Max Dupri has turned on his Maximum Male Models on SmackDown as he teases a return to his former NXT gimmick of LA Knight.
In the latter days of Vince McMahon’s reign in WWE, several stars graduating from NXT to the main roster had their characters, names, or both completely changed. Pete Dunne became the rabid fighting pitbull, Butch, Tommaso Ciampa lost his first name – only to later regain it – and LA Knight was overhauled from wrestler to the manager known as Max Dupri, the head of Maximum Male Models.
The Male Models whose momentum was maximised under Max Dupri’s management were the former Mansoor and Mace whose names were tweaked in the group. Maxxine Dupri later joined the stable as Max’s sister but the group has found little in the way of in-ring success.
Things came to a head for the group on SmackDown in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada on Friday night as Max Dupri walked out on his team. Mace and Mansoor spent much of SmackDown trying to break the Canadian record for posing when they were foiled at the last minute by Dupri himself.
Max Dupri then told his charges that “this” isn’t for him anymore and he walked off giving his “yeah” catchphrase that was part of his character as LA Knight in NXT. Whether this means that Dupri is reverting to Knight and back to an in-ring competitor in WWE remains to be seen.