Maven praises AEW, Tony Khan after recent visit

Former WWE wrestler Maven had a lot of good things to say about AEW following a backstage visit to the promotion.

A few months ago, Maven went backstage at AEW for a video on his YouTube channel. He reflected on that experience during an interview on The Ariel Helwani Show this week, saying that AEW seemed like a good place to work and Tony Khan seemed like a great boss.

“When I was backstage at AEW, that environment seemed like a good place to work. Great vibes. And Tony Khan seemed like the best boss to work for,” Maven said. “I know he gets a lot of, you know, a lot of critics talking about him online.

“I sat and watched. They were about 30 minutes away from ending the show. And my contact told me, ‘Tony wants to meet with you, he just has to wait until — obviously — the show’s over.’ So, yeah, no problem, we’re here, we don’t have any place to be. I sat and I watched Tony for 30 minutes. And every wrestler that came out of that ring, he got up from his producing chair, took his headphones off, made sure every one of them was healthy, happy with the match that they had just had.

“And you can tell when someone cares as opposed to when someone’s going through the motions. He cares. I left and I told him to his face, ‘You have changed my perception on what I thought you were.’ And everybody that I talked to there seemed happy to be there. And seemed happy with the product that they were putting out in front of the fans.”

Khan thanked Maven for his comments, as well as crediting Helwani for sharing them despite the heat Helwani and Khan have had.

Maven — a winner of the first-ever season of WWE Tough Enough — has largely been out of the industry for the past two decades but has found a second life in wrestling through the success of his YouTube channel. He said the AEW visit came about because someone he used to work with in WWE reached out to him through Colt Cabana. That person worked behind the scenes in WWE setting up media appearances and now has a similar role in AEW. After AEW reached out to him, Maven presented them with 10 ideas for the YouTube video and the promotion chose which one they wanted him to do.

Though he does not watch the current product, Maven said he would entertain any offers from the major wrestling companies if they wanted him to join them on a regular basis, but there haven’t been any approaches at this point. He would not give up his YouTube channel for any role with a promotion, though.

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