LA Knight on His Pitch Black Match With Bray Wyatt at Tonight's WWE Royal Rumble, Why Max Dupri Didn't Work

By Connor Casey

LA Knight will take on Bray Wyatt at tonight's Royal Rumble pay-per-view in WWE's first-ever "Mountain Dew Pitch Black Match." What that stipulation actually means is still a bit unclear, but Knight explained in an interview with ComicBook this week that he's nonetheless excited to have the match. He pointed out that, because it's the first of his kind, he's free to set the standard for the stipulation. 

"In my mind, this is the second-biggest event of the year, second only to WrestleMania," Knight said. "Considering the fact that I'm going to be in a first, the first-ever Pitch Black at the Royal Rumble, that is enormous. Hell yeah, I'm ready for that. Let me set trends, let me set history."

Tonight will mark Knight's first WWE pay-per-view match and just his fourth televised match since getting called up to the main roster in early 2022. Despite being a decorated former champion in other companies, Knight initially arrived on the SmackDown brand as the villainous manager Max Dupri, a talent agent running Maximum Male Models with Mace and Mansoor as his first clients. But by the end of September 2022, he had split from the group and firmly re-established himself as Knight. He explained why that initial character idea simply didn't work. 

"How honest do you want me to be?" Knight asked with a laugh. "I'll just say this, at the end of the day I can make anything work. But at the end of the day, I've got a real tough time not being. I'll tell you this, it wasn't me. So when things came to pass and LA Knight started to shine through, it was the right place to go and not a moment too soon."

Check out the full card for tonight's Royal Rumble and stay tuned for full coverage of the show live from the Alamodome in San Antonio! 

  • Undisputed WWE Universal Championship: Roman Reigns vs. Kevin Owens\
  • Men's Royal Rumble
  • Women's Royal Rumble:
  • Raw Women's Championship: Bianca Belair vs. Alexa Bliss
  • Bray Wyatt vs. LA Knight (Pitch Black Match)
0comments
Start the Conversation

of