Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Maven On His Viral YouTube Channel, Biggest Mistake He Made in WWE, Advice From The Rock

Episode Date: March 28, 2024

Maven Huffman (@mavenhuffman) is a professional wrestler and YouTuber. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet in NYC to talk about the impact his YouTube channel has had on wrestling, other similar YouTube channels that have popped up since he starting having success, how he comes up with his video ideas, the mistakes he made while in WWE, the advice he got from The Rock before WrestleMania 18, what he's learned from John Cena, whether or not he wants to return to WWE as a commentator or manager and much more. Subscribe to Maven's YouTube channel: http://youtube.com/@mavenkhuffman Quote I'm thinking about: "It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others succeed." - Napoleon Hill Sponsors: PRIZEPICKS: Download the app today and use code INSIGHT for a first deposit match up to $100! BABBEL: Learn a new language and get 50% off your lifetime Babbel subscription at http://babbel.com/cvv MAGIC SPOON: Get $5 off with the code CVV at http://magicspoon.com/cvv RHONE: Upgrade your closet with Rhone and use CVV to save 20% at https://www.rhone.com/CVV ROCKET MONEY: Join Rocket Money today and experience financial freedom: https://rocketmoney.com/cvv BETTERHELP: Get 10% off your first month with the code INSIGHT at http://betterhelp.com/insight MUDWTR: Get 15% off with the code CVV15 at http://mudwtr.com/cvv MYBOOKIE: Bet on WWE! Get up to $200 cash bonus when you use the code CVV and sign up at http://mybookie.ag BLUECHEW: Use the code CVV to get your first month of BlueChew for FREE at http://bluechew.com PLUNGE: Get $150 off your Plunge with the coupon code CVV150 at http://plunge.com BONCHARGE: Go to http://boncharge.com/CVV and use coupon code CVV to save 15% on your BONCHARGE Infrared Sauna Blanket! For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests.  Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Chris. Oh my goodness. How are you, my friends? Welcome back to another one here on Insight. I'm CBV. Chris Van Fleet. Thank you for being with us on this episode and every episode. And thank you for making Insight.

One of the top wrestling podcasts on the planet. If you haven't yet, please, could I just ask for this one tiny little thing? If you enjoy the show, if you've ever enjoyed any of the interviews we've ever had on the show, please take a second at some point today to just hit that follow button wherever you're listening. It is such a huge important thing that really helps the show to grow. So I'm sure you've already done it. But if you haven't, I'm going to thank you in advance for doing it. So good to have Maven back on the show today.

I seriously feel like I could have him on every few months. And it would always be something new and fresh and entertaining every time. He actually joked the last time that we did an interview. And he was like, you know, maybe we can get to a point where we talk about something other than me eliminating The Undertaker and not liking my theme song. And guess what? That's where we're at right now with this one. And look, if you've spent any time on YouTube over the last, I guess it's like nine months or so,

you know that Maven has been absolutely crushing it with his videos. in the same way that Conrad Thompson revolutionized the format of wrestling podcasts, Maven has done the same kind of thing with wrestling YouTube. I mean, think of all the very similar channels that have now been popping up since Maven's been having his success over the last nine months or so. And at the end of the day, he's just a good dude. He's just a good dude. And I'm so happy for the success that he's having and so happy that we were able to catch up

when I was back on the East Coast, I was visiting my wife's family in New Jersey. And I was like, man, if Maven's around, let's rent a studio in Manhattan, in New York City, and let's do this. And that's what we got here. And he's hilarious. At one point during this conversation, I was like, if you could call one wrestler right now and they'd pick up, who would it be? And well, I'm not going to give it away, but he calls that wrestler and they pick up. It's wild. He is at Maven Huffman on Instagram. Snap a screenshot. Tag him. He's not on Twitter. So if that Maven Huffman account has followed you, just know that that's not actually him. And if the person who created that fake Maven account on Twitter is listening right now, what the heck, man?

Like, why do people do that? Let's don't get it. So he's only on Instagram. He's also on Facebook. I think that's a new thing for him. And of course, he's on YouTube. So snap a screenshot, tag us. Matt, Chris Van Fleet, tag us so we can share it out. And here we go. Such a good one. Enjoy this conversation with Maven Huffman. And here we go. Round three, my friend.

Round three. It's so good to see you. Always a pleasure. And congrats on everything. So the last time I saw you. On what? Last time I saw you were at like 90-something thousand. And I'm like, by the time this comes out, you're going to have 100,000.

You're right. You're going to have a silver play button. Now you're on your way to that. Next one. You're on your way to a million subscribers. Is that the next plaque? That's the next plaque. It's your evolution that you get.

Yeah, 100,000. That's a ways all. Millions, the big gold one. There's actually one on the corner of this studio. Oh, wow. Yeah. And then the 10 million subscribers is diamond. Wow.

It's a lot. What you've done in this entire journey here is you have revolutionized wrestling YouTube. That just, okay, that's, I don't want to stay where we're taking it a little too far. I don't think I've revolutionized anything. I think I've opened people's minds up to what the possible. disabilities are. And again, I, there was many guys that had way bigger careers, many guys that were way up in the food chain in the WWE higher than I was that are doing the same type of platform. But we've just showed that there's a different way. There's more than one way to skin a cat.

And yeah, we're taking advantage of that. But for so long, it was just people talking about what they saw that previous Monday or Wednesday or Friday or whatever. You've, you've, completely flipped this on his head. We talked a lot about it in the last episode, but you're doing like this evergreen. Evergreen, absolutely. It's great because someone can find one of your videos three years from now, and it's still as relevant three years from now as it is today. I hope so. And one of the things, I told you, you got to meet my YouTube partner, Zach, when we first started even thinking about contemplating this idea, I did a lot of research. I looked up, you know, the Mr. Beast of the world, all the, and you know what I'm

I found a lot of the video game guys, you know, they do a lot of things right. But the one thing I kept landing on was doing videos that for the entire, you know, 10 years, 20 years down the road, people will be able to look back and be like, that's still something that I can watch and have interest in. Yeah. And that's, those were the people that I noticed that were having, you know, the best and the most success. You're never going to say it so I will. But if it wasn't for your YouTube channel. The Undertaker wouldn't have a YouTube channel. He would.

Would he? Yeah, of course he would. Of course he would. I don't think it would look like the way it is. Give yourself a little bit of credit here. I don't know. I will give my, here's what I will give us credit. And it's not me.

It's my partner as well. He's the brains behind the operation. Here's what I will say. The same way Matt Cardona revolutionized indie wrestling, the same way he showed other people there's just different ways of doing this. There's other ways. You don't have to be hired by one of the big three

to have a job in this business and to be successful and flourish. I think we've done that with YouTubeing. Yeah, Stevie Richards is a good. He's a good friend of mine. We talk daily, multiple times a day. And, you know, I think that Stevie and I are putting out just different material.

They're not, it's not podcast. I don't know. maybe the Undertaker would do something more like a Cafe Day Renee type of podcast. Maybe we have, I don't know. I can't think of him and taking anything. If you're not going to pat yourself on the back, I can't do it for you. Okay, I'll take it. Undertaker is doing it.

Eugene now has a channel where it's like your style of video. Right. Where it's like take a topic, a general topic, and I'll give you my thoughts on it. Yeah. Like you just had one that came out recently, like here's my experience with Vince McMahon. Yeah. And you just told from start to finish, these are all the experiences I had with Vince, aside from what's going on right now in the news.

Like, this is the experiences I had with him for better or for worse. Yeah. And I think that that's great where it's just like, here's someone who everybody from that era recognizes. Absolutely. And then they go, oh, I'd love to hear what maybe it has to say about this. And we would have done the Vince, we would have done the Vince video, even if what he's embroiled in, even if that wasn't the case. The Vince video was going to come out regardless.

But it's just every time we go and we text each other, you know, potential possible topics. And, you know, sometimes I'm like, no, I don't think I can talk, talk, speak to that. And I have, you know, fans, you know, comment and do something on ECW. Do something on WCW. I wasn't in ECW. I wasn't in WCW.

So I'm, I am basically trying to what, you know, speak to what I have. experience in. I don't want to overstep my boundaries, but we're trying to do it in a way where, you know, we're making YouTube videos first and foremost. That just happened to deal with, with the wrestling topic. But you're self-aware enough to know the place that you had in WWE at that time. Right. And the place that you now have in wrestling history, wrestling lore. But you're self-aware enough to. Which is minuscule. But that's the thing. You're self-aware enough to go, yeah, I mean, I played a mid-card role at that time.

If that. Oh, come on. If that. How many times you read the hardcore champion? Three. Hey. But like, okay, but like I view a mid-quarter as someone, you know, that was even like a Shelton Benjamin, I see champion, you know, tag team champion.

Like that to me, like, I know, like, and I get reminded of it weekly, on a weekly basis, you know, just how they're limited and briefed my WWU career was. But that's why I'm not, I'm not trying to tell stories that makes it seem like. I believe I was more than what I was. That's what makes it work, though, because it's so authentic. And you're speaking only to the experiences that you have. You're not trying to pontificate about, what a word. You're not trying to.

I'm going to write that one down. Pontificate. You're not trying to make up like, here's what I think about this thing. You're saying this is the experience that I had with this. And I think that that's what makes it work. Well, I will take that credit. Thank you. I'm having a blast with it.

I literally thought, you know, this would probably be something we maybe do for a few months. And then maybe in a year, we could start making a couple thousand dollars here and there. Look at you now. Yeah, we've done a little bit better than that. I've seen those sponsorships. I'm like, okay, good for you, man. Yeah. And you want to know what the craziest thing about that is, we turn down far more sponsors than we accept.

Wow. Yeah. I love that. I don't, I'm not going to do a sponsor. video of something that I can't you get behind. I was on HSN for years and I still I've told this story before to people on Christmas Eve in 2009 for three hours. I sold women's luggage and that was the most difficult thing ever because I don't I'm not going to be I'm not using these flowery luggage and I never want to I never want to sell anything or look like I'm standing behind something

that I don't believe in. Yeah. Well, I'm in the same way like We get pitched a lot of stuff. A lot. If I wouldn't use that. Yeah. That's one thing, one of the best things I've seen about your ads, because when I started this and we started getting sponsored, sponsorship offers, I looked at what you did. And you did one that I was like, okay, that's, and I used you as, as a, not an example,

but a kind of a template. Yeah. And it was your, the sauna blanket. Oh, that thing's the best. Because you told the story. You told the story from. okay, I'm on a health journey and I do the cold plunge and I'm now going to add this. And it was just, and the best comment I get is when people tell me, I don't even notice

that you're in an ad and I'm watching it because I'm entertained. And that's what I noticed about your bond charge ad. And that was literally the template of what I was trying to do. We use it all the time. Yeah. But that's the, you know, I'm also a subscriber to Rocket Money. We use that all the time. Right.

Mid-morning, I have a wonderful mug of mudwater. And, like, it's this great. I'm not trying to go into a bunch of ads here, but it's all stuff that I use, so I can appreciate that about you. Yeah. So now that you're on this journey, this isn't just a few months. This is a viable career. Yeah.

This is life. And you're now back into the wrestling sphere. Yeah. Because you were, you kind of had one, maybe one toe in before. Oh, I was all out. But I'd see you at convention. I was fully out. Yeah.

You were fully out. And then you dip your toe in. every once in a while. Right. And I would see you at conventions. You'd do some autograph signings. You would be a manager. You're in some of the ring.

You had a match with Matt Cardona. Like, little things here and there. Now you're very much, you're in this. And there's a comment on every single YouTube video you put out. When's Maven going to be a WWE commentator? When's Maven going to be on that WWE pre-show panel? Yeah. When?

You know what? I see it as well. And I can honestly say, because people ask me, I haven't got one call. If I get the call, I'm obviously going to listen to any, any opportunity that comes my way. I don't care, you know, what the opportunity is. I'm going to listen to it. But now, I haven't heard anything from them. I don't know.

Would I love to go back and, you know, because in one of my videos, I talked about how in, you know, 2020, I went and had an interview with them to do just that. And it just didn't pan out because of COVID. You know, I would love to have that opportunity again. But I'm also, I'm 47. If it doesn't happen, I'm not going to sit and, you know, twiddle my thumbs and hope. You know, I'm going to keep moving. I learned a long time ago.

Life, there's a couple key things about life. And that is you've got to keep moving, no matter if it's good or bad, keep plugging, keep moving. Put one foot in front of the other and just keep charging. If I sit and wait for a call from WWE that might not come, then I'm opening myself up to let myself down, and I refuse to do that, because I'm already, if you would have told me a year ago, you're going to be a YouTuber, I would have laughed in your face, but look where we're at now. So if it happens, it happens. If it doesn't, then other things will present itself, I'm sure.

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That's the code Insight for a first deposit match up to $100. Prize picks. Pick more, pick less. It's that easy. You said something in a recent video. you were like very rarely in life, am I disappointed? Yeah. And it's because you don't set expectations, right?

And I've heard this great quote. It's basically, trade your expectations for appreciation. Like, man, I'm just appreciative to be in this moment and this opportunity. Instead of saying, I expect this to be like this, because then if your expectations aren't met, you're disappointed. Then you're let down. Yeah. And another, I love that.

Another thing I'm really big on, and I've said in a couple videos, and I live by And it's, you know, don't try to upgrade happiness. If you're happy, be fine with being happy. Always strive for more. But where most people make the mistake is they're happy and they think, you know what, I can get a little happier. And what do they do? They sabotage themselves.

They shoot themselves in the foot. And then they might end up losing everything. Trust me, I've done that. I lost the best job I could ever have when I worked with HSN. And I just, I tried to upgrade happiness. And, you know, I had to really reinvent, reinvent myself. Would you say the same thing happen with WWE? Like, I would.

And it's, I was just young. My time, during my time, my first run in WWE, I was young. I was, I was more interested in, you know, in all the things that wrestling gave me, rather than all the things I could give wrestling, if that makes sense. Yes. Like, I was more interested in what, what me and Randy were doing after the shows. I was more interested in. and the people that, you know, what can you do for me?

Not what, how can I make the show better? The show, that was an afterthought. Yeah, I'll go out and wrestle my match, you know, but, you know, what am I doing afterwards? Or, you know, how much money am I going to make in this? And I just went about it with the complete wrong mindset. I didn't try to get better. If, you know, if I could go back and slap young me,

I would have been like, you know, go get better. Look at these guys that you emulate. You obviously have the talent to be here. now just put a little bit more into it and actually see what you could pull out of yourself what's randy orton's go-to beverage oh my gosh wow if you ask me devons is white zinfandale somehow yeah wow yeah this is back in the day i think randy was a was a vodka and like yeah vodka and something guy vodka and cranberry guy and you yeah my jack and coke not no question i'm a bourbon guy and i tried to like go with the like the high end i'll do makers mark or whatever not jack i love the

maker's mark is the high end one for you i'm a southern boy brother i literally it's gonna be whiskey connoisseurs watching this being like what yeah yeah that's not that's like a half a step up from jack i'm the guy who i don't like beer i think beer's rancid um i'm the guy who thinks jack and coke taste taste good i mean yeah yeah yeah i think it's great it's like when you say white zinfandel for was divan. Yeah. And Stone Colds is, is wine,

red wine, right? It's insane. Yeah. That's absolutely nuts. You don't think. But then again, what does that mean? That means he's done a great job

of making you believe. Yeah. His gimmick. Pores a lot of them just on his face. Yeah. But the idea of what we're talking about here is like, this is why I end every episode talking about gratitude. I know.

If you can be thankful for the things you have, instead of being pissed off about the things you don't have. Or the things other people have. That too. I mean, that's a big one. That changes your whole perception of everything. Yes, it does. One of the things, when we started this interview, we were talking about how I've revolutionized the business. And again, I don't think I have. But if I've motivated others to come on board, that makes me so happy. Why? Because this platform, I'm not, I said it last time, I'll say it again. The more success I have, the more success Aker has, Stevie, Renee, Eugene, it only, their video,

will lead to my videos and my videos will lead to their videos. And we're not fighting for a time slot. All we're fighting for is to get more people invested in the product, in the product of YouTube and the product of wrestling YouTubers. I'm all for it. I hope everybody joins in. Clapping for others does not take away from your own success. Yeah, that's enough.

I've heard you say that and I love it. But it's so true. I don't understand the idea that people are like, Oh, I'm so mad that person is successful. I'm so mad that person's getting this opportunity. I'm just sitting here going, that's great. Well done. I love that for you.

Well done. Yeah. Absolutely. And I said it to you on the last one. Congrats on the silver play button. I will say it to you now because that gold play button is just around the quarter for you. It's still a way. I can't think of it.

You've almost caught up. I think as we sit here now, my main channel is at 400 and something thousand. I have a goal. But I started that 13 years ago. go. Technically so did I. My clips channel, which is getting a lot of great growth, that's at 525,000

subscribers. So I'm halfway there. You're going to eclipse that, though. Can I give you another bit of gratitude and just you were right? So we had a company out of Australia that wanted to do some work with us.

And they might be actually doing some stuff in the future with our Facebook side. because there's a lot of money in Facebook as well. We can talk off camera about that. I'm interested in to hear. But when they were... DDP gave me an introduction. Yeah.

And that has really revolutioned on those things for me. It blew my mind. And the fact that you can use the same clip more than once to monetize it. Yes. But we let them under the hood. We let them see exactly what we were doing with our channel. And in return, they came back and gave us great bits of information. And one of the things they told us, they said,

there's really nothing we can add to your channel. So well done. Wow. The Facebook aspect of it, we would love to work with you. Because like my Instagram and the Facebook, all that is is just a funnel to get to YouTube. But one of the things they said did say, they said your use of shorts to funnel people over to your YouTube channel is to the long form video is immaculate. And I was still thinking of your breadcrumbs thing. Breadcrums.

Breadcrums, baby, breadcrums. What was the, you said off. camera before we started, you have a bone to pick with me. I do. I do. Is it that I didn't take a chop last time? No, it's not that. It's not that. So, this is our what? How many times have we? Is there a third one?

We've hung out many other times. Yeah. So, uh-oh. I saw where you told John Sina to his face. This is my favorite interview ever. And I'm just thinking, wow, that just means I'm just, just dog shit. Just, I didn't even meet with Maven twice. I wouldn't even mind if you said, this is tied with Maven for my first. I'm giving you hard time.

That was my fifth interview with John Cena. So maybe when you get to number five. I completely giving you a hard time. I had a superpower during that interview. Which was? I was able to see John Cena. You were. You were the only one.

You know what? And I got a lot of heat for people. You know, when my first ratings video came out, people thought I was barring John. I don't think John thinks John was a great technical wrestler. Oh, yeah. But what I will give that man credit for, two things. One, there's no harder worker in the world than him. No one deserves success more than John.

I could not be happier for the success he's gotten. Like, I'm not learning Mandarin. I'm just not. Like, I can barely speak English. Yeah, so that and two, he has, he could teach a class on marketing and, you know, just reinventing yourself. Like, look at what he's been able. to do just from 2002 through now. And, I mean, he's a full-fledged.

He's a bona fide movie star. He is a brand. He even said this during our interview. He goes, it's funny how I'm not John. That's always John Cena. Yeah, you have to. That's so true. You have to put both together.

I like your Chris Van Fleet impression there. Is that because I did an impression of you? That's my standard white guy impression. I did an impression of you on the last one. That's my standard white guy impression right there. Yeah. I love John. John is a great guy.

Listen, nobody, I love God. I could literally have you do the entire interview, just imitating me. It's pretty bad. I love it. It's not good. But what's funny is I do have a, I actually do have a radio voice if I decide to kick it in. Is this not it? Hey, no, this is it right here.

Oh, wow. Yeah, we're here with the five o'clock drives. 28 minutes after five o'clock rainy day in Manhattan. Hey, Chris, it's 15 past the hour. Guess what we're having coming up? at 45. I love that, I mean,

that's the stereotypical radio voice. I appreciate that radio has evolved past that at least a little bit. Bank, go, hopefully.

Occasionally I'll turn it on and you'll, and you'll hear the guy that's doing like this. Brand new music from Taylor Swift on the way and your chance to win tickets

to see her self high stadium coming up in 16 minutes. You actually do it way better than I do. I worked in radio for many years. There you go.

It's funny. In radio, you've got to hit the post it's called. You got it. You have like 16 seconds on your time break before they start singing the song. So you're sitting there and like 16 seconds. That's probably two sentences.

All right. So I can talk with this, then this. All right, cool. That's how it wasn't HSM. You're like testing yourself. Yeah. That's how it was an HSM. We had a preview monitor underneath the live shot.

And it would be counting down until they're going to a grab, V roll graph. Yeah. And I remember I got really good at either being able to speed up what I was saying or slowing it down and making sure. Everyone was listening to my call to action. That's so good. I worked at Cleveland's New 102. So you could say that really fast.

It's Cleveland's New 102. Or if you had like four seconds, you'd be like, it's Cleveland's new 102. You learned. Exactly. Exactly. Have you thought about YouTube becoming a full-time job for you? Like, I'm still, as weird as this sounds,

you know, 300,000 subscribers in, and, you know, we're making decent money at it now. I'm still waiting for the rug to get pulled out. Like, I'm still waiting for the video we put out. And in a week, it does like 5,000 views and it'd be like, well, that was a good run. But even if it does, that's just one video. And that's the thing you got to keep in mind. True.

I don't know. I'm just, it's still. You could stop today and your channel would still be getting millions of views for the next bunch of months. Yeah, you're probably right. You've got the engine behind it. Yeah. All right.

I'm not there yet. And a lot of it's because I enjoy. I'm the guy. I don't mind going to work. I really enjoy my, like, I love my boss. Like, my boss has a daughter who's having a bat mitzvah in like a week. And like the one thing she wanted was me to go to it. That's pretty cool.

And it's like we have a good working relationship when I tell him I need to, I need a week off. So I'm got to Fargo to film YouTube videos. He doesn't say anything, but have a good time, travel site. You know, and that's, and the checks come still. And it's like, am I walking away from that? Like, that's a great scenario. Yeah. And you're in a great spot where you don't love the dated, or you don't hate the day to day.

At all. Yeah. At all. And he lets me, you know, come and go pretty much, you know, as needed. Yeah. So I'm in a really good, really good place. So technically there'd be no reason to leave, you know. And if I can help, you know, out what they do.

Yeah. I told you last time, I'm more a mascot there. The United States Soccer Federation present the U.S. Soccer Podcast. My name is David Goss, and I'm joined by my co-host, Megan Klinemberg. And now we're giving people an inside look at the World Cup. Time's ticking. I think you can feel the intensity. All the guys are wanting to really take their claimant,

and they want to be on that World Cup roster. There's no doubt about it. Hosting the World Cup on the home soil comes with its pressures, but we're just really excited just as the people are. The U.S. Soccer Podcast, presented by Henko. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. I appreciate that I had an Ask CBV episode, and for people that only watch on YouTube,

the Asked CBV episodes are people writing questions and I answer on the podcast. Someone wrote in and said, if you called Maven right now, would he answer? Yeah, of course. And I was like, I don't know. Let's find out. I got my phone out, and I put it on speakerphone,

and I'm like, let's see. And you're like, yo, what's up, dude? I'm like, oh, there we go. He did answer. So I want to say thank you for that. You're probably one of a list of about 10 people, that that answer is yes. Like Devon is on that list. Stevie, if Stevie called, Renee, if Renee called, I would answer on at.

It's just because you guys call so infrequently. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I would think that it's either something, more than anything, it's something really good. Yeah. You know, I know you're not going to be calling me because you're down the block with a flat tire that you need me to come change. Like, that's not the reason. You'd still answer, though. More than likely, you're calling me for an opportunity.

opportunity and more than likely an opportunity from you is something that's going to help move my needle. So what's my motivation to not answer? Who could you call right now? Okay. That would answer? Devon. Really? Yeah.

Do you want to go to try? I mean, my phone's over there, but I'll try it. I mean, let's try. Let's try. Okay, we'll go to the single shot. This is actually going to be, we did not plan this out at all. So let's see, will Devon call? And if you say you're with Chris Van Bleet, he'll actually know who that is.

Yeah. I just saw him at Blizzard Brawl in Wisconsin. I love wrestling. Don't you love wrestling names? Blizzard bra. Blizzard bra was fantastic. Shout out to Dave Hero, my friend who puts that on.

It's so stupid. Blizzard bra. Hey, coming up this Saturday. Your chance of win tickets to Blizzard Brawl. You're actually really good at it. I'm not doing it in front of you anymore. All right.

Hold up. Here we go. I feel like we could, uh, I feel like we could be a good radio morning. We could be a good morning drive. Yeah. Goodness, great. All right, here we go. Okay. That's it.

Wow, what a profile photo. All right, here we go. Contact photo. Let's see. I'm going to put it in front of the mic there. I'm sitting here putting it over. Yeah, crank that volume up so we can hear it. Devon answer.

What a profile photo. You know, you're literally, I'm doing an interview with Chris Van Vleek right now. And he said, because we were talking about if, you know, if you called somebody, would they answer? He's like, if you had one wrestler to call, who would you call that you think that what they would answer? And I was like, Devon. And you did. You also, you know what else should have been said? What's that? Who's the guy most likely to hang up on? Oh, and he did. He hung up on you. Oh, man. Wow. Now it's time to send him a message. Oh, be like, it's all love, man. Yeah, and this isn't for, this isn't camera. Wow, most likely to hang

up on. Wow. Well done. DeVon is, Devon's that guy that at, you know, at my lowest, I've had him beside me, at my best, I've had him beside me. I, you know, I've said it, you know, plenty of time. I'd take a, I'd take a bullet for him in the leg, you know,

but I would do anything. I would do anything for that man. What a great guy. I love, and my, my journey into the business, he was the that hated me more than anybody. Him and Tess hated me more than any two guys, and those are the guys that I ended up getting the best relationships with. Is it that crazy?

Wow, why did they hate you? Well, I took Tests, I took his spot in WrestleMania 18. Like, I had just, you know, the taker spot happened and then a couple months later was mania. Tess was supposed to wrestle in that in that match.

And that's a hell of a payday that he was missing out on that I overall took. And that's essentially his hometown too. Yep. I was in Toronto. He's from not far from there. That's a home. Yeah, it's home field advantage. Yeah. So, and he told me, like, later on in life, because when I moved in 2008 down to Tampa for the HSN gig, you know, I told hit him up. I was like, yo, bro, I'm moving down. He lived in a really nice place in Channel side. And he was offered, you know, he said, bro, you can stay with me if you want. I'm like, it's

HSN, they're a big boy company. They're putting me up in housing. But I literally, I was down there my first night. I unpacked and my second night. I hung out with him. And we actually went to a, I think the Antonio Tarver fight at the Times form. And me and him, we hung out all the time. And he told me, he was like, I hated you when you first came in.

So, yeah. But it just goes to show you never know where a relationship might go. Devon hated me because I think the whole tough enough. gimmick, which I get. I knew I was going to have to win people over. Like, okay, for instance, John, John came in and, you know, like, they didn't hate him because he came in the right way. John Morrison? No, John Sina. John Sina. I saw John Morrison not too long ago. Isn't he great? He's the best. I love John. Like, I, like, he is just, I hadn't seen him for years, and I just remember, wow, he just is the just nicest human being. I told him, I was like, I want to do a video

with you, but you're putting a damn shirt on. It's like, my God, like, I've never been around another 40-year-old that makes me feel worse about myself. Jacked. He's amazing. He looks, literally looks like someone just chiseled him out of granted. But just the nicest guy. Just the nicest guy. So you're saying John Cena didn't get heat because he came up?

Well, he, I mean, he was actually wrestling. He was the prototype. And he came up the right, like the convention. Yeah, UPW. Exactly. The conventional way. So when he got there, I had heat that others didn't have just because of the whole tough enough. And I, you know, I got

WrestleMania, why? Because I already had a name and because of tough enough. So Devon hated me for that. But, yeah, we went out and literally, I was like, can I buy you a drink? He went, White Zinfandel. And I was like, what? And

a couple months later, when they split the shows up, we were riding together. Wow. And I've loved him ever since. Yeah, he's been a brother. What are your memories of WrestleMania 18? Oh, my God. The long ramp. That was the longest ramp and what the rock said to me beforehand. And I was nervous and it's probably about an hour before I go out. I'm literally, I used to think it before, before every match.

I used to literally stand in the back and have that pit in the feeling in the pit of my stomach and be like, I hate this. God, I hate this. Why did you pick this as a career? I want to, you know, just I don't want to do this anymore because I was so nervous. But then the moment my music hit and they went through the curtain, it all went away instantly. But this was WrestleMania. So I'm obviously terrified. And Rocky sees me. He comes.

And you know, he's just like the epitome of cool. And when people get on me for trying to imitate, okay, he's cool. Like, you know, who else the hell is, who the hell is not going to imitate? But he's like, Maeve.

So I'm like, yes. He's going to give me the secret. He's going to give me the special sauce. And as dead pan, as you can imagine, he goes, mate, come here. he's like and he like literally goes no one's expecting much out of you just do the best you can and turns around and i'm like what and he turned and then he turned and you know you know that

smile and he gave me a wink but that was the levity that was needed at that moment like just listen dude we're out here to entertain go out there and have fun everyone remembers rock hogan i was there yeah i was from that area so i was there everyone remembers rock hogan a lot of people don't remember that you even had a match there. Thanks. I mean that in the best possible way. Yeah, I don't know how I'll take that bad. You're on the show, not a soul, remember it.

I mean that in the best possible because... That's the biggest complice sold I've ever been given right there. Because you had that spot that I know didn't go well. Oh, I got it. I literally, for a video that we just did, I literally just pulled up a picture. And I'll send it to you if you want. want to put it on the. Let me see.

It's fantastic. Yeah. Because it wasn't a, it wasn't just a spot. I completely, that's me missing the trash can. Yeah. That is me missing the trash can. Gold dust has the trash can. Completely.

I'm going to send that to you so you can, you know, put it in that. And I've dissected that. I threw him the trash can. And at the last minute, he underestimated how high I could jump. And the fact, I should have told him, you know, I can dunk pretty easy. Keep it up at your head. Yeah. And he puts it down at more like chess level.

And I went over top of it. Yeah, I'm listening to you. You can jump too high. Yeah, it was just too athletic. Yeah, it was too good. Damn, too athletic. One of the things people don't remember about Russell Mani 18 is... It's not the case anymore, by the way.

How many live performances there were? Because it wasn't it saliva, drowning pool? There were so many live performances. If I tell you something, you won't believe this. I have never. watched that show back. I've never watched it. Really? I don't remember. If you would have asked me, if you would have told me you had a $10 million briefcase over there, if I would have named one of the live performances.

I would have said motorhead just because of Hunter and his entrance. He was still coming out to the two. Oh, okay. Well, then I would have missed out on $10 million. Yeah, literally, I've, and I've never watched it back. And by the way, that is what is, one, two is this on? One, two, is this on? People thought for years it was like, Wondhaw. or like, yeah, yeah. That is what he came out to. Live bands.

Wow. Let's see. Because he was in the main event. That's another thing a lot of people for that. But the one thing that no one remembers about that mania, obviously, is me. Oh, he did come out to a live performance of the game. Oh, geez. For Motorhead?

Oh, geez. Did I get this totally wrong? Look at that. No, by drowning pool. At Russell, 19, AAA came out to a live performance of the game by drowning pool. Why did Triple H use this song in this night and never use it ever again? It's a great question. saliva performed superstar.

Wow. I don't, I've never watched it back. Literally, never. I haven't even watched my match back. And it's just because I know I missed the drop kick spot. And I was never,

I was never that guy that enjoyed watching. I don't like watching myself live. Like, do you enjoy watching yourself? Like, if you do something with somebody, do you like watching it over? I don't.

Not, not anymore. Because I'm too critical. But early in my career, I knew I had to. Right. to get better. If you're not watching your older stuff back,

whether you're an athlete, a wrestler, an on-screen personality, if you're not watching it back and cringing a little bit, then you're not heading in the right direction. And you don't care. Yeah. So I don't watch my stuff back as much now, but I'm the one posting most of my stuff on social media.

Right. So you kind of forced to- Well, are you the one editing it? Not anymore, but I did for a long time, a long time. Yeah. You see, I don't edit. I'm not in the editing process. So literally, I mean, it's funny.

We talk about my YouTube partner, Zach, there will be, because we put videos out every Friday, 12 o'clock, there will be Thursdays. I'll text them, I'll be like, hey, man, what video is coming out tomorrow? I have no idea. The funny thing about editing your own stuff is you'll be going frame by frame

to like start or end that sequence. And you'll catch yourself making a face like, oh yeah. And you're like staring at it on your laptop and you're like, what am I doing here? Yeah. Like it's just what kind of, who makes that face?

There's a YouTube video and it's not one of ours. It's an interview I did way before the channel. And it was, I did it at work and I literally did it from my office. I forget, it was like, I think for Hannibal or something like that. And the thumbnail he used, I'm in a turtleneck and I'm literally, and like I have like eight chins and I'm, and I'm like, that's, I, if I went out of my way to find a worst picture, I couldn't do it. of me. And that's the thumbnail. So thanks, thanks for that, buddy.

Your thumbnails are so good. They've gotten even better since the last time we did an interview. Yeah, we have a great thumbnail guy. But again, I give all that to Zach. After we have a, I mean, we're in a pretty good routine now. We do a video. And I mean, as soon as we get done with the video, I take the mic off. And we immediately grab the thumbnail right at that moment.

And that's what's brilliant. is so many people are taking thumbnails from the interview or the segment or whatever they've shot. You guys are separately taking photos for the thumb. We're telling a story. Yes. I'm trying to draw you in. I'm trying to tell a quick story on what the video is going to be about. Take the, we have a video, the finishers.

Yeah. Where I do the tier list on the finisher. And you have me literally cringing at some, I think it's Batista, slamming, Siener or something like that. And I mean, to me, that tells, and then there's a tier list behind that. To me, that tells a story. Yeah. That tells in that one picture everything you're going to see in that. Another reason I give Stevie Richards so much credit.

I mean, he's a one-man operation. He does everything. He was actually telling me this morning, because he sent me over, you know, some new stuff that he's working on. And, you know, I was telling him, okay, try it this way too. And he says he gets enjoyment out of the editing process. He says that's what's fun for him. So teach their own. You know, Mr.

Beast says he won't put out a video until he has the thumbnail already done. Like if he doesn't have a thumbnail that would make people want to click on that video, he's like, well, there's no point in making the video. Yeah. And it makes sense. 100%. Because the thumbnail, if you have a CTR, click through rate of, let's say, 10%, which is really good in YouTube line. Absolutely.

That means 90% of people chose not to watch your video. So when you're doing Mr. Beast number, of hundreds of millions. Amazing. The difference between 10% and 11%. It's a lot. Millions. It's literally so much money.

I mean, he's the gold standard. He's literally the guy that, that, I mean, if you want to start with someone to watch, and I think, because I did, I didn't know who he was until Zach told me to start watching his videos. And what I learned from him is in the beginning of your video, tell something that's going to keep people. People hooked till the end, but you got to pay it off.

Yep. You have to pay it off. I'm sure your answers will change here, but you know I wrap this up with the same question every single time. And it's always so good to see you. We're going to leave the people want more here. Oh, we're part four, baby. We're going to do a part. I hope.

We're going to do part 14. Listen, you said it in the elevator. I would love to become one of those guys that you have on routinely. I just love your work. I love what you do. Likewise. And more than anything, you're just a hell of. the human being. And another thing, and I'll tell this to the people directly, surround yourself

by good people, good people you can learn from, good people you can look up to, and good people that build you up. The first thing you said to me when I saw you in the elevator day was congratulations. Like, that's the kind of people you need to be around, not people that bring you down, people that build you up. And I thank you for that. And thank you for the kind words. I mean, you took it away when you told me no one, no one remember me being in Rust Man 18, but. And I, but congrats on everything. Other than that.

What are three things you're grateful for? Still, like, I know I said last time, new opportunities. I'm going to keep that one because I, I think, I told you, I have some things, you know, in the hopper from the channel that I have this one opportunity. that if if we get the licensing done, it's the stuff that retirements are made off of. It's that big.

It's something that wrestling should have. I don't know why it doesn't have. And it could be huge. So definitely new opportunities. What a seed that's been planted. Okay. Now, I really hope I can pay that. New opportunity.

And again, hope. Like, you have to have a reason in the morning when that alarm clock goes off. You have to have something that you're fighting for. You have to. I've been on the tail end of that when I don't, when I don't know where my day is going. And to be honest with you, I'm not looking forward to it. I don't have that anymore.

I know each day is bringing me something new. And the third thing is just good people in my life. So I thank you for that. I thank you. What are your three? What are your three? Oh, man. My family.

Obviously. And we're here on the East Coast spending time with family. And I love that. I'm so grateful that both of my friends. parents are still with us too. Our little girl. She's adorable, by the way. Thank you.

Like, she's, I don't, I don't envy you here in about 16 years. I know. Like, I don't at all. Health, of course. And I'm going to borrow yours to new opportunities. I mean, it's just amazing. And I love how one door opens and then it can open another door that opens another door. So, yeah, thank you for spinning that around on me.

And always good to see you, my friend. Always my pleasure, bro. Thank you, brother. Thank you. Okay, hope you enjoyed this catch-up with Maven as much as I did. If you aren't already subscribed to Maven's YouTube channel, do it today. He's seriously producing some of the best wrestling content on all of YouTube. And hey, while you're in a subscribing mood, I know you're already following the podcast right here,

but please go subscribe to my channels on YouTube. The main one is just my name. We've got 420,000 subscribers on there. The Clips Channel, the CVV Clips Channel, just hit 540,000 subscribers this week. A massive thank you to you for that. But that also means we're 54% of our way to that goal of one million subscribers. So let's get there.

I appreciate you so much. Snap a screenshot. Let us know you're listening. Tag us. Let us know what stood out for you the most. He's at Maven Huffman on Instagram. I'm at Chris Van Fleet. And here's a quote from Napoleon Hill to wrap this bad boy up today.

it is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others succeed. Kind of goes along with what we were talking about here. Clapping for others does not take away from your own success. Be great. Be grateful. We will see you on the next one. It's tomorrow. It's tomorrow's ask CVV. We will see you on the next one for some more insight. The Hammer Alley podcast, an 80s flashback mockumentary. Back in the 80s, there were a thousand bands trying to make it in the world of rock. But there was one band that had it all.

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