LA Knight picked up his first big pay-per-view win on WWE’s SummerSlam on Saturday night, defeating 24 other men in the Slim Jim Battle Royal. Knight assisted in some of the biggest eliminations of the match, culminating in him tossing Sheamus out of the ring after nailing a top-rope belly-to-belly suplex. WWE then aired a new Slim Jim commercial featuring both Knight and Bianca Belair, with a few nods to “Macho Man” Randy Savage’s classic commercials.
Knight has seen a massive rise in popularity since the start of 2023, fueled almost exclusively by his raw charisma in promos. Prior to his SummerSlam victory, his last big pay-per-view match was the infamous MTN Dew Pitch Black match with Bray Wyatt at the Royal Rumble in January.
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LA Knight on Not Getting Booked on WWE Pay-Per-Views Consistently
“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 told Good Karma Wrestling recently. “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.’”
“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,” he added.
But at the same time, Knight is well aware that promos alone won’t help him reach stardom in WWE. He told My Love Letter to Wrestling earlier this Summer, “Whenever I hear guys, in the act of talking, say they are the best at talking, I’m like, ‘What does that matter in the grand scheme of things?’ It matters in the form of entertainment, but in the scheme of what we’re actually doing, I’m trying to fight this guy, beat this guy, win his championship, what the hell does me being good at talking matter in the scheme of that? Even outside of the universe of wrestling, just because it feels weird and self-serving. The guys who brag about that, it seems like a strange thing. Do you think Muhammad Ali was ever like, ‘I’m the best on the mic.’ No, he was, ‘I’m the best in the ring. I’m the best boxer.’”
WWE SummerSlam 2023 Results
- Logan Paul def. Ricochet
- Cody Rhodes def. Brock Lesnar
- LA Knight wins the SummerSlam Battle Royal
- Ronda Rousey vs. Shayna Baszler (MMA Rules)
- Intercontinental Championship: Gunther vs. Drew McIntyre
- World Heavyweight Championship: Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor
- WWE Women’s Championship: Asuka vs. Bianca Belair vs. Charlotte Flair
- Undisputed WWE Universal Championship: Roman Reigns vs. Jey Uso (Tribal Combat Rules)
