LA Knight Fails to Advance in the King of the Ring Tournament After Being Scr*wed over on SmackDown

While Seth Rollins wasn't there to trouble LA Knight on SmackDown, he did send Bron Breakker and "Big" Bronson Reed to make sure The Megastar lost.

LA Knight Fails to Advance in the King of the Ring Tournament After Being Scr*wed over on SmackDown

LA Knight [via- WWE]

LA Knight has lost the plot of late. On this week’s SmackDown, he was a part of the first-round Fatal-4-Way match in the King of the Ring tournament. The 42-year-old went up against Randy Orton, Aleister Black, and Carmelo Hayes and was sailing smoothly. At one point, he was about to drop his elbow on Hayes from the middle rope but was pulled down by “Big” Bronson Reed.

Shortly after Reed’s brute force rendered Knight powerless, he got clocked by a vicious spear from Bron Breakker, who was measuring up ‘The Megastar’ from behind. Knight had it coming his way, especially after he scr*wed things up for Breakker on Raw this past Monday. The erstwhile Eli Drake planted Seth Rollins‘ disciple with a BFT at ringside in Breakker’s then-ongoing KOTR round one clash.

‘The Unpredictable Badass’ got his lick back on Knight last night. However, Knight’s act of retaliation stemmed from Breakker making life difficult for him during the Money in the Bank ladder match at Rollins’ marching orders. Having said that, as per Cory Hays of BodySlam, ‘The Defiant One’ is expected to feud with Rollins heading into Night of Champions, slated for June 28 in Saudi Arabia.

Rollins and Knight have never gone one-on-one in WWE. It seems like the company is finally building towards that match. Even though ‘The Architect’ is this year’s Mr. MITB, the fans were rooting for Knight to get that accolade. The Maryland native had come tantalizingly close to winning it in 2023, but Damian Priest rained on his parade.

LA Knight insulted John Cena on SmackDown

LA Knight interrupted the likes of John Cena, Randy Orton, and Cody Rhodes in the opening segment of SmackDown. He mentioned how #WeWantLAKnight was trending on the internet ever since that disappointing end to his Money in the Bank campaign. Burying those ghosts, Knight looked forward to becoming the 2025 King of the Ring but was eventually pinned by ‘The Viper.’

John Cena, LA Knight, Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes
John Cena, LA Knight, Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes [via- WWE]

However, ‘The Defiant One’ did get his insults in on the reigning Undisputed WWE Champion. While dreaming about taking that belt off Cena, Knight quipped that he had to drop a “genius balding b***h.” That received a massive reaction from the Lexington crowd at the Rupp Arena, but Cena decided to just walk off. It’s worth noting that Cena and Knight have worked together in WWE.

Back in 2023, when ‘The Franchise Player’ returned to WWE during the SAG-AFTRA strike, Cena was a special guest referee in Knight’s match against The Miz at Payback. After Knight won, the Peacemaker actor raised his hand as a sign of respect and said that it was his moment. Then, at Fastlane, both men successfully fended off the duo of Solo Sikoa and Jimmy Uso in a crowd-pleasing affair.

Is LA Knight even destined for more glory in WWE?

It’s been more than a couple of years since LA Knight reverted back to the gimmick that he’s comfortable with from being Max Dupri, which was Vince McMahon‘s brainchild. In the meantime, the former US Champion has consistently been one of the most popular stars on the entire roster, and he’s done it while juggling subpar booking.

LA Knight
LA Knight doing his signature pose [via- WWE]

Knight was red-hot in the summer of 2023, but WWE hesitated on pulling the trigger by not making him Mr. MITB. It could’ve easily set him up for becoming a world champion in the company. However, for some reason, that didn’t happen.

Even though he’s won the US title twice on the main roster, Knight seems somewhat lost in the shuffle. It’d be interesting to see if he ever makes it to the tippy-top or not. His most newsworthy feud has been against Roman Reigns, which culminated in a match at Crown Jewel.

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