Nikunj Walia on December 14, 2022
LA Knight has become one of the rising stars of the SmackDown brand. His charismatic personality and in-ring prowess make him a potential blue-chip prospect with huge potential. However, LA Knight was completely surprised by the new gimmick he received upon his main roster arrival by Vince McMahon.
LA Knight captivated the audience back in WWE’s developmental territory, NXT. The top star of the former black and gold brand made an impressive mark in the brand and competed against the likes of Cameron Grimes and Grayson Waller which led him to be called up to the main roster in May 2022.
The former NXT superstar, however, was given completely new persona and debuted under his new ring name, Max Dupri, a narcissist manager handling the Maximum Male Models faction, being a complete overhaul of his previous gimmick. LA Knight recently revealed his reaction to the change during an interview with Yahoo Entertainment.
“So now here comes this other character being introduced and so for those people, it was like, ‘Wait, what is this?’. But when you look at the numbers of a SmackDown audience, for a large swath of those people, they are seeing me for the first time. So I could’ve been Joe Shmoe for all it matters. In a strange sense, that would have actually worked just because three quarters of that audience is seeing me for the first time regardless of who I am. At the same time though, I think there is a matter of the shoe fitting and not. I will make any [character] work, but when it comes down to it, there was one that was way more ‘me’ than the other one. “
LA Knight has got his original character back, courtesy of the new management led by WWE Chief Content Officer Triple H. He is currently involved in a feud with Bray Wyatt, which could further lead to a mega showdown between the two SmackDown stars.
Do you miss the Max Dupri character? Sound off in the comments!
December 14, 2022 9:37 am
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