Maven didn't know how to wrestle until he hit the independent scene.
From 2001 to 2005, Maven still had a solid fanbase in WWE despite being lower on the card. Instead of his in-ring ability, the three-time Hardcore Champion was mainly liked by fans for the entertainment value that he brought to the table.
While appearing on a recent edition of The False Finish (via AdFreeShows), Maven admitted that he didn't really learn how to wrestle until he was released from WWE, as he was constricted by time limits during his run with the company.
“I didn’t really learn to wrestle until after my release. When you’re in the WWE, you’re wrestling to a time limit. You’re getting six minutes and that six minutes can very easily be cut down to five by the time you get out there. When you go out, every move, ‘Okay, I gotta take two punches, shoot off, duck a clothesline’ because you know they’re gonna go to a Chef Borardyee ad if I don’t finish this match. Every match was to a time limit. Once I got out and once I got on the indies and once I started doing work with what was at the time UWF, which was kind of like TNA’s house shows, I had a promoter telling me, ‘Hey man, go out there, 15 to 20, I don’t care, just entertain them.’ I would work with guys like Billy Gunn and Rhino and we wouldn’t call stuff backstage. I would work with Billy and he’d avoid me. I’d be like, ‘Billy, what are we doing?’ He’d be like, ‘Man, we’ll figure it out out there, listen to what they’re popping for.’ Once you learn how to do that, it’s so free. Every crowd is going to be different. You might have something planned and if the crowd is not popping for it, you better be able to turn it around and do something else. Once I was able to learn how to listen and how to do that, wrestling got so much easier.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Maven talked about a possible return to the ring. Check out his full comments by clicking here.
Also, check out the current lineup for the November 18 edition of WWE Raw by clicking here.
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