Levi Cooper (aka former WWE star Tucker) was interviewed on the latest “Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling” podcast.
Cooper talked about his release, his entire wrestling career, his NXT run, his main roster run, Vince McMahon, Triple H, Heavy Machinery, Otis, Mandy Rose and more.
Here are some highlights from the show:
Tucker said he got in better shape and has lost a lot of weight:
“I’m probably 240 right now. The biggest I’ve been with Heavy Machinery, I was 325. I was probably 315 when we moved up from NXT to RAW and SmackDown. Part of that fit the fat guy gimmick, part of what Heavy Machinery was. I’ve always been a big guy. I wrestled at heavyweight in college. The weight class there was 285. I don’t have the best metabolism. My family genetically, we just don’t.”
Tucker was asked how he got his name in NXT:
“I came up with the name. At the time, and I don’t know if it’s still this way, but you essentially provide them with a list of names. That list is run through Legal to see what names they can actually own. I remember putting a list of like 15 together and getting back maybe like four names, and three of the surnames were Knight out of those four. Ultimately, I chose it because I liked the initials the best. I was thinking I might be able to use TKO or something along those lines. That was the initial reason that I chose that. I had the understanding that I could potentially change that name as well moving forward if it didn’t work out.
There was actually a time when Otis and I were in NXT, and we were just Otis and Tucker when we made our debut in the Dusty Classic. Everybody loved the name Heavy Machinery except Triple H. From what I understand, he was not a fan of that name. He thought it was too gimmicky, I guess. I guess thinking like fat men in construction hats, but we explained that we are Heavy Machinery. It’s not a gimmick. I wanted to be called Tank and he wanted to be called Dozer, Tank and Dozer, Heavy Machinery. That was our initial pitch, but we were told that ‘We can’t get those names. We’re not going to be able to register those names, so we can’t do it.’ To me, that would have been awesome. Tank and Dozer, Heavy Machinery, you get it. This dude’s a tank, that dude’s a dozer. They smash everyone. This is what they do. They run through people. To me, it makes sense. It’s not hard to figure out. We couldn’t get those.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling Podcast with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
Here is a photo of Cooper posted back in May. He is pictured below doing DDP Yoga at his home.
Hitting a little @DDPYoga JACKED this morning. These BFR straps are really fantastic and definitely take the workouts to the next level pic.twitter.com/EgwSvareG2
— Levi Cooper (@REALLeviCooper) May 28, 2021
TMPT’s flagship episode, brought to you by @RetroSoftStudio is with @RealLeviCooper In this interview, Tucker & host John Poz will talk about his entire career. Tucker talks run in #NXT #TripleH #HeavyMachinery #Otis his #WWE run, #WWE release, and more! https://t.co/2UsBEKgJoY pic.twitter.com/pXu8AWU5Ci
— John ‘Poz’ Pozarowski (@TwoManPowerTrip) August 17, 2021
