>>19398945The stages of his WWE run have been fascinating. He's one of those guys whose usage on the show reflects his political standing behind the scenes. He went from having Vince completely against him to being completely behind him, and then Vince was gone. Since then, he's been coasting off that short burst of hype he got during the summer of '23. The pops and audience-participation promos are enough for some on his side backstage to ensure he's regularly featured, but there seem to be others intent on harness. I don't even think a win over Cena in the retirement match can elevate him much now, seeing as how Cena just jobbed out to Dom and got squashed by Brock.
What Knight needs more than anything else is a bit more mic time and a bit more freedom when he has it. Execs are limiting him to pepper his catchphrases between hitting each bullet point for his role in the segment (opportunity after pinning Seth at SNME, reminding the audience he's outnumbered by Solo & his MFTs, etc.) He initially began to stand out as a heel with the way he would insult the live crowd, and he made the normal face transition here by getting creative in his insults towards the heels. It seems like WWE decision-makers aren't allowing him to let this skill of his loose, for whatever reason, but it's to everyone's detriment. Even though he's average at best in the ring, he's one of a small handful they got who can pop a crowd with lines he comes up with on his own.