug Williams at the second Carpe Diem show, and who better to second him in the biggest match of his career than the man who trained him, the man who gave him his start in wrestling and got him a slot on the FWA roster? Who better to give him support than his own father?

Except it didn't work out that way. Just as it looked as if the Zebra Kid was about to win the biggest match of his career, Knight turned on him, costing him the match and the title.

Just one week later, when the Zebra Kid received a second shot at the FWA title in a triple threat match that also involved James Tighe, Knight once again cost his son the title.

This chain of events led to the Zebra Kid approaching the FWA match makers, demanding a high-profile match with Knight this coming weekend at Vendetta. It was a request that the FWA were only too happy to grant.

Knight went on record saying the he cost his son the FWA title because he didn't want to lose WAW's main event star to overseas tours, but when you take a look at Doug Williams' upcoming schedule, and his past schedule, you'll see that while he has been FWA Champion, he has missed several shows while working for Ring of Honor and Pro Wrestling NOAH. It is because of his American touring commitments that Williams will be missing from Vendetta, so in my opinion, this argument really doesn't hold weight.

If Zebra had won the FWA title, and he had earned spots on American and Japanese shows, he would have not only carried the torch for the FWA, but for WAW as well, so once again, Knight's argument in this favour would is a mute point. While WAW may have lost their champion for a few shows, they would have gained exposure in the major overseas markets. As WAW British Champion, the Zebra Kid would have been a perfect ambassador.

As far as I can see, there is only one reason why Knight cost Zebra the FWA title - jealousy. Knight has achieved a great deal in his long career, but as far as in-ring accomplishments are concerned, the Zebra Kid has achieved just as much, and in less than half the time.

Ricky Knight has gone on record saying that he will retire in three years time. In three years, the Zebra Kid will be only 26 years old. By then, he'll be a twelve year veteran, and he'll still have many years ahead of him.

Knight may have come to the realisation that his own son may outshine his own glorious career. The statement that he is more or less safeguarding his own company by stopping Zebra winning the biggest title in Britain is nothing more than a smokescreen, a smokescreen to cover his jealousy of his own flesh and blood.

Which leads us to Vendetta. Many fans have speculated that because this match involves a father against his son, that they will go easy on each other. While I'm not going to use the colourful language that Zebra used last week, I will say that this will not be the case. Ricky Knight and the Zebra Kid have never held anything back when they've competed against each other, and they won't stop holding anything back at Vendetta.

A friend of mine recently posted on the FWA Fan Forum that this match will steal the show at Vendetta. I totally agree with the guy. The FWA faithful are in for a real treat at Vendetta. They will finally get to see that everything WAW's chief reporter has been saying for the past two years is true.