LA Knight is Great, But He's Not Ready to Win WWE Money in the Bank Ladder Match
LA Knight continues to grow in popularity ahead of Money in the Bank, giving many fans the feeling that he will walk out of the O2 Arena in London with the briefcase.
Next Saturday, seven men will compete for a shot at the championship of their choice as WWE hosts its first pay-per-view in England since 2002. This is the opportunity of a lifetime.
Knight could use this win to catapult himself up to the top of the card, but is it the right time?
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The former figurehead of Maximum Male Models outshined the other competitors on the mic on the latest episode of Raw. He even left Logan Paul without a comeback after the YouTuber announced he will join the field next weekend.
Knight was an early favorite to win the men's Money in the Bank ladder match until Paul threw his hat into the ring. Last week, betting sites still had The Megastar as the competitor most likely to secure the awaiting contract.
Nevertheless, the 40-year-old still seems like most fans' preferred choice to win it all, given his reaction each week. It's getting harder to ignore his abrupt groundswell of support, but can a victory give him the push he needs to become a legitimate champion?
A Long Journey to The Big Stage
Some fans may remember the 20-year veteran as Eli Drake. The Los Angeles native made a name for himself with NWA, Impact and several other smaller promotions following a short-lived stint with WWE in 2013.
In 2021, he re-signed with the company and debuted in NXT as LA Knight. During his time on the black-and-gold brand, he took part in a notable feud with Cameron Grimes and competed in the Fatal Four-Way for the main title on the premiere of NXT 2.0.
The Megastar also fought alongside Johnny Gargano, Tommaso Ciampa and Pete Dunne at WarGames as they took on the new generation of signees. It was clear that viewers realized there was something special about him even then.
Regardless, Knight eventually made his way to the main roster as a manager for ma.çé and mån.sôör.
He never quite caught on as Max Dupri, but he revealed that WWE repackaged him because of concern about his age in a recent interview with Alex McCarthy of the Daily Mail.
Last October, the former Million Dollar champion ditched the stable and reverted to the character he perfected with NXT. Although he initially seemed like cannon fodder for a returning Bray Wyatt at the Royal Rumble, the tenacious Superstar inexplicably came out of their highly criticized Mountain Dew Pitch Black match more popular than ever.
So much so that many fans were disappointed he didn't have a contest scheduled for WrestleMania 39 in his adopted hometown. His organic rise in popularity over the past six months seems almost implausible, but he has so much charisma and great comedic timing that it's hard not to like him.
Looking back on his journey, Knight expressed frustration over the time it took to get here during a recent interview with Stephanie Chase of Digital Spy. He has an inspiring story but felt he "should have been here a long time ago."
The Struggle for A Breakthrough Moment with WWE
With all of this in mind, The Megastar seems like everything WWE would want in a new top contender on the surface. He looks like a stud and has tremendous mic skills. Even more, online fans and the live audience love him.
It has taken him 10 years to get to this point in his career, and he's this close to achieving a defining moment. However, it's still hard to imagine that he will be the one to dethrone Roman Reigns or end Seth Rollins' inaugural run with the World Heavyweight Championship.
Knight is a potential breakout star, but it's too soon for him to win a top title. Frankly, WWE hasn't done the work to present him as a believable world champion, and a victory at Money in the Bank won't cover for that.
After all, the company made a similar mistake with Otis in 2020 and Nikki A.S.H the following year. It's not enough to give an affable Superstar a title shot because their eventual win will always come off as a fluke without a strong track record.
That's not to say Knight doesn't have what it takes to hold the company's top prize. After all, the former Impact world champion has held titles elsewhere, but WWE's audience has only seen him as a joke for so long.
Knight has only won five televised matches this year, and he usually shows up as comic relief. In fact, he just lost to Santos Escobar in two minutes and 40 seconds on last week's episode of SmackDown.
The self-proclaimed Megastar could use a major win, but he doesn't have the cachet to justify a Money in the Bank victory yet. Instead, WWE will probably use the positive buzz around him to give Paul's win even more heat after he didn't compete in the qualifying matches like the other participants.
Knight's performance and noticeable reaction from the live crowd on the latest edition of Raw seemed like foreshadowing. The hot new Superstar should be poised for a big win later this year, but he's not quite ready to win the MITB briefcase and cash in on two of the top stars.
This outcome will make Paul a controversial choice, but it will make for an even better moment when Knight does get his due.
