Civilians by day, pro wrestlers by night — this is the life that Heather Brown and Koy Cook lead.

A junior communication studies major Brown, known as Angelus Layne in the ring, was introduced to the field of professional wrestling by her uncle who showed her that there was an independent wrestling scene.

For Cook, a 2006 Eastern graduate, who goes by the name Alex Castle when he performs, it was backyard wrestling in Paris, Ill. The type of place Cook said professionals who have been in the business for a couple of years kind of look down upon. But Cook said it was a real ring with real shows, so it was a start.

The two met at a show in Iowa almost two years ago and got to know each other through Twitter and text messages. Soon after, Brown started to do shows for the same company as Cook, and they became close.

“I think for our first date we went to a wrestling show, and then we went to a movie afterwards,” Cook said.

The two now live, travel and do shows together. That is, when they are not at their day jobs.

For Cook, that means a job as a manager at Panther Liquors, and for Brown, a server at Dirty’s Bar and Grill.

“So I’m serving on the weekdays, then fighting on the weekends,” Brown said.

With her daytime job that of a student, her night job a waitress and her weekend gig the trials of a professional wrestler, it was not long before the three collided.

“One of my professors found out that I was a wrestler, and he found out because he goes into Dirty’s and has dinner there, and my manager told him I wrestle,” Brown said of her economics professor Ali Moshtagh. “And he thinks it’s like the coolest thing in the world.”

Brown said Moshtagh will tell other professors about her, so they know her as “the wrestler.”

When the weekdays roll to a close for the duo of Brown and Cook, wrestling is always in their sights — and growing into something fruitful.

“They are both great people and finding success in wrestling,” Adam Testa, the owner of Pro Wrestling Collision and a friend of Cook and Brown, said.

Brown recently became a member of the roster of SHIMMER, the largest North American women’s wrestling promotion, and Cook will be wrestling at CHIKARA Pro’s Tag World Grand Prix, which is a prestigious wrestling tournament taking place in Chicago May 18, Testa said.

Just before that, on May 17, the duo will be doing a show in Robinson for the debut show for a new company, Wrestling Is Intense. They will both be fighting against bigger names in the industry.

The event is located at the Robinson Community Center, 300 S. Lincoln St., and the doors open at 7 p.m.

Brown will be matched up against pro wrestler Saturyne in a one-on-one bout, and Cook will be performing with an old companion who goes by the name Matt Cage in a three-way team bout under the team name Kentucky Buffet.

A stage name for the duo that came about from a bucket of chicken and a made-up dream.

“Colonel Sanders came to me in a dream and said ‘I need an army to spread the message and spread the word of the Colonel,’” Cook said.

Originally it had been a joke, but it took, and it has become their trademark when they wrestle together.

Zachary White can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].