Back in 2001 WWE officially launched Tough Enough and Maven ended up becoming one of the co-winners of the competition. From there he went on to join the WWE roster where he had a run with the company that lasted through July of 2005.
WWE has brought back a number of former stars throughout the years, but so far Maven has yet to return. However, it seems that the door was open for Maven to have another run with WWE.
In a recent video on his YouTube channel Maven recalled coming into contact with Pat Patterson at a Florida Championship Wrestling show and he noted that the interaction led a phone call from John Laurinaitis who was from Head of Talent Relations at the time.
“I uprooted my entire life and I moved to St. Petersburg, that’s where the head office of the Home Shopping Network was. And across the bridge in Tampa was FCW, Florida Championship Wrestling. I was able to go to shows, we quickly found out that former guys were welcome there. So I was there at FCW on a Wednesday or a Thursday and I ran into Pat Patterson there. Pat was one of Vince’s right-hand guys, he trusted Pat.
Pat asked me “Hey Maven, do you think of coming back?” I told him, Yes I do think about coming back, I think about it almost every day. But Pat I am worried about money, what if I leave a job and I leave the money I know is coming in?
Pat told me right then and I should have listened to him. He said, “Maven you have the rest of your life to make money. Follow what you love.” I played if off, didn’t think much of it. A few weeks after that interaction I got my first call from Head of Talent Relations, Johhny Ace. And from that first call he was like “Have you thought about coming back?” I told him what I told Pat, Yeah of course Johnny, I think about it all the time. He said you have been gone long enough that if you come back now, you won’t be the Tough Enough kid anymore, and he’s probably right.”
“So probably 2 weeks pass by and he calls me back and he asked me [again]. It’s funny because he told me if you want to do this then you have to do it while you are still a good-looking guy. That always made me laugh. The day is gonna come when you can’t do this anymore.”
Maven went on to say that he should have accepted WWE’s offer and given it everything he had. He also made it clear that he doesn’t feel a return is in the cards because he is 46 years old and nowhere near as athletic as he used to be.
H/T ITRWrestling.com
