WWE Champion Admits "Blacking Out" During Debut (WWE News)
New Women's Intercontinental Champ Maxxine Dupri was in survival mode during her WWE debut.
Maxxine Dupri doesn't remember a whole hell of a lot about her debut singles match on WWE television. The brand new Women's Intercontinental Champion, who defeated Becky Lynch to win that belt on the 17 November edition of Raw, has told Huge Pop! that she "completely blacked out" right before her bout with Valhalla on the 31 July 2023 episode of WWE's flagship.
The rest is just a blur.
During the interview, Maxxine said the following: "I actually...I remember nothing. I completely blacked out. I was so nervous, I almost threw up after, because I don’t think I took one single breath for four minutes straight. Like, the math was probably a minute, but I’m saying four minutes; like at the time the music hit, I stopped breathing. I was like, I don’t know what’s happening, but I have to survive this".
Survive she did, then Dupri celebrated with then-Alpha Academy stablemates Chad Gable and Otis. The match was on the shorter side (it lasted just over 3 minutes), but it was a stressful experience for someone with so few in-ring reps as Maxxine. Her only other match on TV before that was a mixed tag alongside Gable and Otis vs. Valhalla and The Viking Raiders on the 3 July 2023 episode.
That was different. Dupri could lean on her partners to do most of the work, but she was out there exposed in a singles setting. Despite some early struggles, Maxxine has blossomed into a fine underdog character and exceeded expectations in the bout with Lynch. She did, however, admit that she sometimes wishes she could be "more advanced" and "could have more control in certain scenarios".
That'll come with experience.