LA Knight Says Initial Months On WWE Main Roster Were A Mental 'Torture'

Fans have criticized WWE for not pushing LA Knight, but the star's current position is a far cry from when he debuted on the main roster, a time he has described as torturous.

Knight's second run in WWE began in 2021, with his journey starting in "WWE NXT" before he was quickly moved to the main roster. The former WWE United States Champion's main roster debut came with the Max Dupri gimmick, which also featured Maxxine Dupri. Knight, during his appearance at Fanatics Fest, reflected on his early days on the main roster and admitted that he wasn't enjoying it.

"The level of torture, mentally, that that was for those few months where it's like, all right, I did this thing that brought me to the dance, undeniably. And now you want me to just tuck it away over here? That makes sense, sure, yeah, we'll do that [said sarcastically]. Oh, wait, you're going to pay me how much? All right, I'll think about it. But at the same time, I'm still sitting there thinking, this is career suicide. This is torpedoing me, and I'm dead in the water at this point," he said. 

Eventually he was given the chance to go back to the LA Knight character that he played in his time in "NXT," an opportunity he grabbed with both hands. 

"But at some point when the opportunity arose, [and I told myself] wait a minute, I can go back and I can do me, my way? Let's do that. And that's what we did. And every single person standing out here right now, they're standing here because of the fact that I got that opportunity to do that. That chance to come out and do what I do my way with everybody saying [crowd chants 'LA Knight, yeah.']"

Knight revealed earlier this year that WWE had pitched the Max Dupri character as someone similar to the late, great Roddy Piper, as a manager who would also wrestle as part of a group.