WWE returns to the Hampton Coliseum on May 21st with their SuperShow Sunday Stunner, Superstar LA Knight opens up about his life

InterviewByYiorgo

The global phenomenon that is World Wrestling Entertainment and known to all wrestlingfansassimplyWWE,isreturning totheHamptonColiseumonMay21st.The advertised card as of this writing is incredible: For the RAW Women’s Championship Champion Rhea Ripley puts up her title againstShotzi.Itwillbeanalloutwarwhen Cody Rhodes battles Solo Sikoa in a street fight. There will also be a RAW Women’s Championship Fatal Four-Way match with RAW’s Women’s Champion Bianca Belair vs Becky Lynch vs Asuka vs Piper Niven.TheUnitedStatesChampionAustin Theory defends his title vs Matt Riddle The Intercontinental Championship will be up for grabs when Champion Gunther with Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci goes against Santos Escobar with Cruz Del ToroandJoaquinWilde.Therewillbemany morematchesaswellandasalwaysthecard issubjecttochange.

Ticketsareonsalenow,startingaslowas $20.00 as well as group sales, special offers including Superstar Experience and Walk

The Aisle For all the details go to https:// www.hamptoncoliseum.org/events/detail/ wwe-live-3

Yiorgo: With us today to tell us all about itisWWESuperstarLAKnight Thankyou for being with us. Why should fans come to a live show, when they can see it for free on TVandothersocialmediaoutlets?Whatwill theyseeandexperience?

LA Knight: That’s a great question. The different reasons are these: To be there in thebuildingliveandtofeelwhatishappeninginthereisjustsodifferent.That’swhatI always enjoyed as a kid When I was growing up watching, the people in the building lookedliketheywerehavingsuchafuntime TheylookedliketheyweresoinvestedthatI wantedtobethereandinthatenergy,tofeed offthatenergy,tobeapartofthatenergyand theshowessentially Alsoyouseethingsthat you might not see on TV Maybe something thathappensduringacommercialorsomethingthathappensbeforeoraftertheshow goesoffair TherearesomanyXfactorsthat go into that but the main thing for me is the energy and feeling of being a part of that actualshow.

Y: As a wrestling performer, what part of thebusinessdoyouenjoythemostandleast?

LK: The part I enjoy the most is getting out there and getting a chance of doing my thing When I get a chance to talk and have an open microphone there isn’t anything better than that. Also going out there and having a hell of a solid match, with a great opponent,youcan’tbeatthat.Asfaraswhat Ihate,sometimesthepreparation,youknow, havingtohavebootsandgearmade.Alotof times there is the business side of the businessthatcanbeveryfrustrating Itcanbethe worstpartorthebestpart,itreallydepends

Y: Full disclosure, I am a big fan of yours. Along with your great wrestling ability, you alsohavethegiftof“talkingthefans”intothe building You are really great on the microphone.

LK: Thank you. That has always been kind of my focus That has been the thing thatIbuildmyselfoninthesensethatthose werealwaystheguysthatIlikedandtriedto modelmyselfafterthem.

Y: What have been some of your favorite segments or moments that you are very proudofinyourcareer?

LK:Inthatcasethereisalot.Icangoback to“TheFactOfLife”asatalkshowthatIdid not have a lot of expectations to be honest whenitwasreallypitchedtomeanditended up being great because I put my all into it. I wantedtomakeitworkandIdid.

On WWE there is all that stuff I did with Bray Wyatt. That one night that I came out, he apologized and I slapped him and I slapped him again. That was my big solid moment that I am the real deal in WWE. When you make that kind of noise and that kindofbigstep IgottheirattentionandI’m buildingfromthere.

Y:HowdidyougetyourrecentLAKnight workname?

LK: It’s a long story, the short version is when I was comingin I was asked for some suggestions and the first suggestion I came up with was LA with a different last name. Theydidnotwantthatlastname Itwasbasicallyaconglomerationofthemgivingmethe lastnameandmethefirstname Sowekind ofmetinthemiddle.

Y: Let’s learn a little bit more about you. Where were you born, what made you fall in love with wrestling and who did you like growingup?

LK:IwasborninHagerstown,Maryland. Igrewuptherewatchingwrestlingwithmy dad. Ever since I was a real little kid, you’re talking about Hulk Hogan, The Iron Sheik Nikoli Volkoff Roddy Piper. It was around WrestleManiaI,that’saroundthetimethat Icanfirstrememberreallygettingintoitand reallygettinginvestedasafan

Y:Thenyougotintowrestling

LK: I lived in Hagerstown until I was 20 years old. Other than the year and a half that I went to West Virginia University in Morgantown,WestVirginia,Istartedwrestling in Cincinnati, Ohio I also lived and worked in LA for about 10 years so I have beenallovertheplace

Y: In the wrestling promotion, Championship Wrestling From Hollywood, you had a chance to work and become friends withPercyPringleIII,alsoknownasWWE

Superstar Paul Bearer What are some of yourfavoritememoriesworkingwithPercy?

LK: Dave Marquez put Percy and I together thankfully It was actually in a tag Team with me and Brian Cage Eventually they split Cage off and I stayed with Percy. Inallhonesty,Idon’thaveaspecificmemory withhimbecausewehadsomanytimesthat it was pretty much a lot of business. We get there and do our thing Although I will say there were a couple of times that we had conversationsviaphoneortextandIwould ask him some bit of advice and just how thankful he was for me asking him. Afterwards he would impart whatever words of wisdomtomeandthenwouldbeincredibly thankful for the fact that I asked him and I foundthatsuperendearing.Usuallyyoufeel likeyouarebotheringsomebodyandtohim, he was thrilled to be given the opportunity to give me the advice That was not a point ofviewthatIconsidered.Tolookattheguy thatway,toexperiencetheguythatway,God Rest his soul I miss him. It was an amazing experienceandbigthankstoDaveMarquez forputtingthattogether

Y: You are a perfect example of never giving up Your WWE relationship goes back to 2008 in a dark match You signed withWWEin2013andreleasedin2014.You eventually resigned with WWE in 2021, on my birthday on February 14th Can you talk a little bit about that process and your willingnesstohanginthereandnevergiveup?

LK: It’s two pronged. Part of it was that I never gave myself a Plan B. I burned all the shipssortofspeak,becauseIdidn’thaveany options to do anything else really Now I’m sure I could learn and do other things, but for me I knew that I had something to offer to this business I am not the most technical greatest wrestler in the world, but as a professional wrestler in sports entertainment, I think I am up there with being one of the best in the world. I am the full package I hit all the things you need to succeed inthisbusiness

For me, to get into it and hit different bumps in the road, whether it be politics or meshootingmyselfinthefoot,morepolitics, there was never anything that would keep meoutbecauseIalwaysknewsomewhere,it wasgoingtohappen.I’llbehonest summer of2020Iwaslike,Ithinkthisisit,I’mdone, pretty sure it was over, and accept the fact that the window is closed, it’s done for me and that’s just what it is. I decided a month or two after I had come to that conclusion tomakeonemoreovertureandprobablyfor thefirstorsecondtimeinmylife Igotreally reallygoodatsellingmyselfandwaskindof relentlessinthatpursuit.Wehadtheconversation, thingsturnedoutthewaytheywere and I showed up on NXT, on your birthday, likeyousaid.HappyBirthdaytoyou,bythe way.

Y:CanIaskwhathappenedwithyouand

NXTin2014?

LK: Here’s the thing I left with heat in 2014.Iwasnotreleasedbecauseofmytalent That was made very clear to me There was nothingthatIwaslackinginanyway.There wastensionbetweenmeandtheheadcoach at the time and they said in order for the stigma to go away, I needed to go away Ok fine.Ayearlater,theyhadmadetheofferto bring me back. The problem was that the place where I was working at the time was offeringmemoremoneysoIstayed.Inhindsightitwasprobablyabadideabecauseeven though WWE was offering me less money, theywerekindofdoingittoseeifIwouldbe a team player, and If I’m honest, the ceiling in WWE was way higher than where I was and I hit that ceiling really quickly at that place ItwasgreattomakethatmoneythatI hadneverseenbefore,althoughatthesame time this could have happened in 2016 had I made the move but I chose at the time to take the money that worked for me, kind of getmynesteggstartedIguess,getmyselfin abetterfinancialposition I have been broke all through my 20’s, barelygettingby,gettingevictionnoticeson mydoor,andwithgettingontheshow“The Hero ‘’ in 2013 and getting hired in NXT, it was the first time I was making any kind of justlivablemoney Nowyou’retalkingabout I almost feel like I’m rich, the other place wants to give me real, real money so ok, I gotta take that I ended up staying there for anotherthreeyears Italwaysdrovemenuts becauseIfeltlikenobodywaswatchingbut at the same time, I was always working and thought the WWE was watching because I felt that’s where I wanted to go I needed to go and where I and my level of work belonged. Finally when the time was right andwho’stosaywhenthetimewasrightor wrong, at some point, the stars aligned and wemadeithappen Y: SmackDown at WrestleMania 39 had to be an incredible moment for you a few weeks ago Those fans popped HUGE for you.Andtheybooedbigtimewhenyoulost that match What was that moment like for you?

LK:SmackDowninLAwaswild.Thefans werefeelingit.Theywereonthetrain They did not want to see me loose, including me There’s never been anything like it and it’s going to continue to grow from there. That feelinginLA itwasruckus itwasravenous anditwasahellofatime

Y:Givemeawow pinchmemomentthat you can’t believe this little kid from Marylandgottoexperience.

LK: The first one would be having Percy in my corner all that time I’m sure there havebeensomeotherssincethenlikewhen I became the Million Dollar Champion for instance.Therehaveonlybeen5-6ofthose Between Ted DiBiase Steve Austin, that’s crazy and again looking at the Percy PringleDynasty,hemanaged:SteveAustin,Rick Rude, Undertaker, I’m in great company. Therearealotoftimesthatit’sprettycrazy of the people that I’m rubbing elbows with. At the same time, I aim to be above and beyond all of them so it’s one thing to rub elbowswiththemandallrespecttothembut asfarasI’mconcerned,I’mgoingtogoabove andbeyondwhatanyofthemdid.

Yiorgo is an arts, entertainment and sports writer A stage, TV and movie actor, he is also a sports entertainer, educator, motivational speaker, writer, storyteller and columnist