"I'm worried about holding this championship" - 41-year-old WWE star makes a shocking statement ahead of his first title defense on SmackDown
A top WWE star is set to defend his championship for the first time on the upcoming edition of SmackDown. In anticipation of Friday Night Show, LA Knight made a surprising and audacious claim about being the reigning United States Champion.
The Megastar finally captured a singles title in the Sports Entertainment juggernaut at SummerSlam 2024. He defeated Logan Paul at The Biggest Party of the Summer in Cleveland to become the new US Champion.
Tonight, on the August 23, 2024, installment of SmackDown, Knight is set to put his title on the line for the first time against Legado Del Fantasma's leader, Santos Escobar.
During a Fanatics Live Signing at Fanatic Fests NYC, the 41-year-old WWE star was asked about potential dream opponents. LA Knight stated that he is less concerned with facing specific opponents and more focused on setting a record-breaking reign as champion.
"I ain't worried about dream opponents, I'm worried about holding this championship. Look, everybody is making record reigns lately, right? I got to make a record reign, I feel, at this point. Logan Paul was almost a year, 260-something days. I'm not concerned with any of that. This point, we got to go 1000 days, 2000 days, 3000 days, 4000 days, 5000 days, we might go a million damn days. Bottomline is, I ain't worried about dream opponents. I'm worried about the dream of keeping this thing (US Title reign) alive forever," said Knight. [From 1:00:27 to 1:01:01]
Check out the full stream below:
LA Knight believes WWE legend wants to have a shot at the United States Title before retirement
John Cena is set to officially retire from in-ring action in 2025. The former WWE Champion will embark on a Farewell Tour, committing to approximately 30-40 dates next year.
The Cenation Leader's first championship in WWE was the United States Title. Due to this, LA Knight suggested at Fanatics Fest that John Cena might want to win the US Championship one more time before retiring.
"Former tag partners. You never know. He [John Cena] might want to come back and get this United States Championship one more time—a guy who has been a staple for this championship. I would field that challenge, for sure. With him being my tag partner, I might just know him a little bit. You talk about the greatest of all time and what some might call the future," he said.
Cena and LA Knight teamed up to defeat The Bloodline's Jimmy Uso (former member) and Solo Sikoa at Fastlane 2023. It remains to be seen if the 16-time World Champion pairs up with The Megastar again during his retirement tour.
Please credit UpUpDownDown's Fanatics Live and provide an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use any quotes from this article.