There is an argument to be made that LA Knight is the most popular act in professional wrestling today. The self-proclaimed megastar has been on WWE’s main roster in his current gimmick for less than a year and has just a handful of singles victories, yet every time he enters an arena the roof blows off. Knight’s meteoric rise began this past January when he started getting consistent television time during his now-infamous feud with Bray Wyatt. While the culminating Mountain Dew Pitch Black Match was nothing to write home about, it gave Knight enough momentum to ride throughout the subsequent months.
Knight regularly receives the loudest reaction of the night every Friday on WWE SmackDown. Despite this, Knight has yet to get that elusive star-making victory, coming up short in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, the Men’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match and in the WWE United States Championship Number 1 Contender’s Tournament. These losses have left Knight relatively directionless, much to the chagrin of WWE fans.
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“The roster is so stacked and full. You want the premium live event to stand out as something different than what you see on TV, so you don’t want the exact same formula,” Knight toldย Good Karma Wrestlingย regarding his lack of WWE premium live event matches. “Those spots on the premium live events are limited. I’m getting the big reactions, you can’t deny that. But at the same time, I guess some people would say, ‘Well, he’s only been here nine or ten months or whatever.’”
Aside from his Wyatt feud, Knight has not been deliberately factored into WWE’s plans. His popularity has been groundswelling, similar to the rises of Zack Ryder and Daniel Bryan in years past.
“Some of that’s also just figuring out that a lot of this was unexpected. A lot of this came out of the blue, so sometimes plans have to change, and that’s the way it goes,” Knight continued.
Knight has caught the attention of former WWE SmackDown color commentator Pay McAfee. Knight and McAfee passed like ships in the night during their NXT runs but were able to formally meet last year when McAfee was still a regular member of the blue brand booth.
“I was watching, he cut a promo the next [NXT] pay-per-view, right to the camera, and I’m like, ‘Who is this guy? This is a guy that I would like to talk to,’” McAfee recalled on The Pat McAfee Show. “This guy, really entertaining. I finally get to meet him, he got called up to SmackDown, I got the chance to meet him. I’m like, ‘Hey buddy, I’m a massive fan of yours.’ Now that he’s getting to be himself and kind of do everything he’s done for his entire career, I’m incredibly happy for him.
“The pops he’s getting whenever his music hits are f–king Attitude Era pops. WWE knows,” McAfee continued. “They hear the pop every time. They know. He’s good. I told him numerous times how big of a fan I am of him. At that time, I don’t think he was necessarily taking compliments as well because he wasn’t able to do his thing (he was still Max Dupri). Now, I’m super pumped for him.”
Knight competes in the Slim Jim Battle Royal this Saturday at WWE SummerSlam.
