New title, new Maxxine Dupri (and Nattie)?
Wanting to be a champion that people can be proud of and respect, Maxxine Dupri began her new WWE Women’s Intercontinental Championship reign by seeking out additional training from Natalya, a nearly 19-year veteran with WWE. Dupri and Natalya are no strangers to one another as the two have referenced their training at the latter’s Dungeon 2.0 facility both on social media and WWE television. Their latest session appears to be the most grueling yet.
During Monday’s episode of WWE Raw, a black and white vignette of Dupri training with Natalya aired. Visibly exhausted, Dupri initially claimed that she couldn’t continue with the in-ring drills. With Natalya’s directive to do them “again,” though, Dupri rose back to her feet and pushed through the demanding training, ankle locks, technical holds, and all.
Natalya eventually encouraged Dupri to execute the moves on her. This resulted in the veteran unloading a flurry of strikes on Dupri, then cinching in an ankle lock. Dupri tapped out, to which “The Queen of Harts” responded with a slap and an instruction to get out of her ring. Instead, Dupri called for Natalya to run back the moves with her once again — something Natalya seemingly approved of with a smirk, with some arguing that it was a sign that the more intense “Nattie” persona was being used.
As of now, it is unknown when Dupri will return to WWE television. Given her intense training, however, Dupri appears poised to come back with a more aggressive in-ring presence. Per Raw General Manager Adam Pearce, Ivy Nile will also be her first Women’s Intercontinental Championship challenger.
It’s also worth noting that fans might be seeing the Low Key Legend “Nattie” based on the vignette. Natalya has used her “Nattie” persona outside of WWE, but this is the first time she’s used the character on WWE programming.
Check out everything that went down on WWE RAW here.
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