According to Knight, he’s able to use some of those negative feelings as motivation, pushing him further in his career and helping him stay true to himself while on TV.

“I believe every single word I’m saying,” Knight said. “Maybe that sounds psycho to some people, maybe it doesn’t. But I’m so drawn into what I’m doing, and there’s so much real emotion from the last 10 to 20 years where I’m just like, ‘I should’ve been taking over the world so long ago.’ It’s all as real as can be. The journey, in a lot of ways — even though I was broke, and I didn’t have a car for years, and I was getting eviction notices and stuff like that — it was a rough go. But there’s some strange fondness that I do have for that struggle. Maybe it’s that weirdness, where I need that adversity or that negativity to push up against.”

Whatever motivation Knight has been using, it seems to be working like a charm. Knight’s current run with WWE began in 2021, and the former Eli Drake has quickly risen up the ranks, creating a genuine connection with the crowd in the process.