10 Wrestlers Who Became Everything They HATED

9. LA Knight Becomes Background Noise

Chris Jericho Kevin Nash
WWE

McMahon didn't see much in LA Knight as an in-ring performer either. In fact, the old WWE boss planned to pluck one of NXT's brightest stars from the developmental brand and recast him as Max Dupri: 'Manager Extraordinaire'. Nobody was thinking of greats like Bobby Heenan or Paul Heyman whenever Dupri warbled through some dialogue, let's be honest.

Someday, ol' Max might find room in lists looking at managers you totally don't remember.

Knight didn't dig being a heel mouthpiece for some going-nowhere tag-team. That's not meant as a dismissal of Maximum Male Models, but come on - WWE's bigwigs never treated the unit with any respect creatively, and that was never going to change. McMahon stepping away and Triple H seizing control was the best thing that could've happened to LA.

The upheaval meant Knight was restored to his former glory and Trips just let him do his own thing. He's been thriving ever since dropping the lame Dupri character he couldn't get a feel for and becoming an active wrestler again. Today, LA is one of the company's brightest babyfaces, and his star continues to rise heading into 2025.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.