Maxxine Dupri On Criticism, Alpha Academy, Royal Rumble Debut, LA Knight

On her main roster debut:

“So I’m in NXT, I get my name. I’m on TV But I am not wrestling and I am paired with Mr Stone and Von Wagner. [My name was] Sofia Cromwell, I was very adamant that I wanted it with an f and not ph. I don’t know why, maybe because of Sofia Richie. I don’t know, was a weird thing but they agreed to give it to me so that was awesome. I didn’t have a big role, I think I talked a couple of times but very minimal. Then LA Knight gets called up and turns into Max Durpi and they start promoting his sister Maxxine for weeks. No one knows who Maxxine is, not me. I don’t know if creative knew to be honest it was like we are going to do something and we will figure it out. The other part of this is that I had actually gotten injured while I was Sofia on TV. I was out with an ankle injury and I wasn’t cleared, so I wasn’t training. So I was on TV but not doing much, I couldn’t do any physicality. Of course in the moment I was like, my life is over. But it hindsight that was the biggest blessing because I was one of the few that they saw as TV ready in a sense in NXT that was not in a real story. I could be plucked and it didn’t change anything. My name could be changed, no one knew who I was. I think it worked out for me in hindsight that I was able to be called up as Maxxine. But it is really crazy because my boyfriend and I were at that SmackDown the week before I debuted, it was in Orlando. We go and it was up in the 300s. They were promoting Maxxine again and we both looked at each other and giggled and were like there is no way. But we kept seeing it every now and then. Everyone thought it was going to be Gunther’s wife, it was all over Twitter, I could totally see it. Because at that point she had done NXT UK and had this fashionista brand and I could totally see her doing it. Then there was maybe 2 Tweets that said me, but you best believe I was like oh, 2 people think it may be me. Then alas, Thursday they tell me and I flew out that way." 

On the backstory of being told:

"I don't even know if I was supposed to tell this story because this is I'll give you the backstory is what happened was. No, I didn't hear from creative or anything. So Wednesday night, I go to sleep and I'm like, Okay, I would have known by Wednesday night. It's not me, give it up. Thursday morning, I wake up to go into the PC. And it's like 7 am and I get a text from travel, saying, Hey, I heard you're needed for SmackDown I'm gonna book your travel. And I'm like, okay, okay, don't get your hopes up. But it could be me. And when I went to the PC, I pulled my coach aside because I'm shaking and I'm like, wait, me going to SmackDown like what's going on? And he's like, don't even stress like, it's they probably are bringing all three of you up, they just want to see you in person. Like, it's probably just you as a fraction. No big deal. So I'm like, okay. Then I go to the lead writer at like noon, and I'm like, Hey, what's up and his phone have been dead so he’s not seen the email yet. So he's like, Sofia Cromwell being called up as Maxxine Dupri. Okay. And then because my name was Sofia. I didn't even get like my flight info, didn't get put into my app, because my names were not lined up. Yeah. So then I'm like, what time is my flight? And they're like, it's at four. And I'm like, I gotta run. I gotta Get out of here. But what was crazy is I told that story one time and then I was talking to travel. And they were like, Yeah, that's why like, now we have to really make sure that creative tells you guys first because creative was like, I think they were supposed to tell me not travel. And I accidentally, like fully exposed them, which I wasn't meaning to. I just thought that’s how it worked. Yeah, I was like, oh, yeah, travel tells you and you go."

On figuring out the character:

"I really had no idea. The benefit was that Mace, his younger sister actually signed with my class. So I had at least met him and I was friends with her. So I had a little comfortability, at least with him, which was really, really nice. Because it's first of all, it's scary. You're going up there and then when you don't know anyone, and you have no relation to anybody so at least I had a little like something of like a little safety net. I felt like or at least I kind of knew these guys. And I was like, okay, and I had met LA Knight a couple times at the PC before he got called up but not much like our past did not really cross. So it was very interesting." 

On pointers from the Maximum Male Models:

"All three of them were awesome with me. We went to the PC and like worked on like, I'd never done an in-ring promo, I had never really done backstages. I did a few on an NXT. But the way that NXT films is very different than main roster main roster is very like one and done. Gotta get show on the road where NXT is developmental. So you're gonna do multiple takes, it's more analyzer learning and everyone's learning. So it's a very different speed and different flow. So I'm very lucky that I had all three of them to guide me."

On advice from LA Knight:

"So he actually wasn't there on my first day. So that was the day when he ended up not coming in that week. They had me there and then the next week, he was there as my brother. So day one was just me, Mansoor and Mace. And that day was also really crazy because things were changing a lot, which is how it is. So live show. It's entertainment, but I just hadn't experienced that yet. So even when I walked in, let me give you the backstory. I'm packing, I pack 20 outfits. I'm like, I got it all. Originally, they had said that they were doing a swimsuit debut thing with the models. So I was like, Okay, literally I have options of everything they could ever need me to where I'm like, I got this on lock. I landed like 10 pm and creative says hey, can you wear a black dress tomorrow? You best believe I did not pack a black dress. And I was like you got it. I woke up, went to the mall. Found a little black dress. And I did Monday morning I called Natalya. They told me not to tell anyone. So I told no one when I was going, my boyfriend knew. And that was it. And I actually think I told Brennan's sister because I knew it was going to be with them. And then I call Natalya, because I was hoping she was gonna be there and I had trained with her. And that was the one week probably in her entire career that she was not going to be a TV. And I was like, oh, no, but gratefully I walked in and Liv was like the first person I saw in the locker room. And she took me under her wing, showed me catering, brought me into the makeup room, just really helped me so much because I was shaking in my boots."

On her first main roster match:

"So our first one was a six-man with The Viking Raiders. And it was amazing because I had the comfortability of being with the boys. And I had them as my safety net to fall back on. I was extremely nervous as I am every single Monday, just because you want to be great, but I'm also so new. I haven't performed in front of a crowd like that ever. So it was scary. The thing that I was grateful for in that moment was I had done a little bit of physicality. We had done the arm drag on the outside the suplex on the outside and like shout out Valhalla for just taking bumps from me on the outside all the time. I love her for that. I think having those interactions helped a lot for that first match. I was way more nervous for the first singles. Because just, you know, it's us, we're out there."

On the Women’s Royal Rumble:

"Back to being prepared. I didn't know if I was gonna be in or not. I found out a week before. But you best believe I had gear coming in four months prior for the rumble. But I didn't know if I was. And I was very nervous just because I'm like, it's obviously it's a huge platform. There's only so many spots. So you want to like to represent well and do well. And it's always nerve-wracking. As much as I feel like for some people, maybe it's less nerve-wracking. There's a lot of people in there. I think because I'm so green. It's more nerve-wracking for me when there's that many people in there because I'm like, Am I in the way What do I do my like, I don't want to you know, step on anyone's thing. It's there's so many moving parts. And I'm not quite to the headspace yet where I can just like be calm."

On learning from being in the ring with Rhea Ripley:

"I think a lot of things. I think, one for me timing in that match. I was so nervous. I think that I was just a little scatterbrained, I think that she is so calm, cool and collected. And I think that's the coolest thing about her. Like, I that's some energy that I want to take and run with, like, she knows who she is. She knows what she's doing. And like there's not an ounce of worry or anything on her face. And I think that's so cool. And that's something that I would love to steal from her and, and carry with me just a little bit of that kind of confidence."

On WWE goals:

"My goal is, honestly, I want to do this as long as I can, as long as they will employ me I want to be in. God, I have so much fun and I am happy to do whatever they want me to do. I just, I love going to work. I love performing. I love the people I work with. I just feel so lucky to be in this position. Of course, I would love to win some gold or something fun like that and I really want to improve in the ring and just continue to prove myself there and even like with promos goes everything. I think my goal for this year is I just want to look, I want like to have a match or something in December, where I look back at January and what I did and be like, Oh, it's not even the same person. Yeah, that's my goal."

What is Maxxine Dupri grateful for:

"Quality time with good people, a body that works hard for me and to get out of bed every day and do something I love."