The Return
After almost a decade out of the ring and at 59-years-old, few would have believed we’d ever see Jason Knight in a professional wrestling ring again. The ECW original had other ideas, and returned in 2023.
“A couple of years ago,” Knight explained to Wrestling Headlines, “I was just sitting around doing nothing and I saw they were having a reunion and signing.”
“I wasn’t in a good way. Mentally, because life happens. It had nothing to do with drugs or drug abuse or anything like that. It was simply one of those things.”
Wrestling agent Eric Simms called and as Knight says he “lit that fire for me”.
He decided to go and see some old friends, relight said fire, and maybe attempt to put a few dollars in his pocket. “Several hundred dollars later,” the former ECW TV champion said with a laugh, bookings began to build.
Nine years after his last bout, Knight returned in a hardcore match against Tony Myers for Knight’s own promotion, Assault Championship Wrestling. He had closed ACW in 2004 as he stated: “You were pulling knives out of your back, constantly.” Now, with a loyal crew – including his wife Desiree – helping and assisting, ACW relaunched in 2023.
Knight admitted it took some time to re-establish himself as to how the business had changed and learn who everyone is, having somewhat given it the cold shoulder for many years. But now, at 60, he’s as determined and dedicated as he ever has been
“I take it very serious,” he told me. “A combination of training, dieting and everything else. A positive mental outlook and I started really taking care of myself.”
Back in the Day
Wrestling on the independents throughout the ’80s, Jason worked with the likes of Ric Flair, Lex Luger and Rick Martel during his stint with the WWF in 1992/93. But it was in Eastern Championship Wrestling where the ‘Sexiest Man on Earth’ made a name for himself.
As it transitioned from Eastern to Extreme Championship Wrestling, Jason began being guided by Paul Heyman, who Jason said: “had a vision.”
“I have to attest to that,” he concurred concerning anyone who has worked with Heyman telling me he’s a booking genius.
“He’d give you direction but let you run on your own.”
“I’ve seen the difference between Vince McMahon’s vision and his storyline setups,” he explained. “Everything is A to Z and for a three-minute segment, it’ll take three hours to express what he wants.”
Heyman, instead, would give a chunk of creative freedom to the talent he trusted, because ultimately, a manager needs to trust his staff to do what they’re paid to do.
“He had a knack of finding strengths in people.”
Jason held the TV title during ECW’s edgy transition to Extreme Championship Wrestling. He would also travel to the Land of the Rising Sun on tours for Big Japan Pro Wrestling.
“That would always be a great thing. You get to go there and experience that part of what professional wrestling offers. You’re being given an opportunity to travel and meet some people and see some great culture all over the world.”
He would spend the longest spell of his grappling career with ECW, but as time went by, his love for the company slowly faltered.
“I loved it in the beginning and towards the middle.”
“It wasn’t such a pleasure going to work (as time passed). In the locker room there wasn’t that magic anymore.”
Instead of nurturing its own talent and farming the indy scene, as it had done for years, the company started hiring ‘bigger’ names from the WWF and WCW. It started “not being ECW anymore.”
His final match for ECW took place on the 1999 Heatwave pay-per-view. In an intergender match well ahead of its time, Jason put over the talented Jazz in a quality encounter that WhatCulture ranked in its top ten ever intergender matches. He subsequently returned to work the independents for several years.
Nurturing the Next Generation
As well as being a wrestler, manager and promoter, Jason has also been a trainer: he had three schools in Connecticut and will open the Impact Central Pro Wrestling Dojo in Milford, Pennsylvania, in the Fall of 2024.
One particular talent tweeted a picture of herself with Jason in April:
“I would’ve NEVER started my wrestling career w/o this man, an ECW original & my trainer JASON KNIGHT. He instilled in me the hard knocks of wrestling from learning the basics to high flying to eventually settling to the STRONG STYLE form. Sooo happy to see him!!! CEMENTO!!!!”
The wrestler in question was none other than former ROH and Shimmer world champion, Mercedes Martinez.
“I remember the day this shy 19-year-old girl walked in and looked around,” Jason recollected.
Within a month, she had her first match, against a male, and pinned him after a crossbody from the top rope. She improved after every show and the rest is history.
“She can hang with anyone, male or female,” he declared proudly.
With another three matches under his belt in 2024, Jason is delighted to be back in the business he loves, minus the stresses of being on the road full-time as he had been in the ’90s. “We’re closer to home and not on the road all the time unless it calls for it.”
“I leave it to the younger generation to fuck around and find out,” he concluded with a laugh.
