Maven Reflects On His WWE Career Never Taking Off In A Big Way
Former WWE Superstar and three-time Hardcore Champion Maven recently linked up with the Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast to discuss his time in WWE.
The co-winner of the inaugural season of Tough Enough explained why he believed the company dropped the ball with him during his tenure in the early 2000s.
"I really think that, that in some ways, WWE dropped the ball with me," Maven explained. "Not, not due to anything they did. I played a huge part in that as well. But, you know, where I'm satisfied in a lot of aspects in my career, there's a lot of aspects I'm not – I'm unsatisfied with and, you know, I was ready for a while to be like, you know, it's over, it's done. My body is beaten, beat all to hell. I don't want to go through what it takes to be in ring shape anymore.
"I'd rather just embark on new challenges. And then Tommy came around and I did some stuff with Matt Cardona and Brian Myers with their creative pro and their Major Bro podcast. It just – it re-sparked that love I had in the business."
Despite feeling the effects of the grind of being on the road with WWE, Maven did share his proudest moment from his time with the company.
"I remember the Hardyz came in," Maven said. "The Hardyz and Lita at the time and they said one thing that was the honest-to-God truth. They said, 'right now, wrestling is your career. Right now, if you choose this, this is what you do for the next 20-30 years of your life. How you feel right now is the best you'll ever feel again, the rest of your life.' And I don't think, you know, my 24-year-old brain wrapped around it. 'I feel great, you know, I mean aches and pains but nothing I can't get over.' But they were right. That's the best I've ever felt since then and it's just constant.
"You're going to be hurting all the time and what I'm proudest of is, through Tough Enough, I never took off one day. I never took off one exercise. I never sat out one drill due to injury. And that's what I'm most proud of. That right there, not even the winning. Without winning I still would've had a job, I believe. But the fact that I was able to suck up, within me, the ability to, to look past an ache and a pain and just get the job done that I needed to, that's what I'm proudest of."
Maven also reflected on the time he took Test's spot at WrestleMania 18 in a match against Goldust for the Hardcore Championship.
"WrestleMania 18, I took Test, remember Test? I took Test's, I took his spot at WrestleMania 18 to wrestle Goldust where I was the Hardcore Champion," Maven detailed. "And ah, I got so much heat with him. Well Test, prior to his passing, God rest his soul, I miss him daily, he became one of my best friends. He passed in 2008, but I – when I moved down to Florida, I hung out with him as soon as I moved down there because I didn't have – I didn't know anybody. And we were going out to eat one night and he was like, in his voice, he was like, 'I hated you for a while, bro,' he's like, 'but, you turned out to be pretty damn cool.'"
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit Two Man Power Trip Of Wrestling with an h/t to Wrestling Inc for the transcription.