Michael Knoxville Hettinga (born July 17, 1978) is an American professional wrestler best known under the ring name Mike Knox. He currently performs for the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). Hettinga is best known for his work in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), and also performed in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) under the ring name Knux. Professional wrestling career Independent circuit (2000–2005) Hettinga worked for Ultimate Pro Wrestling (UPW) in 2000. He tagged with Samoa Joe at UPW Proving Ground on December 12, 2000, in the Galaxy Theatre of Santa Ana, California and defeated the debuting Al Katrazz with Basil. He also wrestled at UPW live against the boss Samoa Joe for the Heavyweight Championship, but was unable to win the title. After being trained by Steve "Navajo Warrior" Islas, Knox started wrestling for Islas' organization Impact Zone Wrestling in 2002. He was booked to win the Heavyweight Championship on two occasions and the Tag Team Championship with friend and rival Derek Neikirk on one occasion. World Wrestling Entertainment ECW (2006–2008) Knox was signed to a World Wrestling Entertainment developmental deal in February 2005, and made a handful of appearances on WWE shows, including one appearance as a masked "jihadist" for Muhammad Hassan, in the infamous segment that led to Hassan's ousting from WWE. He mainly wrestled for their Atlanta, Georgia-based developmental territory, Deep South Wrestling. Knox debuted on the June 20, 2006 episode of ECW as a heel by interfering in Kelly Kelly's striptease segment, coming from the backstage area and covering her with a towel before escorting her off stage, though he was unnamed on-screen at the time. It was later revealed that Kelly was Knox's on-screen girlfriend, and he informed her that he did not appreciate her stripping in front of anyone but him. For his in-ring debut, a win over Danny Doring, Kelly accompanied him to the ringside acting as a valet. Knox was pushed strongly, interfering in matches, and squashing his opponents. He later formed a short-lived tag team with Test before starting a feud with CM Punk, after growing jealous of Kelly Kelly's admiration towards Punk. Punk won every match in the feud, including a qualifying match for December to Dismember's Extreme Elimination Chamber match for the ECW World Championship. Knox made his pay-per-view debut at Survivor Series where he teamed up with Team Rated-RKO to take on Team DX, but was the first man