LA Knight Was Set To Be NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion
LA Knight was set to be a World Champion in another company.
Whilst fans are desperate to see Knight climb to the top of the mountain in WWE, the man once known as Eli Drake is a former IMPACT Wrestling World Champion and has held multiple titles on the independent scene.
Had the megastar stuck around in the NWA, he would have captured one of the oldest championships in existence.
NWA Owner Billy Corgan was recently interviewed by Chris Van Vliet. Knight was brought up in the conversation, where Corgan described how good the WWE Superstar is on the microphone and how there were plans to make him the face of the National Wrestling Alliance:
“Yes, one of the great promos of all time. And that’s not to take away anything from his wrestling. He has a main event-level ability in the ring. But we all know that if you can walk and talk, that’s you hit that other echelon. It’s great to see him hitting that now. You know, we booked him, you know, he was being set up to be NWA Heavyweight Champion. And that’s right around, I think the time of the pandemic.
He was under an NWA contract, and it got to the point where it was like, you know, I can’t remember what it was. But me and him always did good business so no heat there. But it was obvious that it was like, he needed to go pursue other opportunities. And where I was standing at the time was just going to hold him back. There was something there. But it was clearly understood that you know, obviously, was built around Aldis for a while. But once Aldis was going to drop the title, it was going to clearly go to him.
Corgan continued, stating that he enjoyed his time working with LA Knight and is pleased that those in WWE are giving him the overdue opportunity:
So it’s a shame that it never happened because we would have had a lot of fun. Always great to work with him. And somewhere there’s a picture of my 50th birthday. And it’s me, Aaron Stephens, Eli Drake, EC3 and I can’t remember another person from wrestling was there.
So yeah, I’ve always gotten on with him. And I’m very happy for him and he deserves every bit of success that’s coming his way because he’s fought and clawed his way to get there.”
The Smashing Pumpkins lead singer has high hopes for his company, believing it to be the next big thing in wrestling.
Is It La Knight’s Time In WWE?
The WWE fans have gradually got more and more behind Knight every week, with the Megastar receiving one of the loudest reactions on SmackDown every Friday. Following a victory in the SummerSlam Battle Royal, many are hoping that LA Knight will go on to bigger things after multiple big matches have almost stalled his momentum.
H/t to Inside The Ropes