Thunder Rosa Excited For LA Knight, Recalls Working With WWE Star In NWA
LA Knight has become an endearing presence for WWE fans, but the man formerly known as Eli Drake has a long resume from before his time in WWE. While perhaps most famously having spent time in Impact Wrestling, he also spent some time appearing for NWA.
On "Busted Open," fellow NWA alum and current AEW star Thunder Rosa commented on his success in WWE.
"I was thinking about an interview LA Knight just did very recently, talking about, for ten years he didn't have any money. He was getting evicted all the time because the only thing that he was doing was wrestling, and it wasn't paying enough," Rosa said.
"Look at him, this Saturday. I worked with LA Knight in NWA, he's one of my favorite people from NWA. He was super kind, super smart, super charismatic, and it just filled me with so much joy seeing him on such a huge platform doing Money in the Bank. People were cheering for him, people wanted him to win."
The match Rosa is referring to is the men's Money in the Bank match, where LA Knight was a strong favorite to win the match, which was eventually won by Damian Priest.
Criticisms of LA Knight
Thunder Rosa isn't alone in her praise of LA Knight as he has received wide praise across the wrestling world recently. Though he does have his detractors, with many noticing a similarity to The Rock and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. However, Rosa doesn't think those criticisms should drag him down.
"For the first time after 15-20 years, where he had that dream, he fought for that dream, he's finally having that moment. Regardless of what criticisms he's creating because of how he developed his character and how he's whatever, he's living his dream, and [...] it's amazing. I have so many other examples of other people who did the same thing," she said.
"John Cena, when he said he got paid — when he first started working with WWE — 12,000 dollars. That's what he did, he [...] slept and dreamed professional wrestling. And now he's one of the biggest superstars in the world."