Nova, also known as Simon Dean, says Maven deserved better.
Maven memorably won the first season of WWE Tough Enough alongside Nidia, and he quickly moved to WWE television fairly quickly. In an unforgettable moment, he eliminated The Undertaker from the 2002 Royal Rumble match. He enjoyed some success, as he won the Hardcore Championship three times. However, his WWE tenure ended with his release in 2005. Years later, he works in finance, though fans still fondly remember his wrestling career.
Speaking with Fightful‘s Sean Ross Sapp, Maven came up in the conversation, and Nova stated that he felt like the business did him an injustice, as he deserved better. Nova stated that Maven had much more to offer, but he is a success story at the end of the day.
Me personally, I hope Maven sees this, I love Maven. I felt the business did him an injustice a little bit because he won Tough Enough, they threw him right on TV, and they just tried to push him to the moon. It was too much, too fast. When I got with him and we were teaming, I remember breaking down matches for him and telling him, ‘Hey, this is why we do this in a tag team match. This is why we do this, this is why we do that.’
“It was almost like starting from scratch. He had so much more to offer. I felt the business kind of chewed him up and spit him out a little bit. He deserved better from it. Maven was a class act. He‘s an awesome dude. He’s a success story. He had some trials and tribulations, man. He’s made it past that, and he’s another one that you could look at and say that he made it. He’s done great for himself. I’m proud of Maven. He came out on top.”
Maven previously looked back his Royal Rumble moment with The Undertaker. Check out his comments here.
The full interview is available here:
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