WWE: Maxxine Durpri on Her Love of Wrestling & Praise of Natalya for Her Impact on Wrestling, Bianca Belair Broken Finger Injury Update & WWE’s Current Plans for SmackDown Women’s Division, More News

Maxxine Durpri Comments on Her Love of Wrestling & Praise of Natalya for Her Impact on the Wrestling Business

A recent episode of the WWE RAW Recap podcast featured Maxxine Dupri as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Dupri’s thoughts about her love of professional wrestling and the joy it brings to her.

“I think both, right. It’s like you sign and you’re so excited and you’re like, okay, I’m doing it, and then you’re, you’re on the hamster wheel and you’re doing your best. You’re getting opportunities. You’re trying to make the most of everything, and you’re just- but you know, whatever you can. But I’m at this place now where I’m just, I’ve fallen so in love with this and it brings me so much joy. You know, whether I’m on Raw, on Netflix performing, which is insane, or if I’m in the dungeon learning and growing, whatever it is, it’s like, it fuels me. So I don’t know. I don’t know if there was like a special moment that it clicked. Like, this is all I can now eat, sleep, breathe. But it’s what we’re doing.”

Dupri also gave her thoughts about her training under Natalya and her praise of Natalya over her giving “so much to this business” and how she has helped elevate so much talent during her career.

“It’s hard because Nattie has given so much to this business, right? Like she’s helped elevate so much talent. She’s given her life to the WWE universe and that’s amazing, and I don’t want to let her down. She’s allowing me into the dungeon. She’s helping me train. She’s giving me so much guidance. She’s texting me all day and making sure that I’m good and I’m ready to go, and then I’m sharing the locker room with Nikki Bella, who I’ve loved for years and I don’t want to embarrass, I don’t want to embarrass her. I don’t want to embarrass Chelsea, who’s going to bat for me. These are all people that I look up to and I want to make them proud. So it really, it just motivates me to work harder to earn their respect.”

Dupri also gave her thoughts about her training to become a better wrestler for her WWE career.

“I mean, there’s definitely been a lot of training that I’m not posting or sharing. You know, I’m in the dungeon. I’m training nonstop, whether I’m at the Performance Center, at Flatbacks, in the dungeon with Nattie and TJ. I’m really making sure that I’m in a place that when I’m going head to head with a WrestleMania main eventer, that I can hold my own and it’s scary in there with her. You know, she’s extremely dangerous. As we saw tonight, there was a lot of hits and things that I was not expecting, but that’s why I have to keep going back to the drawing board and just keep preparing myself for whatever she tries to pull out next.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com 1, 2, & 3

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Bianca Belair Broken Finger Injury Update & WWE’s Current Plans for SmackDown Women’s Division

As noted before, Bianca Belair has been out of action for WWE since this past April’s WrestleMania 41 Night 2 event due to a broken finger injury.

Fightful Select reported that their sources within WWE stated that the initial belief was that Belair’s injury was a minor fracture but further medical evaluation uncovered additional joint complications that required an extended recovery timeline for her. WWE officials reportedly have taken a cautious approach to her rehabilitation and opting to not rush her return to the ring.

In regards to the SmackDown Women’s division, it was reported that WWE has quietly been reinforcing the SmackDown women’s roster to offset Belair’s abscense. WWE reportedly has brought up several NXT talents to inject fresh energy into the division, including Zaria, Sol Ruca, and Blake Monroe.

It was reported that those spoken to stated that there is currently optimism within WWE that Belair’s recovery is progressing well. It was also reported that there is still no firm timetable yet for her potential in-ring return and WWE officials want her to be “100 percent cleared” before reintroducing her to storylines.

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WWE News & Notes

ESPN released a new hype video ahead of the start of the new season of the NBA on Tuesday that was inspired by past WWE videos.

Wrestlenomics’ Brandon Thurston reported that ticket prices for WWE RAW and SmackDown events in the U.S. and Canada have nearly doubled since the company’s merger with UFC to form TKO Group Holdings under Endeavor. Thurston reportedly that prior to the merger, WWE ticket prices were around $60 per ticket per show average. Thurston also reported that the average ticket price for RAW and SmackDown shows during this past quarter from June to September was around $118 and up compared to the average price of $75 per ticket for the same period last year. Thurston also reported that WrestleTix lists the average of 10,847 tickets distributed per show for the quarter, slightly down compared to the average of 10,849 tickets per show for the same quarter last year.

The Wrestling Observer’s Bryan Alvarez reported that his sources stated that the reason for Xavier Woods and Erik’s abscense from the WWE World Heavyweight Championship #1 Contender Battle Royal match at this past Monday’s WWE RAW show was due both were on scheduled vacation breaks this week. New Day’s Kofi Kingston and Grayson Waller and the Viking Raiders’ Ivar had represented their tag teams in the match.

The Wyatt Sicks (Dexter Lumis & Joe Gacy) reached the milestone of 100 days as current WWE Tag Team Champions this past Sunday.

WWE recently released one new video to their WCW Vault channel on YouTube. This new video was a NWA United States Tag Team Championship match of The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs & Jerry Sags) vs. The Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner & Scott Steiner) (c) from NWA WCW Halloween Havoc 1990.

WWE also recently released three new videos to their WWE Vault channel on YouTube. The first new video was a WWE Championship match of Andre the Giant vs. “Macho Man” Randy Savage from the November 26, 1988 episode of WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event. The second new video was a “The Undertaker Mixtape: Full Matches, Epic Segments and Rare Footage.” The third new video was a “Men on a Mission compete as The Harlem Knights in unseen dark match: From the WWE Vault.”

As noted before, Chelsea Green was kicked out of the Fairmont Hotel due to staff thinking she was an escort over the way she dressed following WWE’s RAW show in April of 2024 in Brooklyn, New York. Green recently provided an update on Twitter stating that the hotel had rescinded their apology offer for a complimentary two night stay anywhere. Green stated “Remember this? @FairmontHotels offered me a two night stay anywhere… after calling me an escort lol Now they’re taking it back. 🤣“

In a recent interview with the Dallas Morning News, WWE SVP of NXT and Talent Relations Shawn Michaels gave his thoughts about WWE’s shift in talent recruitment strategy to focus more on collegiate athletes has made a “night and day difference” in WWE developmental. Michaels stated “When the WWE started recruiting from that incredibly huge pool of athletes, it’s just been, to me, a night and day difference in our developmental program here in Florida. They are already athletes that are 100 percent laser focused on achieving goals. They’re already in phenomenal shape. They’re already disciplined in so many different ways. So they come in kind of built-in, ready to go, and they just are so focused on learning and achieving whatever it is you put in front of them, that as we began to train them in professional wrestling, they just take to it like ducks to water.”

During the same interview, Shawn Michaels gave his praise of NXT talent Tatum Paxley for the way she has managed to connect with the NXT audience in a way that very few people have. Michaels stated “Tatum (Paxley) is an unbelievably unique individual when it comes to being an NXT superstar. She has connected with our audience in a way that very few people have. She is the girl next door, but she also has these dark and kind of strange qualities that endear people to her… The arc of her storyline over the last several years has just been something that’s been incredibly fun to watch. It’s been an absolute blast to be a part of.“