AEW TNT Champion Kevin Knight Faces Darby Allin for World Title on Dynamite

Kevin Knight, known as "The Jet," performs high-flying moves above the ring for All Elite Wrestling on Wednesday and Saturday nights during Dynamite and Collision shows.

Knight holds the AEW TNT championship. He previously won trios titles with Adam Page and "Speedball" Mike Bailey, and later with Bailey and Místico. Seven years after entering professional wrestling, the 29-year-old has become a top AEW star.

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Knight said he moved to Seattle after college to start his career. "Who Kevin Knight, ‘The Jet,’ is – a lot of things rolled up into one," he said. "I’m originally from Brooklyn, New York. Raised down in Atlanta. I started my wrestling career when I moved to Seattle after college. And about six months in, I moved to LA to join the New Japan LA Dojo. For those that don’t know, it’s like a Japanese style-based training."

"So, I was living a Japanese lifestyle in LA during the pandemic," Knight added. "So, it was a lot of different factors going on. I think that’s why I call myself ‘The Jet,’ because I have so many different flavors from every different city in the world just all rolled up into one. I live in Orlando now. Just a cool, fly guy who just loves to do cool stuff."

Knight described training in the coronavirus pandemic as an adjustment period, though he noted he could have pursued other paths. He cited wrestling's superhero appeal, showmanship, pyrotechnics and pageantry as key draws.

"I could be doing anything. I could be flipping burgers, I could be going to space or something, I don’t know," he said. "But just about pro wrestling, I just loved the presentation of it. I love the showmanship, the pyro, everything about it. It just seemed like real-life superheroes coming down the ramp. You saw the commentators, you saw the action. And then, people have cool theme songs and cool costumes. I know what it was immediately and I just like the pageantry of it and it was like my version of watching superheroes or Spider-Man or whatever. I wasn’t too much into superheroes when I was young. But wrestlers, they were my superheroes growing up. So, that’s what attracted me to it."

Knight gained attention in New Japan Pro-Wrestling and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling before briefly becoming a free agent last March, along with Bailey. Both signed with AEW.

"AEW allows freedom, freedom of expression, to be yourself and you can walk right up to Tony (Khan), talk to him, have regular conversations with him," Knight said. "It’s not like, you have to walk on eggshells. It was just be yourself and being yourself is just a great gateway to just being creative and being your best self. There’s no extra added pressure of, ‘Oh, I gotta say hi to 50 other people that I just saw earlier today,’ and all of that stuff."

"So, AEW, just in the fan base, the roster, the catering, man, everything about AEW is like 10 out of 10. I can’t complain. In my free agency, I explored all my options and I feel like this was just the best fit."

Knight captured the vacant TNT Championship in a six-man casino gauntlet match at Dynasty last month. It marked his first singles title and made him the 32nd champion, after wrestlers including Darby Allin, Kyle Fletcher, Christian Cage and Jack Perry.

"It’s been the workhorse title. It’s been the title that people do the open challenges for. The best wrestlers in the world have held this title, the TNT Championship," he said. "For me to be able to hold this and for this being my first-ever singles championship in my career, was an amazing feat especially on the one-year anniversary of my AEW pay-per-view debut. Like it’s just shown in the short amount of time, just how fast you can rise up in the ranks just by believing in yourself, hard work, discipline and just being in the right place at the right time. It’s been an amazing journey and we’re just getting started."

Knight now challenges for the AEW World Championship against Allin on Wednesday's Dynamite. He beat Maxwell Jacob Friedman to earn the shot, while Allin defeated Brody King last week to retain the belt.

Knight called the matchup a full-circle moment. He trained at the Buddy Wayne Academy in Seattle, the same school Allin attended. Early in his career, Allin advised him not to waste time.

"This match means a lot to me because I came from the same school that Darby Allin came from up in Seattle – the Buddy Wayne Academy," Knight said. "And when I first met Darby, maybe I was 3-4 months into my career, and the No. 1 thing that he told me was do not waste time, do not waste time. And, I feel like I did just that with my time in AEW. Here we are, a year later, I’m already a champion. I’ve won the trios titles twice already. So, I feel like I’m just listening to what he said and it’s all coming to fruition. It’s coming to a head this Wednesday. Definitely not going to waste any time. I think this would be the first time there would be a world championship and a TNT Championship on the arms. So, I’m ready for it."

Knight dismissed MJF's chances of a quick world title shot. "Honestly, he’s in the back of the line. He’s in the back of the line. He lost against Darby. He lost against me as well. He’s had two losses in a row. So, I’m not sure what his resume speaks for to get a shot at the title," he said. "I know he’s gonna try to ringworm his way into the title picture again. If it’s up to me, the first person that’s getting a title shot is ‘Speedball’ Mike Bailey. MJF, back of the line."