Is LA Knight cooked?
I’m only slightly older than the demographic that currently uses that term, but I’m an old soul so it all sounds silly to me. Six-seven used to mean a dramatic double down until both competitors got to their feet to continue the battle.
Still, the question is worth discussion, is LA Knight on the verge of being regulated back down to the mid-card for the rest of his WWE career?
I hope I’m wrong, but I think there might be a chance that this weekend’s title bout at Money in The Bank in New Orleans might be his last hurrah for him in the main event picture. The reason I say that is simple, Knight is more or less in the same position today as he was when he challenged for the championship against Roman Reigns three years ago in Saudi Arabia at Crown Jewel. That’s actually meant as a compliment, not a criticism, of LA Knight’s ability to maintain his popularity because much like his initial surge in popularity that brought him to that title shot in 2023, Knight has kept himself over with the audience without most of the WWE promotional machine behind him. It’s not an easy task to stay relevant among the WWE fan base when there are some many moving parts within the landscape of the global, publicly-traded corporation, specifically when the focus of management can shift at any given time, depending on what the next business move is. If they put extra steam behind the AAA project the way they did last month to promote Triplemania, and to build to the Penta/Reigns match in Mexico City, there are different priorities for the office compared to when the writing team starts to build toward Wrestlemania or another signature pay-per-view.
While the prestige of the Money in The Bank event has risen within the past several years, mostly because of how the results of the ladder matches have been used to create memorable moments in the history of the modern era, I think it’s fair to say that it’s still not considered on the same level of the traditional PPV brands. There’s usually a buzz around MITB as the contenders get lined up since that implies scenarios where they could jump into the title scene, but the event doesn’t have the cache of something like The Royal Rumble or Summer Slam.
That might be an indication, much like Crown Jewel was in 2023, that this title match between Roman and Knight is nothing more than a placeholder to give the champion an opponent to get through until Survivor Series. Don’t get me wrong, LA Knight is a guy that has overachieved for the majority of his career. As Eli Drake, he was a bright spot in one of the bleaker times in TNA history, which covers a lot of ground, and he stood out during the earlier episodes of NWA Power. Furthermore, four years ago, Vince McMahon saw him as Max Dupri, the manager of a gimmick tag team. Outside of the fact that Vince usually didn’t put stock in tag teams, at least not in the twenty years before that, the best case scenario was that McMahon saw him as a secondary figure, not even an in-ring performer. LA Knight certainly proved McMahon wrong on that assumption.
That said, I don’t think it was a case of the office trying to minimize Knight’s popularity, although there have definitely been situations over the years when management shut down a character that got over with the audience that wasn’t in their plans, but rather the timing of the scenario. Credit to LA Knight, he’s a talented worker that got himself over with the crowd, but that was in the middle of the two-year storyline between Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns. It wouldn’t have made sense for Roman to drop the title before he finally put Cody over since the lengthy tenure as champion is basically what made the title switch as memorable as it was. This isn’t to take anything away from LA Knight, but not him or anyone else on the roster would’ve justified deviating from that plan, especially because the corporation finally had someone that could take the John Cena role in terms of the representative of the brand when Cody Rhodes became the top guy.
Unfortunately, history might repeat itself and LA Knight could be a victim of circumstances again.
There was a case to be made for Penta to win the championship in Mexico City, and I don’t think it’s quite as definitive as the Cody angle, but it wouldn’t surprise me if the office keeps Reigns undefeated until he drops the title to Oba Femi next year in Saudi Arabia. Again, I think there’s more room for the title to change hands before that since Oba and Roman haven’t had any direct interaction yet, but as I said, it wouldn’t surprise me if the office took the most basic path that will saw Roman put Femi over strong on the biggest stage possible.
That’s the question within all of this, if LA Knight wins the title, who does he work with? Sami Zayn is WWE champion on Smackdown, and CM Punk is currently busy with a feud against Kevin Owens, which should be given the proper time to unfold in a manner that will maximize its potential as compelling programming. Gunter is still involved on Smackdown, and while he could theoretically jump brands to work with Knight, which would be a solid pairing, it’s doubtful that the writing team will shuffle that many pieces if they have Gunther penciled in already for something on Smackdown.
Ultimately, that’s why the Roman/Knight match at MITB this weekend seems like a placeholder rather than a new chapter. Of course, shuffling the deck would be helpful, it certainly freshened up the dynamics on Smackdown, but there appears to be bigger fish to fry on Raw. Yes, LA Knight is talented enough to get a run as the world champion. Hey, Jack Swagger was the champion once. And, yes, it would be a great moment within the context of the MITB pay-per-view. However, between the plans for Oba Femi, who is more than 15 years younger, and the possibility of a Penta run that could be used to assist the AAA venture, how much meat on the bone is there for an LA Knight tenure as champion?
As mentioned, I hope I’m wrong and we get the surprise switch, even if I’m doubtful since the office just did something similar with Sami. Perhaps, the WWE needs to get out of its TKO comfort zone so to speak as far as not pivoting throughout the year if plans were already made. That’s not to say that changing the direction every week is helpful, it isn’t, as we saw during Vince’s latter tenure as the boss, but a degree of flexibility to capitalize on trends would be helpful if the pace of the product is stagnant. At 43, lA Night still have at least a few of the prime years of his career left, but the biggest takeaway from the Roman/Knight bout, based on the similarities between the circumstances of their match in 2023 and the title match this weekend, it looks like the office views LA Knight as a marketable upper mid-card talent, not necessarily the world champion.
Until next week
-Jim LaMotta
E mail [email protected] | You can follow me on Instagram, Facebook, & Threads @jimlamotta89
