Maven Huffman Admits He's Making More Money On YouTube Than He Made In WWE

Former WWE wrestler and current YouTube sensation, Maven Huffman, was Ariel Helwani's most recent guest on The Ariel Helwani Show. The winner of the first season of WWE Tough Enough spoke about several different topics during the 83-minute interview, with the biggest takeaway being Maven's admission that he makes more money with his YouTube channel (741k subscribers as of this writing) than he did as a WWE wrestler. Here's what Maven said:

'Right now, we have a successful YouTube channel that is making me more money than I thought was possible.' [...] 'I make more money now than when I was wrestling.' - Maven Huffman

Throughout the rest of the sit-down interview, the former WWE Hardcore Champion also talked about his life after his WWE career, how his YouTube career began, his professional relationship with Vince McMahon and Triple H, "sneaking in" backstage to an All Elite Wrestling (AEW) show to shoot a video for his channel, what it takes to become a successful YouTuber and, of course, eliminating The Undertaker from the 2002 Royal Rumble Match!

Check out the full interview here:

Maven's WWE Career

The winner of the first season of Tough Enough, Maven debuted on WWE (then WWF) television in late 2001. His first match on the main roster took place on the October 4 episode of SmackDown, losing to Tazz in just two minutes. After losing to the former ECW World Heavyweight Champion the following week again, Maven scored an upset win over Tazz two weeks later, winning his first match in the process. The Tough Enough winner would later enter the 2002 Royal Rumble Match, and that was the night Maven's career changed forever.

Maven entered the Royal Rumble at number 11. Standing across the ring from him was none other than an agry The Undertaker, who was cleaning house. Maven stood no chance, until the impossible happened. The Deadman was distracted by The Hardy Boyz and Lita, whom Undertaker had just thrown out of the ring, and Maven shockingly eliminated Undertaker with a dropkick to the back. The Undertaker absolutely destroyed poor Maven immediately afterwards... but it was worth it! Eight short days later, on Monday Night RAW, Maven was scheduled to compete in his fifth singles match on the main roster. His opponent? Then WWF Undisputed Champion, Chris Jericho.

Maven challenged Y2J for the biggest prize in the industry just a few months into his career, and while he was unsuccessful, it didn't take long for the former middle school teacher to become a champion. On the February 7 episode of SmackDown, Maven pinned The Undertaker with a huge assist from The Rock, becoming the new Hardcore Champion. Huffman would hold the title three times over the next month - his only championship reigns during his WWE career - and got to defend it against Goldust at WrestleMania 18 - in what was his only WrestleMania appearance. The company proved they still had big plans for Maven Huffman during the 2002 Draft, as he was one of the 20 names picked during the televised broadcast.

Maven went to SmackDown in the inaugural WWE Draft, but unfortunately he'd suffer a broken leg during a match with Christian that aired on the May 30, 2002, episode of SmackDown.

Maven was out of action for nearly half a year, returning in November as a new member of the Monday Night RAW roster. His push slowed down at that point, with Maven spending the next few months wrestling the likes of Christopher Nowinski, Rico, D'Lo Brown and others in extremely short matches on television. He started getting relegated to Sunday Night Heat shortly thereafter, occasionally wrestling on RAW without being involved in any serious programs on television.

That changed when Maven was a member of Team Randy Orton at Survivor Series 2004. Per the pre-match stipulation, and as a member of the winning team (Team Orton defeated Team Triple H in the end), each member of Team Orton got to be RAW's General Manager for a week. Maven booked himself in a title match against World Heavyweight Champion, Triple H, that very same night. That was the beginning of a heel turn for Maven, who would go on to feud with Shelton Benjamin over the WWE Intercontinental Championship, losing a title match to Benjamin at New Year's Revolution 2005, in Puerto Rico. Maven would go on to form a short-lived tag team with Simon Dean, with the highlight of their run being a segment with Stone Cold Steve Austin on the post-WrestleMania 21 episode of Monday Night RAW.

On July 5, 2005, Maven Huffman was released by World Wrestling Entertainment.