40-year-old star says his former character felt like "a step backwards" during WWE main roster call up

A main roster call-up from NXT to RAW or SmackDown for any WWE Superstar is preferred as a fortunate blessing. But for this 40-year-old star, it was the other way around.

LA Knight is one of the company's rising stars right now. However, his promotion to the main roster in 2022 went differently than planned. Under the creative direction of former WWE CEO Vince McMahon, who was in charge at the time, Knight's ring name was altered to Max Dupri.

On SmackDown, he was a ringside adviser and modeling talent scout for the Maximum Male Models stable. LA Knight did not like the gimmick, as he garnered much attention near the end of his WWE NXT stint.

In a recent interview on the Rosenberg Radio, the former Million Dollar Champion revealed that the 'Max Durpi' character felt like a step backward despite more compensation.

"I mean, let's be honest, when you get pulled up to the main roster, there's a nice little pay bump, can't say I don't appreciate that. At the same time, there's a lot of frustration knowing, like, man, I was red hot at the end of that NXT run. So people were just honestly just like the crowd is now, people were on top of my stuff, they were saying my stuff, doing everything whatever. I am like, okay, if I can take this up the main roster, we got something good to go, and then there was that (Max Dupri character), and this feels like a step backward, but I will make it work," LA Knight said. [9:02 - 9:43]

Check out the full video below:

LA Knight felt he could have explored other ideas for his former WWE character

During the same interview, LA Knight shared that since the 'Max Dupri' character was not made for him, he had other gimmick ideas that would have sat well with him.

However, it was not the 40-year-old WWE star's call to pull the strings on his character, and he gladly accepted the role of Maximum Male Models' manager by order of McMahon.

"And that's just kind of the name of the game in this but I'll say that was definitely not for me in my mind. I don't think that was made for me. I could think of a couple of other options that would have been way better but that's not my call," he continued. [9:45 - 10:01]

The SmackDown star is set to be in the 2023 Men's Money in the Bank ladder match. Knight is also reportedly considered a top seed to win this year's MITB briefcase, given fans' loud reactions on Friday Nights.

Do you want to see LA Knight win the WWE Money in the Bank? Sound off in the comments section below.

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