LA Knight Says He Had ‘Residual Heat’ When He Returned to WWE, Talks Pitch Black Match

LA Knight made his return to WWE in 2021, and he acknowledges that he had “residual heat” when he returned. Knight recently spoke with Sports Illustrated ahead of his Pitch Black match with Bray Wyatt at the Royal Rumble and said that when he returned to the company, he had some tension over his conflicts in his past WWE run with then-head coach Bill DeMott. You can check out some highlights from the discussion below:

On having heat upon his return: “When I came back [to WWE in 2021], there was residual heat from my first time around. There was a little bit of headbutting between me and the former head coach back then. It’s a new head coach [Matt Bloom] in place, but there was still the question of whether I could be a team player. I never saw myself as trouble, but I am a very proud guy, so I do speak up. That’s kept me very authentic to myself, but it’s also made my path take a lot longer. I always knew I had something to offer. And to be quite honest, I don’t have a backup. Persevering and being better were the only choices I had. There is still no choice for me but to keep going and make this work… Maybe I wasn’t quite for this ride back then. But I am damn-sure ready now.”

On his current character: “LA Knight is the culmination of all my life’s work. You believe in the character when he speaks. The reason you believe in it is because I believe in it. I believe every damn word I’m saying. If I didn’t believe it, I wouldn’t see it. This has been my biggest joy and biggest source of frustration. I love it so much. And I see the way people treat it—some people make a parody out of it. For me, I’m telling stories. If I’m not telling you a story you can bite on, there is no point to it. I want this to resonate with people. I want to punch a guy once and let people know it hurts, not kick a guy 10 times in the head and see that he’s fine. I’ll pepper in some comedy, but I want it all to make sense.”

On his match against Wyatt: “This is a big moment to shine. But at the same time, it’s no different than any program I’m ever doing—just like when I was in Impact or NWA. The difference is that the smaller companies aren’t visible on the same level as WWE. That drove me insane. It drove me nuts. But it never changed what I was doing. I’ve always worked like people were watching. Every single program ever needs to be better than the last.”