Maven discusses Triple H's role in his WWE career setbacks

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Maven Huffman is well known by longtime wrestling fans for being the first ever winner of Tough Enough, as well as the guy who dropkicked The Undertaker from behind to eliminate him from the 2002 Royal Rumble match. His run in WWE only lasted a few years, but he has since become one of the most popular pro wrestling content creators on YouTube. The former WWE star’s latest video on his channel there is titled, “Why I Hate Triple H.” It’s clear early on that he doesn’t actually hate WWE’s Chief Content Officer, but some of Maven’s viewers think he does because of how often he takes shots at The Game in his videos. Maven explained that the reason he does that is because even though Triple H was often charming and friendly towards him, and taught him a lot about the wrestling business during his time in WWE, the Cerebral Assassin was actually playing backstage politics to hold him down. “I didn’t know this during my time in the WWE, but I would have it confirmed years after my wrestling career had ended, from someone who was actually in those production meetings, someone who went to bat for me, that every time my name was brought up, it was quickly squashed back down. And who was the one doing the squashing? None other than Triple H. If people thought, hey, here’s a good idea. Here’s a good direction that we can send Maven on. Here’s something that we think he can find success doing. It would quickly be diminished. No, he’s not ready. He’s not there yet. He needs a little bit more time, a little bit more seasoning. And I’m not saying Triple H was wrong. He wasn’t. I did need more time, and I wasn’t ready. But I also know that there’s been other people with the same skill level of me, and they did get that extra boost, that extra push. It’s just hard to get that push when someone is constantly pulling you back, and that someone has the ear of Vince McMahon. Finding out after my WWE career had ended that what I initially thought was indeed true, it hurt, and it bothered me for a while. And so that’s why, if you ever see me taking what looks like pot shots at the man, that’s probably my reasoning. That’s definitely some of my reasoning behind it. I’m far from a perfect person, and sometimes it’s hard knowing exactly where my abilities ended and where someone putting their thumb on the scale started. I in no way, shape, or form blame Triple H for my career arc, but it just does hurt sometimes knowing that he indeed was weighing in, and weighing in not on my behalf.” This story doesn’t surprise me one bit, given Triple H’s reputation for burying talent and doing exactly what Maven describes in this video. But you can let me know in the comments below how much of Maven’s story you believe, and whether or not you think backstage politics were a significant factor in preventing him from climbing the ladder any higher in WWE.