WWE is promoting 30 Days of the Deadman on the WWE Network at the moment. A new documentary “Meeting the Undertaker” premiered on the network Sunday night and features interviews with wrestlers about the first time they met the Undertaker.
Winner of the original Tough Enough, Maven, appeared recently on WWE the Bump. He spoke about not only meeting the Undertaker but finding out he would be eliminating him from the 2002 Royal Rumble.
“Are you f’n kidding me?”
“I got the call literally the day before,” Maven said.
“Tough Enough had just ended. I think I had been on programming probably a handful of times, maybe 2 or 3 times, I wrestled Taz a couple of times. I think I wrestled Booker on Smackdown once. And the day before they called and were like ‘You’re going to Atlanta’ which is where the Rumble was.”
“At that point, I’m not an idiot, I knew I would probably be in the Rumble but I knew I would probably come out, get a quick whatever pop Tough Enough was going to get, and then I would be thrown out and gotten rid of as soon as possible.”
Maven then spoke about the backstage meeting where he was told he would be eliminating Undertaker from the match.
“When I got there and they called me to the ring and it was Shane and Taker,” Maven continued. “They called me to the ring and at the time, I’m terrified. I’m the rookie, I’m young, I’m in my mid-20s and I’m standing there with Shane McMahon and with the Undertaker. Scared to death. And then he tells me ‘Maven, you’re going to come in and eliminate him’ and I thought he was completely joking.”
“Well then Taker turns, looks at me, and he says ‘Are you f’n kidding me? And at that point, I wanted to run, I wanted to just leave.”
Maven’s full story can be heard in the player below:
