LA Knight will open Night 1 of WrestleMania 42 in a six-man tag match on ESPN2, teaming with Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso against iShowSpeed, Logan Paul and Austin Theory.
The placement gives Knight one of the first live spotlight moments of WrestleMania weekend, and it comes as WWE prepares to debut a new Snickers campaign during the show. Knight, who joined WWE in 2021 after a run in TNA and NWA as Eli Drake, said he still cannot fully explain why the character has connected so strongly. “I can’t quite put my finger on it,” he said ahead of WrestleMania 42. “I don’t know, but whatever it is, something’s catching.”
That connection has held for three years, and Knight said the momentum has not faded. He pointed to his 2023 feud with Bray Wyatt as a turning point in his WWE main roster run, and said the audience reaction has stayed strong since then. He has also been on WrestleMania weekend the past two years, keeping him in the conversation as one of WWE’s most familiar crowd favorites.
There is still a sharp edge to the story behind the bright lights and the sponsorship push. Knight said defining WrestleMania moments cannot be scripted in advance, even as he finds himself tied to one of the company’s biggest weekends and one of its most visible brand partners. “I don’t think that you can plan those moments,” he said. “You got two iconic brands and I’m in the middle of both of them,” he said of WWE and Snickers.
For Knight, WrestleMania 42 is less about explaining the rise than extending it. The opening match gives him another national stage, and the weekend campaign adds a second lane of exposure. What happens on Night 1 may matter most, but the larger picture is already clear: Knight has turned a long road from Eli Drake into a sustained place near the center of WWE’s biggest calendar date.
