LA Knight reaction after losing on Smackdown last night

[The Rick Jericho]

Seems around the internet, people are pissed at Hunter not giving LA the US title match instead of Santos or Mysterio. They say he can't keep on losing because eventually he will lose momentum.

On the other side of the coin is, some are saying, just be patient. They have plans for him, just not at this moment. Just wait until Rumble season where he could win it all and get a proper Wrestlemania title match and win the big one there.

And the last group of people are saying WWE has no interest in pushing him due to various factors. And even though he got over on his own, it's like Zack Ryder, they will just continue to ignore the crowd pops until they die down and go away.

Which side of the 3 sided argument on LA Knight are you on? Does Hunter really deserve all the slack on this? Maybe, just maybe, Vince doesn't like him? He was Max Dupri at one time after all.

[Slammy Award-Winning Cannibal]

They’re clearly leaning into his popularity in a big way. There’s a zillion points showing this. There’s no sign of burying the guy.

Yes, he technically lost the match, but Grimes took the pin. Knight has been protected week after week.

I think it’s important for everyone to remember that this has only been blowing up over the last couple months. He’s been trending since the Wyatt feud but he’s only been HOT recently. Given that short timeline, it’s not unreasonable that rabid fans be patient at the moment.

And in the meantime, they’re giving him a live mic each week, and they’re churning out the shirts. LA Knight can’t be upset with how things are going.

[Gus Richlen Was Wrong]

I'm on the side of patience 100% here. Of course, it just pisses off the people who hate Trips and want Vince to have the book back entirely.

["Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik]

Jul 22, 2023 10:16:17 GMT -5 Gus Richlen Was Wrong said:

I'm on the side of patience 100% here. Of course, it just pisses off the people who hate Trips and want Vince to have the book back entirely.

Picturing the LA Knight fan who is pissed off and wants to have Vince book him after the dude turned him into a manager and then immediately wrote him off TV.

[Fade]

I didn’t watch but if they fumble LA Knight… smgdho

[floundertime]

While he didn’t get the win last night, he got himself over. He was the only 1 of the 4 who got mic time. They let him shine on the mic and that’s what people really wanted. They have plans for him. Let him get super hot around the start of the year and into wrestlemania. I want him to peak at WM, not now.

[msc]

They only give weekly mic time to folk they want to keep over. Standard WWE rule.

Don't laugh, someone on here the other day said they were "doing a Daniel Bryan" with him and my mind immediately went "LA Knight wins the Rumble"...

[asuka007]

I wish wrestling promoters would realize that not everything needs to be dragged out for ages. You CAN just go with the super-hot hand instead of stretching it out and risking them cooling off.

[EoE: Well There's Your Problem]

Again, WWE’s historical baggage is coming back to haunt them. There could very well be a slow burn in play, with no malice at all. It could very well simply be a situation of “He’s already over, how much more over is the belt gonna make him?”. All of this has happened without a significantly long run of wins as it is, it’s not like that’s much of a factor in fans reacting to him at this point. Hell, they’re still very wishy-washy about even confirming that Theory v Mysterio/Escobar is even happening at SummerSlam itself, like.

But because of all the times WWE has stuffed it up, maliciously or otherwise, it intensifies the desire for the instant gratification. Give him the things now to validate him/me. It is what it is, and always will be as long as this company exists, not unless they do instant gratification EVERY time.

[polarbearpete]

Jul 22, 2023 10:50:16 GMT -5 asuka007 said:

I wish wrestling promoters would realize that not everything needs to be dragged out for ages. You CAN just go with the super-hot hand instead of stretching it out and risking them cooling off.

That’s true and it is a risk, but it’s also been an extremely short time that Knight has been super over, and they’re still playing into it every week, giving him mic time and talking him up on commentary.

[Some Guy]

Jul 22, 2023 10:16:17 GMT -5 Gus Richlen Was Wrong said:

I'm on the side of patience 100% here. Of course, it just pisses off the people who hate Trips and want Vince to have the book back entirely.

Isn't it more that people are afraid that Trips is just becoming Vince all over again rather than this idea?

And I don't really understand the point of patience in this. Nobody really is pushing for him to win the Rumble or win a Mania main event, but this is the second biggest show of the year and a super over guy beating a dull ass endless champ at it is not a high ask.

[ghost]

I think they are saving it for a bigger stage with more build up (WM?). If the WWE wants to bury someone that got over without management’s backing, then we have seen how blatant they are in trying to kill that heat. They are doing the opposite here. I think it’s leading somewhere. The Bloodline story has given the company some benefit of the doubt, IMO.

[DMO-]

He needs to change his god awful finisher before anything else, looks too corny for a MEGASTAR

[HMARK Center]

I'd say that people need to chill and that not every really over guy needs to get rocketed to the main event right away, but reading these results it seems like that's not what this is about, given it's over a US title shot. Again, going by what this reads like: the guy was definitely protected, and no, they absolutely do not intend to bury him or anything...but yeah, winning the US title off an unpopular champion at SummerSlam seems like a pretty ideal time to pull the trigger on something like that. You'd have a big crowd, a hot crowd, and you'd be giving them a big moment they clearly want.

In short: no reason to be angry, but on the surface this seems like a layup they just didn't go for.

[Lizuka #BLM]

I'm pretty much universally of the opinion that you don't necessarily owe a TV show your patience, and some things can just happen without needing a buildup. Moving a midcard title from an ice cold act no one gives a shit about who's had it for an eternity to one every crowd is going ballistic over isn't something you need to drag out and take your time on, just pick a show and do it.

[thegame415]

I'm not a firm believer that wins and losses matters as much in wrestling if the wins/losses are used to drive the story. Obviously, there's situations like Goldberg where it's the character. And yes, losing a ton is going to make them look like a goober.

However, losing in the way he did or has seem like they're building an underdog story/character.

[spagett]

It feels incredibly simple to me that when you have an organically extremely over midcard babyface and a midcard heel champion that nobody remotely seems to care about the obvious thing is to book the babyface to beat the heel and win the title.

Especially with one of the big events coming up in Summerslam. They're overthinking things and running the risk of blowing it with LA Knight.

[asuka007]

Jul 22, 2023 10:53:16 GMT -5 EoE: Well There's Your Problem said:

Again, WWE’s historical baggage is coming back to haunt them. There could very well be a slow burn in play, with no malice at all. It could very well simply be a situation of “He’s already over, how much more over is the belt gonna make him?”. All of this has happened without a significantly long run of wins as it is, it’s not like that’s much of a factor in fans reacting to him at this point. Hell, they’re still very wishy-washy about even confirming that Theory v Mysterio/Escobar is even happening at SummerSlam itself, like.

But because of all the times WWE has stuffed it up, maliciously or otherwise, it intensifies the desire for the instant gratification. Give him the things now to validate him/me. It is what it is, and always will be as long as this company exists, not unless they do instant gratification EVERY time.

People remember Cesaro, Zack Ryder, Dolph Ziggler, Damian Sandow, Rusev, etc.

It does not help that Theory is ICE COLD and had had that belt for like 9 months. Simple question, what is the harm at just letting LA Knight beat him?

[eJm]

Jul 22, 2023 13:46:41 GMT -5 HMARK Center said:

I'd say that people need to chill and that not every really over guy needs to get rocketed to the main event right away, but reading these results it seems like that's not what this is about, given it's over a US title shot. Again, going by what this reads like: the guy was definitely protected, and no, they absolutely do not intend to bury him or anything...but yeah, winning the US title off an unpopular champion at SummerSlam seems like a pretty ideal time to pull the trigger on something like that. You'd have a big crowd, a hot crowd, and you'd be giving them a big moment they clearly want.

In short: no reason to be angry, but on the surface this seems like a layup they just didn't go for.

That's where I am for the most part. It seems they want him for something but it's hard to feel positive on what that might be considering the decade plus of stuff.

I think there's a weird risk aversion in WWE for a while now where if they make an out of the box decision, ratings will crater and shareholders will riot outside Stamford or something. And yes, when they put the WWE title on Jinder, ratings did crater but just because an objectively dumb decision caused that to happen, that's just your audience reacting to something they didn't want. If you set up LA Knight vs. Austin Theory for SummerSlam, unless the people in the arenas suddenly decide he's a scumbag, ratings aren't going to fall of a cliff. It just won't happen, WWE are too big to fail and they're so much big to fail, they're being merged with another company too big to fail in UFC.

[asuka007]

Jul 22, 2023 15:37:31 GMT -5 eJm said:

Jul 22, 2023 13:46:41 GMT -5 HMARK Center said:

I'd say that people need to chill and that not every really over guy needs to get rocketed to the main event right away, but reading these results it seems like that's not what this is about, given it's over a US title shot. Again, going by what this reads like: the guy was definitely protected, and no, they absolutely do not intend to bury him or anything...but yeah, winning the US title off an unpopular champion at SummerSlam seems like a pretty ideal time to pull the trigger on something like that. You'd have a big crowd, a hot crowd, and you'd be giving them a big moment they clearly want.

In short: no reason to be angry, but on the surface this seems like a layup they just didn't go for.

That's where I am for the most part. It seems they want him for something but it's hard to feel positive on what that might be considering the decade plus of stuff.

I think there's a weird risk aversion in WWE for a while now where if they make an out of the box decision, ratings will crater and shareholders will riot outside Stamford or something. And yes, when they put the WWE title on Jinder, ratings did crater but just because an objectively dumb decision caused that to happen, that's just your audience reacting to something they didn't want. If you set up LA Knight vs. Austin Theory for SummerSlam, unless the people in the arenas suddenly decide he's a scumbag, ratings aren't going to fall of a cliff. It just won't happen, WWE are too big to fail and they're so much big to fail, they're being merged with another company too big to fail in UFC.

If Knight is not booked on Summerslam, that will be ridiculous.