As a veteran in the pro wrestling industry,MVP is expected to be a guiding light to younger wrestlers, especially in a newer promotion like AEW. While he's already had to dismiss reports making claims about him backstage in AEW, the veteran still has a lot of love to share for the younger talent, and during an episode of his "Marking Out" podcast, he shared the most important thing about being a wrestler.
"It's not an ego trip. I genuinely want the guys coming up behind me to do well," MVP claimed. "And if you take the time to come and ask me for feedback, I'm going to give it to you raw."
He then added that several younger guys have came up to him and been given feedback already, and that his approach is always to tell them what they need to hear opposed to what they want to hear.
"I've told them: hey, everything was great, but you had too too many false finishes; you didn't need all those false finishes," he also added when recalling the specific advice he's given, echoing his opinions on false finishes in wrestling and how it leads to cheap pops if overdone. "It takes a while to get that experience to know when to say 'No, take it home now, they're not going to get any higher than this, let's go.'" MVP emphasized that he actually wants the younger talent to have great matches, not the opposite, and named Kyle Fletcher as someone who's taken his feedback positively.
MVP also opened up more about how he approaches giving advice to the younger talent, specifically in making it come across as coaching instead of backstage politics. "I have a reputation in the industry for not doing politics," he said. "It's just not how I rock. ... It's gonna cut two ways, and it depends on either your relationship with me, or your maturity in the business."
He then recalled his own experience as a rookie back in the day and getting career advise from the veterans of his time. "A lot of the time, I'd be like 'Oh, they just lazy. They don't want to do nothing. Oh, they don't want to work,'" he admitted. "And then, as I progressed in the business and got some milage and got some maturity, I realized: oh, they did know what they were talking about! Oh, okay! Now I understand why they were telling me that!"
The veteran then touched on how some rookies simply ask for advice because they've been told to do it while others actually want to learn. In his own experience, he'd try to put the advice he got from the likes from The Undertaker, Finlay, or Arn Anderson into practice. "So, when I give advice, my reason for giving advice is because I genuinely want you to be better, because if you do better, we do better!" he expressed, adding how everyone benefits if the product is better.
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Marking Out" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
