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LA Knight piqued fans' interest last year following his transformation from fashion enthusiast Max Dupri to his original gimmick. Last year, he commenced a feud with Bray Wyatt, resulting in the two clashing in the first-ever pitch-black match at Royal Rumble this year.
Given his growing popularity within a year of being on the main roster, the wrestling fraternity expected him to have a match at WrestleMania 39. His rivalry with Wyatt came to an end owing to him igniting a feud with Bobby Lashley before his alleged injury. This left LA Knight without an opponent for The Show of Shows. A few days ago, it was reported that WWE reached out to Stone Cold Steve Austin for a match against Knight at WrestleMania, but the former allegedly declined.
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This week on SmackDown, LA Knight went up against Xavier Woods in a losing effort. In the aftermath of his match, he was approached for an interview backstage but that was cut short when he started picking on Rey Mysterio, who was nearby. Things went awry when Knight mocked the first 2023 Hall of Fame inductee for declining a match against Dominik Mysterio at WrestleMania 39. Mysterio punched Knight, and later it was officially announced that the two will settle their scores in the ring on next week's edition of SmackDown.
It seems the star, once destined for a major push in the company, has been reduced to a mid-card level performer. His losing streak in the past few weeks has seemingly enraged fans, who instantly took to Twitter to share their contempt for LA Knight's recent booking:
The 40-year old signed with WWE in 2021 and made his NXT debut at Vengeance Day. A year later, he made his main roster debut on RAW where he appeared in a backstage segment with Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode.
LA Knight appeared on WWE prior to 2021
Stars of the wrestling industry have to undergo expansive and thorough training before establishing themselves as prominent names. In WWE, many have made special appearances with minor televised roles in a bid to get them ready for the big stage. From Alexa Bliss, Charlotte Flair and Mercedes Moné (fka Sasha Banks) playing a minor role in Triple H's WrestleMania 30 entrance, to Kenny Omega having a brief stint with WWE in the early 2000s, a majority of the notable stars today have appeared on multiple promotions over the years
Additionally, LA Knight also appeared in WWE during the early years of his career. In 2008, he competed under his real name Shaun Ricker on ECW, and then three years later in an uncredited segment on RAW. In 2011, Kevin Nash stirred up a rivalry with CM Punk when he interrupted his title win at SummerSlam that year. In the weeks that followed, the multi-time WWE Champion confronted the Hall of Famer. Knight portrayed one of the security guards during that segment:
Before Triple H resumed administrative duties in WWE, the former Million Dollar Champion was given the 'Max Dupri' moniker where he took Mansoor and Mace under his wing to up their fashion game. Later, the wrestling world was introduced to Maxxine Dupri who took over his role as he returned to his LA Knight gimmick.
