LA Knight Almost Fired By WWE On Several Occasions, Shawn Michaels Kept Saving His Job

WWE have Shawn Michaels to thank for one of their top babyfaces.

LA Knight cemented himself as one of the most popular talents on the WWE main roster in 2023 and the former Eli Drake has blossomed ever since he scrapped the Max Dupri gimmick. Knight returned to the company in 2021, initially on WWE NXT, and he may have never made it to the main roster as Shawn Michaels revealed to ESPN that Knight was on the cut list "several times" while at the WWE Performance Center. In order to save Knight's job, Michaels would say he couldn't be let go as Knight was in storylines. 

"I never lied, I did always have him in stuff. But there were a couple of people that I knew from this mythical age thing, wasn't fitting their qualifications, but I always kept them in storylines. And so my excuse was, we can't get rid of him now," Michaels said.

The Senior Vice President of Talent Development Creative noted he was allowed to retain a core of experienced wrestlers to help younger talents at NXT but this didn't prevent Knight from being on thin ice. 

"They never f*cking paid attention to us. I was trying to finesse a certain someone, but all he would see is the one number, the three-eight. Someone who's damn near my age, and I'm having an argument with them. Were you old when you were 38?" Michaels added.

Age would initially be a factor when Knight was moved to the main roster with WWE booking him as the manager, Max Dupri, as he was 40-years-old at the time. Now, Knight will be in a headline match at the Royal Rumble in a Four-Way for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship alongside champion Roman Reigns, Randy Orton, and AJ Styles.