Maven has high praise for one of his Tough Enough castmates.
WrestleZone Managing Editor Bill Pritchard spoke with Maven Huffman, who did a “word association” round about his Tough Enough castmates. Maven was asked to describe Josh Mathews, one of the runners-up in the first season.
Maven said Mathews, who found success as a commentator with WWE and TNA Wrestling, probably should have won and touted his wrestling knowledge.
“Probably should have won the original Tough Enough. But talented, happy, happy he transitioned and he’s doing what he’s doing in the business now,” Maven said. “I mean, amazing wrestling mind. When I was in Tough Enough, he was the guy who he knew more wrestling at that point, than I still know to this day.”
“He wanted to do moonsaults from day one”
One of the storylines in Tough Enough saw Mathews trying to hit a moonsault, finally achieving success at the end of the season. Maven noted how Mathews wanted to get in the ring from the beginning, long before any of them had much training.
“He wanted to do moonsaults from day one. He was literally asking Al [Snow] from day one when we could practice moonsaults. We’re not even in the ring at this point. Like it took probably, I would say two or three days before we even stepped foot in the ring. And he wanted to hit moonsaults. He can do it though.”
Nidia
Maven also spoke about Nidia, the women’s winner of season one. Nidia has kept a low-profile since leaving the business, save for a rare interview with Fightful. Maven hasn’t stayed in contact with her, but hopes she’s doing well.
“[I’m] sad that I haven’t seen or heard from her since our WWE days. Like I have not talked, laid eyes on, or even heard from her since then. I hope she’s well. I hear she’s happy. I hope that’s the case,” he said.
In a way, Maven understands her not wanting the spotlight, as he too wanted to distance himself from pro wrestling for a time.
“There was a period in my life there was about a good five-year period I wanted nothing to do with wrestling — nothing. Yeah, it literally took Matt Cardona and Brian Myers dragging me out of my house to go do stuff to get me back into it.”
Watch our full interview with Maven below:
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