“LA KNIGHT IS BACK” is currently trending on Twitter after a backstage segment on tonight’s WWE SmackDown saw Max Dupri ditch his Maximum Male Models stable.
We’ve noted how WWE and Dupri have been teasing the return of his LA Knight character for several weeks now. In an update, tonight’s SmackDown featured a a backstage segment where ma.çé and mån.sôör apologized to Max for losing to The New Day last week. They then promised to win a title tonight… but not a championship title, they planned to break the Canadian record for the longest pose. This disappointed Max, who seemed excited when he thought they secured a title shot against Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions The Usos. Maxxine Dupri then had Mace and Mansoor begin their pose while Max walked away.
SmackDown then featured a few more backstage segments where Maxxine was timing Mace and Mansoor’s pose as they tried to break the Canadian record. Max later returned and dropped Mace and Mansoor, just seconds before they were to break the record for longest pose. Max lashed out and said they had a shot but they turned into clowns because they were in the back posing instead of going for gold.
Max then took off his belt and tossed it at Mace and Mansoor. He said they can cancel him from the group because he’s not sure if it was ever for him to begin with. Max then let out a subtle “Yeah,” the catchphrase of the Knight character, and then left off as his former models, and his sister, looked on in shock.
There’s no word yet on exactly when Knight will return to the storylines, but it could come next week during the 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, and now that is happening.
Max 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. Max 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.
It will be interesting to see what happens to the former Mace, Mansoor and Sofia Cromwell now that the Max character is being pulled. It was reported earlier this year how the Maximum Male Models storyline was a pet project of former WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon.
Below are clips from tonight’s SmackDown segments:
Stay tuned to WrestlingHeadlines.com for more.
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