MVP says he has accepted that his days as a regular in-ring wrestler are coming to an end, admitting that both his physical ability and his desire to wrestle have diminished with age.
Speaking on his podcast, the AEW star said the transition into a non-wrestling role happened somewhat naturally after injuries reduced how often he competed. “Everybody can’t go on forever and ever. Father Time is undefeated, and I’m fortunate that, accidentally, I transitioned into a whole new role.”
MVP noted that his work as the mouthpiece for The Hurt Business became so prominent that people sometimes forget he was originally an active member of the group. “I’ve embraced my role as vocal representative so entirely and so comfortably that people forgot in the Hurt Business I was an active wrestler. I was part of the team.”
Once injuries began limiting him, however, those matches became increasingly rare. “I put the boots on, we wrestled. And once I got hurt, then my wrestling was less and less to the point where it just stopped being.”
That has carried into AEW, where MVP now views his occasional matches as an attraction rather than something he needs to do regularly. “So even now with AEW, when I lace up the boots, it’s an attraction. It’s like, ‘Oh man, MVP’s going to wrestle. Oh, oh, that’s cool.’”
While fans may still tell him that he has not lost anything, MVP said he is realistic about where he is physically. “Professional wrestling is an ego-driven business. And let’s not pretend that it’s not. I know that in a speaking capacity as a manager, as a general manager, as, you know, as a person who, a former player who is now in the office, I could do that for another 20 years, but physically, my ability to wrestle at a high level is deteriorating because of time.”
It is not only about what his body can still do. MVP acknowledged that he simply does not have the same hunger to wrestle that he once did. “I don’t have the explosiveness that I used to, and and let’s let me be real with you. I don’t have the desire. My passion for actually getting in the ring and having that match isn’t what it used to be.”
MVP is not ruling out wrestling altogether. If Tony Khan wanted him to team with Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin, for example, he would be prepared to do it. “If Tony [Khan] says, ‘Hey, I want you, Bobby, and Shelton to, you know, do a trios match,’ I’m ready.”
What he does not want is one final championship run simply as a reward for his career. “If Tony said, ‘Hey, as a gift to you for your career on the way out the door, I’d like to give you an AEW championship title run,’ I would say no.”
MVP explained that accepting such a run would mean being expected to produce main-event level singles matches against AEW’s younger wrestlers, and he no longer believes he could perform at the standard he would demand of himself. “At this point in my career, I don’t feel that I could put on the level of match that I would want to be able to put on with the young talent that I’d be working with to do justice to the title. Physically, I can’t go like that anymore, and I don’t want to work that hard.”
For MVP, that does not mean leaving wrestling behind. Instead, he sees his future increasingly in speaking, managerial and potentially backstage roles where he believes he could continue contributing for another two decades.
