Triple H retired from in-ring competition a few years ago, but he faced off against a wide variety of opponents throughout his run as an active wrestler. During the November 15, 2004 episode of Raw, Triple H defended his WWE World Heavyweight Championship against Maven in a match that ultimately ended with Triple H picking up the win.
Maven talked about the match in a recent video on his YouTube channel and he admitted that he wasn’t ready for the main event at that stage of his career. He then went on to say that he believes that match started a downward spiral that inevitably led to his departure from WWE.
“I immediately sought out Triple H. I sought out Hunter. I wanted to obviously pick his brain. I wanted to make sure everything we did he was okay with. I wanted to know things, what I can do better. He gave glowing [remarks.] Just, ‘Hey, you were great, man. Yeah, a couple things could have been better here and there…'”
“He can’t teach me instincts. He can’t teach something that is only learned through repetition and through years and through just being in certain situations over and over and over again until it just becomes habit. Did I do everything he said? Absolutely. Did we pull off a match that the fans believed? Yes, we did, but I did just enough, just enough to show him, Vince, and upper management that I wasn’t ready. I had no clue, no idea, that the match I had with Hunter probably started my downward spiral, which would ultimately lead to my exiting the company.”
H/T Fightful