LA Knight reflects on working for Billy Corgan in NWA
Working for Billy Corgan in the NWA was some of the most fun LA Knight has ever had in his career.
Knight has now been with WWE for five years, joining the company in 2021 not long after ending his time with the NWA. He’s a former NWA Tag Team Champion with James Storm, and the studio wrestling format of the NWA allowed Knight (then known as Eli Drake) to shine on the microphone with his promo ability.
For the entire NWA roster, there were very few rules they had to follow. Knight told Insight with Chris Van Vliet that one of the only things Corgan asked for was that wrestlers stick to their own storylines and not go into business for themselves.
“That was some of the most fun time I ever had,” the 43-year-old Knight said about his NWA run. “Because Billy was so cool about the fact — I mean, obviously we were on YouTube, so we weren’t really like time constraints. We didn’t have to have to hit commercial times or anything like that, so it’s a completely different beast.
“But he told us straight up from the very first meeting, the whole group, he was like, ‘I want you to do anything that you want, as long as you don’t go into business for yourself and create stories that you’re not in. But in the confines of your story, whatever you’re doing, you can say and do anything you want, just don’t overtly swear and all that kind of stuff and whatnot. But other than that, explore the space.'”
LA Knight/Eli Drake competed for NWA from 2019-2020 —
Corgan, the frontman of the band Smashing Pumpkins, bought the NWA in 2017. Knight joined the promotion’s roster early in the NWA Power era when the company broadcast its shows on YouTube with Nick Aldis as champion. Episodes of Power now air on Saturday on Comet TV.
Before landing in WWE, Knight also worked for TNA/Impact Wrestling and was a World Champion there. He told Insight that, while he’s always felt underappreciated in pro wrestling and feels his WWE character is lacking in direction at the moment, he’s grateful that the industry has finally rewarded him for the years of work he’s put in.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.