Tick-tock, MVP heard the clock ticking at an opportunity to work for North America's most pivotal commercial promotion, not just here, but globally, WWE. For 19 years off and on, the former two-time United States Champion gave it his all, only to tell his bosses nobody could stop him, nobody could hold him. His former theme song would foretell the well-traveled journey MVP would take in between his first and second departure with the "E." On "Insight" with host Chris Van Vliet, MVP recounts what made him decide to keep his options open for greener pastures, including how the decision of WWE dropping himself, Bobby Lashley, and Shelton Benjamin from their lucrative stable as The Hurt Business eventually awarded them the opportunity to pick up where they last left off, but this time as the rejuvenated and well-respectedHurt Syndicate we see in AEW today.
"Everybody knows that The Hurt Business got shut down in WWE for reasons that have never been made clear to me. No one has ever said, and I begged Vince [McMahon], Bobby begged Vince, but please don't do this. Vince had his ideas of what he wanted to do, and everybody genuinely agrees that we got shut down way too soon," MVP said. "So when it came time for our contracts, I made it very clear that I don't want to be there anymore. There are people there in management that I dislike immensely, a person, and I wouldn't even bother to get into that. But I just knew that with certain people in charge, and that's how the wrestling game is, that's how life is. I don't care where you work. When management changes, some people are out, other people are in, and I knew it was time to go. I wasn't gonna re-sign. I was in Bobby's ear constantly like don't re-sign. Shelton got released. Don't re-sign. Let's you, me, andShelton get back together. Let's go to AEW."
Taking that ultimate gamble, MVP made his AEW debut on"Dynamite: Grand Slam" on September 25, 2024, and since then, he, nor Lashley, or Benjamin have lost their beat "hurting people." In the next segment, the voice of the Hurt Syndicate thanked AEW President/CEO Tony Khan for allowing them to retell their story that they wished the world could have witnessed when they first joined forces five years ago in WWE.
"I'm grateful to Tony Khan for seeing the value in us and giving us an opportunity to come over there and continue to tell our story and help some of these younger talents," MVP expressed. "Because contrary to what the internet tells you, there are a lot of young guys that come up and ask us for advice and ask us to watch their matches and ask us for insight, and I love being able to pay it forward because people gave it to me. So thank you to Tony Khan for seeing something in us, and believing in us, and giving us an opportunity to end The Hurt Syndicate in AEW, and for us to finish telling our story."
The former AEW World Tag Team Champions with MVP will be in action next Saturday against Ricochet and the Gates of Agony (Bishop Kaun and Toa Liona) at All Out in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. This match came to be after the latter trio cost the Hurt Syndicate their tag team titles at Forbidden Door last month. Recently, MVP announced that he'll be winding down his in-ring wrestling career, as the claims he's got another year to two years left before he hangs up his boots and concentrates on the managerial role of things.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Insight with Chris Van Vliet" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
