Maven Recalls Vince McMahon Being Angry With His WrestleMania 18 Botch

Maven missed a dropkick in his match against Goldust at WrestleMania 18, and he recently recalled that Vince McMahon wasn’t pleased about it. The former WWE star defended the WWE Hardcore Championship against Goldust at the 2002 iteration of the PPV, and then ended up winning the title back from Molly Holly after it changed hands several times at the show thanks to 24/7 rules.

During the match with Goldust, Maven went to dropkick his opponent who was holding a garbage can but missed. Maven recounted the moment and the reaction from McMahon in an appearance on Rewind Recap Relive. He recalled his immediate reaction to missing the move and McMahon’s reaction after the match. You can see highlights below, per Fightful:

On Missing the Dropkick:

“I’m glad I missed that dropkick instead of the one with ‘Taker. I just remember missing the dropkick. Goldust, he could not have held—the trash can was f**king gold on top of it. He’s holding it there perfect. I tell people, because if you watch the clip, I jump over the trash can. I was too athletic. I was too damn athletic. But I still remember getting back after and I knew I missed it. But other than that, the match went okay.”

On McMahon’s Reaction Backstage:

“We get backstage, and then Vince is like, ‘You missed the f**king dropkick. The one f**king move you can do? You missed it.’ But my night wasn’t over. I knew I still had the segment, the backstage segment with Christian. I had to stay in the game. I couldn’t go lick my wounds. It had already been a long week. WrestleMania is a long week. It’s longer now with these, for these guys. But for us, we still had Fan Axxess. We had media days. We had all that stuff. I knew the job wasn’t over.”

On Continuing On To His Appearance Later In the Show:

“Had to move forward. Had to just live with the consequences. Now you’ve missed the dropkick. If you go and eff the spot up with Christian, well, what’s the reason they’re going to bring you back on Monday Night Raw tomorrow night? No. Make this as good as you can. Have the last memory you leave anyone with you being hanging out the cab with holding up the belt.”