Maven Details Fluid Buildup In the Back Of His Brain: ‘Surgery Is Definitely On The Horizon’

Maven provides a health update.

In his YouTube community post, Maven asked fans to comment with a question that they want him to answer in a video. The topic he ended up choosing was his overall health and well-being.

In his recent YouTube video titled “Health Update,” Maven opened up about this.

In the fall of 2017, Maven felt a “stabbing sensation” in his lower back, and he couldn’t move. He had trouble doing simple things in life, such as taking his dog out, using the restroom, or even breathing.  This happened on a Friday, and after the weekend, Maven went to see a specialist.

“After a weekend of torture, I would seek out a specialist and find out that I had three bulging herniated discs in my lower spine and my spine was crooked on top of it… So the specialist knowing and telling me that this was going to be an ongoing problem, a problem I more than likely have to address down the road, recommended immediate therapy. At that moment, I started something I wish I would have started 20 years before: daily stretching… I have been stretching every day since 2017. It’s helped, although it would have helped if I would have started 20 years ago.”

While stretching did help him to some extent, Maven said that his pain is never going away completely.

Maven also said that while wrestling was probably the main reason he felt this way, although he didn’t blame WWE or anyone else.

“Now, I try to be honest with myself. I know that wrestling probably was the main reason that I felt this way… I know professional wrestling is the culprit of a majority of why I feel the way I do. I am in no way blaming the WWE, wrestling, or anything from my life for how I feel. In fact, if I could go back, I would do it all over again.

I would just be a little bit smarter and be a little bit more like the RVDs, like the guys who took care of their bodies day in, day out. Further, continuing with being honest with me, it wasn’t just the physicality of wrestling that led to this. Prolonged steroid use couldn’t have helped. Recreational drug use, yeah, great in the moment. Not good long term. Basically, just treating my body like an amusement park probably wasn’t the best idea. Now, following my 2017 weekend from hell, my health would be good and bad.”

Maven said that as long as he kept up with his stretching routine, the pain was manageable. But in May 2025, he woke up feeling pain in his body, which he said was “eerily similar” to the 2017 situation.

Later in the video, he mentioned that in November 2025, he woke up with “a headache and a fog that I just couldn’t shake.” He’s been having headaches and brain fog every single day since then.

“Since that day, I have had headaches every day. When I say every day, I mean every single day. There’s not one day that takes off. I have had brain fog every single day. Not one day that takes off. I have sought out doctors and tried to go back to a normal pre-headache life. I have some good days and some bad, but it never goes away.”

Maven then discussed the cause of his headaches and said that “surgery is definitely on the horizon.” He also reached out to Chris Nowinski to seek his counsel on this.

“From all I have gathered, the headaches stem from a fluid buildup in the back of my brain. Fluid that travels in and can’t fully travel out. Fluid that literally builds up. I seriously can feel a pulse on the back of my head. Some days I wake up and all I look forward to that day is going back to sleep. Because at least when I’m sleeping, I’m not thinking of how much my head is pounding.

As for fixing the problem, surgery is definitely on the horizon. However, with a fluid buildup, I don’t think surgery can be the end-all cure-all. In fact, I even reached out to my former Tough Enough contestant, Chris Nowinski, and sought his counsel.”

Throughout the video, Maven repeated that he isn’t looking for anyone’s sympathy and created this video to share something with aspiring wrestlers and his fans.

Elsewhere in another video, Maven talked about him and Randy Orton having a “Dropkick Match.” Fans can read his full comments here.

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