New Million Dollar champion LA Knight is at home under the bright lights of WWE NXT

For the first time in over a decade, the Million Dollar Championship has resurfaced in WWE, this time under the NXT banner, and is around the waist of a Superstar who it suits perfectly: LA Knight.

The NXT newcomer defeated Cameron Grimes in a grueling Ladder match at NXT TakeOver: In Your House this past Sunday to become only the sixth Million Dollar Champion ever. The title was originally introduced by Ted DiBiase in 1989 and has made several comebacks since then, most notably when it was awarded to “Stone Cold” Steve Austin (under the name “The Ringmaster) in 1996.

Now, Knight will have a chance to follow in their footsteps, carry on the legacy of “The Million Dollar Man” and etch his own name into the history books. His victory at TakeOver was extra impressive considering he debuted on the black-and-gold brand just four months ago and already he’s on the right track to superstardom.

Days removed from becoming the brand-new Million Dollar Champ, Knight talked to Daily DDT about what the moment meant to him, why the timing was right to return to NXT, the inspiration behind his entrance music, and more.

LA Knight shares his first thoughts on winning the Million Dollar Championship

Being able to say he’s among an elite few to have held the Million Dollar Championship is nothing short of an incredible honor for Knight.

The belt was bestowed upon the former Eli Drake by Ted DiBiase himself, who has been looking for someone to carry his legacy these past few months on NXT. Cameron Grimes was initially in his sights before Knight burst onto the scene and bested Grimes in a Ladder match at TakeOver to procure the prestigious prize.

“You’re talking about a legendary title, about a 30-year history, and a very short list of guys that have held it,” Knight said. “Two of them that stick out to me: Obviously Ted DiBiase and Steve Austin. It’s crazy now to be on that shortlist. It’s crazy now to be holding the actual, 100 percent authentic, legitimate Million Dollar Championship that was created so long ago in 1989. It’s a crazy culmination of everything that’s happened in the last few months, coming to NXT and be holding a title I didn’t even know was an option four months ago.”

The fact that Knight was handpicked by the WWE Hall of Famer to succeed him as the modern-day “Million Dollar Man” is not lost on him, especially since Steve Austin once occupied that same role 25 years ago.

Of course, Austin went on to take his career (as well as the entire business) to another level after being partnered with DiBiase, and the rest is history. Knight has similar plans, and knowing DiBiase is bound to play a pivotal role in his success going forward is still surreal to him.

“I’ve got friends from home that we used to watch wrestling together when we were kids,” he said. “One of my friends was a big-time ‘Million Dollar Man’ and Million Dollar Championship fan. The idea of Ted DiBiase coming and we’re going to get to work with him? That’s crazy. That’s enough in itself. This is mind-blowing… It’s such an iconic piece of the business. It rocks your world to even consider, and even beyond that, to consider that I just won the damn thing last night.”

Knight would love to say the first thing he did as Million Dollar champion was take the title out for a nice night out on the town. Instead, he revealed he went home and licked his wounds following the hard-fought Ladder match with Grimes.

He felt the big-time excitement that evening, especially with it being as grand of a stage as TakeOver. He hasn’t had much experience with Ladder matches over the course and he’d be perfectly content never being in one again.

“As is the case with the wrestling business itself, adaptation is key,” Knight said about the bout. “Just getting in there and moving around I’m like, ‘Okay, what can my mind create in here? How can I set up this ladder to create either a lot of destruction or create a way for me to more efficiently climb to the top and grab that case?’ Am I a veteran in the game of Ladder matches? Hell no and for good reason. Hopefully, I won’t have too many of those in my career, but if need be, I will adapt and make it work as I did [on Sunday].”

LA Knight details his journey back to WWE NXT and why 2021 was the right time to return

What some may not know is that Knight previously worked for WWE NXT several years back. Despite never wrestling a single televised match for the promotion, he appeared as an extra on a handful of episodes of NXT TV before being released in August 2014.

He went on to make a name for himself across the independent scene, most notably in IMPACT Wrestling and in the NWA, and won championships everywhere he went. He’s gone on the record before in saying that he turned down a few offers to return in years past, but the stars finally aligned for it to happen in 2021.

“You got a lot of different circumstances at play there,” Knight said about his return. “My intention a few different times was to come back a few years ago, but for different reasons… I had to stay put where I was. Eventually, when the time was right, which ended up being this year, I felt like, ‘You know what? It’s time to shoot my shot.’ There comes a point where I know I’m at my physical prime, but some people see a certain age and say, ‘I don’t know.’ But until you see me and what I can do and how I move, it’s a whole different ballgame.

“A lot of it was a matter of timing, different communications, stuff like that,” he continued. “What I had going on personally or professionally or what was going on in different landscapes of NXT or elsewhere and just figuring that and picking my spots. Now just fit all the criteria, everything fit perfectly to where I could just walk in and wear this like a glove.”

Knight promised that, in addition to making the Million Dollar Title even more of a coveted championship, he’s going to make a lot of noise in NXT, whether fans like it or not. The master of the microphone has quickly found his footing on the show and becoming Million Dollar Champion gives him the direction he’s needed.

As for whether he feels coming back now as opposed to a few years ago was smarter now that he’s more of a complete performer, it’s difficult for him to say for sure. He won’t know until he calls it a career down the line, but he’s adamant about giving it all he has in the meantime.

“Sometimes I think my peak might have been in 2012,” he said. “My peak might have been in 2017. Some guys may say their peak was in 2019. When you really think about it and look back at the business and how this particular business works, this is a very mental game. It’s also a very physical game, obviously, you have to take very good care of your body and my body still holds up. But with the mental aspects of this game, you only get better as you go.”

LA Knight discusses the similarities he shares with Drew McIntyre and why he belongs on the big stages

Someone who also departed WWE and later returned a much bigger star was Drew McIntyre. In fact, they arrived in IMPACT as a unit (along with Tanga Loa) in 2015 and went on to win the Impact World Championship in the years that followed.

McIntyre re-signed with NXT in 2017 and captured the NXT Championship soon after. Knight’s trajectory may be no different, and similar to McIntyre, he wanted to be doing his best work on the biggest platform possible.

“He kind of did the same thing that I did and I would even venture to say he did it on a slightly broader scale than I did,” he said. “When he left, obviously he had more name value than when I left the first time, but he was able to go out and completely prove himself beyond a shadow of a doubt that he belongs in the top-tier of the business. When the time was right, he made that return, and now he’s killing it up there. For me, it was the same thing in not having as big of a name, I’m going to find my spots where I fit and make the most of my spots and prove I belong at the top-tier of this.

“For a long time, I’ve been loving the stuff I’ve been doing but hating that nobody was seeing it,” he continued. “All I craved was the bigger stage of WWE, NXT, all of that. If I’m going to be doing great stuff, I need it to be seen. That’s the attention-starved personalities all of us wrestlers have, but I don’t want to do this for nobody. I want everybody to see this, know this, and they can decide for themselves: Is this guy one of the greats of now or whatever? It’s very ambitious, but if my name can come up in that conversation as one of the greats of all-time… I know people are thinking, ‘Oh, that’s crazy! Who does this guy think he is?’ In my mind, if you’re not aiming for that, I don’t know what you’re doing here.”

Luckily for Knight, there are plenty of people currently in NXT who he has shared a ring or a microphone with in the past. In addition to spending time with Wade Barrett in the NWA last year, he also worked with Grimes, Drake Maverick, Karrion Kross, MSK and even McKenzie Mitchell while in IMPACT.

Those familiar faces have helped introduce him to the rest of the roster and assure them that he isn’t the brash loudmouth he portrays on television.

“One of the hardest challenges I’ve had in locker rooms I’ve been in throughout my career is people just not liking me because I stay to myself and I’m quiet,” he said. “If I don’t know you, I’ll say hello and just let you do your thing. As far as I can tell, if you’re not talking to me, you probably don’t want to talk to me. Now, I’ve been around enough and crossed paths with enough of these guys and girls where it’s like we know each other. Now I can come in and it’s the reunion. Are there faces I don’t know and don’t know me? Absolutely, so that’s the first day of school vibe. It’s a little of both, but it makes it so much easier when you have that reunion vibe. Now it’s like, ‘This guy may seem like a jerk, but he’s fine.’”

LA Knight reveals the inspiration behind his NXT entrance music

Knight looked like the total package from the moment he arrived in NXT thanks to his expensive attire, above-average mic skills and catchy entrance theme. He’s used the same song for the last few years, but it was expected that he’d debut new music in NXT because that’s just how WWE tends to do things.

Fortunately for him, it turned out to be something he was happy with because of its west coast hip-hop roots. Sometimes music can make the man and that’s certainly turned out to be the case with the Million Dollar Champion.

“It was somewhat of a collaborative effort,” he explained. “I wasn’t in the studio, though I would’ve loved to have been because I’m so hands-on with that stuff. At IMPACT, I made my own music. When I was on the indies or any promotion I’ve worked at in the last 10 years, I’d make my own music. Even if I took an actual song that already existed, I’d take that and remix it and put my own flavor on it. I’ve actually made songs from scratch with a keyboard and Garage Band and all that stuff.

“That was the inspiration to where I said, ‘Can you make me something kind of like this?’ It had a little bit of a west coast, hip-hop feeling to it with also a little bit of a rock or metal feel to it,” he added. “Just the overwhelming vibe was west coast hip hop. And when I sent that over, what I got back is what you hear now, and I’m totally cool with it.”

Catch LA Knight on WWE NXT every Tuesday at 8/7c, only on USA Network.