Early beginnings (2018–2022)
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Al-Shehail was one of eight participants WWE scouted during a tryout in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, ahead of 2018’s Greatest Royal Rumble, WWE’s first major event in Saudi Arabia, and was offered additional training at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.[11] He was featured in a segment during the event, where he and his fellow recruits partook in a physical altercation with Shawn Daivari and Ariya Daivari.[12] Al-Shehail, under his “Manny Faberino” ring name, made his WWE debut at an NXT live event on September 6, 2018, losing to Luke Menzies.[13] He made his television debut on the February 6, 2019 episode of NXT as a face, and going by the ring name Mansoor, where he was defeated by Jaxson Ryker.[14] Al-Shehail also provided the voice of Cole Quinn, one of the main characters in WWE 2K19‘s MyCareer mode, which he would reprise in WWE 2K20 the following year.[15]
He appeared on WWE events on Saudi Arabia, like winning a 51-man Battle Royal at Super ShowDown,[16] defeating Cesaro at Crown Jewel,[17] and Dolph Ziggler at Super ShowDown.[18] Following this, Mansoor became a regular on 205 Live and Main Event, developing a winning streak.[19][20][21][22]
On the 3 May episode of Raw, Mansoor was assigned to the Raw brand,[23][24] and made his in-ring debut the same night, losing to United States Champion Sheamus by disqualification due to interference from Humberto Carrillo, and ending his winning streak.[25] According to Mansoor, his winning streak was a “creative order” and he felt frustrated.[26] In June, Mansoor began a storyline with Mustafa Ali, who tried to convince him that the rest of WWE superstars were “backstabbers”, “would do anything just to get ahead”, and “cheaters”,[27] leading to a match on the 5 July episode of Raw, where Mansoor suffered his first pinfall loss.[28]
As part of the 2021 Draft, Mansoor was drafted to the SmackDown brand.[29] On the October 11 episode of Raw, Mansoor was attacked by Ali in the backstage after they lost to The Hurt Business, ending the alliance between the two; Ali would challenge him to a match at Crown Jewel later that night.[30] At the event, Mansoor defeated Ali.[31] This was Mansoor’s last appearance in Saudi Arabia, since Vince McMahon told him that the Saudi Arabian government didn’t want him competing in the country anymore.[32]
Maximum Male Models (2022–2023)
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On April 22, 2022, in a dark segment on SmackDown, Mansoor turned heel for the first time in his career when he was announced as the newest member of LA Knight’s stable, Knight Model Management alongside Mace.[33] On the July 1 episode of SmackDown, Knight, now known as Max Dupri, announced Mace and Mansoor, under the tweaked names ma.çé and mån.sôör, as his new tag team, Maximum Male Models.[34] Maximum Male Models later welcomed Maxxine Dupri, Max’s (kayfabe) sister, to manage the team. Maximum Male Models joined the Raw brand on February 6, 2023, and remained on Raw following the 2023 Draft.[35][36] After weeks of spending time with Otis of the Alpha Academy, Maxxine left Maximum Male Models to join Alpha Academy on the May 15 episode of Raw when she cheered on Otis and Chad Gable eliminating ma.çé and mån.sôör in the Intercontinental Championship number one contenders’ battle royal match.[37][38] After months of inactivity, ma.çé and mån.sôör were both released from their WWE contracts on September 21.[39]
