10 Wrestlers Who F*cked Up On Their First Day
4. LA Knight: One To Watch, Eli Drake: Needs A Watch
Eli Drake has finally made it to WWE - as LA Knight - after taking a rather circuitous route.
He's a good and necessary addition in that he complements the existing roster perfectly. Largely, the talent on NXT can wrestle to an excellent standard but can't really talk, and if that annoys you, CM Punk said the exact same thing in his assessment of Pat McAfee, and you want him to come back and headline WrestleMania. Go on! Give CM Punk the cry-laugh emoji treatment! Maintain the "same energy!" It would be biased if you didn't!
Knight isn't elite in the ring, but he's a hell of a talker, on purpose and sometimes accidentally. That range is crucial to NXT. He's a cosplay Rock without being too cringe about it, which is significantly more of a compliment than it may first seem.
LA Knight didn't f*ck up on his first day; he cut a funny and confident promo at the expense of the NXT broadcast team at TakeOver: Vengeance Day.
But Eli Drake did. Years and years ago, in 2008, Drake buried himself at his tryout by turning up an hour late. This was very ill-advised, especially in those days, when WWE's bargaining hand was even stronger in the complete absence of legit competition. WWE was the only place to be.
You couldn't turn up late, when countless wrestlers weren't even asked to turn up at all.