Bully Ray Is Confounded By WWE's Presentation Of LA Knight On Monday's Raw

In the eyes of WWE Hall of Famer Bully Ray, last week marked the best night of LA Knight's WWE career thus far. After the events of this week's episode of "WWE Raw," however, Ray believes Knight has done a "reverse 180 [degrees] into the opposite direction."

Knight's perceived creative shift began when Solo Sikoa approached him about re-forming their SummerSlam alliance as the former Bloodline member attempted to take down Jey Uso in the "Raw" main event. Knight ultimately declined, citing their partnership as a temporary deal.

"'Sorry, Solo, I know you're kind of turning babyface, and the crowd really likes you, and we're seeing the entertaining side of you and everybody's on your side, but I'm not going to be in your corner tonight. SummerSlam was a one-time deal.' What a d***," Ray said on "Busted Open Radio", recalling Knight's explanation.

For months, The Bloodline (Jey Uso, Jimmy Uso, and Jacob Fatu) consistently targeted Sikoa and Knight on WWE programming, to the point where Sikoa and Knight eventually put aside their past differences in an effort to dismantle them in a six-man tag match on SummerSlam night one. With Royce Keys rounding out their respective team, Knight and Sikoa emerged victorious over the active Bloodline members. That didn't stop Fatu from later threatening Knight, or in Ray's words, "verbally eviscerat[ing] him, in a backstage segment on this week's "Raw," though.

"[Fatu] shut him right down. He barked louder and shut LA [down]," Ray said. "The babyface had nothing to say at the end, and the camera panned around to give you a better shot of LA Knight's reaction, and LA Knight's reaction was, 'Oh s***, that guy just owned me.' How else can you take it? 'You're not the guy.' 'Oh yeah, I am the guy, and here's why I am the guy.' If that was a physical confrontation right there, best of luck in your future endeavors, LA Knight."

The Knight-Fatu interaction centered on the former's request for Roman Reigns, The Bloodline leader, to defend the WWE World Heavyweight Championship against him. Growing weary of the comments made about "The OTC," Fatu vowed that he'd "dog walk" Knight if given the proverbial green light to do so; he further warned that he's "all gas, no breaks" — something that left Knight seemingly rattled.

"Why didn't [WWE] creative have [Knight] show up for that main event? And why did creative allow Jacob Fatu to dress him down the way he did?" Ray asked. "I don't know either. You can't come off the week before that you had with Roman and not follow up."

Last week, Knight confronted Reigns on WWE's red brand with the assertion that he deserved a world title shot, especially after conquering the other Bloodline members at SummerSlam. Knight also pointed out that, in past encounters, he only lost in instances where The Bloodline members illegally interfered in his matches. With Reigns still face-to-face with him, Knight then wrapped up his speech by describing himself as a "lightning in a bottle," which he believed Reigns to never have been.

In the main event of this week's "Raw," Ray expected Knight to even the odds for Sikoa as he battled Jey Uso under the stipulation that if Sikoa lost, Jey would personally deliver him to Reigns on the August 17 edition. Instead, Knight remained backstage, with Sikoa left to unsuccessfully fend off an interfering Jimmy Uso by himself.

"I would have had LA Knight come out, at least to be the hero, to try to make the save," Ray said, "but in the dipsy-do and the chicanery, it would not have worked. So at least LA Knight did the right thing. [Knight] told you no earlier, but maybe after the verbal tongue lashing that he took from Jacob, he decided to help out Solo, and then it didn't work. Or maybe LA Knight could have went for a clothesline on Jimmy and Jimmy moved out of the way, but he hit Solo by mistake, and there's Jey with the splash off the top. Anything, but at least LA Knight showed face. We got nothing. We got him telling Solo no, we got Jacob berating him, and we got no LA Knight at the end."

By his own admission, WWE's creative overall booking of Knight on Monday night left Ray confused, and furthermore, uncertain as to where "The Megastar" may go from there.

Following his defeat at the hands of Jey, Sikoa is slated to meet Reigns in the ring next week and potentially re-join The Bloodline. Elsewhere on WWE's red brand, the luchador tournament to determine Reigns' next world title challenger will continue with two matches: Dragon Lee vs. El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. and Rey Fenix vs. El Fisca.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Busted Open Radio" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.