LA Knight and Chris Van Vliet recently sat down to discuss the popular superstar’s WWE career and one of the topics that came up was Knight’s relative late start within WWE and how his age became a talking point.
On people bringing up his age
“Yeah, I get it, though, because I think a lot of guys who are my age, and even a lot of guys who are younger than me, they’re in rough, rough shape. I’ve taken care of myself very well. I think I worked in a very safe manner, to where again it hasn’t led me to have [injuries]. I’ve broken my nose once, I’ve had a few concussions and stuff, but I’ve never had anything ever, never ever. I’m super reliable, I’ve never been on the shelf for any kind of real legitimate injury. My hope is to get out at some point, eventually, and not have any of those things on me. I’ve got neck and back pain, everybody has.”
On why he was being criticized for his age despite older wrestlers on the roster
“I think it’s just the idea that I was starting brand new, and so a lot of the guys who were there, who were already in their late 30s and 40s, had been established. I think it was just looking at this is going to be this long slow climb, we don’t want to invest. I mean, I 100% get it. If all you’re looking at is a picture and a number, 100% get it, but you got to figure out what’s under that. But if I’m honest, I understand the guy’s (Vince McMahon) too busy to look at what’s under the hood. It’s just, hey, this is what I see, I don’t want to invest in that. I understand it. At the same time, I know me, and if we look at the way things worked out, goddamn, it worked out pretty well for everybody, didn’t it? I mean, sh*t, it didn’t take five years for me to get off the ground. It took, I mean, if we’re really looking at it real, LA Knight didn’t pop up till at least on SmackDown until October or November, I think it was, and then by July, we were full hilt, that was around the time that it was Money in the Bank, and sh*t was taking off at that point in time.”
On what his career would look like if he signed with WWE ten years ago
“Who knows? I might not be here at all. I don’t know, because it’s tough to tell, just because so many of the circumstances were different. Again, I think about the Vince stuff, and I only got a little bit of it, and I was over it pretty quickly. But it was also due to the circumstances and the view on me, because of that number, that 39 number, what a scary number. So, I don’t know, 10 years ago or 15 years ago, the circumstances could have been completely different, because of that not being a factor.”
Does he think about retirement
“All the time. I’m looking at the clock all the time. The funny thing is, physically I could do this for a long time. I’m really good physically. Mentally, I’m just like, I’m gonna snuggle puppies.”
Would he like to wrestle into his 50s
“No! f*ck no. Would I like to be able to come in and maybe do an occasional appearance? Yeah, sure, maybe. But I don’t think I’ve been built up to the point where I can do like an Undertaker-type thing or an Austin thing or something like that. So I don’t think that’s in my future either. So it’s pretty much gonna be at some point when I decide to call it I’m gonna disappear in the sunset, and you’ll just never see me again. I’m not even joking, I’m being dead ass serious. If they decide at some point they get crazy enough to go, we’re gonna put him in the Hall of Fame, sure, I’ll come back do that. But I got a feeling that probably ain’t gonna happen either. But maybe that’s my own feeling of just like never being… No matter where I’ve gone, I’ve always felt underappreciated in the wrestling business, but I don’t know.”