Former WWE Superstar Maven has shared a wild backstage story about an incident that nearly derailed his career, involving Gene Snitsky and an irate Vince McMahon.
Appearing on the Insight with Chris Van Vliet podcast, Maven recalled being in a high-profile pay-per-view main event match where producers urged him to go out and be a “house of fire.” Fueled by adrenaline, he threw a series of flying forearms, but one went wrong, leaving Snitsky legitimately injured.
“Yeah, I was amped, because we’re coming in and pay-per-view,” Maven explained. “I’ve been in the back selling and they told me, before I went out, ‘This is your spot to shine in this main event match. We need you to be a house of fire.’ And, man, I just overdid it. I had thrown endless number of flying forearms, and that one, I still remember hitting him and feeling the crunch and being like, ‘Oh God.’”
What happened next was just as memorable. As Maven walked back through the curtain, he was met immediately by Vince McMahon—who was furious.
“Vince jumped my ass backstage for that too,” Maven recalled. “Soon as I came back through, Vince meets me, he jumps up from the monitor, meets me at gorilla just yelling at me for being dangerous. And he’s like, ‘You better go check on Snitsky now!’ I’m sitting there bleeding, just got took a chair shot. You know, I’m fine. Vince, thanks.”
The former Tough Enough winner laughed about the surreal moment years later, but admitted it was a tough lesson about the fine line between intensity and recklessness in the ring.
You can hear Maven’s full story on the latest episode of Insight with Chris Van Vliet below.
