Max Dupri was no longer to be a part of Maximum Male Models, per a report from Wade Keller of PWTorch.
Fightful Select hadn't confirmed that news, but Keller's report indicated that Vince McMahon made the decision a couple of weeks ago to write the former LA Knight out. Sofia Cromwell is now portraying Max Dupri's sister Maxxine. Keller said that Dupri was rubbing people the wrong way and wasn't fitting in, and Fightful heard that was the case for Durpi with Vince McMahon himself, at least.
When Fightful Select asked around about Dupri, one source indicated that the former Eli Drake "ruffled some feathers with a couple of scripts." Another source indicated that the best thing that could possibly have happened to Max Dupri was Vince McMahon retiring, because he does still have some supporters in WWE that enjoy his work, hinting that the door wasn't closed for the decision to be reversed. That ended up being the case shortly after Vince McMahon's exit, and Dupri was brought back to TV.
McMahon was heavily involved in producing the Maximum Male Models gimmick and it was his vision. He was said to have not wanted Max Dupri to sound anything like LA Knight.
We've heard from numerous people within the company who put over Dupri's delivery.
There were significant changes to the Smackdown script for July 22 that adjusted plans for the stable, as well. Originally, the beachwear segment that was promoted for July 29 was supposed to take place on July 22.
Max Dupri would return to SmackDown alongside Maxxine and the Maximum Male Models on the July 29 episode of WWE SmackDown.
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