LA Knight expected WWE to fire him after main roster promotion

LA Knight is one of three top stars on the roster competing for Roman Reigns' Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at the Royal Rumble. He is also the last person to challenge the latter, having tried to dethrone The Tribal Chief at Crown Jewel 2023.

Hailed today as The Megastar of WWE by fans and contemporaries alike, Knight is in an enviable position on the card. A little over a year ago, though, not only was he part of an irrelevant storyline, but the 41-year-old was looking at other options because he genuinely thought the global juggernaut would let him go!

While speaking to Chris Van Vliet on INSIGHT, LA Knight revealed that he was very unhappy with the Max Dupri character. Apparently, so was Vince McMahon, who handled much of the creative at the time. However, the faction was disbanded eventually, with Knight moving on to a feud with the late Bray Wyatt, and the rest is history.

"It [the Max Dupri character] just was not going well. And I was very unhappy. And I'm sure he [Vince McMahon] probably was and then at some point, it was just like, all of a sudden, I'm not on TV and I'm like, well, I'm pretty sure I'm fired. Pretty sure this whole ride is over. And at that point, I'm kind of looking at other options and what I can do and where I can go to kind of, you know, just keep my whole thing rolling."

Another star who had a breakout with Maximum Male Models was Maxxine Dupri, who retained her name but moved on to bigger and better things. She is currently part of the Alpha Academy stable on RAW.

---

Chad Gable is proud of Maxxine Dupri's progress in WWE

Alpha Academy is one of the most popular stables on WWE's flagship show. Each of its members has a distinctive quality to them, and viewers love to watch their matches and comedic segments.

Perhaps the most important superstar out of the lot is Chad Gable, who is the default leader of the group. While doing an interview for Cageside Seats last year, Gable heaped praise on Maxxine:

“She’s delivering on every level, you know, physically in what we do and she’s not used to that. So it’s a very unique kind of story in this company. I don’t think we’ve seen it, if we have very rarely, in the past where someone’s legitimately learning on the job. [Learning] how to wrestle in front of that many people and for her to be able to maintain composure and do it with the level of dignity that she is, it blows my mind. I mean, she’s already been through a table. I can’t tell you how long it took me to do that.”

Maxxine Dupri also spoke of her recent match with WWE Women's World Champion Rhea Ripley. She was unable to pull off an exciting performance, and the bout wound up being a kind of squash. The young star affirmed that the next time she faces Ripley, she will be "more ready." Read about it here.