Billy Corgan Says LA Knight “Was Being Set Up To Be NWA Heavyweight Champion”
In an appearance on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Billy Corgan discussed LA Knight’s steady ascent to mega stardom over the past few months in WWE.
Heaping praise on “Mr. Slim Jim,” he shared that he has always been a fan of his. Corgan said,
“During my time in the booking office at then-TNA, I was certainly one of his biggest fans. I pushed hard to get him more time. [He’s] one of the great promos of all time, and that’s not to take away anything from his wrestling. He is a main-event level ability in the ring, but we all know that if you can walk and talk, you hit that other echelon. It’s great to see him hitting that now.”
Corgan further shared that he almost made Knight the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion during his tenure as Eli Drake from 2019 to 2021, before revealing that the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic forced NWA to stall operations and compelled Knight to finally make the jump to WWE.
“He was being set up to be NWA Heavyweight Champion, and that’s right around I think the time the pandemic hit. He was under an NWA contract, and it got to the point where it was like, I can’t remember what it was, but me and him always did good business, no heat there. But it was obvious that he needed to go pursue other opportunities, and where I was standing at the time was just gonna hold him back. There was something there, but it was clearly understood that obviously it was built around Aldis for a while, but once Aldis was gonna drop the title, it was gonna clearly go to him.”
Corgan then praised Knight’s commitment and efforts throughout his career, expressing his happiness for him.
“So it’s a shame that it never happened because we would have had a lot of fun. Always great to work with him. I’ve always gotten on with him, and I’m very happy for him. He deserves every bit of success that’s come his way because he’s fought and clawed his way to get there.”
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