LA Knight has looked back on his journey to the US Championship and how it came at the right time.
Two and a half years on from his arrival on the main roster, Knight was finally validated in Cleveland when he defeated Logan Paul to become the new United States Champion at SummerSlam. With previous opportunities slipping away from Knight such as the Money in the Bank briefcase and a delayed opportunity at the gold, some wondered if the big win would ever come. However, according to the US Champion, SummerSlam 2024 was the right place for the reign to begin.
Speaking with Alex McCarty of Mail Online, LA Knight stated that winning the title in front of 60,000 fans was pretty special:
Man, there isn’t really a bigger place you could do it than SummerSlam in a giant stadium with almost 60,000 people losing their minds. So, pretty damn big deal. Last night, I was actually hanging out on the back porch, just smoking a cigar with my US championship. So, all good over here.
Continuing, Knight looked back on his meteoric rise and admitted that there were concerns over his quick ascent if the buzz fizzled out after the company gave him a push. However, as Knight proved in the lead-up to the match, their concerns were proved wrong:
There was definitely a point last year where I felt like now was probably the right time to make it happen. There’s no real way to know what’s right or wrong. But at this point, whether it was late or on time, it feels right. I think, whether it happened last year or this time, the onus was on me to prove that I could stay afloat and remain as popular as I have for the last year.
I think that that was really weird. I don’t know what it is about me, and maybe it’s with everybody, or maybe it’s just me because of how quickly things happened and picked up. The popularity grew last year, and there was a lot of thought about whether it would last or if it was just a flash in the pan. You’ve heard those promos—flash in the pan, flavour of the month, etc.
I think there was some genuine concern about that, to the point where it was like, “Alright, well, we pulled the trigger on this guy, and if things flounder, what do we do?” Well, guess what? Nothing ever floundered. Yes, things ebb and flow, they go up and down. But as things cooled off a little bit in the winter of early 2024, all of a sudden, boom! We get into the spring and summer, and things are bigger, super bigger, and on track more than they’ve ever been.
LA Knight Looks Back On Major 2023 WWE Match
Back in November 2023, Knight was once again placed in a major position as he challenged Roman Reigns for the Undisputed Championship at Crown Jewel. During the same interview, LA Knight looked back on the Roman Reigns match and why there were mixed emotions ahead of time.