Former WWE United States Champion LA Knight was beginning to catch fire in the summer of 2023, establishing some major momentum toward becoming a main event talent in WWE. Then, circumstances out of his control developed.

LA Knight was worried that he’d lose the crowd support after CM Punk and Randy Orton made their return to the WWE. The Megastar was arguably the most popular man in wrestling in Autumn 2023. He had faced Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship at Crown Jewel just weeks earlier.

Randy Orton has been out of action for months now following a nasty Piledriver courtesy of Kevin Owens during an episode of SmackDown back in November.