How LA Knight overcame a terrible gimmick to become a WWE fan favourite
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- Опубликовано: 28 окт 2024
- In this captivating RUclips video, we delve into the extraordinary journey of LA Knight, formerly known as Eli Drake, as he defied the odds and overcame a dreadful gimmick to rise as a WWE fan favorite. Witness the struggles, setbacks, and unwavering determination that propelled him from an underappreciated character to a beloved superstar in the world of professional wrestling.
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LA Knight is sheer evidence of deserved hype. A year ago he was Max Dupri mixing with a terrible gimmick, with terrible storylines. Now this guy gets the best reaction of any wrestler in WWE. He made Ford Field erupt at SS…OVER A SLIM JIM BATTLE ROYALE.
Thats how good he is.
I was at SummerSlam and literally all day people were screaming his name and catchphrases. I was at the urinal, a guy walks in and says "let me talk to ya" and a dude in a stall taking a dump says "yeah." It was crazy, yet very fun.
I'm just glad they got rid of his Max Dupri gimmick, cause that's got to be Vince's top worst Ideas Ever. Yeeeaaah!
@@charlest5604😂😂😂 good to hear
Although awful we cannot act like LA Knight was not working it well
Very Much Deserved!!!
He's our 🐐
With everybody saying - L.A. Knight Yeahhhhhhhhh!!!!
Yeahhhhh!
And that is just the facts of life!💯
Dummy, Yeah!!!
I feel bad for you if HE is your goat.
@@doitwildly2863
You seem like a really fun guy. A real life of the party kind of guy.
Who cares about his age? It's wrestling. It's all a work. If you're good, you're good. I don't care about anything else.
True! And he is only 40 y and he will continue his journey to the top! Cuz he is the Mega Star the GOAT. Yeah!
Finn Balor is 42 and Santos is 39. This age thing is pure BS.
@@heymeng4667don't forget Lashley, Lesnar, Goldberg, Sheamus, Miz, AJ, and the rest. These dum dums are so dumb. Ha.
@@heymeng4667 MIZ is 42, and DOLPH ZIGGLER is 43 SMH.... and those guys are played out as hell meaning no one cares about them. I'm done with VINCES CRAP.
@@TheSkorpioprinceRoman is 38 and Damien Priest is 40. Again: a lotta lotta of them are swimming in mid to late 30s waters.
His Eli Drake "Shoes of a Champion" promo sealed it for me a while ago. This guy is so likeable.
Did you just say "Shoes of a Champion?"
The fact Vince almost buried him with the Maximum Male Model manager gimmick proves Vince has lost his touch completely.
No, Vince just sometimes think some of his ideas will get a guy over until it doesnt, and Max Dupri didnt amd times like thatbyou have to show Vince what a guy can do and be presented as for him to get over with Vince
@@TimeBomb014Xadmit it he has lost his touch. He looked at LA Knight for a brief period of time and didn't get him at all.
He did the same thing with a lot of other people who had potential but he didn't capitalize on it. Case in point sami zayn, i loved him when he first started on the main roster, vince made me not care about him, even if he was doing great with what he was given, and it took vince about 5 years to realize he should get a push
@@Simon25-17 Vince doesnt like small guys, this is a known fact about him for years. Vince is not perfect and has always made mistakes with certain talent, but he's also made the rignt choices like Roman Reigns and givimg him to go to be a heel when he came back, going to get Cody Rhodes and agreeing to Cody's demands. Vince hasnt lost hisbtouch, he's justbalways had just as much misses as he's had home runs
@@TimeBomb014Xis this Vince?
One could argue that Vince never had his mind in the first place. Look what his first instinct was to do with the rock. We're talking about a guy that didn't think Steve Austin had it and made him the ring master. Vince McMahon's track record as a creative force isn't good. One of the best businessmen of all time who had enough sense to hire people that knew what they were doing to work for him.
LA Knight is the same age as Damien Priest who has the Money In The Bank ain't no one gonna tell me he too old
Damian is 40?? 😮
& Cody says he’s only 3 years younger than Knight.
Yeah but I think they gave it to Priest because he was already the planned winner beforehand and he has been pushed since joining the main roster
@@mangamango5569yes Priest is 40
They are just mad because he wasn’t home grown and he got over on his own with no push. Vince hates when that happens apparently
People are captivated by his natural charisma and command of the microphone. Most others in wwe are forcefed scripts and quietly limp through his promos. Knights booming voice, his catch phrases, his charisma is hard to ignore.
yeah!
I'm glad you mentioned he hasn't had any major injuries. The Megastar himself pointed that out in a lot of his interviews that he doesn't have a lot of mileage on his body like other wrestlers closer to his age. What is also interesting about management not liking his age is that Seth and Cody are only a few years younger than him and they have been injured way more.
DDP started at 35 without even wrestling training. LA Knight is doing great now and it seems he is finally getting that push. Let’s be patient and see where it takes him.
You know, I think in these times age is shifting. 25 years ago you had a 27-year old Rock feeling like he was a grown man and now you have a 25-year old MJF who still feels pretty young. This is seen across the population as people are seen as younger than their age so I think it's perfect. Give him a 4 year memorable run and that'll cement his legacy.
Unrelated to Knight but most young people now are completely pussies. Thats why people seem younger than they are. Theres no maturity anymore. Again, nothing to do with wrestlers
Look at graduation photos from the 80s vs now. Chicks look similar but guys look like kids. It's probably all the plastic and shit they feed us.
I think it's because people can live longer and stay healthier longer the better medicine we get and the more about the human body figure out. So 25 is has become less proportionately of a person's average "peak"
People forget lol, the entire Stone Cold thing lasted like..5 years? barely? , so i agree, give Knight a good 4-5 years and everybody will come off looking great
I would like to hear a promo between MJF and LA Knight! Just one! The one on Dynamite with Joe was great and we get more of it :D
I am watching WWE since I was 8
I have seen many stars becoming megastars but LA Knight's rise is just mind-blowing
This man talks,walks and fights like The Rock
Honestly, he reminds me of Jeff Hardy back during his WWE Championship story line. He's so over with the fans and you can tell he's going to be bigger then Cena at some point.
He reminds me of stone cold Jericho and a bit of the rock
DDP was around that same age too in WCW and he went on to become a multi time world champ. LA Knight is hitting on all 12 cylinders and I am excited to see how far he goes!
I’m 62 years old and have watched with my dad since I was young and all these years LA knight he’s awesome yeah !!! He is like having the rock and whooooo and beer braking man All in one yeahhh thank you love it all so much 😇😇😇💕💕💕🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩
I was obsessed with WWF wrestling as a kid, 80s 90s and through the attitude era, I'm a 40 year old man now so obviously i have not watched pro wrestling for the last 20 years, but this LA night guy had kind of gotten me kind of interested in it again, just to see a 40 year old man become a legit superstar is pretty intriguing. LA Knight has the "IT" factor, when he cuts promos i can hear a little bit of Dwayne "the rock" Johnson and that is definitely not a bad thing..
He is only 40 y not 80 y
And he still can do amazing work for 10 or 15 y upward! Coz he is the Mega Star the GOAT LA KNIGHT. Yeah!👑🔊
Let's not forget a lot of our favorites were old as hell during their primes
Only 4 wrestlers have won their first WWE world title after the age of 40 and they didn't last long as champs (iron sheik, Andre, flair, slaughter). Nothing stopping him from having a title run but there is no way they are making him 'the man'. WWE like to position guys in their early 30's (ideally younger - Cena, Orton, Lesnar) so they can run them hard for at least 10years on top
y y y
@@bobbybeard1497I don't want Knight as the face of the company, I just want him to have a big push is all.
Vince and his lackey's don't like wrestlers getting over by themselves.
Vince wants to say that if not for him you wouldn't be where you are.
That's why Vince McMahon clowned all of the WCW people when they first came over.
Sting stayed away because of it.
I don't think the issue is as much about how old he is now, it's that they don't want to invest in people without a lot of years of return and you can probably only get a few years out of him in their eyes. Kinda silly in some ways because most guys only get so many years on top anyway. Austin's big run was less than 5 years and so was the Rock's.
max dupri wasnt even bad, its an amazing representation of transition to see where he is today, if we had LA too soon, i think we wouldnt appreciate it that much, lets all be patient with this and continue the support, slow and steady wins the race
Lol he was LA Knight in NXT already
LA Knight is on a Roll! YEEEAAAH! And Vince McMahon you are a DUMMY YEEEAAAH!
We already had La Knight in the indies for years... And his name was E..li Draaake yeah
I became a HUGE Eli Drake fan from his very first promo in the NWA. He clearly had IT. I missed his run in Impact, so I wasn't familiar with him. When he signed with WWE/NXT I expected him to become huge there. He's finally been given just a little bit of time on TV and he's made the most of it. WWE hasn't pushed him, he's pushed himself - and the crowd loves him. He's better on the mic than anyone else in WWE. That's not an insult, that is just a fact of life. Shoes of a champion, baby!!! 🤣
Vince doesn't like when talent gets over by themselves.
Vince McMahon wants to make and break a career. 😠
LA Knight has the "IT" factor. I remember watching the Smackdown live in Green Bay this last year. The fans in line were talking about who their favorite wrestlers were. I told everyone LA Knight. Some laughed at me, some said nothing. But those of us who can recognize a true talent in this industry understand what he has. He's not a 5 star technical wrestler - but hes the best talker and entertainer on the roster atm, and he needs a title (World Heavyweight Champion eventually, when he beats Priest at Wrestlemania 40, or the US Title before that) to ascend to that true top tier level in the eyes of the fans IMO. Winning a meaningless battle royal (which was made specifically to launch him IMO from this point forward) wont cut it.
why WHC title thou, he is the most over superstar. he deserves WWE Title!
Same! I remember watching him every week. I liked him the first time I heard him on the mic. He has the IT factor and I didn't get why people didn't cheer for him. 🤔
@@mochammadrizaldy1576 Bloodline politics I believe wont allow that to be a reality...
At least he is a WWE talent. I heard fans chanting his name at AEW Dynamite last week
DDP had a similar journy. He turned out just fine.
I don't know if I'm the only one, but i started liking LA Knight character during his feud with Bray. I thought no matter the outcome of the feud, it'll help both superstars going forward but didn't expect Bray to fall off after that
Same. He caught my attention when he feuded with Bray. Bray helped build a star before he left 😥
I don't even watch WWE anymore but this dude found his way to my RUclips recommendations. Forget the character he plays or the storyline he's in, this is a man that found his passion and never quit on it. He's the epitome of never quitting on your dreams and he deserves all the success in his life. He's not just persistent, he's not just good at what he does, but he has passion and passion is the most important part in anything you do.
It’s amazing how when you are a kid 40 sounds SUPER old, but then you get to that age (or close), and realize you can still do almost everything (mostly) you could do in your 20’s/30’s, at a very high level still.
Especially if you stay in good shape.
Stop asking “Why is LA Knight copying The Rock?”
Start asking “Why did nobody copy one of the greatest wrestlers of all time sooner?”
Answer: Because it shows a severe lack of creativity. Which in turn means that there's nothing unique about you. What's more, you'll always be compared to the original. And that's bad because it is very rare that the copy is as good as the OG. Never mind being better.
@@alejandromelendez1609Well stated. There is a big difference between taking inspiration from a source then innovating it to a point that it has become unique to you, and simply just stealing entire properties and shallowly repackaging them:
From Steve Austin:
-His jacket size and style exactly.
- "Uh! Uh!" phrase repackaged as "Naw! Naw!"
- "Oh Hell Yeah!" repackaged as just "Yeah!"
From The Rock:
- Mannerisms and speaking cadences.
- People's Elbow setup and theatrics.
- "All the Millions chanting The Rock's name" phrase repackaged as "...everyone saying LA Knight!," again along with The Rock's speaking style.
@@rafaelcarrera9436 my man, those things didn't even cross my mind lol. The best way to show that difference that you're mentioning is to compare Dominick Mysterio and LA Knight. Dom takes inspiration from his dad, Eddie G, Konnan, and others, I'm sure. But he took that inspiration and added to it, developing something that is his own. That something is "Dirty Dom". Knight, on the other hand, has nothing that says "that's LA Knight". There's nothing that sets him aside from his "inspirations".
@@alejandromelendez1609 Using Dom is a good side-by-side example. I was thinking about using Brian Pillman Jr as being an example like LA Knight as someone with no identity of their own; Pillman Jr's entire attempt at being a clone of his father, even mentioning him in nearly every promo.
@@rafaelcarrera9436 oh that's a good example, for sure. The good thing for Pillman, Jr. is that he's young and by all accounts is a team player and student of the game backstage. Unlike Knight, who is north of 40 and confirmed reports that he isn't either one with his promo on Monday. 20 years in the business and hasn't been a draw in any company that he's worked for.
He still has a lot to give. If he could give 3 or 4 yrs of top of the card runs it would be worth it. Stone Cold is my all-time favorite and it's obvious he got a lot of influence all the way down to the "Stomping a mud hole and walking it dry. I ain't mad. He is giving us older fans a little attitude era fix every week.
Nobody is too old to anything if you put your mind on the thing that you do. And DDP is the example of that.
Also PCO on a smaller scale
I feel like WWE tried to bury LA Knight with that gimmick. But, he has so much charisma and good on the mic, that it backfired. I am very happy he is a big star now and a fan fav.
One of my favorite things in wrestling - and it was touched upon in this video (great video btw) - it's when someone comes out of "nowhere" and becomes the biggest thing in the business.
Not just all of this but if you look at his out of character interviews the dude is just a good guy in general always comes off as super respectful and pretty genuine to.
LA Knight wins the world heavyweight title YEAH!
L.A. Knight is literally the perfect combination of Ric Flair and Stone Cold Steve Austin!
YEAAAHH
And the rock!
YEAAAAHHH
First saw him as Eli Drake in TNA. People should know hes been great for a long time now
I still remember when he betrayed drew galloway with the crutches to make EC3 win the title
Bray gave him the nudge to a new level of stardom. R.I.P. Wyatt
LA Knight had this to say about his persona."Do you suffer from gas? Diarrhea?.Freakin commercial at the wrong time.
Your never too old to be a Megastar 🎉🎉
Very well-done video! Thanks for posting.
LA Knight with the right booking, can become the next big babyface of wwe.
I can see a similar path to the one that DB went through in his rise to the top imo...
He needs a couple of good feuds to put him on the map, The miz is an excellent beginning to the top.
He has the crowd, the charisma, the presence, i honestly feel like he's the one who's destined to beat the tribal chief in the future.
He's well liked as a heel too
I remember him when he was shaun ricker, in Hollywood wrestling. I always remember how much charisma he had. I am glad he is finally getting his time to shine, he deserves it.
WWE fans: "He's too old!"
HHH comes out of retirement SEVERAL TIMES to bury wrestlers...
WWE fans: *CRICKETS*
LOL also WWF fans: 80s wrestling was great (average age late 30s early 40s).
As a longtime Sifl and Olly fan, his remix to Oh Yea is glorious!
SUCH AN UNDERATED SHOW
R.i.P. Bray Wyatt...
It’s perfectly ok to have ‘older’ champions in pro wrestling. It helps support the idea that someone’s who’s been around longer is likely better at what they do. It also helps younger wrestlers because if they ever win a top title, or any title at all, the crowd believes that they *must* be something special if they can do what most can’t get done until they’re older. Pro wrestling should have an unwritten rule that for every championship reign by someone under 30 there should be 4-5 from someone older.
Its great to see LA KNIGHT bring an essence of the Attitude Era back to the present... His charisma is 2nd to none...
He is an actual complete character and not just another wrestler
I will not lie, after his loss against Roman, I was worried people would've dropped off of him and he'd vanish from being a fan favorite. So I'm so glad that he's still getting fan behind him, and that he's getting a match at Wrestlemania
LA Knight story can be inspiring not only to wrestling world but to all. Its never too late to be on top
What is funny is that when he was feuding with Bray Wyatt, it seemed like the ball was in Wyatt's court but someone said otherwise in WWE meetings.
I honestly think bringing back Mace and Mansoor as his stablemates will do really well. Like when the New Age Outlaws began their DX run they were an oddball tagteam at the time and it turned out pretty great.
He’s the MEGASTAR. YEAH
He's got that light... to walk among the greatest of this business. I stopped watching wwe when the attitude era ended. This guy brought me back... YEAHHH
Brev i stopped watching wwe last year , and i came back because of this man YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH 🗣🗣
Don't know why people are so surprised that the LA Knight angle works. LA Knight is basically the continuation of Eli Drake. If you watched TNA or NWA you would have seen the reaction and draw. WWE creative tries to hard to script stuff because a lot of the talent that they developed are not good workers on the mic. The guys that come in from other promotions have had that time to test things out and tinker with catchphrases and promos based on their work in other places. Looking forward to shoes of a champion when he gets a belt in the WWE.
That gimmick and promo were lit. Loved the Eli Drake character in TNA.
Did you just say "Shoes of a Champion?"
Stone Cold Steve Austin used to be the Ringmaster before the big break out to the top. I think LA Knight's Max Dupree was just a bump on his road to greatness
They needed to replace the YES movement, and the YEAH movement is a good idea
Recently started watching wwe after a couple years, damn he's so mesmerizing....the theme song the charisma its mind-blowing
Great video!
What's the background music that you used from 6:27 til 9:13
LA Knight is a generational one of a kind.
LA KNIGHT is the only reason I got back into WWE again
Take me back to the summer of LA 😭
I hate when people talk about age in their late 30’s-early 40’s because if a guy like Jaromir Jagr is still playing hockey age at 51 years old and is rumored to make a return in the NHL to the team that originally drafted him in 1990 (the Pittsburgh Penguins). ANYTHING is fucking possible
LA Knight is amazing one of the best thing going right now hopefully WWE doesn’t screw this up.
6:05 With all of the comparisons to Rock/Austin, I've never heard any similarities to Flair 😅
He's got that right, physics and talks just like rock and steve austin, classic. This is rare type seriously, they should make money with him. This one is unlike enzo if anyone ever remember got talks but no physics.
people always write you off when you get older but this is yet another example of that age range being the prime of ones physical and mental existence
What’s crazy is people seem to hate the fact that he’s 40. But I’d argue that he’s the healthiest 40 year old wrestler in the company right now. We have guys hardly 35 who have been beaten to shit
This guy is good. He's been good for a long time and I'm so happy to see he's finally getting the major push he deserves yeah! Has become the new what?
RIP Windham Rotunda
Putting him with Bray was going to prove wether he could hang with some of the best on the mic. Bray was never a guy that was gonna go out and put on a 5star match every other night but he could captivate with his story telling and his skills to cut promos. LA Knight proved he could hold his own with one of the best on the mic. I wouldn't be surprised if Bray had something to do with the push that LA has gotten since that feud. Knight has proven at his age he can hang with the best on the mic and in the ring. WWE played the long game with Knight and now it's paying off with the current US champion.
Hogan went on his wcw run in his 40s then had another run in his 50s lest we mention ric flair come on la knight universal champion lets go
It’s not that he overcame, but he was EXTREMELY lucky that Vince stepped down right before he was gonna release him. Vince just never liked him. No matter how hard LA tried with his own gimmick or Vince’s given gimmick, Vince just hated him. Once Vince stepped away and Triple H gave him a fair shot, he finally exploded.
7:04 I love how much Meltzer is being universally mocked nowadays. He deserves more of it though
Why don't people really acknowledge that he wasn't popular until he started mimicking the Rock's and Stone Cold's behaviors? He pretty much gained popularity because he's a reminder of the Attitude era, and brings a nuance from that mOre popular era to a younger audience who missed the actual GREAT days of wrestling.
Because this would require you ignore his entire career except for the couple of weeks in the models. Or morel likely be completely ignorant of it.
Who cares? People like him and that’s what counts. He found something that resonates with fans. It doesn’t matter what that “something” is.
What I love is that TWO people made it out of MMM. LA Knight and Maxine
Honestly as fan of WWE since 2004, renting WWF Attitude era PPVs…LA Knight feels like WWE’s Last Megastar. Fans have been waiting for a guy like this to arrive for more 10+ years. If things go right… we’re talking the 5th Member of the WWE Mount Rushmore ( Hogan, Austin, Rock, Cena)
La Knight legitimately challenging for Roman's title could be as excellent as Rock vs Austin.
Man recent LA Knight vibes, he has been giving my Stone Cold feels. If he started opening up a can of whoop ass I’d be fine with it.
He overcame a bad gimmick by ripping off the gimmicks of The Rock and Stone Cold.
Cover bands can be decent, but nothing beats the originals.
Genuine question - how old was Hogan when he became a main eventer in the WWF?
welp... STAY TUNED b/c he just killed it at Mania 40. Next up for the Gravy Train is gold! They have to give him another shot.
Of course I've seen multitudes "in the chase" for a belt, but I've never seen such an extended chase for a simple push. If they're smart, they'll do an "LA Knight vs the Authority Figure who holds him back" feud with Triple H. That would be pure MONEY.
Gotta thank HHH for giving LA Knight the chance to be star we see now. Yeah!!
People keep bringing up LA Knight’s age, but Damian Priest won Money in the Bank and he’s the same age as Knight.
What’s the background music around 1:00?
Here's a fact of life, La Knight started off WWE with Ted DiBiase in his corner and having the million dollar title, then gets saddled with a bad gimmick only to turn it around and becoming a huge star, and you know WHO else went through that....Stone Cold Steve Austin, Yeah!
He also had Paul Bearer before he died, and now they're teasing Paul Heyman. What a list of names, YEAH
What I want to see is WWE surprise us with his accomplishments and merits and not spoil everything on social media.
Love him, so happy he's gotten this popular, US title gotta be HIS, and i cant WAIt for the celly promo my god its gonna be great lol
I don’t know about him being the biggest in wwe but he has potential. That finisher is garbage.
Fuck age, if LA thinks he is healthy enough to the ring. Good enough for me. He can definitely be a story of hard work and organic success in this era.
roman reigns is 38, cody rhodes is 38, seth rollins is 37, damien priest is 40. just saying. tbh though i don't see the attraction to knight, he comes across as a rock imitator with less charisma, worse catchphrases ("yeah" shouldn't even qualify as one really) and arguably worse ring craft. his whole aesthetic and personality seem quite straightforward and dated to me, i mean i like that wwe let him be himself rather than a gimmick he didn't want, but i dunno, i find his actual ring persona to be a bit dull. but then i find that with a bunch of other guys too, you don't see so many actual characters any more, there are a lot of generic wrestler dudes in trunks or tights with no backstory, no gimmicks... i'm not gonna get all misty-eyed about the old days but i do miss the more colourful & varied (and often bizarre) rosters
What's the song playing from 6:25 onwards?
To become a wwe champion bro .
In a way it's kind of a bittersweet bookend to Bray Wyatt's career, before he got ill with long COVID and died from a complications-induced heart attack, that he was able to catalyze LA Knight's rise with their feud.
They'll never go with him as it wasn't their idea.
I hope this next 5-10 years of LA Knight's life will be here at WWE with a great matches and great titles)
Yeah! is basically what? Schtick is two legends combined.
LA Knight actually works very well, despite he's overshadowed by most of wrestlers
I rocks with LA Knight!! He's the evidence of a person never giving up and just going for it!
I want to see LA Knight dethrone Roman Reigns.
Are you all in some Discord where you share footage and themes? Cause it kinda seems like it, every wrestling YT channel made an LA Knight video between 45 and 15 days ago, with tons of the same clips.
Is wrestling real? What's happening?
TNA is punching air rn