WWE's LA Knight Discusses Past, And Possible Future, With TNA

LA Knight is one of many current WWE stars who previously wrestled in TNA Wrestling, and he has discussed his time in the promotion and TNA's partnership with WWE.

Knight, who wrestled under the ring name Eli Drake in TNA, explained why his world title run in the promotion was important to him, despite it not unfolding as he had hoped.

"All of a sudden out of nowhere it's [TNA told him] like, 'Oh, yeah, by the way, you're gonna have the title.' I'm like, 'What? Okay!' It just ... it felt like I wanted more of a steady build — I know that maybe that might sound like I'm looking at a gift horse in the mouth, but, you know, you want to add a little bit of believability to it, but at the same time it was just like, 'Well, all right, well, let me take this thing and run with it.' So in that regard, it was vindication in a lot of ways. I felt like it was a long time coming, long overdue just considering everything that I had done and brought to the game in that regard," Knight said on "The Wrestling Classic."

He revealed that AEW star Scorpio Sky — who was in TNA with Knight — told him that he would one day be world champion. The WWE star didn't believe him as he felt that TNA did not see world championship potential in him considering the way they had booked him. But, Sky was right as Knight won the world title, which was a decision that took him by surprise. Knight held the world title for nearly 150 days, losing it to Austin Aries in 2018.

LA Knight also discussed the WWE-TNA relationship, highlighting how the partnership is an example of how the pro wrestling industry is ever-changing.

"I don't know of any plans to do so [him featuring on TNA] ... I mean, I guess 'never say never,' at the same time, my thoughts are it's [WWE-TNA partnership], you know, about five years too late. It should have happened when I was there, then we could crossover stuff," said Knight. "But, yeah, I don't know, it's kind of cool, it's unprecedented because, you know, even though I would say TNA has been a distant number two for a long time, they were a threat for a little bit, at least in the 2010s — in the early 2010s — maybe, and with that being the case, I think it's really just crazy to fathom the idea that now there's a working partnership."

Although he doesn't know if he will ever return to TNA, he mentioned that he is just one title away from being a TNA Grand Slam Champion, which he seems to be keen to fulfill.

"Now you're talking about this partnership, I'm only one title short of a Triple Crown [he corrected himself by saying he's a Triple Crown champion and he meant Grand Slam] there. So, I mean, if I can get back in there and get that X-Division title [laughs]."

Knight had a four-year run with TNA, between 2015 and 2019, where he won the tag team title as well as the King of the Mountain title, aside from the aforementioned World title.