During last night’s episode of WWE SmackDown, WWE introduced Max Dupri’s sister Maxxine Dupri, the former Sofia Cromwell of NXT. This was teased last week, but what many didn’t know is that Maxxine was evidently going to replace Max as the leader of the stable. A new report by PWTorch states that Dupri (real name Shaun Ricker) had rubbed some people the wrong way backstage and wasn’t fitting in, so Vince McMahon made the decision to write him out of the storyline and faction a few weeks ago. In fact, according to the report, Max knew he was making his final appearance when he announced his sister would be joining the agency last week, though a new report from Fightful Select adds a few interesting details to this mix.
In the new report, it is stated that Vince had a distinct vision for how Max Dupri would sound and worked with Max on it quite a bit, saying at one point that he wanted the character to sound nothing like LA Knight. The report says that while Mace and Mansoor were on board with things, Max had some reservations about things, and one source indicated that Max “ruffled some feathers with a couple of scripts” that he challenged.
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Another source said that Vince retiring is the best thing that could possibly happen to Max, because he still has some supports in WWE that enjoy his work, and Fightful has heard from humorous people from within the company who put over Max’s delivery.
With the exit of Vince, perhaps Max might be brought back into the fold of MMM, though we could also see him utilized in a completely different way too if there’s no interest in trying to make him and the Agency angle work. Since all this started buzzing on social media, Max tweeted “So, what did I miss??”, more than likely referencing all the discussion.
We’ll have to wait and see how things go with the Maximum Male Models on SmackDown next week and Max’s involvement, but regardless of what happens, here is hoping Max, Eli, LA, or whatever he ends up being called in WWE has a mic in his hand at some point in the near future, because he’s just too talented to not be utilized in some way. In his Max role it doesn’t seem like in-ring is a focus, but those who watched NXT know that LA Knight can go in the ring, so perhaps we’ll see him back in the ring sooner rather than later.
What do you want to see for Max Dupri in WWE? Let us know in the comments or as always you can talk all things wrestling with me on Twitter @MattAguilarCB!
