LA Knight secured the second spot in the upcoming Men's Money in the Bank ladder match with a win during "WWE SmackDown."
Knight was facing his former United States Championship rival, Shinsuke Nakamura, and the recently returned Aleister Black in a triple threat qualifier fought between three generations of the "Black and Gold" era of "WWE NXT." Knight and Black worked together to take Nakamura out of the equation early, only to turn their attention to one another and get caught by Nakamura when he returned. Nakamura and Black continued to exchange kicks and a range of strikes throughout the match, meshing the kickboxing and Muay Thai style of the latter against the Shito-ryu Karate-coded "Strong Style" of the former.
Knight proved to be the outlier in a way that ultimately benefited him, brawling back into the fray as Black and Nakamura continued to wear one another down. He would be caught out by the speed of Black, first with a tope suicida and then a senton to the floor, followed by his signature moonsault from the top rope to the floor. But ultimately he would win the match as he had attempted to throughout, taking advantage of Nakamura being hit with the Black Mass to cast Black from the ring and make the final cover. Knight now joins Solo Sikoa in the Money in the Bank ladder match with four competitors to be determined.
