SUMMARY
- Maven, who is famous for his segments with The Undertaker, is a former WWE star.
- However, the 47-year-old regrets some decisions early in his pro-wrestling career.
WWE has always been the hub of a huge pool of pro wrestling talent, and it has given the industry some of the biggest stars ever. While some of them go on to become megastars, others end up regretting the mistakes that took a toll on the success they could have achieved. In a similar fashion, veteran pro wrestler Maven shared his thoughts about his initial years in the Triple H-led promotion.
The former Hardcore Champion talked about the early days of his run with the Stamford-based promotion years and shared what he did wrong in that phase. While talking about his career in the organization, Maven Huffman revealed how his mindset wasn’t great when he started his run with the company.
He said, “I was more interested in you know the people that you know what can you do for me not what how can I make the show better the show that was an afterthought. Yeah I’ll go out and you know wrestle my match. How much money am I going to make in this and I just went I went about it with a complete wrong mindset.”
Additionally, the 46-year-old also shared that he didn’t try to get better, and if he could go back and slap his young self, he would tell himself to look at the guys he used to perform against. Looking at these comments from the former WWE star, it’s clear that he’s not happy with himself for the mistakes he made in his early career.
Maven’s WWE career was pretty short-lived
The 6-foot-2 probably repents the mistake he made because of the success he could have achieved, but another reason behind it could be that Maven’s WWE career was pretty short-lived. He joined the promotion when he was selected to participate in the inaugural season of Tough Enough, a popular reality TV show used by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) to find new stars for the pro wrestling organization.
As Maven ended up becoming the co-winner of the competition, he was sent to the Heartland Wrestling Association (HWA) for professional training. Soon after that, he made his official debut in October in a singles match against Tazz. It was the start of his run with the company, and after eliminating The Undertaker in the Royal Rumble, he was soon put into a feud with The Deadman.
On Friday Night SmackDown’s February 7 episode, Maven faced Taker for his WWF Hardcore Championship, and what shocked a lot of people at that time was that he ended up defeating The Phenom. It happened after interference by The Rock, and AI Snow, and it was a huge moment in Maven’s young career with the Stamford-based promotion.
This was his first title win with the organization, and Huffman had an interesting reign with the championship. At WrestleMania X8, he lost the title to Spike Dudley during a match with Goldust because of the title’s unique 24/7 rule. But he went on to get it back in the same show after pinning Christian.
On the RAW after WrestleMania, he was assaulted by a debuting Beast, as Brock Lesnar made his presence felt. He was attacked during the Hardcore Championship triple-threat encounter between him, Al Snow, and Spike Dudley, and it was WWE’s way of establishing Lesnar’s dominance in the company.
Soon after this, the 6-foot-2 lost his championship to Raven on the March 28 episode of SmackDown. Over the next few years, he was involved in a variety of feuds but wasn’t able to make an impact by winning any titles. After being with the company for about four years, Maven was subsequently released by WWE on July 5, 2005, which was a bit surprising.
While a variety of theories have been put forward about his departure, John Laurinaitis claimed that Huffman was released for not being able to progress to the level the organization expected. The pro wrestler also confirmed in one of his interviews that it was Laurinaitis who called him to inform him about his release from the Triple H-led promotion.
Maven has transitioned into a successful YouTuber after his pro wrestling career
After his release from the Stamford-based promotion, the former Hardcore Champion joined TNA in February 2006 but ended up leaving the company in October 2006. Following this, he started working on television and took a break from the professional wrestling world. After a long hiatus, he made a comeback to the industry in 2015, as he started competing on the independent circuit.
While his pro wrestling career wasn’t going at its best, he started uploading YouTube videos in July 2023. In less than a year, his channel has already reached around 400,000 subscribers. The former WWE star shares insights about how the industry works and also about his own career, and he has received a fantastic response from pro wrestling enthusiasts.
Amid the kind of success he has achieved in a short period of time, it’s safe to say that he has transitioned into a successful YouTuber after his pro wrestling career. In fact, in one of his videos, Maven claimed that the Triple H-led promotion was ready to hire him again in 2020, but then COVID took over. Due to the pandemic, the offer was then dropped, and that’s why things ended up falling apart for Maven.
But if we look at the current situation of his career, it’s safe to say that it worked as a blessing in disguise for the former WWE star because he has been great as a YouTuber. As he’s creating really good content on YouTube, a return to the Triple H-led promotion seems like a far-fetched possibility now, but if it happens, it remains to be seen what the company has in store for Maven Huffman.