WWE signed Maxxine Dupri after she participated in one of the company's tryouts in Las Vegas, Nevada, in 2021. After serving as a poker dealer in a "Poker Showdown" segment between Duke Hudson and Cameron Grimes on NXT, she later served as a valet with Robert Stone for Von Wagner.
Going by the name Sofia Cromwell, she debuted on SmackDown in 2022 as Max Dupri's sister and the Director of Talent for his heel Maximum Male Models stable consisting of ma.çé and mån.sôör. As we're sure you'll recall, Max Dupri was the short-lived, ill-fated Vince McMahon-imposed gimmick for LA Knight.
After serving in a valet role for Alpha Academy, Maxxine has been in training and shows great improvement in the ring. Still, she wrestles less like a Becky Lynch or Tiffany Stratton, for example, and more like the Divas from the 2000s.
Maxxine has more than her fair share of fans, and her enthusiasm is infectious. During a recent interview with Chris Van Vliet, the WWE Superstar was asked how she deals with continued criticism from fans and her contemporaries.
"I think I’m always criticizing myself more than anyone else is. I recognize all of it, I promise you," Maxxine said. "But I also think it’s so great to hear the praise and hear that people feel something with you, but at the same time, that can all change in the blink of an eye. At the end of the day, I’m playing a character, and I love that the character makes them feel something good or bad."
"If they feel something, then I’ve done my job. So I think the criticism I take is from people that I really admire and look up to, and who I know are coming from a place of love and want to see me shine and grow," she continued. "And I have lots of those people in my life that I get to go to, which is so cool. I just try not to fish for any of it online."
Asked to compare where she is now to a year ago, Maxxine added, "I feel like I’ve grown a lot in the last year, but not just physically and not just in the ring, but like mentally. I feel the clarity, the confidence. I’ve really fallen in love with getting better and with being in the ring and just like, not necessarily even on TV, but just like in training, and just like having fun."
"We always say, I’m gonna when I train at Flatbacks. We always text before, like, All right, who’s bringing the vibes? Everyone bring the vibes. Vibe check. And it’s just like, the vibes are up. It’s fun. I’m just having a good time."
Of course, the question on many minds is whether she's still meant to be LA Knight's sister in kayfabe. While it's yet to be addressed on television, Maxxine is still living the gimmick.
"That is my brother. And you know what’s insane. I have a huge match on Monday versus Becky Lynch. And do you think my brother has called me to offer any advice or train me? No, he has not, and our mother is worried about him. He’s out here living by a new name, it’s crazy. It’s a whole thing. Like, if he would like to show up to a family reunion, we would be so happy to welcome him with open arms."
Has WWE ever suggested a name change for Maxxine? "No. I know it is kind of funny, but no, I haven’t heard anything," she revealed.
You can watch the full interview with Maxxine in the player below.