LA Knight Finally Returns During WWE SmackDown Premiere

By Matthew Aguilar

After weeks of teases that Max Dupri might be returning to his LA Knight persona, WWE finally delivered on those teases during tonight's SmackDown season premiere. Towards the end of tonight's episode, Maxxine Dupri ran backstage to find ma.çé and mån.sôör on the floor after being attacked by a chair. It was Max who held the chair, and when Maxxine asked Max what happened he said he was done with being someone he's not and told her not to call him Max again. He then said he was done hanging out with this group who turned gold into trash and announced that he is no longer Max, segueing into his familiar LA Knight catchphrase and a "yeahhhh" to close out the segment. LA Knight is officially back folks, and it's awesome.

When Maxxine approached him after the attack Knight said "Do not call me that name again. I gave you and them gold and you all turned it to trash. You think I'm just going to hang out here and be something I'm not? Nah! What I'm not is Max. What I am, Who I am...L...A...Knight, yeahhh!"

It's been a very odd journey to get to this point for Knight, as after becoming a fan favorite in NXT he was seen in dark segments on SmackDown with a new character. The character was thought to be an agent of some sort and Mace and Mansoor were also being repackaged to be a part of this faction.

That would end up being Maximum Male Models, and after weeks of teases, they debuted with a modeling gimmick that actually got over initially thanks to the dedication to the characters and premise from everyone involved. That didn't last though, as soon reports said that there was some friction between Knight and the creative team, and then subsequent reports stated that Vince McMahon and the current leadership team planned to remove Max from the group altogether.

That's when Maxxine was brought in as the new leader, but then Triple H took over WWE creative, and Max stuck around but with visible issues with the group. This set up several teases of Max getting frustrated with the group and who he was, teasing a return to his LA Knight persona.

That all led to tonight's big attack and character turn, and now Max is officially no more, signaling the return of LA Knight and hopefully more matches in the ring and a bigger role on WWE TV overall.

What did you think of LA Knight's return? Let us know in the comments or as always you can talk all things wrestling with me on Twitter @MattAguilarCB!

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