WWE Diva Maxine Is Unrecognizable Now

Long before the days of Alpha Academy's Maxxine Dupri, the most well known Maxine to grace WWE TV screens only had one X to her name, portrayed by Karlee Perez. As the original Maxine, Perez was largely known for being one of the top heels in WWE's then developmental promotion Florida Championship Wrestling, ruling over FCW as its corrupt general manager. She would later move up to "NXT," under its original game-show incarnation, and remained there up until she decided to quit WWE in June 2012, seemingly to pursue options outside of wrestling. Just two years later, however, Perez resurfaced in Lucha Underground, now portraying the villainous, mysterious Catrina, manager of Mil Muertes.

While far more supernatural and violent than her Maxine persona was, those familiar with Perez from her WWE days likely recognized her as Catrina immediately, in part thanks to the long, raven hair she continued to sport while in Lucha Underground. Aside from some variations, Perez maintained that look throughout her four years as Catrina, and upon joining MLW briefly in 2021 under her real name to once again align with Muertes, looked like something out of a time capsule, appearing to have not changed at all from her WWE/LU days. Four years later, however, and with wrestling seemingly behind her, many fans may not be able to recognize Perez if they saw her today.

Since distancing herself from the wrestling business, Perez has given acting a legitimate go, appearing in films such as "Nation's Fire," "Xenophobia," "Rogue Cell," "Seized," and "Mapplethorpe," the latter a biopic about American photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. The switch to a film/TV career has not only allowed Perez to stay in the lime light, and make her a fixture on the red carpet scene, it has seen her change up her look. This became notable in 2022, shortly after her MLW run, when Perez appeared at a screening, showing off a shorter, blonde hair style, in contrast to her well known longer hair.

For those thinking this was just a short-term thing, it was not. Though Perez reverted back to darker colored hair by the end of 2022, she continued to keep her hair shorter than previously, growing it out only slightly compared to the super short cut she sported upon going blonde. By mid-2023, Perez was changing it up again, appearing at the ESPY's sporting what seemed to be a cross between her classic look and the smaller hair cut she sported a year earlier. At this point, fans likely would've been able to recognize Perez more clearly, a trend that has continued in the years since, as she's reverted back to a longer hair cut more akin to her Maxine//Catrina days. But for a brief period of time in 2022, when she decided to go blonde, Perez would've been able to avoid wrestling fans rather easily in a crowd, thanks to that one simple change.