LA Knight has become one of WWE’s most popular Superstars competing today, despite some thinking at first he’d just be the flavor of the month.
2023 saw a dramatic rise in popularity for the former Max Dupri, who kicked off the year the Pitch Black match at the Royal Rumble event. Throughout the year, Knight’s popularity continued to grow as fans continued to rally behind the veteran. At WWE Crown Jewel, Knight challenged Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns but failed to dethrone the Tribal Chief.
Flavor of the Month
LA Knight is one of WWE’s top stars right now, but not everybody had high hopes for the megastar. Speaking to Chris Van Vliet of Insight, Knight recalled WWE higher-ups being hesitant to go all in on him.
“There was skepticism at first. Is this really a thing? Is this just going to be a flash in the pan? Is this going to be a flavor of the month? And that’s a thing we had talked about and was even talked about with me. ‘Well, we don’t want to give it to you too soon because then they might get over it.’ Look, fine. If that’s the case and I’m not good enough to carry that, cool, let’s go with that.
“I understand the idea of wanting to protect me at some point as well. But I have the belief in myself that I could pivot and move and adapt to whatever the situation is. You don’t want to give it to him too soon but if try and not give it to him at all, come on man. I feel like I’m better than that. And I don’t mean that in a boisterous way, but I’m confident in what I do. I’m confident in my skills. And at the same time, I want to be able to fail. Because when I fail, I get back up.”
When Van Vliet rejected the notion that Knight has failed, the megastar corrected him and shared how crazy the past year has been.
“I’ve failed a million times but this year has been crazy… Apparently, I’ve been married twice this year as well. [Chris says Congratulations] Thank you, even though I’m not married.”
An Overnight Success?
While Knight’s rise in WWE has been dramatic, this chapter is just the latest in his lengthy career. On the show, Knight explained how his success was both an overnight sensation as wel as something that was a long time coming.
“It was but it wasn’t. It was 20 years, but then it was an overnight success. It was 20 years to get the overnight success basically because all of a sudden you’ve got– anywhere I’ve been any other company, had a fraction of the audience we have now. So to any of the uninitiated, most of them are seeing me for the first time. So in a certain way, it is an overnight success to the broader audience.”
La Knight will challenge for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at the Royal Rumble, as will Randy Orton and AJ Styles. Roman Reigns is understandly not happy about this…
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