LA Knight Reveals if He Had Alternative WWE Names

LA Knight is one of WWE 's top talents but it hasn't always been that way. When he returned to the NXT brand in 2021 after a brief run back in the mid-2010s, he seemed primed for success. However when he debuted on the main roster in 2022, he was assigned a managerial role where he portrayed talent agent Max Dupri, leading the Maximum Male Models. When he eventually left the group, he returned to his former persona and the fans began rallying around him as they saw great potential in him.

Before he returned to WWE , he wrestled all over the world making a name for himself as Eli Drake in IMPACT/TNA , Ring of Honor, and NWA, among many others. One thing all of his wrestling characters have in common is their three syllables. Knight talked to Comicbook at the recent Money in the Bank media junket where he discussed how the current iteration of his character and name came to be.

LA Knight on His WWE Name Change

"There weren't a lot pretty much [of names other than LA Knight], we went straight to LA Knight. It was always gonna be LA something. So the Eli Drake thing happened by accident," Knight said. "It was just that I hadn't been talking for months basically, Drew was talking for me, and at some point I was like, 'well, I got to tell these people my name.' And so I started just kind of spelling it out and I was like, 'well, hell, I'll keep that.' But for me, it was also just simplicity. If I got a mouthful of the name, how do people remember that? How do people chant that? How do people just keep that fresh on their minds? So if you got some garbled up mess of a name, sorry, no offense, but it's going to be tough to latch on to that. So simplicity is key."

Knight is set to appear at this weekend's Money in the Bank men's ladder match where he will compete to win a future title shop by obtaining the coveted Money in the Bank briefcase. Knight has competed at the Premium Live Event once before and that was last year. Although he was the early favorite to win , Damian Priest walked out of the night as a future WWE champion.

This year, Knight is the only returning competitor, and he will have to go up against some of WWE's strongest characters. Jey Uso, Drew McIntyre, Andrade, Chad Gable and recent NXT call-up Carmelo Hayes. WWE Money in the Bank streams live Saturday, July 6th, at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT on Peacock in the United States and on WWE Network everywhere else.

Stay tuned to Comicbook for updates on Money in the Bank and WWE.