LA Knight has quickly become one of the most popular wrestlers in the WWE, despite coming into the company at a late age.
Now over 40 years of age, it seems like LA Knight’s best years should be behind him. However, his incredible charisma has endeared him to the crowd and made him a megastar in the WWE.
This is just over a year after his debut in the WWE, showing just how far LA Knight has come in such a short space of time.
LA Knight’s WWE Debut
LA Knight first appeared on Monday Night Raw in January 2022, in one-off appearance alongside Dolph Ziggler and Bobby Roode.
However, he would not properly debut until May 2022, when he underwent a gimmick change that was not popular with the WWE crowd.
LA Knight’s name was changed to Max Dupri, and he became the head of a modelling agency within the WWE ecosystem.
He originally brought the gimmick to Smackdown on a Dark Segment, being the head of the “Knight Model Management”, but Vince McMahon tweaked it slightly to become the “Maximum Male Models”.
LA Knights debuted the gimmick on the May 20th, 2022 edition of Smackdown. He immediately introduced himself as Max Dupri, the CEO of the modelling agency known as the “Maximum Male Models”.
He began work as a manager for the agency – recruiting Mansoor and Mace into his group as wrestlers and models.
Max Dupri later brought his “sister”, Maxxine Dupri, into the fold and later handed her the reigns of the group.
La Knight, as Max Dupri, did not wrestle at all in the WWE. He worked solely as a manager during this time, and it seemed like his in-ring career was over.
LA Knight wrestled his WWE debut against Mansoor (stylized as man.soor) on the October 14th, 2022 episode of Smackdown, following his split from the Maximum Male Models.
What Happened To Max Dupri?
After Vince McMahon stepped down as the chairman of the WWE, Max Dupri was changed back to LA Knight, at the behest of new boss Triple H.
Max Dupri split from the Maximum Male Models on September 30, 2023 and changed back to his LA Knight persona the following week.
In a backstage promo with Maxxine Dupri, he declared himself to no longer be Max Dupri, but that he was LA Knight (Yeah!).
Max Dupri changed to LA Knight on the October 7, 2022 episode of Friday Night Smackdown, reinvigorating an in-ring career that had looked to be over.
LA Knight wrestled his first match on the WWE main roster on October 14th 2022, facing off with his former employee man.soor on Smackdown.
The Megastar won the match in under three minutes, starting off his career in WWE on the right note.
LA Knight went on to feud with a returning Bray Wyatt, wrestling the Eater of Worlds in his final match before his untimely death.