LA Knight responds to criticism he’s imitating The Rock & Stone Cold
Last year, LA Knight feared he was going to be released by WWE for a second time. Now, he’s massively over with audiences around the world and a favorite to win the Money in the Bank briefcase at tomorrow’s premium live event of the same name.
Everybody’s saying that the reason he has the millions (and millions) talking is because of his own gift for gab. Whether you’re praising or knocking him for it, Knight’s mic style is reminiscent of two of the best to ever do it — Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Stone Cold Steve Austin.
WWE has Knight doing a lot of media heading into Money in the Bank tomorrow in London, and he’s been asked about those comparisons & criticisms a lot.
At times, he’s used it for in-character boast. On Cheap Heat, he responded:
“If you want to make that comparison, cool. My aim is to be bigger and better than either of them. I bring a very different package to the table than they do. At the same time, are there similarities? Sure there are you. There is Kobe [Bryant] to [Michael] Jordan, those kind of comparisons. If you want to make me the Kobe to their Jordan? I’ll take it.”
LA loves using the analogy with those two basketball icons. He used it again when Ariel Helwani posed the Rock/Austin question to him, although Helwani got an answer that came more from Shaun Ricker (Knight’s real name):
“Oh my God, man. Look, when I was in high school those guys were my bread and butter. Those are the guys that I wanted to be when I was like 16, 17 years old. I’m sure there’s — hell... my normal speech pattern everyday when I’m talking to you is somehow derived from them. Whether that’s purposeful or not, and it’s definitely not. “So it’s just the fact that, man, I sat there and watched every single episode of Monday Night Raw. I had all the little VHS cassette tapes like ‘Cause Stone Cold Said So’, or ‘The Rock Says’, and stuff like that. I watched all that stuff. “So man, you’re talking about formative years, very moldable years of maybe in some way have penetrated my brain in some way. But whether you want to make the comparisons — hey, I’ll tell you what. Let’s make this comparison. You want to say that I’m the Kobe to their Jordan? I’ll take it.”
He also goes on to say he’s met both Johnson and Austin, and the similarities in their promo delivery & style has “never even been a topic of discussion.”
Good enough for us.
Source: Cageside Seats
