Maxxine Dupri Says Online Criticism Was ‘Challenging’ At First, How She’s Gotten Past It

Maxxine Dupri has come a long way on her wrestling journey in WWE, and she acknowledges that some of the online hate she got was “challenging” at first. Dupri essentially learned to wrestle live on WWE TV, as she was very inexperienced when she first started working matches on TV.

Dupri has made plenty of progress and is now the WWE Women’s Intercontinental Champion. She reflected on her early days and the fans’ reactions in an interview with The Wrestling Classic. Dupri noted that she had a hard time with the online criticism and has learned how to deal with it, relying on her friends, coaches and co-workers for real feedback. You can see highlights below:

On Getting ‘You Can’t Wrestle’ Chants Early On:

“I mean, listen. Thank you to my haters, because you make me feel even better! No truthfully, that live event specifically? That didn’t affect me personally. Because in the moment I wasn’t even like — when you’re new to to this and you’re wrestling, I can’t hear anything. Like, I’m trying to make sure that I just survive this match and do the best I can do. So I wasn’t even locked in to hear that.”

On the Online Criticism:

“I had a very hard time um with online hate. But that was just a learning lesson I had to learn. Because I don’t need to dig into it. I have my people that give me my criticism, and I know the things that I truly do need to work on and that I’m falling short in. And I will always hold myself accountable for that, and put my nose down and keep grinding.

“It was very challenging for a period of time. But it’s — you know, there’s pros and cons to everything. And that’s part of this job is that we have the absolute honor of being on TV and performing for the most passionate fans in the world. Sometimes they’re not going to like what you put out, and they’re entitled to that opinion. And I’m entitled to protecting my piece and not always doomscrolling, if you will.”

On Trusting In Her Co-Workers Over Online Comments:

“I get it on all angles. I’m not saying like, ‘Oh, don’t say that.’ I get it, but it’s just part of the journey and it was a lesson I had to learn. And now I do feel — of course you’re going to sometimes read something that you’re like, ‘Ooh, that one stung a little.’ But when you have a good group of friends and you have good people around you, and you trust your producers. When I come back from a match, if my producer’s happy with me, Triple H is happy, Bruce Prichard is happy, we’re good. You know, the crowd was engaged, we’re good.

“People are always still going to have an opinion, and that’s okay. That’s why we do what we do. We want them to feel something, and if they’re feeling something then I’m doing my job.”

On Negative Criticism vs. Positive Comments:

“What I had to realize was for myself — and this is my own issue — is that I could read a hundred comments telling me that I am 10 out of 10 fabulous. And I’ll read one that’s like, ‘Your breath stinks,’ and I’m like ‘Oh my god!’ I can only think about the one. So it’s knowing yourself, it’s knowing how things affect you, and knowing how to put things in place so that it doesn’t affect your work. And you can keep grinding and you can keep coming out and showing out and having that confidence.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Grilling JR with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.