Johnny Knoxville made his in-ring debut for the WWE during the 2022 Men’s Royal Rumble on Saturday, entering the match at No. 9 and lasting roughly 90 seconds before getting booted out of the ring by a Heluva Kick from Sami Zayn. The Jackass Forever star then appeared on ESPN’s SportsNation this week and was asked about his performance. Knoxville was upset that Zayn, of all people, was the one to eliminate him but said he hasn’t given up on trying to become world champion.
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“That lowdown, dirty Sami Zayn! Anyone but that lowdown and dirty Sami Zayn taking me out,” Knoxville said. “But it took four men, four Superstars to take me out. But they haven’t heard the last of me, I will be world champion.”
Meanwhile, Zayn took a victory lap on social media by announcing he’d be attending the Jackass Forever world premiere in Los Angeles.
Prior to Saturday’s match, Zayn posted a lengthy Twitter thread explaining his disdain of Knoxville — “Johnny Knoxville electrocuted me with a cattle prod on live television. Knoxville made his way into my world a few weeks ago when, after a less than pleasant interaction backstage, he snuck up on me (tough guy) and dumped me over the top rope. Thanks to the twisted logic of @WWE management, this somehow qualified him for the Royal Rumble match. Since he wanted to enter my world, I decided I would show him up at his own game and put on a show that would rival [Jackass]. This is how ‘Inzayn’ came about. In the debut episode, I was going to shock the world by jumping over the ring in a shopping cart. Sadly, this didn’t end up taking place,” he added. “Mainly because the stagehands I hired to orchestrate the stunt were also contracted by @WWE and they neglected my specifications to make the stunt safe. My personal opinion is this was no accident (conspiracy). I could have been badly hurt.”
“I decided episode 2 of ‘Inzayn’ would depend on no one but myself. To prove I was tougher/crazier than Johnny Knoxville, I’d do what he once did & do it better,” he added. I’d test dangerous self defense weapons on myself. It was painful, but went well…at first. I pulled out all the stops. I even shocked myself with the Livestock Jolt 3000 straight to the heart and was able to shake it off. I am really tough [it] turns out. Like, tougher than I even realized. That’s when Knoxville showed up & made the RIDICULOUS claim that the cattle prod wasn’t even turned on. Now Johnny Knoxville thinks he’s a tough guy, but everyone is a tough guy when they’re holding the Livestock Jolt 3000. So that’s when it happened. All the while, I’m #1 contender to MY Intercontinental Championship! But Shinsuke Nakamura is ducking me, Johnny Knoxville is deranged & obsessed with me, and @WWE management has ignored all my messages. So I can’t wait for the #RoyalRumble. this Saturday. Revenge will be mine.”
