LA Knight finally wins a match after ESPN calls out losing streak

LA Knight finally caught a break, snapping a two-month losing streak in singles competition with a win over Kofi Kingston on Raw.

During the bout, announcer Wade Barrett noted, “Here’s the issue with Kingston. He is a former world champ. The problem is nobody else brings it up for some reason.”

On this night, WWE went out of its way to remind viewers of that fact about Kingston.

Earlier in the show, Knight had asked General Manager Adam Pearce for a rematch with Seth Rollins for the World Heavyweight Title. The New Day’s Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods interrupted, mocking Knight for never having held a world title — unlike Kingston. Knight fired back, saying Kingston would never be champion again and challenged him to a match, which Pearce made official.

The match was close, giving fans the impression that Knight had defeated a strong opponent. He looked dominant at times, backing down Woods before overcoming The New Day’s shady tactics to finish Kingston with a BFT.

Based on his performance, WWE appears to be positioning Knight for a title program with Rollins following Crown Jewel, the company’s next premium live event.

Notably, Knight’s win comes just a week after ESPN — WWE’s streaming home for premium events — was critical of both Wrestlepalooza and Knight’s losing streak. In a review of last week’s Raw, ESPN’s Arda Ocal wrote:

“LA Knight may never get a win again. Not on Raw, where Jey Uso got his revenge on Knight, who may have been biased toward The Vision in their tag team match against The Usos at Wrestlepalooza. With the spear and pin by Jey at Raw, LA Knight hasn’t won a televised singles match in almost two months. It feels like a victory would do him some good right about now.”

For a company that insists it doesn’t book in response to criticism, the timing is hard to ignore, especially given the source.

It’s also worth noting that despite losing to Jey Uso last week, Knight appears to be leapfrogging him for the next shot at Rollins. By all logic, Uso — who pinned Knight — should be next in line.

Instead, it appears Knight is getting a short-term push for the sake of keeping Rollins busy. Meanwhile, Uso continues into a deeper, potentially more significant storyline with Roman Reigns, one that looks poised to lead Uso down the same dark path as his cousin.