LA Knight Addresses His First WWE Firing And Finding His Way Back

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In his second run with WWE, LA Knight has reached levels of success he never came close to previously, and the former WWE United States Champion cites simply continuing to push forward as the primary reason why his return has been so overwhelmingly positive. Appearing on "Jazzy's World TV," Knight talked about his return, as well as the early days, which included his involvement in a Triple H workout video that didn't exactly turn out to be his ticket to stardom.

"Did that help me in any way?" Knight asked. "Probably not because [I got fired soon after]. It took me another journey around the world to come back home here and make things happen." Knight, whose run as United States Champion ended at Survivor Series with a loss to Shinsuke Nakamura, recognized the twists and turns he took to get back to WWE, and is excited for whatever is next. "It's wild to be here now and just consider all that history and the crazy different side quests I've taken," he said, "whether it be [the fitness video] or doing different commercials, TV shows, whatever. [At this point], sky's the limit."

Asked if there were ever times when he considered giving up on wrestling between leaving WWE in 2014 and coming back in 2021, Knight denied ever really seeing an end during that period, with one possible exception that was far out of his control. "There was really never a moment that I ever felt like I was gonna call it quits," he explained. "[I knew] that something was gonna connect. [It] was just 'keep pushing forward.' The only time where I thought, 'I think I'm kinda stuck and I think this might be the end of the road for me,' [was] when the pandemic happened."

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In that era of uncertainty, which affected pretty much everyone in the world, Knight wasn't sure he'd get another opportunity since, with most everything, wrestling included, slowing to a crawl, he felt like companies were looking more toward the future than at a seasoned veteran such as himself. He recalled thinking, "Man, things are slowing down. I'm at an age now where people are going to really scrutinize me. Do they really want to bring me in because they like bringing in all these 20-year-olds?" As it turned out, an advantage he had, even over fellow wrestlers that were half his age, was his physical stature, something that ironically landed him in that fitness video all those years ago, and that's what rejuvenated his confidence in such an awkward period of time.

"I get [companies looking at younger talent] because this is a physical game," Knight explained. "At the same time, I'm in tremendous shape. I don't think most people can touch the shape I'm in." With a renewed focus, he decided to give a run in WWE another shot, pushing his chips to the middle of the table and reconnecting with his former employer in hopes of a better end result.

"With everybody seeing that age number and then the pandemic, that was the only time where I started to doubt that this might happen and then at some point,I just said, 'Forget all that. I'm gonna make that overture one more time, keep pushing forward, and here we are."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Jazzy's World TV" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.