Maxxine Dupri Calls Recent Injury A Blessing In Disguise

In an interview with Out of Character (via Fightful), Maxxine Dupri spoke about how her fractured fibula last year ended up being a blessing in disguise. While she was in NXT as Sofia Cromwell, she was barely used. Being available to play Dupri allowed her to get called up to the main roster and have a more prominent TV role.

She said: “I signed in October 2021 and then I went up in July (2022). I was only on TV for a month or two. I fractured my fibula. That happened in May or June. In hindsight, I think that was a really big blessing because I wasn’t doing much in NXT because I was injured. When they were looking at who was going to be Maxxine, that ended up being a positive and allowed me to heal. I was in NXT working with Von (Wagner) and (Robert) Stone, which was amazing and so much fun. I obviously wasn’t doing very much because Stone was managing Von, and I was with him, and I would get a few lines, but it was still ‘she’s new, let’s dip our toes in it.’ They started advertising this new character Maxxine was going to join Maximum Male Models. They promoted it for like three weeks, and I didn’t know that whole time, I had no idea. The week before, they were in Orlando, we all went and watched, they advertised it again and I thought, ‘it has to be someone who is LA Knight’s sister, there’s no way. I’m not ready yet. I’m not healed.’ The next week, the week Maxxine is supposed to debut, I go to sleep on Wednesday and don’t get a text. ‘Okay, it’s not me,’ but I had this weird gut feeling. ‘It’s not me, next opportunity.’ I wake up on Thursday to go to training at 7 AM and I have a text from travel, ‘we need you at SmackDown tomorrow.’ I text the lead writer at NXT, ‘I’m heard I’m needed for SmackDown. Do you know what’s going on?’ I go to skull to watch film, I pulled my coach aside, ‘I got this text, I don’t know what’s going on.’ ‘No stress, they probably want to see you in person or maybe they’re bringing Von up for a dark match.’ Now, it’s 10 AM and I get to meet with the lead writer and he’s like, ‘What’s going on?’ ‘I don’t know, I heard I’m needed for SmackDown.’ ‘Let me check my email. Alright, you’re Maxxine. You’re flying out today.’ My flight is in four hours. I ran home, had to get a spray tan, packed my bag, hit the road, and took off from there.”

She also noted that she was not told why she was selected for the role. She added: “I didn’t. I think I got lucky and maybe somebody saw something special in me that they thought would work well as Maxxine, I’m not sure, I’m just so thankful for the opportunity.“