Exclusive: Tucker Reveals New Gimmick, Future Plans

Levi Cooper (FKA Tucker) has big plans to redefine himself within professional wrestling following his WWE release.

Cooper was let go by Vince McMahon's company earlier this year and the former Heavy Machinery man revealed on Straight To Hell that he plans to be a stay-at-home dad until 2022. After that, though, he wants to hit the ground running with a new gimmick centred around the dichotomy of nature. 

"I've got a couple of shows booked already. I've got one in Indiana, looking at a couple in Georgia right now. I'm looking forward to getting back in the ring and stripping back some of the façade and I'm booking myself as Levi Cooper, who I am. You can look me up you can see that I really kicked people's asses to pay for my college. I was a top 10 heavyweight in this country three years in a row... So I'm just gonna book myself as Levi Cooper and you're just gonna kind of see me be an amateur wrestler at the beginning of my indie run," Cooper revealed.

"Maybe a little layer on top of that is gonna be 'Force Of Nature' has been what I've been toying around with. The dichotomy of nature being this serene, peaceful, very tranquil thing at times and a place of complete calm and focus, but then at a moment's notice when it's required it can become this very scary, violent, powerful thing. And it goes from one to the other and that's what I'm going to be looking to be. I've been getting pretty deep into stoic philosophy and just sort of understanding that when you want to display emotions you display emotions, but when you don't want to display emotions you don't," he continued.

"That's something that I really want to bring to my wrestling is this guy that on the outside, he appears extremely calm and in complete control but at a moment's notice when he is in peril, that control can completely go out the window and he can lose himself in moments of extreme violence. I'm sort of just toying around with that. I haven't got it all the way figured out but that's where I’m trying to head in my wrestling."

Tucker also revealed that he would like to wrestle in Ring Of Honor at some point, but he would actually prefer to compete on the independent wrestling scene for a year so he can find himself as a performer.

"My overarching goal for myself is to just try to become the best performer that I'm capable of being and to try and really truly figure out who Levi Cooper is inside of the wrestling ring. I feel like I've got a decent grasp on that but I feel, personally, I need six months to a year before I really understand what are the things that connect me with other people? What are the things that do work? What are the things that don't work? What do people expect from me? And how can I take their expectations and build on that?" he added.

"I think Ring Of Honor would be a place that I would like to work just based on the way they operate. The things I kind of see and the way the matches happen and just the way they tell their stories. I think that might be a place where I could have a lot of growth because it's quite different from what I've done and what I've been known [for]. But at the same time, I worked with some guys who came from there and I understand on the face what the differences between ROH and WWE [are]. Those differences will kind of help me to do what I'm looking to do for myself in terms of who I'm trying to build myself into.

"I like what IMPACT's doing. Obviously, AEW has been killing the game. Personally, and who knows what opportunities are going to present themselves to me and what I'll ultimately say yes or no to, outwardly at the moment I feel like I want to be on the indies for a year. Like I said, if there's an opportunity that presents itself where I think that I could have the opportunity to grow within that then it would be pretty difficult for me to pass it up. But I feel like I have some personal growth that I need to do. I've been under contract since the beginning of 2014 and I've basically been going to wrestling school for that entire time. So I need to figure that stuff out for a little bit for myself too and fall flat on my face without having the pressure of needing to have a polished thing right away."

Check out Tucker's full appearance on Straight to Hell below: