LA Knight recently spoke with King 5 in Seattle to discuss a variety of topics, including what his early years in the professional wrestling business were like, going “all in” on his dream job, and more.
You can check out some highlights from the interview below:
On what his early years in the industry were like: “Very lean financially I can tell you that. I knew no one. I had no hook ups. I had no family. I had no nothing. Nobody I knew was connected to this business. I get that visual of Ralphie from A Christmas Story, being on that slide, wanting to just get that opportunity from Santa, and he just gets the boot in the face and he gets ‘Ho Ho Ho!’ and gets pushed down the slide. That was me many many times throughout my career.”
On going all in on his dream: “There was no Plan B. There was no alternative. There was nothing else but just forward motion.”
On how he’s doing now: “Brother I’m broke! I don’t know what you’re talking about!” he joked. “No, no, no, I’m very well taken care of. I can appreciate the value of a dollar since I’ve had to stretch them for so long. So at this point nothing’s really changed except the fact that I think I can sometimes remind myself ‘Hey you can be comfortable’!”
Maven has taken to his YouTube account to comment on the health insurance he had in WWE and what it entailed. The former WWE Tough Enough winner said,
“I kind of feel like an idiot admitting this, but you know, I’m going to be brutally honest, even if it makes me look bad. I don’t know everything that was in my WWE contract. What I do know, however, is there was nobody that was going to get injured outside of the ring, and I’m not going to turn this wrestler in, but I do remember during my time someone getting injured while skiing, and this person sucked it up, waited to be actually at a show, and then put out that they were indeed injured. Why is that during my time? I don’t know how it is nowadays, but during my time, the health insurance that we had only covered ring injuries. Now, what does that mean if I broke my arm and needed surgery in the ring, which I did, which I got, which was covered 100% by the WWE, no problem.”
He continued, “If I was riding my motorcycle down the street, clipped a curb, flipped over, and broke the same elbow. I don’t think my health insurance would have covered it. Was that clause in my contract? Hell, it might have been. And if I would have been smart, not a 24 year old imbecile, I probably would have read it, or had someone at least that knew contracts read it and tell me if it was in there. I’ve been wrong before. I just don’t think it’s today, but I’m led to believe that myth is true.”
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