After weeks of teasing about the prospect of Max Dupri returning as his LA Knight character, WWE finally filed those teasers during tonight’s SmackDown season premiere. Towards the end of tonight’s episode, Maxxine Dupri ran backstage to find ma.çé and mån.sôr on the floor after being attacked by a chair. It was Max who grabbed the chair, and when Maxine asked what happened, he said he was done with being someone he wasn’t and told her not to call him again. Then he said he finished hanging out with this group turning gold to trash and declared that he was no longer Max, joining the familiar L.A. Knight crest and “yeahhhh” to close the part. LA Knight is officially back guys, it’s awesome.
When Maxxine approached him after the attack, Knight said, “Don’t call me that again. I gave you the illusion of gold and you all turned it into trash. You think I’d just stay here and be something I’m not? Nah! What I’m not is Max. What I am, from I… L… A… Knight, yes!”
This is not so Tweet embedThis is LA Knight! yes!#smackdown pic.twitter.com/elnpD0JDuh
– WWE (WWE) October 8, 2022
It was a very strange journey to get to this point for Knight, since after becoming a fan favorite in NXT, he was seen in dark clips on SmackDown with a new character. The character was thought to be an agent of some sort, and Mace and Mansoor were also regrouped to be part of this faction.
They would end up being Maximum Male Models, and after weeks of teasing, they debuted with a modeling gimmick that actually transcended at first thanks to a dedication to the characters and premise from everyone involved. But that didn’t last, once reports said there was some friction between Knight and the creative team, and later reports said Vince McMahon and the current leadership team planned to remove Max from the group altogether.
This is when Maxxine was brought in as the new leader, but then Triple H took over WWE’s creative leadership, Max stuck but with obvious issues with the group. This triggered several provocations for Max of frustration with the group and who he was, and sparked a return to his character on the Los Angeles Night.
All of this led to tonight’s big attack and character transformation, and now Max is no longer official, marking the return of the L.A. Knight and hopefully more matches in the ring and a bigger role on WWE TV in general.
What do you think of the return of the Los Angeles Knight? Tell us in the comments or as always you can talk about all things wrestling with me on Twitter @MattAguilarCB!
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