Greg DeMarco’s Good, Bad, & Ugly: LA Knight Challenging Roman Reigns at WWE Crown Jewel

LA Knight is getting his moment on the biggest stage, and many are split. Greg DeMarco takes a Good, Bad, & Ugly look at this step in Knight’s career!

WWE makes it’s semi-annual trip to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia this weekend for what is often a very polarizing event among the dedicated followers of the product. This time around, the main event itself is equally polarizing at LA Knight will challenge Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship.

So it the decision to put LA Knight in this match Good, Bad, or Ugly? Let’s analyze!

Good

LA Knight has become the megastar he says he is, and that megastar is headlining one of WWE’s cash-cow events by challenging Roman Reigns in Saudi Arabia. His promos with Roman have done huge numbers on social media. He’s selling tons of merchandise. Fans are finishing his sentences–everybody truly is saying “L! A! KNIGHT! YEAH!”

Roman Reigns ONLY does big matches. His stage is ALWAYS the grandest stage. There is no substitute for the Tribal Chief, he truly sits at the Head Of The Table in WWE. To be in the ring with him in ANY capacity is beneficial. That alone right there is a huge bit of “Good” in this for LA Knight.

But LA Knight has also gotten the better of Roman Reigns in their exchanges. As they nearly always do, he’s being presented as a legitimate threat to “the longest reigning champion in modern WWE history.” And with Solo Sikoa making the trip to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, it is likely that Roman isn’t retaining without some assistance.

Again, GOOD for LA Knight.

LA Knight calls himself the megastar of WWE (as does commentary), but this booking proves it.

BAD

So with all that, what could possible be bad about it? Well quite simply…the man ain’t winning! There’s no way he’s winning. That is reserved for Cody Rhodes at either WrestleMania 40 or WrestleMania 41 (if they decide to have Roman break Hogan’s 1474  day reign–which they should and probably will).

That’s bad. LA Knight is simply another win for Roman Reigns in a long line of challengers have fallen short in their bid to unseat the Tribal Chief. Short of a last minute injury or movie deal, it’s a virtual lock that LA Knight is walking out of Crown Jewel with the same number of championships he had when he walked in: ZERO.

UGLY

Then there’s the ugly side of all this. And there are two major “ugly” items.

First off, he’s part of Roman Reigns’ defenses in 2023, arguably the worst year of Roman’s 1000+ day sting atop the mountain in WWE. Roman’s appearances have decreased in frequency. His title defenses have dramatically dropped. Between RawAfterMania and now, everything he’s done has been contained within the bubble of The Bloodline. His entire 2023 has been Bloodline related outside of the LA Knight program and half of the Cody Rhodes program. That…is ugly.

Then there’s the fact that LA Knight’s moment in the sun comes under the Saudi Arabian sun. The “Jam In The Sand” events for WWE still have a dark cloud over them, one that many fans have a hard time reconciling. To many, these events still don’t “feel good.” Even though tourism authorities have provided subsidies for WWE to bring it’s brand to Wales and Puerto Rico, this is still different.

And while a good bit of fans have stopped boycotting these events (mainly because they are consequential in the storytelling world of WWE), there are plenty who still stand by their decision to avoid these. There’s a bad taste associated with these events, and LA Knight is now inseparably linked to that.

The Verdict

There are legitimate reasons for any one of the three possible answers here, but I have to go with “Good.” LA Knight is challenging Roman Reigns for the most important championship in all of wrestling in front of a huge crowd of fans at a major WWE event. Even in a loss, his profile will continue to be raised. LA Knight’s Road To WrestleMania and winning the United States Championship from Logan Paul will roll on.

There are sdeep Bad and Ugly factors to overcome, but overcome is all LA Knight has done. When he walked into NXT with the full Eli Drake character in-tact, it DID NOT get over. NAH NAH!

The NXT audience immediately rejected LA Knight. He didn’t fit in at all. But he didn’t stop. He believed in his character and believed in his abilities, and it worked. “WHAT?” chants became “YEAH!” chants. He became a huge star, and got called up to the main roster!

…where he was transformed into Max Dupri …and managed the Maximum Male Models. Those two guys? Amazingly talented but no longer with the company. All that remains is Maxxine Dupri, and she’s found great footing with The Alpha Academy, which has even grown to four with the addition of Akira Tozawa.

But Max Dupri played his role to the fullest, and it led to an opportunity to become LA Knight again. And what happened over time? It got over! He was undeniable. And his success was inevitable.

Many situations in pro wrestling have Good, Bad, and Ugly elements to them. The performer, and the performance, will dictate the outcome. And LA Knight has taken every situation and made it good.

This will be no different.