The Post’s Joseph Staszewski brings you around the world of professional wrestling every Tuesday in his weekly column, the Post Match Angle.
Maybe last Friday night at Madison Square Garden was L.A. Knight’s final test.
Maybe the heel getting a huge babyface reaction from one of the world’s toughest wrestling crowds while taking out Hit Row before SmackDown even started was the final box the 40-year-old Shaun Ricker needs to check. Because it feels like there aren’t many left.
To boot, the video of the segment outdrew anything else from that night on Twitter, garnering 2.4 million views, and another million on YouTube, which was exceeded only by The Bloodline highlights. According to WrestleOps, Knight is the No. 4 merchandise seller in WWE right now, trailing only Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes among active acts.
By all the wrestling metrics we have, L.A. Knight is a top guy.
It’s time WWE starts treating him like one.
Triple H addressed Knight not winning the Money in the Bank men’s ladder match by saying “good great things come to those who wait” and that his rise is “just getting started.”
How much longer can WWE hold off on capitalizing on it?
SummerSlam would be a great place to start – because I do get the idea of the story WWE is telling with Damian Priest, the Money in the Bank briefcase and Finn Balor.
Austin Theory and the United States championship may be the perfect babyface vehicle for Knight, especially if WWE will let him address the company’s missteps with him.
Theory is a universally hated 25-year-old heel who in storyline has been handed everything, even the on-screen blessing of Vince McMahon, by WWE. He’s the next John Cena.
Knight is a weathered veteran who is probably on his last chance to stardom. I liken what could happen to Knight to Diamond Dallas Page’s rise to a megastar in WCW in 1997.
Knight paid his dues. Many years ago he was a security and crowd extra for WWE – and thanks to a recently resurfaced video, we know he was also yelling his signature “Yeah!” back in 2014 in a Triple H workout video. If that ain’t starting from the bottom, what is?
After successful stops in Impact and the NWA as Eli Drake, he became one of NXT’s most recognizable stars. Once he got to the main roster, he was given the label of manager and made the most of a bad gimmick as Max Dupri with the Maximum Male Models.
Knight even emerged stronger with fans after eclipsing Bray Wyatt in their feud that ended with the silly glow-in-the dark “Pitch Black” match at Royal Rumble.
WWE has been trying to make its mid-card championships mean something, and have done so with Intercontinental champion Gunther.
Theory feels stale right now. Knight could be the perfect person to breathe new life into the U.S. title.
And for those who say Knight is a ripoff of The Rock and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, there is a laundry list of top wrestlers who pulled from the greats who came before them.
There should be no more boxes for Knight to check and tests to pass. WWE has made Knight and fans wait long enough. Don’t miss another moment to see what Knight can truly become … yeah!
Best Buds
Adam Cole and MJF are crafting something very intriguing and entertaining moments with their forced-buddies storyline.
It’s allowed us to see another aspect of MJF’s range as a performer, and having the heel champ trying so hard – genuinely or not – to make it work has been the perfect foil for Cole’s skeptical real friend Roderick Strong. MJF has even called into Cole’s video-game live streams and carried it over to social media.
What we saw on Dynamite was so much fun: Cole impressed MJF by out-benching him at the gym, they delivered a double “boom” in a very cohesive entrance and MJF threw Cole what appeared to be a heartfelt birthday celebration after their tag team tournament win. It was some peak sports entertainment and some of Cole’s best work in AEW.
Cole, despite MJF potentially trying to attack him with his back turned in an attempt to smash his face in the cake, even thanked him for the festivities and called him a friend. AEW has a fresh-feeling story that makes you want to see what’s next before their eventual world championship match at some point this summer.
Bad Actor Greatness
Roman Reigns’ fake remorse as he appeared to relinquish his status as Tribal Chief and Undisputed WWE Universal championship to Jey Uso was so phony looking that it was a thing of beauty.
You both believed he might do it and knew he wouldn’t all at once. The man even shed a tear while down on both knees before hitting his cousin with a low blow.
It was the highlight of another stellar Bloodline segment on SmackDown that went for 40 minutes and left Jimmy Uso stretchered off to the hospital. Reigns basically daring Jey to carry the exhausting weight he does and planting the seed of Solo Sikoa wanting to be Tribal Chief stood out. As I nearly perfectly predicted last week, Jey challenged Reigns to trial by combat. The question now is, at what point do the elders step in?
The 10 Count
It feels like any babyface momentum Shayna Baszler may have picked up last week has been immediately crushed with no help from the way WWE booked her match against Emma.
CM Punk vs. Samoa Joe hit all the right notes from start to finish and through the post-match attack. Punk didn’t win. He escaped, and Joe knew it. Let’s run it back for the deciding match now that each has a win.
I do think Ricky Starks – who should have needed more than one spear to beat Will Hobbs — should go over Punk in the Owen Hart final
The NXT version of an “underground” match was an improvement on the Raw one as the style has been used more across the industry – especially a more extreme version in Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport. Maybe it can be used as a blow-off match like the Fight Pit.
If Bronson Reed’s attack on Tommaso Ciampa doesn’t lead to Johnny Gargano’s return and the reformation of DIY I don’t know what will.
I wasn’t sure I could get into Logan Paul versus Richocet outside of the in-ring spectacle they will put on but thought their promo segment on Raw was a step in the right direction toward building a story.
Love that AEW told Nick Wayne’s compelling story through a vignette to build toward his debut against Swerve Strickland next week. He is an incredible young talent who is probably not as well-known by the casual audience. A few years ago it feels like AEW would have had his debut without something like that.
That Baron Corbin promo felt like something he needed a long time ago – burning his past personas and saying no more gimmicks going forward. NXT has become a good place for talent to take a step back and get right. Corbin badly needs it to happen for him.
FTR must be in heaven on Collision where they are getting plenty of time to put on their more classic style of tag team matches that really build to the hot tag and dramatic closing minutes. They and Juice Robinson and Jay White are developing quite the chemistry.
The Creed Brothers are long overdue for a main roster call-up and the WWE tag division will benefit greatly from it. NXT pulled it off pretty flawlessly, adding a mystery new Schism member interfering after the Creeds appeared to have a loser-leaves-NXT match won and it already has a women’s title program for Ivy Nile setup with Julius and Brutus done with the promotion.
Grayson Waller is getting the WWE red-carpet treatment that he deserves wrestling Edge in his main-roster debut at Madison Square Garden.
Extra: I thought Alex Kane and Alex Hammerston turned in a compelling championship match at MLW Never Say Never. It was clear it was time to flip the world title to Kane when Hammerstone’s Hogan-like comeback was met with chants of “same-old s–t!”
Extra, Extra: The Join The Dark Order story block in “AEW: Fight Forever” is such a fun, fitting and caring tribute to Brodie Lee.
Wrestler of the Week
Eddie Kingston, AEW/New Japan
Is it me or is Eddie Kingston in the early stages getting built up the card? He completed a lifelong dream of winning a title for New Japan by topping KENTA for the New Japan Strong Openweight championship, and appears headed for a high-profile feud with three-time AEW champion Jon Moxley after being in the G1. His emotional promos after winning are so raw and truthful that they are must-see.
Honorable mention: Giulia (Stardom/New Japan), Alex Kane (MLW)
Match To Watch
Deonna Purrazzo (c.) vs. Trinity, Impact Knockouts World championship (Slammiversary, Saturday, 8 p.m., FITE)
The last time Trinity held a singles world championship was the SmackDown women’s championship as Naomi in August 2017. She has a chance to quickly become the face of Impact’s talented division with a win over one of its top performers. Trinity laid down the challenge to Purrazzo a little over a month ago, and has been feuding with Gisele Shaw and Jai Vidal. Could they cost her the crown?
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