Two of the most popular wrestlers in wrestling today are LA Knight and Saraya Knight (more commonly known as just “Saraya”). They have both succeeded in their respective companies (WWE and AEW) despite all the odds, although their success came under very different circumstances.
Saraya was known as Paige in the WWE and was one of the best women’s wrestlers in the world. However, despite winning multiple world titles in her short career, she was forced to retire in 2018 due to neck injuries. Saraya’s career ended at the age of just 25, and she stayed out of the ring for five years until her shocking debut in AEW in 2022.
Read more about Paige’s last match in WWE.
Debuting at AEW Grand Slam 2022, Saraya immediately made a huge impact in the company. She brought a huge amount of eyes onto the product, including helping sell over 80,000 tickets to All In, at the iconic Wembley Stadium. She won the AEW Women’s Championship at Wembley Stadium, in front of an electric hometown crowd.
Before she became Paige, Saraya was known as “Britani Knight” in her family promotion called the “World Association of Wrestling”. She was a part of the Knight Family, a pro-wrestling family of promoters akin to the Hart’s or Jarrett’s, but of the Norwich area. Her mother even wrestles as Saraya Knight, taking her daughter’s first name for her wrestling person. They were all portrayed by actors in the movie “Fighting with my Family”.
Meanwhile, LA Knight’s success took a lot longer than Saraya’s, although injury did not force him out of the business that he loves. LA Knight was signed to the WWE as early as 2013 (as Slate Randall), competing in NXT. However, outside of backstage promos and jobber matches, he had little impact and was fired before he could become a star in the show.
Instead of moping or walking away from wrestling, LA Knight found success as “Eli Drake” while wrestling for TNA and NWA. He became the TNA World Heavyweight Champion in 2017 (then called the GFW World Championship, and soon changed to the Impact World Championship), although his reign did not make great use of his talents, and eventually saw him leave the company.
He signed for the WWE in 2021 and was renamed LA Knight, quickly becoming one of the most popular stars in the company and gaining a huge, passionate fan base. Despite a short run as “Max Dupree”, LA Knight has consistently been one of the most popular wrestlers in the WWE, and his vibrant support has carried him into main event matches with the likes of Bray Wyatt and Roman Reigns, without looking out of place.
Given that LA Knight and Saraya share gimmicked last named, you may be wondering if the pair of wrestlers are actually related. Well, we are here to clear things up for you.
Are LA Knight and Saraya Related?
LA Knight is not related to Saraya, despite the two wrestlers sharing the last name “Knight” in their wrestling persona. While Saraya has used the surname “Knight” since she began wrestling as a child, LA Knight has only been known by that name since is debut in the WWE in 2021.
Saraya does not even use her last name on TV nowadays, simply going by her first name as her gimmick name. However, the entire Knight Family did appear alongside her for her entrance at Wembley Stadium, with the likes of Ricky Knight Jr, Zack Knight and Saraya Knight all walking out to Queen’s “We Will Rock You” for AEW All In.
LA Knight has been a constant presence on WWE TV in recent years, but has never appeared on-screen with Saraya. This is not an attempt by WWE to keep the two apart, to hide some sort of relation. They simply have had no need to have the pair together, as well as the interaction becoming impossible since Saraya signed for AEW in the summer of 2022.
An interaction between the two stars could come to fruition sooner rather than later. LA Knight’s WWE contract is coming up to renewal, with only a year-and-a-half left on his deal. Negotiations have broken down between the two parties on a new deal, so we could see LA Knight joining Saraya in AEW before the end of 2025.
Saying that, Saraya has not been seen on TV since she lost her AEW Women’s Championship to Hikaru Shida, so her future in All Elite Wrestling could also be up in the air.