No one handed LA Knight his spot as one of the top stars in WWE.

A former failed prospect who returned to developmental for a second time in his late 30s, Knight was initially called up to the main roster as a manager because Vince McMahon didn't think he could work as a wrestler on the main roster. Still, the “Megastar” stuck to his guns, even if it almost got him fired, and in the end, was proven right, as he rapidly rose from an afterthought to one of the top stars in professional wrestling in roughly a year, using much of the character he designed all on his own on the indies.

Discussing all things WWE on Greg & The Morning Buzz, in the lead-up to Survivor Series, Paul “Triple H” Levesque discussed the ebbs and flows of creative in professional wrestling and specifically shouted out Knight for sticking to his guns for 20 years in order to get where he wanted to be.

“No, God no. There are points in time in every career when you're told, ‘You're great, you're going to do this, you're going to do that,' and that comes along, and you get very excited about it, and then there are moments where things don't happen the way you want them to, and people are, ‘Ah, you're never going to go beyond this, you're always going to be stuck here.' There are always going to be positives and negatives. I would say, if you're not going to buy into the positives, you can't buy into the negatives. You just have to do your thing and grind. I don't care who you are, how long it takes,” Paul “Triple H” Levesque said via Fightful.

“I look at LA Knight right now. He's been in this business for a long time. I knew him in the very beginning. He was in NXT early in the system. A lot, he'll admit this, a lot to his own doing, he caused himself to not be in it, but he kept grinding, kept grinding, kept grinding, and here is sort of running towards the end of his career and all of a sudden, he's making it and becoming a big deal. Hopefully, he can capitalize on that, and we can, but you never know, and you keep those doors open, and you see what's going to resonate. Nobody has perfect vision around the corner. You just keep grinding and doing what you do, and hopefully success comes.”

As LA Knight has explained himself oh so many times before, he had a million chances to quit along his winding path to the WWE, but despite his lack of financial wealth, the long hours traveling, and the uncertainty surrounding his future, the “Megastar” trusted the process and now, he's reaping the benefits of his conviction.

Jim Cornette names LA Knight his Wrestler of the Year for 2023.

Speaking of praise for LA Knight, Jim Cornette actually mentioned the “Megastar” on his podcast recently and let it be known that, despite having lost to Roman Reigns at Crown Jewel, he still feels as though the 41-year-old from Los Angeles is worthy of Wrestler of the Year honors.

“Even if you don’t wanna go with the obvious that is Roman Reigns right? Would you then not have to go with – and let me say why Roman is obvious for the people who might not know because he’s on top of the biggest company in the world and all the shows he’s on top of draw better than the ones he’s not on,” Jim Cornette said via TJR.

“But then also you have to be realistic, at this point would that not be the LA Knight f*cking award? If Cody was inspirational because he came back from his injury, he’s the most popular babyface in the business, is Knight not the wrestler of the year, the guy who’s now the second most popular babyface in the business and this time last year, or maybe even more recently was a godd**n joke manager of a modelling agency.

“What kind of turnaround – how has that ever happened this quickly in the wrestling business that you go from you hate the gimmick you’re doing, everybody else hates the gimmick you’re doing, and you’re not doing it very well, and they’re about to fire you to you’re a godd**n superstar, and you’re the main event of a $50 million sold show in Saudi Arabia in nine months.”

Now granted, it's safe to say Cornette might be just a bit biased in his assertion, as the duo have worked together from time to time over the past 20 years while the man then-known as Eli Drake was bouncing from Championship Wrestling of Hollywood to Impact, and NWA and beyond, but hey, that doesn't mean his thought process isn't justified. From being a basically failed manager to one of the top performers in the WWE Universe, there really isn't a performer who deserves more accolades for their efforts in 2023 than LA Knight, as he really has had an incredible year.