Ahead of his highly anticipated match with Tama Tonga in the King of the Ring Tournament, LA Knight was riding high, stopping by the backstage area on SmackDown to talk to Cathy Kelley about wrestling, his feud with The Bloodline – at this point, who doesn't have one? – and… Carmelo Hayes?

That's right, after getting his lines off about the MFT of the new Bloodline, LA Knight was introduced to “Him,” the former NXT Champion who was officially drafted onto the Blue Brand earlier this month.

“Hey, look, man, I just wanna give you the opportunity to welcome me to SmackDown,” Carmelo Hayes told LA Knight on SmackDown. “Considering the fact that I was a first-round draft pick, no big deal… yeah, it is.”

Shocked by Hayes' self-insertion into the conversation, Knight responded, dropping what might have been the best line of anyone on SmackDown that night or in recent memory.

“You know what, that is a big deal. I'm thinking about it now, and I don't know if I agree with this necessarily, but a lot of people look at me, and they say, there are certain things about you that reminds me of Tom Brady,” LA Knight responded. “And I say, okay, maybe you're right, but let's say that is right, who was the first draft pick the year Tom Brady was selected? Yeah, I don't know his name either. That's your first mistake. The second is looking past Randy Orton.”

“Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah,” Hayes inserted. “Okay, since we're talking about sellouts, after tonight, the most important letters in WWE won't be RKO; they'll be H-I-M.”

“Look at that, look who won the Spelling Bee,” Knight joked. “With nobody saying, 'cause nobody's gonna say that stupid crap. I tell you what,  you want to hear something? You wanna here something for real? How about this: with everybody saying L-A-Knight, yeah! Now go play somewhere, I'm busy.”

Unfortunately for both Knight and Hayes, neither man advanced in the tournament, as they were eliminated by Tonga and Orton, respectively. Fortunately, they are now both free for King of the Queen Ring and, as a result, could throw down in their own match at the Saudi Arabia show.

LA Knight has words for Carmelo Hayes after his SmackDown loss.

After taking his loss from Tama Tonga on SmackDown, LA Knight cut one of his famous solo promos to the camera for a WWE Digital Exclusive, letting fans know that while he won't be the King of the Ring, he isn't going to stop his forward momentum within the WWE Universe, especially when there are kids coming up from NXT who are looking to take his spot on the card.

“Let me talk to you. Here's the thing, man. Yeah, three-on-one out there with The Bloodline. You got three savages out there. Look, there's only so much I can do. I can only keep so many eyes in so many sides of my head,” LA Knight said via 411 Mania. “Here's the deal. Yeah, King of the Ring ain't happening for me, boo-hoo. What can you do about it? I can't do a damn thing about it but keep moving forward. Keep moving. Why? Because I don't know how to quit. Maybe they'd a little defect with me, okay? But then I walk back here, and I'm just swatting flies off me, mosquitos just trying to bite me off, trying to suck my blood. Who is this new kid talking about first-round draft pick? [Claps] Good for you. Like somebody cares about it. I'll tell you what, tell somebody who cares. Tell your mommy, for all you need to. I hope she's real proud of you. Make sure you tell her, make sure she gives you that congratulations. But in the meantime, I told you before, I'll tell you again. Go play somewhere, I'm busy because you will know, everybody around this place knows whose game this is, with everybody saying L-A-Knight. Yeah.”

Will LA Knight and Carmelo Hayes wrestle at King and Queen of the Ring? No, probably not; while that match would be good and could set things up for even bigger things down the line depending on the winner, that feels more like a Saudi Arabia SmackDown match than a PLE offering, especially when WWE only puts a handful of matches on any non-WrestleMania show at this point. Still, considering the direction The Bloodline has taken and the fact that SmackDown has a babyface World Champion, this feels like a solid way to keep two relatively good guys busy until another opportunity comes up, be that for the midcard title or against Cody Rhodes.