How many times are we going to have to hear this copy & paste comment from that LA Knight interview ffs?...im beginning think some of these wrestling fans are parrots the way they keep repeating this comment over & over 🤦 But I'll say this, if your the world champ & only 3 ppl are watching...that says a lot of your drawing power 🤷
@@rjm22ndIt makes more sense in context for Damien Priest to have won the briefcase. but you can't just assume that LA is buried because he didnt win the match. who was he going to cash in on, Roman? nope. Seth? He's on RAW makes zero sense. I'd say he's wrestling Logan Paul at Summerslam. and after that I wouldn't be shocked if takes the US title from Theory. He's on his way up the card.
Look at some of the ages of a lot of WWE’s top stars. Damien Priest is 40. Finn is 41. Lashley is 46. AJ is 46. Most of their biggest names are late 30s to 40s. So, it’s weird to me that Knight’s age is an issue in that company.
During a recent interview LA knight said the age question did come up before his move to the main roster Now WWE does have a age issue but that is not a LA knights issue as stated in the top comment most WWE starts are not young hell the youngest guys on the main shows are Dominic, Theory, and Waller every other young star stays on NXT
Well some are saying in that it’s because those ppl you mentioned have been with wwe for a good period of time and all that the their stuff so, for me at this point idk. I’m just like they need to strike while the iron is hot with Eli/LA.
In case people didn't know, it was about Money why he stayed and left TNA While in TNA, they were offering him bigger money than WWE Once a champion in TNA, he reached the limit of pay TNA can give him Going to WWE meant going back to the bottom of the paygrade with NXT but a higher ceiling of pay It was all revealed during a recent interview before MITB
@@scorpionofallah Which most people don't because Vince buries them. They only seem to start paying good money if you've been there long enough even if you're a jobber or midcarder, like Sami Zayn and Dolph Ziggler.
@@user-fe8gx3ie5v well at least they arent given the cody treatment ive a feelin that the gimpsuit is gonna come back out for vinces entertainment he loves playing with ppl who work for him
Cody Rhodes got the whole "what you wanna talk about" thing from Drake/Knight. Enzo was using the" dummy" thing in his pro mos. The guy is well respected by wrestling fans all over.
Eli Drake/LA Knight just "gets it". Unfortunately, TNA didn't get that he's a megastar (wink wink) in the making and neither did Vince McMahon who gave him a fashionista gimmick.
@@shutupdodo3686yea Vince stepped down HHH didn't really help either that gimmick was still going on for another few months with triple h charge in Creative basically all the corny storylines took almost seven months to end barely any or not much improvement has been made since last year in June or July whenever Vince step down in first place
The only thing I remember was him teaming up with Scott Steiner, that alone was worth the race I think, I imagine a very funny promo of him and bron in the future for that reason
Drake in TNA was just very unlucky timing. If he had arrived 2 years prior, he would have been much more important to the show. It was just an unlucky coincidence that he was in TNA when the company was at the darkest point in their history. Eli Drake in Impact right now would absolutely kill it.
Yea.. he could have fared better in 2011-2014 with all the stars they are pushing at that point like Mr Anderson, Bubba Ray, etc who were all good with promos.
The time he was in TNA, there were pushing EC3 instead. Eli Drake, EC3, and MJF are similar wrestlers and gimmicks so they can't all be the main event at the same time.
This is a mirror of what's happening in WWE and its LA Knight that's causing it. He's doing nothing wrong. He's a way bigger star than even his fans are aware he can be, and he has the total package. The actual issue is he seems to have the personality type that does his job well and is very confident but is also shy. When these things combine people think you're arrogant and start trying to 'humble you'. They get paranoid about your intentions, and you can't play politics because you technically don't need it since you have real talent and know your worth. Politically minded ppl hate these types because they can't 'read you' and assume the worst. LA has said several times he just does his job and sticks to himself. Unfortunately he has to start being a politician and he has to help politically minded people understand he's not a threat. I know this is oddly specific but I ended a chain of getting fired and buried at jobs I was doing well at by realizing this for myself and now I'm ok.
He not a bigger star because he isn't a bigger star. Most people just don't care. It doesn't matter how hard and talented one is if the audience doesn't care. The audience doesn't care about LA Lite.
An underrated good moment of his run was his tag match teaming with Masters against Moose and D’Angelo Williams at Slammiversary 2017. One of the best celebrity matches.
I beg to differ! The dummy button was a brilliant idea! I wish he would bring it back in the WWE. He doesn't have to do it all the time. Just bring it out for special occasions.
I've been a fan of Eli Drake / LA Knight since 2016. He's very entertaining on the mic. I'm disappointed he didn't win money in the bank but he can still be pushed.
Man, imagine drew coming back and feuding with night, and there are still rumors of haku's son who was also in the group with them going to WWE, that would be one of the greatest long term stories in history
Huh? King Haku’s 3 sons and King Haku himself are in Japan. Tama Tonga, Tonga Loa & Hakuleo together are the Guerrillas of Destiny (GOD), Tama Tonga & Tonga Loa both said several times that they will never wrestle for another company other than NJPW. Also if that wasn’t damning enough to whatever story you got this from, Tama Tonga & Tonga Loa NEVER wrestled for anyone other than NJPW & CMLL, Hakuleo NEVER wrestled for anyone other than NJPW & AEW, so I’d be impossible to ever cross paths with Eli Drake/LA Knight or Drew McIntyre/Drew Galloway, and the only other kid Haku has is a daughter but she’s not a wrestler. Speaking of Drew, according to Melzer/Keller Drew McIntyre has yet to re-sign, reportedly due to Drew’s frustration with booking/creative, so he may be going back to Drew Galloway around the New Year.
@@ChristopherJames1993 You’re half right, did a quick search, Tonga Loa was in WWE, however he left a decade ago, and never got out of FCW/NXT. Tama Tonga however I found nothing about ever working in America, nothing about TNA or Impact AT ALL from what I read, unless it was a talent exchange or super show with him still under contract to NJPW, I couldn’t find shit lol. Point I was trying to make, facts aside, if G.O.D. Refused MASSIVE contracts when NJPW America launched (aka AEW) with the same creative control NJPW offers, Hell will freeze over before the Tongans go to Titan.
Fun fact I found an at home workout dvd with triple h as the trainer. LA Knight was the main guy in the background demonstrating the exercises. I believe it was pre TNA. Also featured Ty Dillinger and Jason Jordan from what I remember
If they were smart he would. I'm not holding my breath after yesterday. The funny thing is people make a big deal about him being 40 when priest is the same age. Kind of hypocritical if you ask me.
@@thekingofkingsrpI'll give four examples of wwe not capitalizing at the right time summer of punk you know they screw that up installing by having del Rio Sami in January -Feb 2023 biggest Pop I heard since Bryan Braun during 2017-2018 Dolph during 2013 technically they did but you know they kind of screwed it up instantly as well I guess with Dolph been injured
He was treated so badly in TNA and while not everyone has a strong debut they really just kept cutting his legs out from under him constantly. He was gold and they tried to turn him into crap but he was too good on the mic. I thought his partnership with masters was ok like i think it had potential but masters was just gone. He didn't need to be in a tag team he needed to be solo, be able to talk and back it up in the ring. I like how he wasn't flipping all over the ring he has unique talent that needs to be appreciated. Plus his age really shouldn't affect him too much when lashley won the wwe title in his 40s
No he wasn’t he did well in impact world champ tag champ kotm champ feast or fired briefcase etc but i will admit impact was being petty about firing him for not jobbing to Tessa they knew he already wasn’t gonna re sign
Remember when the dudes were jobbing to Tessa Blanchard? Eli Drake said fk that sht. That's how you know the difference between the bums who know they're bums and just need that paycheck and someone who sees the big picture and what jobbing to Tessa Blanchard would do for others perception of him going forward. Massive respect to him for sticking to his guns.
Agree with you Markyd, Eddie Edwards is my top list most bland wrestler ever right now, same with Jungle Boy Jack Perry and Johnny Gargano but higher management still push these guys.
I watched Tessa's matches with Sami Callahan, whom I think is pretty mids, and she really shined. She is a phenomenal talent, as LA Knight said. That said, the feud between Tessa and Sami worked because of the hardcore aspect. LA's style and Tessa would have made for a match that just does not make any sense. I'm glad he stuck to his guns on that and didn't bury himself for a paycheck. I will admit, I wasn't a fan of Eli Drake/LA Knight until very recently, but looking back at his work even in Impact, I realize I am late to the party. LA Knight is the total package and that's just a fact of life, YEAH.
@@micahjohnsonboxing6409 Sami wasn't jobbed out to her. He won most of their matches. He did the favors in the end, but it's not like she squashed him.
@@extremeking425 this I can see. When I first saw they had something going on I didn't even want to give it a chance because of his weight. That said it was a good feud. If they had her against x division sized guys I could see that being believable too.
@@austinm8823true, and during their matches 90% of the time it was Sami bullying her and trying to punish her instead of going for the win which would leave openings for her to occasionally hit back with a series of quick high impact moves, it's not like the 2 of them were having competitive back and forth exchanges
The way you introduced him in this video is exactly my sentiments about Elias. I wholeheartedly believe he's the biggest waste of talent this generation. Granted he could work on his in-ring prowess but how does he do that and build confidence with nothing but job after job?
@@ScrubTheNub it's a wonder. Because I've never heard a bad word about the guy but then again maybe that's it. Maybe he's a pushover backstage or he doesn't have the ability to call his own shots.
Feels like the same thing happened in WWE. Horrible angles, lose almost every match including to comedy wrestlers, still get over somehow and company then tries to keep him off the mic or limit it to like a minute maybe.
I heard that he left Impact cause he refused to work with Tessa Blanchard ... If that is true ... Props on him for protecting himself and the business.
He was more like Mr. Kennedy/Anderson over the Rock. Shocked those two didn't do a program in TNA. It would of been money, but this was way after Anderson left the company. Which sucks.
They had a good program in NWA.. yes very small arena or studio for it but it was good, the 2019 era of NWA was a good year, they had plenty of great talent, young, old, probably a bunch of locals too but they meshed very well, it was a great little roster and I feel for how small it was, everyone was used well..I didn’t watch TNA… but this didn’t feel like that at all.. I feel NWA was filled with guys…one who wanted to prove themselves and learn and those who wanted to teach the up and comers, there were lots of good matches on there and good combinations of heels and faces, but yea both Eli and Mr Anderson had a feud in NWA.. led to a street fight type match.. don’t remember what they called it but they brawled in the stands some..
@@IamIzayis That first season of Powerrr legit brought me back to when I started watching wrestling as a kid. Was the only time in recent memory where I watched religiously and made sure to never miss a show. But now Powerrr is kinda meh. Still alright but not nearly as good as it could be.
Having Eli Drake not speak for the remaining two months of 2016 makes me think someone in the writing staff saw that terrible Eddie Murphy film, A Thousand Words.
I guess he has similar cadence to the Rock and his voice is deep, but you can tell that the Rock puts a bit of a southern inflection on his wrestling voice and I just don't hear that when Eli Drake speaks.
This is such a trip, I remember liking him at times and every time he isn't getting shine I just forget. I completely forgot he was Breaker's first match in nXt even though I was intently focused on the early weeks of 2.0. I remember liking him vs Waller too, a double turn. But then you read up on his Wikpedia and his early stuff consists of ~6 months with Grimes/DiBiase (fine midcard introduction), losing to Grayson even though he is the veteran and won't be around as long, then being shuffled into the "Black and Gold" War Games team. Random title shots and feuds where he seems like he is just mic fodder and a punchline. Then leaves and what, he's been on the main roster a year? I totally blanked that Dupri was over a year ago and he has only been LA Knight for about 10 months. I feel like you finally get some meat on the bone when he's allowed to cut promos on Bray but even that could have been a disaster if not for his work. The dude turns anything he gets into gold and is begging for a true one-on-one feud that people will remember. I'm sitting here the last few days cracking up at his NWA promo and the Drew promos in this video. He just looks like a star on Smackdown but it's really nothing new, he wasted his 30s lol and has been this good for a long time. We were probably thinking back then "Oh yeah, he's one of their up-and-comers" once his promos make it to RU-vid but not caring about any of the booking going on
Eli Drake was the main eventer Impact Wrestling needed. They could of had proper feud with EC3 but they chosen Eddie Edwards cause indie Darling, Sami Callihan and oVe because Hardcore Wrestling, Grado because British comedy indie darling, and finally Tessa Blanchard because progressive idealism. Each of these things are a niche at best no wonder why people wanted impact to die and be sold.
Sami Callahan is excellent and always has been, and he’s more than just hardcore wrestling, anyone and everyone who watched him loved him, the hawk included. Eddie is divisive sure, and the Tessa thing seemed like a good idea at the time, even hawk said so but to list callahan as a reason the company hasn’t bounced back yet is not it.
Me and my brother were still watching TNA/Impact (we still do when we can) and Eli was one of my brothers favourite wrestlers on Impact at the time because of his promos and catchphrases. The whole "Dummy! Yeah!" thing was something we did find funny to be fair but I completely understand that it's not something everyone will/would like. It really is a shame that Impact didn't use him properly, and honestly I wasn't aware of the reasons he left - beyond not wanting to wrestle Tessa because he wasn't a fan of inter-gender wrestling. Hopefully WWE doesn't make the same mistake with Eli under his L.A. Knight persona and give him a run with a title that isn't the Million Dollar belt he briefly held. Loved the clip, and as a diehard TNA/Impact fan, I love your clips on TNA/Impact wrestlers. Keep up the amazing work, and be careful if a wild slapnuts suddenly appears.
I was actually watching TNA\Impact around the time he was champion (both Grand champion and GFW) because it was on PopTV (then it move to a channel we don't have, in Italy) and immediately I thought he was a comedy jobber because of the booking. Thinking it back from now, he had already got me hookd because I watched the shows (for the first time since 2013) and the more I listned to the guy, the more it was obvious that he was awesome. "That is just a fact of life" was a good catch phrase and I also liked the "Dummy Yeah!" button because it was silly (especially whenever he went overboard with it). Then he lost the title to Austin Aries (and we all know how good that thing went). He was a decent wrestler, looked good and he had a recognizable personality... clearly a missed opportunity!
I don't watch WWE anymore and haven't for almost a decade, but I have heard a lot of good things about this guy. TNA seemed to always have a problem with building stars. Whenever they had a great prospect on their hands, they always seemed to screw it up and that prospect would leave and find success somewhere else. Or when they actually did let a homegrown star get to the top of the company, they would cut his legs out from under him.
@@mildtomfoolery5048nah Roman is champion still the products been still for years I mean not like 4-5 years I mean like pushing 11 to 12 years since it was last time it was good
When Eli lost his voice and wasn’t allowed to talk, I initially thought it might have been because he needed to save his voice so he could recover from some sort of throat surgery, but I found nothing backing my theory, so it was just TNA shutting up their best talker 🤦🏻
Why they were so obsessed with Tyris, I'll never know. Dude was a black hole of talent and charisma. Also, if TNA treated Eli so shittily how could he be someone you'd want to build a company around? They put their world title on him and gave him plenty of time to cut promos, which gave WWE a catalogue of material to hire him based on
Honestly, Batista got pushed at the same age, and it worked fine. He could be that superstar for 2-5 years until the next generation stars take his place.
@@jonathancoleman6482. Honestly, I am unsure the point…. It’s not to build a franchise around him but to enhance the main event scene, bring up the energy and excitement.
even tho he is the most over wrestler right now with the only wrestler getting a bigger reaction nowadays only being cm punk , no matter to which company he went he was always booked badly , its a shame how someone this talented just got wasted all these years , like the man is over 40 years old at this point , just give him what he deserves already
Shoulda won mitb. Priest just had a title shot. Need to take a shot on him when he gets that reaction with no help from the company. Imagine what he could be with its backing
Joe Hendry is killing it in Impact right now. I hope that he finally gets his recognition like LA Knight finally is because Joe Hendry is gold. Happy for Eli Drake/LA Knight.
I was so disappointed that he didn't win MitB. He would have done so well with that spot. WWE fumbled this one. I hope he will get the shine he deserves.
Eli Drake was very good in the NWA. Pre-Covid, I think they were building to a world title match between him and Nick Aldis in the long-term. But covid seriously fucked the NWA and they've never recovered IMO.
I started watching Impact in the last days of the Global Force era, and while there was a lot of boring stuff (seriously, what was up with having Grado around forever?), Eli was always worth watching. I think they appreciated what he could do to some extent, but also took him for granted.
Been a HUGE fan of LA Knight since NXT. I knew he was Eli Drake in Impact, and I always wondered, "Why do I like LA Knight so much, but couldn't give a shit about Eli Drake?" While also not watching Impact at the time. This video answered all my questions.
Watching TNA back then it wasn't just TNA who screwed LA. The so called fans of wrestling and also TNA haters never wanted to see him do well. They always called him a Pound Store rip off of the Rock💷. It took LA going to NWA for many people to finally realise that he was a majorly underrated wrestler with tons of charisma and talent. 👊👍
I did payed attention when he was world champion in TNA, I actually made my dream matches (in my head) with him in TNA wrestling Angle, Galloway, EC3, Alberto el patrón, and so on. Those mostly didn't happened, but it was entertaining to watch Impact videos about his segments and matches. This was the time I knew him and who he was, so I really hoped he went very far from there, he became sort of my favorites in TNA. Then I lost track of him but when he debuted in NXT, I knew who he fucking was, YEAH.
I have been a fan of AEW ever since Punk went there so I have forgotten about WWE. And then the Bloodline is a thing, and then I saw the LA Knight promos, and boy it does take me back to retro WWE.
Honestly in Wwe he was close to being a jobber but since Vince left the company for a while he got a huge push. And I’m glad because even in Impact while he wasn’t treated as well as he should he was still entertaining.
Yeah he didn't technically left the company owned majority of the stock he was still the de-facto leader the only difference is that his son-in-law was was booking the show instead of him and his daughter and Nick Khan was CEO for 6 months
Hasn't happened yet He has won over the crowd..... doesn't mean they should instantly throw him a belt, build it up like they did for Daniel Bryan Hell I think if he went after the intercontinental title that could help him a lot especially if he beat Gunther ( hell now with Drew McIntyr in the mix it could be a triple threat feud especially since LA and drew have history )
Grado vs Eli felt like it was gold but man they fucked it up they are both very talented with a deep history with Drew. It should of lead to a triple threat for the World title back then. Both should have been elevated.
They literally can redo this entire Galloway/Drake angle again in WWE. Even the promos with minor changes, "Wrestling" becomes WWE since wrestling doesn't exist there., etc
Funny now isn't it impact would use him far better than wwe. if wwe still isn't pushing rhodes to the top what hope does LA Knight have WWE refuse to move beyond reigns and rollins and look towards the future
Been a fan of now L.A Knight "Yeah", since i first saw him in CWFH, when he was known as Shaun Ricker and would come out with his manager Percy Pringle AKA: Paul Bearer. I'm glad he's finally getting the recognition he deserves, dudes on fire, hope he has a great run in WWE
After getting into TNA around the time of Lashley and Roode feuding for the title, (one of the good eras of TNA) seeing the rise of Grado was the final straw for me.
Crazy how Drew had the face he has now but isn’t as beefed up or hairy-chested. Also watching this makes me like Drake/Knight more. Hope he wins the briefcase when I watch MITB later. Also crazy to see how far TNA/Impact has fallen since I watched it on the regular when it was on Spike.
Crazy how obvious Eli Drake was a megastar on the mic and TNA killed him dead to so many out of shape guys who should not even qualify as “local talent” let alone regular jobbers. But no, all those bums got mid card feuds. TNA was pretty awful from 2016-2019, and they refused to treat anything with reverence.
The guy is a megastar with money written all over him. I would say I can't believe TNA didn't see it, but.... yeah, I can believe it. He's gonna end up being a champion with WWE and he's the most over wrestler on the planet right now. Safe to say he made the right decision.
I've followed LA Knight/Eli Drake since 2015, watched his entire TNA run, and man, its made me feel, whatever goes on in WWE, it's never going to be worse as being a world champion, and being a total afterthought for Alberto El Patron coming back, he won the title with a sticker on it for god sakes, it was terrible, and then he got pushed aside for Aries and was stuck in midcard hell for the rest of it, bad times.
