LA Knight has been a major success story for WWE in recent months as his popularity has exploded.
While the star is technically still a heel, he has become beloved by fans and many are tipping him to win the Money In The Bank Ladder Match and move on to the main event scene. However, if WWE would have followed through with their original plans he wouldn’t even be wrestling, let alone rising into contention for a shot at the World Championship.
Speaking in a new interview with Alex McCarthy for the Daily Mail, Knight reflected on his journey to WWE, and how his main roster run was almost over before it started.
Knight revealed that WWE originally wanted him to be a manager, and had concerns over his age, despite many on the main roster being older than him. This led to him becoming Max Dupri before he reverted to being LA Knight as he had been in NXT.
“Oh, boy! Hahaha. I’m killing it in NXT. It’s crazy, like, just the reactions, the way I had turned from big time heel in the summertime to big time babyface by the winter. It’s not piped in and it’s not prefabbed reactions. It was organic, real stuff happening. I come up for a dark match, I get the attention of the right people; “hey, who is this guy?” but then the age thing comes up – [whispers] “oh no, he’s 40, danger’.
But I’m not the average 40-year-old. I haven’t gone through the ringer. I haven’t had a bunch of surgeries or injuries, knock on that wood. I’ve lived a good, youthful life in a certain sense and I’ve taken care of myself in a way I would say most don’t.
And also, I look a certain way where obviously I’ve got somebody’s attention. But that number came up and it was like “well ok, maybe we make him a manager.” So Some things happened there. It was not my cup of tea and definitely I don’t think it was for me. But somehow, there I was. Some things happened that we don’t need to go into and then eventually LA Knight was back.'”
LA Knight Among Favourites To Win WWE Money In The Bank
While LA Knight’s main roster career didn’t get off to the greatest of starts his popularity backstage and on-screen has risen incredibly in 2023. It has been reported that the former IMPACT star is one of the frontrunners to win Money In The Bank, while he has a number of supporters behind the scenes including Triple H.