LA Knight Falls Ill, Misses 'WWE SmackDown'

A big change was made during WWE SmackDown last week. According to Figthful, LA Knight was scheduled to be part of the closing segment of the Sept. 22 episode of WWE SmackDown. However, Knight was not on television as he was pulled due to a medical issue. It was later reported that Knight tested posted for COVID-19 before the show, and he had to leave the building. 

According to Wrestling Observer, Knight was absent at the live event on Saturday due to his positive COVID-19 test. WWE told fans that Knight was off the show and offered refunds. WWE also told media outlets about Knight, which is not a common thing for the company to do. 

Knight, 40, has had sporadic appearances in WWE but first signed with the company in 2013. He was released from his contract in 2014 and joined Impact Wrestling (formerly known as TNA) in 2019. During his time at Impact, Knight won the Impact World Championship and the Impact World Tag Team Championship with Scott Steiner. In 2019, Knight's contract with Impact ended and he joined NWA. He was released from his NWA contract in 2020 and returned to WWE in 2021. Knight spent nearly a year at NXT before being called up to the main roster in January of this year. He has now become a rising star in the company. 

In June, Knight spoke to Figthful about how WWE hadn't returned his calls for 10 years. "We're talking over ten years ago when they weren't returning my calls," he said. "There's a whole bunch of stuff there, but eventually I was able to knock that door down, walk myself in, walk myself right back out after a year, went all over the world, did my own thing, came back and stronger than ever. Here we are, burning down the world. All around the world, it's the same song. How does that song go? [Mimes LA Knight theme intro]. Yeah!"

Knight went on to talk about when WWE finally contacted him. "It was during the pandemic, so we're talking three years ago," Knight added. "At some point it was like, 'What are the odds I can get something together while this pandemic is happening?' I don't know, I have to figure that I'm on the back end of my career and I have to make whatever little money I can wherever. At some point, an overture was made, 'Hey, there's an opportunity.' Boom, let's do it, let's run."