WWE Would Be Making Huge Mistake Giving MITB Win to Logan Paul Over LA Knight

This still new-feeling era of WWE could go one of two dramatically different directions depending on what the company decides to do with LA Knight during Saturday's men's Money in the Bank ladder match.

Knight, simply put, feels like the proverbial lighting in a bottle that doesn't happen too often in pro wrestling. He's achieved a groundswell of organic fan support, to the point it feels obvious WWE can't go with anyone but him.

But is that how it will play out?

Logan Paul's sudden, random-feeling insertion into the ladder match (he didn't even need to qualify, not unlike say, a Brock Lesnar, apparently) has been backed by rumors that some within WWE want him to win the briefcase, according to WRKD Wrestling (h/t Randall Ortman of Cageside Seats).

Granted, other buzz says Triple H is not in love with the idea of Paul winning, according to BWE (h/t Ortman).

Seasoned fans know where this is going—will Triple H or Vince McMahon win the battle of ideals here? Speculation about McMahon rewriting shows, even from afar, have chased WWE around in recent months. And the company has been downright erratic in whether it decides to actually capitalize on organic momentum of the Knight variety in recent years. It rode Daniel Bryan and Kofi Kingston to some extent, while ignoring Rusev and others.

One thing that feels certain? Triple H needs to come out on top of this battle because Knight truly deserves it. Before the creative change, he was merely a manager, so this is very much a recent role reversal into the spotlight courtesy of new bosses in control of creative.

Knight hasn't had any problem winning over fans since being given the chance. His promos have been this Attitude Era-styled throwback reminiscent of The Rock and Steve Austin, among others:

Add in a good in-ring presence to the fantastic character work and promo skills and it's not hard to see why fans have backed Knight so heavily.

Also helping Knight is the actual list of competitors in the men's ladder match:

• Ricochet
• Shinsuke Nakamura
  
• Santos Escobar
  
• Butch
  
• Damian Priest
  
• Logan Paul
  

With all due respect to those Superstars, it's a list of guys who have already been tried before as top guys to varying results, guys who aren't ready and Paul, who doesn't need a briefcase to be relevant. And no, Paul shouldn't get the win so WWE can have the briefcase on display during his podcasts or other non-wrestling media appearances, either.

Knight isn't just over with fans by doing his thing...we could argue he's the only Superstar in recent times to exit a feud with Bray Wyatt better than he entered it, which says it all about what a good job he's doing right now.

Nobody is as good of an option as Knight, who would presumably go right off into a feud chasing after Seth Rollins. The war of words between the two alone would be epic. And it eliminates any chance WWE or fans have to worry about how to make Knight against unified champion Roman Reigns work—he's already 40 years old, so having him go after Rollins instead means Reigns' eventual loss can put over a younger, future-minded Superstar.

But just because Knight has a briefcase doesn't mean he has to immediately go after a title, either. One nice thing WWE could do to further amplify his star power is put him in a feud with Paul after the ladder match until SummerSlam, at least.

What better way to get Knight in front of more casual or lapsed pro wrestling fans than to put him in a feud with one of the globe's bigger internet personalities? If a lot of fans notice those Rock-styled promos Knight cuts and come back to check out the product, it's a huge win for all involved.

If—and it's a big if—Paul wins the briefcase, the only thing that might save it is having Knight go after him and goading Paul to put the briefcase up for grabs during a match at SummerSlam. That might accomplish the same thing as far as luring back lapsed fans or creating new ones via Knight, but it would still feel like WWE just fishing for a reaction on Saturday by going away from the super-obvious.

Because the super-obvious thing WWE needs to do is give Knight a moment in London and let him continue to go to work, uplifted out of the mid-card and with bigger stakes for each appearance.

At a time Raw has had a hard time competing with the Bloodline on SmackDown, Knight has the presence and fan backing to even the scales. All WWE has to do is listen to fans, which sounds simple enough, right?