The Megastar.
"LEMME TALK TO YA!"
Shaun Ricker (born November 1, 1982) is an American professional wrestler and actor, currently best known as a WWE performer on its SmackDown brand as LA Knight.
A true journeyman of a wrestler, Ricker has been all over the industry including a brief stint in the original incarnation of NXT as Slate Randall, both Impact Wrestling and the National Wrestling Alliance as Eli Drake, and even appearing under his real name in Dwayne Johnson's reality competition series The Hero. To make ends meet he also took side gigs as an actor, more often than not in commercials but also appearing in a minor role in a 2015 episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
He was also a motion capture performer for many of the 2K-era WWE Video Games.
His initial introduction to the main WWE roster was as Max Dupri, manager of the Maximum Male Models agency. Immediately after Vince McMahon's departure from the company, he betrayed the group and reverted back to his current persona.
"Whose Tropes is it, With everybody saying: L! A! KNIGHT! YEAH~!":
- Big Brother Instinct: As Max Dupri, he didn't like Los Lotharios trying to seduce his sister.
- Big "YES!": YEAAH~!
- Brass Balls: Knight's entire approach to his championship feud with Roman Reigns heading into 2023's Crown Jewel is built on this approach. From calling out Roman Reigns week after week to tell him his days are numbered, to interrupting Reigns' grand entrance and sauntering right past him without even looking in his direction, to taking the "head of the table" seat Paul Heyman prepared for Reigns for the contract signing, Knight has been relentlessly trolling Reigns with the antics of a Fearless Fool in order to both cement his own confidence and annoy Reigns into quick anger. While there is a method to the madness, the strategy itself is a sign of serious balls since pissing Reigns off usually makes him even more of an all-consuming threat rather than driving him reckless.
- Character Catchphrase: Apart from the abovementioned, Knight has had several, most of which he already brought with him after his Impact Wrestling tenure as Eli Drake:
- "And that's not an insult, that's just a fact of life!"
- "E... li... Drake!"/"L... A... Knight!", accompanied by pointing more to the left on each syllable. Even as Max Dupri, who otherwise seemed to have dropped his Knight mannerisms, he was still able to say "Max... Du... pri!"
- "Lemme talk to ya!"
- "NAW-NAW!"
- Cool Shades: Wears a pair of sunglasses when he's out badmouthing people, with the bonus points of having an awesome effect of reflecting things right back at him as if to say they are now his target.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: During his Impact days, Eli Drake betrayed Drew Galloway after the end of the Rising because he felt Drew undervalued him as a member by leaning on Mica more when he should've been the star.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Despite being allowed to essentially bring his Eli Drake character from Impact Wrestling wholesale when he re-emerged on NXT, when he debuted on WWE's main roster, LA Knight appeared as manager "Max Dupri". Dupri now is practically a distant memory compared to the highly memorable LA Knight.
- Expy: Has been noted by fans, peers, and even himself to be a composite character of The Rock and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin due to their influence on him as a young fan growing up.
- From The Rock, he takes being a loud-mouth and brash yet charismatic heel who's able to talk the talk and walk the walk, appears in sunglasses when talking business, and occasionally takes to fancy clothes and fast cars.
- As for Austin, his BFT Finishing Move is preceded by a kick to the gut followed by a three-quarter facelock setup, not unlike the Stone Cold Stunner. His "YEAH!" was also noted to have a similar cadence to the "WHAT?!" Stone Cold infamously introduced in the latter part of his run (to the point of acquiring life as a similar Interrupting Meme chant among crowds), and the Rattlesnake himself was also known for indulging in his own share of "NAW-NAW!" during his promos (if not to Knight's extent, as Austin more typically goes with "AH-AH!").
- Face–Heel Turn: Cost Drew Galloway his TNA title match against EC3.
- The Fighting Narcissist: He's quite full of himself, but he's able to back up most of his bragging.
- Finishing Move: The BFT (short for "Blunt Force Trauma"), a kick to the midsection followed by a snapmare driver (similar to Adam Rose' Party Foul).
- Heel–Face Turn: After his incredible popularity led him to become more of a tweener, he finally solidified his face turn in a confrontation with The Miz on an August 2023 episode of Raw.
- Handsome Lech: A 6’1, handsome and well muscled showman, he enjoys boasting about his sexual prowess, referring to his “Undeniable Kavorka” anytime he’s near a woman he’s attracted to, be they wrestler or interviewer. As a heel, this attitude tends to get him more eye rolls than anything.
- Incoming Ham: His promos usually start with a loud "LEMME TALK TO YA!".
- Intergenerational Friendship: With Scott Steiner in Impact Wrestling. Steiner is the epitome of Testosterone Poisoning from The '90s, while Drake is the old-school average-heavyweight style wrestler thriving in The New '10s.
- Kavorka Man: Claims that ladies cannot resist his "Undeniable Kavorka". See Handsome Lech entry above.
- Motor Mouth: Knight's greatest asset. He's a good wrestler who can hold his own but once he's on the mic, he is on full speed and nobody can stop him.
- Mugging the Monster: His antagonizing of Bray Wyatt and even The Undertaker during the lead-up to his 2023 Royal Rumble match definitely counts.
- No Sense of Personal Space: As Max Dupri, he liked to get too close to Adam Pearce.
- Odd Friendship: With Scott Steiner. Both Steiner and Drake are full of themselves, don't like people very easily, and are prone to turn on those who upset them, yet somehow manage to get along fairly well.
- Popularity Power: Around early 2023, Knight EXPLODED in popularity despite being a heel mid-carder whose job was to mostly lose. His captivating mic-work and addictive catchphrases have made his entrance alone one of the biggest pops of the night whenever he's on. As of now, LA Knight is considered one of the top faces of the WWE especially after teaming up with the former top face: John Cena. To state how popular he is, he can invoke his half of a Character Catchphrase/Phrase Catcher routine he established with the audience yet still make an entire arena shush before they have a chance to reciprocate with just a single finger and a "Not yet."
- Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: With everybody saying: L! A! KNIGHT! YEAAH~!
- Rage Quit: Dupri would end his relationship with Maximum Male Models after realizing they weren't wrestling seriously."Look at this! You guys had a shot and you've become clowns! Here you are worried about posing instead of being out there winning real titles! Man, this ain't for me anymore. You can 86 that because quite frankly...(takes off his belt with the Maximum Male Models logo and tosses it to the group) I'm not sure this ever was for me. Yeah."
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: The one
L.A. Knight gave to The Miz during the Bray Wyatt tribute episode of Friday Night SmackDown on 8/25/23."The Miz gets on the screen. He goes to TMZ, goes anywhere he can, and says the same tired old material. Oh, L.A. Knight's just a... Oh, I'm sorry. I have too much bass in my voice right now. *nasally voice* L.A. Knight's just a fad! L.A. Knight, he's just, he's yesterday's news! Well, guess what, bud? If I'm just a fad, I'm okay with that, because you never were. Nobody ever cared about you!" - Red Baron: The Namer of Dummies, The Gravy Train, The (one and only) Megastar.
- Rich Bastard: In NXT, he lived a high life, bragging about it to everyone that he met.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Believes himself to be the smartest and most successful man in wrestling.
- Smug Snake: He's prone to overestimating himself, often costing him victories. This started to change around the time his popularity started to skyrocket.
- Talk Show with Fists: Hosted the Fact of Life segment on Impact. Curiously, he pressed a button where it made the "Dummy, yeah!" sound to the guests.
- That Man Is Dead: The 10/7/22 edition of SmackDown saw him attacking Maximum Male Models backstage and telling Maxxine that Max Dupri is no more."Do NOT call me that name again! I gave you and them gold and y'all turned it to trash! Think I'm just gonna hang out here and be something I'm not?! Naw-naw! What I'm not is Max. What I am, who I am? LA Knight, yeah!"
- Took a Level in Badass:
- To World Heavyweight Championship levels during his tenure on Impact.
- To the level of challenging Roman Reigns, who himself is on a historical run, for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship on Crown Jewel 2023.
- Unrelated Brothers: He's the in-Kayfabe brother of Maxxine Dupri, who he shares no relation with in real life. On the October 7 episode of SmackDown, Dupri attacked the Maximum Male Models and afterward told Maxxine not to call him Max, reverting him to L.A. Knight.
- Verbal Tic: It is physically impossible to say the name "LA Knight" without following it with "YEAH!"
- Visual Pun: His WWE Titantron logo is "LA" over a medieval helmet.
- Worthy Opponent: He considered Bray Wyatt as this, during his promo on 8/25/23 episode of Friday Night SmackDown (the tribute episode for both Wyatt and Terry Funk, whose death preceded Wyatt's).
- "YEEEEAAAHHH!"
