Maven Says He Never Saw Vince McMahon’s WWE Departure Coming

For decades, Vince McMahon and WWE were essentially synonymous — so when he stepped away from the company he built into a global empire, it caught more than a few people off guard. Count Maven among them.

The former WWE Tough Enough winner recently opened up about McMahon’s departure from WWE, stating plainly that he never anticipated the day Vince would relinquish control of the company. For someone who came up through the WWE system during a period when McMahon’s grip on every aspect of the business was absolute, the sentiment is understandable.

McMahon’s exit from WWE has been one of the most dramatic stories in professional wrestling in recent memory. He initially stepped back from his roles as Chairman and CEO in the summer of 2022 following a Wall Street Journal report detailing misconduct allegations and undisclosed hush-money payments. McMahon briefly returned to WWE’s board in early 2023 to help facilitate the sale process that eventually led to the TKO Group merger with UFC, but stepped down again in January 2024 after further allegations surfaced in a lawsuit filed by a former employee.

Maven, who broke into WWE after winning the first season of Tough Enough in 2001, worked for the company during a stretch when McMahon’s presence and influence over every corner of the product were impossible to miss. That firsthand experience makes his surprise at the turn of events all the more telling.

For a generation of wrestlers who knew no version of WWE without Vince McMahon at the helm, his departure remains one of those moments that genuinely reshaped how the industry sees itself.