Heading into Payback, few matches had as much hype behind them as LA Knight versus The Miz.

Sure, the feud wasn't as long-lasting as Becky Lynch versus Trish Stratus and wasn't nearly as personal as the bad blood between the former's husband and the “King of Strong Style,” Shinsuke Nakamura, but after spending years as the “A-Lister” from LA who dressed a certain way and maybe talked a bigger game than his in-ring efforts could back up, The Miz seemed genuinely threatened by the emergence of the “Megastar” and used that heat to light a fire under his own behind.

Factor in the addition of John Cena – a man who isn't exactly an ally of The Miz – as guest referee, and things were stacking up for a bombshell in the Steel City.

Did the match deliver? Eh, it was pretty good, but the implications were far better, as at the end of the match, Knight and Cena walked up the ramp and the latter endorsed his younger – though not by much – foil with a shake of the hand and a raising of the arm in victory.

Discussing the bout with Kayla Braxton on a special edition of The Bump, LA Knight noted that, after being called a flash in the pan by Miz for the better part of a month, he was the one who got his pan flashed.

“I'm pretty sure I just flashed his pans as far as I know, so let me talk to ya,” LA Knight told Kayla Braxton after Payback. “The guy out here, runs his mouth for the better part of the last month or so and what'd he do? Gets dropped on his head again because that's how it goes down. Now John Cena, look, neither of us were planning for that. I'm sure Miz is going to go and cry and complain about that like he was doing at the very beginning. Here's the thing, man, John Cena or not, the outcome would have been exactly the d*mn same. So here's the thing, man: Miz, you really came close. As a matter of fact, John Cena almost cost me; I got all the respect in the world for everything John Cena's done, but  anybody who gets in my way and almost takes dinner off my table, brother, we got something to talk about. But here's the thing, he did end up counting the three in the end, didn't he? So yeah, I shook his hand, we ain't best friends or anything.”

Whoa, way to bury the lede; does LA Knight have an opinion on Cena taking over refereeing duties in his match and maybe even playing into the finish a bit? Well, Braxton asked that very question, and Knight fired back in typical LA fashion.

LA Knight had no issue with John Cena calling his match with The Miz at Payback.

Asked about John Cena's addition to the match, LA Knight noted that the “The Face That Runs the Place” wasn't just some stooge calling the bout in his favor, as he almost cost him in the match, too.

“No look, because I was a little bit hot that he did almost cost me that,” LA Knight noted. “Here comes The Miz, blindsiding me because of the fact that here's John Cena trying to pull me out. What was I doing? I wrecked his five count or something? Who cares? Here's the thing, Miz deserved it; Miz got exactly what he deserved. He got dropped on his head, BFT on the business end. And that's how it's got to go down because that's the only way it does go down. Why? Because whose game is it? With everybody saying, even you, L-A-Knight, yeah.”

Would Knight have pulled out the win had a member of WWE's well-trained and fairly compensated referee corps called the match? More likely than not, the answer is yes; Knight is as hot as they come at this stage of the game, and giving anybody but the “Megastar” a win in this match would have likely resulted in fans charging the ring like the interference-laced Steel City Street Fight a few matches later on the surprisingly light card. Still, getting Knight in the ring with Cena, both for an endorsement and for a bit of groundwork-setting for a potential match over the next seven weeks, serves as nothing but a positive for both men moving forward, as the duo could put together a very fun program the elevates everyone before the leader of CeNation returns to the real world.