Triple H always knew Eli Drake/LA Knight would be back in NXT

A lot of fans were surprised when Eli Drake returned to WWE as LA Knight on Feb. 14’s TakeOver: Vengeance Day Pre-Show. But NXT head honcho Triple H always knew the man who left the company’s developmental system back in 2014 would return.

Some may not even know that Knight was in NXT for a couple years as “Slate Randall”. That run ended thanks to some issues on both sides (during a 2019 chat on The Steve Austin Show, Knight discussed issues he had with ousted trainer Bill Demott, but also owned up to being hard to work with at times), and he went on to make an impression on Impact and in the NWA.

Now the 38 year old is back, and Triple H thinks the sky could be the limit for LA Knight. Here’s what he said during his post-TakeOver media call last night:

“I don’t think there’s a ceiling on anybody when they walk in the door. I kind of re-evaluate everybody, or evaluate everybody as they’re walking in the door of like, my hope is that all of them have the potential at one point in time to garner whatever they need to become as big of a performer as they can be here.

“I’ve been a fan of his since he was here the first time. And there’s a lot of reasons - and on his side and our side - as to why that didn’t work out that time, but I was always a fan of his then, I was a fan of his work and his promo skills and everything else as he went along his journey. And I’ve always thought when the time was right, he’d be great here. And the time was right, and phone calls were made, and interest was on both sides, and it just went from there. Smooth and easy.

“He wants to be in a place where he can have the biggest platform in the world, that’s here, and I want to give it to him. So we’re going to run with it, and see where we can go. There is no ceiling.”

How big do you think LA Knight can be in WWE?