10 Things WWE Fans Need To Know About LA Knight
3. Reality TV Appearance Alongside 'The People's Champion'
While signed to WWE yet languishing, Knight attended an open casting in Hollywood for The Hero - a TNT reality show hosted by The Rock.
The show aimed to discover an American Hero from nine ordinary people. The competition was built around extreme challenges featuring insane heights, deadly animals, and even a bus loaded with tear gas. As well as testing nerves, the contestants were challenged “physically, mentally, and morally”.
Knight presented as heelish on the show. In the trailer alone he’s branded a “sell out” by an emotionally enraged contestant and tells another of his potential to be “a real bad guy”.
Knight played the reality game well and gave viewers an ambiguous villain . While the majority of his fellow contestants found reason to compete based on past tragedy or current struggles, Knight entered for more superficial reasons. He believed people stereotyped him as a “muscle guy” and assumed that he was “a meathead” and “slow”. While he proved his wits, and won $35,000, he wasn’t cast as The Hero.
Knight fondly recalls The Rock doing imitations of him on set, saying the high school kid in him lost his mind.