Believe it or not, LA Knight’s run in WWE was almost short-lived.
Just days away from competing in a four-way match against future first-ballot Hall of Famers, Undisputed WWE Universal Champion, Roman Reigns, Randy Orton, and AJ Styles at this weekend’s ‘Royal Rumble’ premium live event, LA Knight was almost gone from WWE before his meteoric rise even began.
NXT Head of Creative and WWE Hall of Famer, Shawn Michaels was the man to the rescue when it came to LA Knight being on an internal ‘cut list,’ not just once, but ‘several times.’
When speaking with ESPN, Michaels explained why he wanted to keep LA Knight around despite some in the company wanting to let him go:
“I never lied, I did always have him in stuff. But there were a couple of people that I knew from this mythical age thing, wasn’t fitting their qualifications, but I always kept them in storylines. And so my excuse was, we can’t get rid of him now.”
– Shawn Michaels on Fighting to Keep LA Knight in WWE
HBK then delved into why, despite LA Knight being 38 years old, he’s still one of the very best the company has to offer.
“I would tell them all the time that there is this guy,” Michaels told ESPN, referring to Knight, sitting to his left. “When people say a WWE guy or a Vince guy, he was f—ing it. I was trying to tell [them], lose the three-eight. He never looked to me like he had any mileage on him. To me he was still brand frickin’ new.”
– Shawn Michaels on LA Knight’s Talents
LA Knight is set to challenge Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship, alongside Randy Orton and AJ Styles in a fatal-four-way match, this weekend at the ‘Royal Rumble’ premium live event.
BodySlam will have complete coverage of WWE Royal Rumble all weekend long.
