Subhojeet Mukherjee on July 4, 2023
LA Knight made a huge splash after his debut at NXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day on February 14th, 2021. He has been in the business for several years and has experienced a lot of ups and downs throughout his career. Now it appears that Knight explained why he didn’t return to WWE after his initial release.
LA Knight was known as Eli Drake in Impact Wrestling, where he became a massive star thanks to his excellent promo skills and in-ring work. All of this led to WWE eventually signing him a couple of years ago.
LA Knight signed a developmental contract in 2013 and spent about a year in the Performance Center before being released from his contract in August 2014. The following year, WWE wanted to re-sign Knight, but he turned it down.
While speaking with Sporting News, LA Knight revealed how pay-related issues influenced his decision to turn down WWE’s offer back in 2015.
“The issue was I was making more money where I was now at the time than they [WWE] were offering me to come back. Now, there’s a game here to where I was [sic] was paying me great money, but I was close to the ceiling there. I was getting offered way less over here, but the ceiling is way higher on this one. But I wasn’t ready to take that bet yet because I’ve been broke for ten years, all through my 20s. Like, didn’t have a bank account for most of that time. Like, didn’t have a car for some of that time. Like, was getting eviction notices for a lot of that time.
That kinda stuff sits there, and I’m like, ‘All right, they’re giving me great money here. I’m gonna take this for at least a couple [of] years.’ We kinda went back and forth for a couple [of] years. I’m expecting I’m gonna get more money from this offer, no. So, I stay. Eventually, when the time was right, I felt like I was pretty comfortable in a financial situation, it was, ‘All right, well, now I can take that bet on myself, take less money for now on the bet, knowing that hey, I can have myself set up financially much better in the future when things work out.’ So, yeah, eventually, I made the move, and here we are.”
There was a good reason why WWE didn’t book LA Knight to win the Money In The Bank ladder match. Regardless, we will have to wait and see what WWE has planned for LA Knight next.
What’s your opinion on what LA Knight said? Are you glad he is now a proper WWE Superstar? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
July 4, 2023 11:20 am
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