Cooper joined WWE after graduating college in 2013. He was assigned to the WWE Performance Center and took the ring name Tucker Knight.
NXT (2015–2018)
Knight made his professional wrestling debut at an NXT live event in Starke, Florida on January 24, 2015, facing Tye Dillinger. He made his television debut on the July 1, 2015 episode of NXT, working as an enhancement talent in a loss to Baron Corbin. Knight continued to make sporadic televised appearances as an enhancement talent throughout the remainder of 2015 and the start of 2016. In July 2016, Knight formed a tag team with Otis Dozovic, calling themselves Heavy Machinery. The duo participated in the 2016 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, losing in the first round to the team of Austin Aries and Roderick Strong. The duo returned and had their first televised victory on the March 29, 2017 episode of NXT, defeating the team of Mike Marshall and Jonathan Ortagun.
Main roster (2018–present)
Knight made his first televised main roster appearance on April 27, 2018 at WWE's Greatest Royal Rumble event in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, entering the Royal Rumble match at #24 and eliminating Drew Gulak before being eliminated by Big E. On the December 17, 2018 episode of Raw, Heavy Machinery were advertised as two of six NXT wrestlers to be moved to the main roster. With the shortened names of Otis and Tucker, they debuted on the January 14 episode of Raw interrupting an interview between Alexa Bliss and Paul Heyman. On the April 16 episode of SmackDown, the team was moved to the SmackDown brand during the 2019 WWE Superstar Shake-up. At WrestleMania 35, Otis and Tucker competed in the sixth annual André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, but failed to win. In May, they started a feud with SmackDown Tag Team Champions Daniel Bryan and Erick Rowan. The duo participated at the 51-Man Battle Royal at the 2019 Super Showdown, but they were both eliminated during the match. After weeks of mind games from the champions, Heavy Machinery faced Bryan and Rowan at Stomping Grounds in a losing effort. On the July 2nd episode of Smackdown, Otis and Tucker defeated Dolph Ziggler and Kevin Owens to become the Number 1 Contenders for the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championships. At Extreme Rules, Heavy Machinery lost to Bryan and Rowan and the New Day. On the September 30 episode of Raw, Heavy Machinery made an appearance via the wild card rule to challenge for the Raw Tag Team Championship, but lost to champions Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode. At Crown Jewel on October 31, Heavy Machinery competed in a tag team turmoil match, but were eliminated by The New Day. At Survivor Series, Heavy Machinery participated in an interbrand tag team battle royal which was won by Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode. By the end of 2019, Tucker's partner Otis entered into a romantic storyline with Mandy Rose. On February 14, 2020 episode of SmackDown, Tucker's partner Otis had a date with Rose but saw Dolph Ziggler sitting at her table, causing Otis to walk away heartbroken. On the March 6, 2020 episode of SmackDown, Otis and Tucker tried apologized to Rose, but Rose dismisses his heartfelt apology. On the March 20, 2020 episode of SmackDown, Ziggler distracted Otis and Tucker by showing pictures of him and Rose and caused Otis and Tucker to get disqualified in a match against The Miz and John Morrison. On the 3 April, 2020 episode of SmackDown Tucker was attacked by Ziggler ahead of Ziggler's Wrestlemania clash with Otis. The following week on SmackDown, Tucker challenged Ziggler to a rematch but was unsuccessful.
