Published: Nov 3, 2023 by Dave Adamson | Last Updated: Nov 5, 2023 by Dave Adamson
Dave has been a website writer for WrestleTalk since October 2022, having previously written for Den of Geek, among a number of wrestling, movie and television-related sites. Dave has been around the independent wrestling scene for more than a decade, including behind-the-scenes.
WWE
If it hadn’t been for Vince McMahon’s creative mind, Mace may have been an entirely different entity before his WWE SmackDown return.
The former Mace, now Mase Madden, revealed plans for his character before he returned to WWE SmackDown.
Having joined WWE as Dio Maddin, Madden would be a part of the commentary team on WWE television until his return to the NXT in November 2019.
In September 2020, he would be reborn as Mace, forming part of the ill-fated Retribution until the WWE Draft in 2021.
His last match would be in November 2021, with his return on SmackDown in April 2022 as part of Knight Model Management.
This would morph into Maximum Male Models in July of that year, along with Max Dupri (LA Knight), Maxxine Dupri and Mansoor.
Answering a question on the Reddit AMA about whether Maximum Male Models was the original pitch, Madden revealed an abandoned plan, saying:
“I had spent the better part of 6 months off TV, and we were well into the process of crafting a new character.
“There was concept art and pitches for a futuristic cyberpunk bounty hunter with a motorcycle.
“I left big man class at the PC having missed a call from my writer. Told me to pack up to go to SmackDown. Vince needs a model.
“It started as me and Max. Manny got added later.”
Between his work on commentary and in Retribution, Madden was written off TV with an attack from Brock Lesnar.
He commented on the scrapped plans following this attack at the hands of Lesnar in the AMA.
On September 21, 2023, both Mace and Mansoor revealed that they were no longer part of WWE.
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