It’s been confirmed that a big change is coming to WWE’s Maximum Male Models stable on SmackDown.
As noted, WWE continued to tease the end of the Max Dupri character and the return of LA Knight on Friday’s SmackDown as the leader of the group lashed out over the way things have been going, then said maybe the group was never for him in the first place.
Now a new report from PWInsider notes that sources have confirmed the return of the Knight character.
LA Knight is now listed on the internal WWE roster, and Max Dupri has been nixed.
Word is that Maxxine Dupri will continue to lead ma.çé and mån.sôör in their current roles.
There’s no word yet on when Knight will return to the storylines, but we will keep you updated. The return has been rumored for Friday’s SmackDown on FOX season premiere.
There has been strong speculation on WWE dropping the Dupri character for a return to the Knight character ever since WWE Chief Content Officer Triple H took over creative as Knight was once a top rising star of the NXT brand.
Knight was originally signed to a WWE developmental deal from mid-2013 through August 1, 2014. After a return to the indies, a successful run with Impact Wrestling, and then a stint with the NWA, he was re-signed by WWE in February 2021. He worked as a heel in WWE NXT, as LA Knight, until turning babyface during a fall 2021 feud against Grayson Waller. A main roster call-up had been rumored, but then the Knight character was nixed when he was called up to SmackDown in April of this year, and that was the beginning of the Maximum Male Models storyline, which has received significant negative feedback since then. The change from Knight to Dupri left a lot of people scratching their heads due to how hot Knight was at the time of his call-up.
The Maximum Male Models storyline was said to be a pet project of former WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon.
Below are clips from last week’s SmackDown segments:
Stay tuned to WrestlingHeadlines.com for more.
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