Maven

[DaNewGuy]

Maven won the 'Tough Enough' competition and debuted after the invasion. He received a good solid push from the get go, highlights of which include a pinfall victory over The Undertaker (for the Hardcore Title), and eliminating The Undertaker from the 2002 Royal Rumble match. In the early days he was accompanied by Al Snow, which helped get him over as a face, and his entrance generally elicited a fairly good pop.

As a multi-time Hardcore Champion, he held a solid spot in the mid-card. He was memorably the first and last champion of the night in the hardcore title chase at Wrestlemania 18.

Later he was pushed fairly heavily on Raw against Evolution. He was portrayed as being important enough to take out before the Survivor Series match in 2004, a match which his team won. This led to an entire episode of Raw being built around him as GM for the night. He was one of the top faces on Raw, along with Benoit, Orton, Jericho and HBK.

[youtube]eTYj8BNiY40[/youtube]

His entrance music was awesome. His move-set was fairly limited, though his dropkick was comparable to that of a young Jeff Jarrett and he could pull off a good top-rope cross-body. However, I am unable to recall Maven having a finisher of any value.

So, what are your memories of Maven, and do you think he could have made it further in WWE, perhaps becoming a transitional champion, or was he to far up the card already before his heel run as Simon Dean's lackey?

 

[HHH=The Peoples King]

I think he should have defanitly been World champion
I recall his finisher bein a dropkick

but I remember when he beat Batista in like 13 seconds
and then beat Triple H cleanly

he had a World title match against Triple H...on Heat so he was defanitly gonna win that

 

[Michael Miracle]

Well, as much as I did like Maven, I don't think he was World Title Material. However, he should have been given a run at the IC title (he challenged Shelton Benjamin for the IC Title a couple of times, but it was an embarassing quick defeat for Maven). His dropkicks were pretty nice, but his best aspect was without a doubt...

HIS ENTRANCE MUSIC!!!

Seriously, I think this is one of the top five entrance themes of all time. Maven could have been a great mid card guy, but they turned him into a jobber with Simon Dean (Nova could have been great in the WWE too, but something tells me that ECW wrestlers with talent are kind of buried in the WWE, right Vince???)

 

[RockFan89]

Yeah, his entrance music is what I loved about him most of all. Other than that he is not really memorable.

 

["Cool Guy" Jensen]

To be honest, I had absolutely no idea that Maven was a face his whole WWE career until he was put in a tag team with Simon Dean. I was unable to watch Raw at the time, so I was forced to watch WWE Bottom Line, and very rarely did I see Maven feature, and if I did, it was usually a squash.

I wasn't a very big fan of Maven, I do agree with all of you that his theme song was one of the best things about him. He didn't have a very solid moveset, which could have stopped him from reaching the main event, since you know, he wasn't a very big, muscular guy.

Winning the Hardcore Championship wasn't that big of a feat to accomplish at the time, because it seemed that everyone was getting their hands on that title. IT WAS A MESS! I think he could have been a pretty solid mid-carder today, but I'm not sure if WWE would feature him much.

His limited moveset shouldn't have stopped him from going farther in the WWE. He would have had a lot of time to develop and try to expand him arsenal a bit more, so he should have been fine. I wasn't a fan, but I would have liked to see how far he could have gone, if given the chance. Maven and Simon Dean as the World Tag Team Champions didn't sound too bad at the time.

 

[JAWILLIAMS]

Maven was very entertaining, he actually used the Backstabber as a finisher during his single heel run.

While he wasnt anywhere nera a main eventer, A decent non comical tag team could have kept him in WWE for a longer run.

I read a rumor back a while agho, he was apporached to return, but he denied

 

[tLight]

I think they were setting him up to feud with the Undertaker at one point, but he never got better in the ring. His very limited move set, and terribleness on the Mic held him back. Its great that he broke out from Tough Enough, but look at what the Miz and John Morrison have done since breaking away from the Tough Enough Mold. Maven didnt do that, and thats why they came to terms and let him go.

Enter Christopher Nowinski, who I personally believe would of gotten Randy Ortons spot in Evolution if he had not got post concussion syndrome. He would of definately have been a top star at this point in his career in the WWE. He had the ability, and the talent. He was good in the ring and on the Mic, and a much hated heel. Too bad the good ones go out young.

 

[The Notorious Big.Pad.Dee]

I only give a damn about Maven because of his Theme. That intro was Amazing. I think the guy did better than anyone expected him too when he debuted. He feuded with Evolution and eliminated taker in RR 02, although by the time he was released no one gave a crap.

But if they brought his music back and gave to someone else, I would instantly become a fan of theirs.
DA-NER-NER
NER-NER
NER-NER
NER-NER
DANANANANA-DANANANANANANA!

I can totally see that for Morrison or someone.

 

[NC_BMAN]

Maven's theme was one of the better ones at the time. I enjoyed watching him in the ring but I knew that with the other more popular stars in the ring at the time he had no real chance of being a big superstar in the WWE.

 

[morty]

i know its weird but i actually went of him when he waxed his eyebrows lol he looked so stupid! tbh the only guy worth mentioning from the tough enoughs is morrison

ok other guys are up the mis/ josh matthews etc. but morrison is the only one thats "made it" and maven was never near his level not even in the early days

 

[FiveTymeWCWChamp]

Maven is from my home town and we went to through the same school district. He was a douche back then and he probably still is. He used to come into some of the restaurants I used to work in and act like he was some big deal. He was just some ja-bron that believed he was something that he was not...a star. He did have charisma and decent mic skills but that was about it.

 

[shafe_41]

The only thing I remember about Maven was his theme song. It is just an awesome GD song and still is to this day. I downloaded that shit years ago and anytime I needed to make a mix cd for a trip back in the day before ipods, or mp3 cds were able to play in car stereos, I added that song to every single cd that I needed one more filler song to enjoy. I still have it on my computer to this day and listen to it pretty often.

Anyway... on a serious note... Maven was a flash in the pan who got to live his dream even if it was for a short while. You can shit on the guy all you want, but even if you get to live your dream for only a day, that's saying more than all the assholes that sit on here and bash everybody all day long. He had charisma and he was decent in the ring from what I remember. I think he would have been a very good heel given the chance to develope a little bit more. I think he could have had a cocky Randy Orton vibe going for him. Plus, I think he just had a good name. Maven. Real or not... it's a cool name. Certainly cooler than Mike or Bob. Plus he seemed like an all around decent guy. He held more titles and wrestled for the WWE more than any of us will ever get to soooo.... yeah.