ALL ELITE WRESTLING

Charlotte native John Davidson (left) enjoys the fulfillment of a wrestling career. “This is high octane stuff. I can never see myself doing anything in the office.”

John Davidson likes wrestling on the edge.

Davidson, 27, is a former Marine who made the transition to professional wrestling as Knull, a 6-foot-7, 265-pounder who performs across the country. A Hopewell High graduate, Davidson has been wrestling for three years for several companies, most prominently for Jacksonville, Fla.-based All Elite Wrestling, the nation’s second-largest promotion company.

Mentored by former Charlotte Motor Speedway president Humpy Wheeler – one of the best promoters and showmen in U.S. sports history – as well as wrestling legends George South and Dustin Rhodes, Davidson is pursuing his goal of becoming a nationally-recognizable brand.

In an interview with the Sports Charlotte podcast, Davidson talked about how he started as a wrestler, inspirations and where his stage name originated. Responses are edited for brevity and clarity.

CP: How did you get into wrestling? Was there a magic moment where you knew what you wanted to do or did somebody just draft you into it?

JD: There was no magic moment. Humpy Wheeler had an idea of me becoming a pro wrestler when I was in the Marine Corps. Over time he saw how buffed I was getting and so he called me up and told me ‘Hey, we gotta make you a pro wrestler.’ So, I visited Charlotte from Washington state where I was living at the time, and I met David Crockett. He told me about George South’s wrestling school. George is like a wrestling legend.

CP: Describe what makes the wrestling community special.

JD: I love them. The fans are great. I feel like they’re the most dedicated fans to have, honestly. The other wrestlers, they’re great too. There’s a lot of great wrestlers in Charlotte and coming up out of the area, so I think it’ll make a good comeback. Everybody has one goal – we’re gonna put on a great show.

CP: You are a free agent. What is that like? You see different alliances, whether it’s WWE or AEW or myriad other companies that produce shows. Do you have to scramble for matches, or do you take your time to get with what you want at that moment?  

JD: I kind of do it my own way. It’s kind of like you do different things just to make them want you. I do plan on signing a deal eventually when I feel like it’s right, so I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing until you get to that point.

CP: Physically, you look like a wrestler – you’re a big dude, but it didn’t start out that way.

JD: I used to be skinny. I was 6-foot-7 in high school and when I was like 17- 18-(years old), I was 165 (pounds). I went to the Marine Corps and the only thing I had to do this like lift weights. So, once the wings got big, I got into bodybuilding. I also had my first little heartbreak, too. That’s kind of like what got me started.
CP: What makes wrestling so appealing?

JD: This is high octane stuff. I can never see myself doing anything in the office. I feel like it was kind of just like meant for me to do this, even how I got into it. It was just like it was meant for me to do and. I look at all the things that have come into my life. It’s crazy. This just makes sense.

CP: What is it that you want to get out of wrestling?

JD: Right now, the little things I’ve been doing, to some people I’ve been doing really big things but to me it’s like a really small scale about what I can be to inspire people to show them different avenues. … A lot of people worry about the money, but if you’re doing something you really love and you’re doing good at it, the money will come. This is kind of how I’ve been doing things and it’s been going pretty well.

CP: Do you become a different person when you step in the ring?

JD: The people who know me and known me for a while know it’s like the same person. But if somebody else did, they wouldn’t know the difference, but I’m just being myself. I’m a real quiet like person in general, so I’m like kind of a quiet wrestler, but I’ve got to work on that.

CP: Do you have a stage name?

It’s Knull. That’s what I’ve been known as on TV. It comes from a Marvel character. That’s the kind of what I model myself after. Because that I used to go by Diablo, to wear a mask and stuff. But on TV people would say ‘you got a pretty face,’ so they wanted to see my face. I wanted to wear a mask. It was scary but they wanted me to look cute and pretty and stuff on TV, so I had to find something that was still my face but still be the person I want to be in that ring.

CP: In terms of wrestling templates, is there a wrestler that you are really impressed by?

JD: Definitely Kane, the Undertaker, Booker T, Sean Michaels, maybe Brock Lesnar, Of course, I’ve got to get Dustin Rhodes and George South, my coaches, because they’re great. So those are the guys that I look up to.

CP: Look at your crystal ball. What do you want to be five years from now?

JD: I told Dustin [Rhodes], my coach, at the end of training camp that within three to five years I was going to be one of the best big men wrestlers in the world. So that’s what I see.

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