MVP of The Hurt Syndicate in AEW appeared on Chris Van Vliet’s “INSIGHT” podcast, which dropped today, for an in-depth sit-down one-on-one interview.
While on the popular pro wrestling program, the pro wrestling veteran reflected on his 2020 return to WWE, as well as how close he came to winning the WWE world title.
The following are some of the highlights, as well as a complete video archive of the discussion.
On his WWE return in 2020: “I got to be one of the surprise entrants in the 2020 Royal Rumble. And my son was in the crowd. It’s so cool, because he even made it into one of the highlight commercials where you just see him going, ‘Yeah!’ That gave me something emotionally, because I never wanted to be a dad. I wanted to be single forever, my son was an oops, and now I’m so grateful for him in my life, because he makes me a better human being, and to be able to share that with him. And Rey Mysterio was his favorite wrestler, so after that, we went into the back and Rey being the just incredible human being that he is, took some time to pull my son to the side and gave him a mask, and he spoke for a minute. After that, Paul Heyman asked me if I could make it to San Antonio the next day. And I was like, Yeah, sure. Easy pay, quick drive. I went and again, Paul E booked me to be in a match with Rey Mysterio on Raw, just a cool match. I wasn’t even under contract, but my son’s mother sent me a video of my son standing underneath the television during my entrance, so my son got to watch daddy wrestle his favorite wrestler. And again, that’s all I wanted. That was it. And then after my match, Laurinaitis just pulled me to the side and said, ‘Hey, we want to offer you a position as a producer.’ And at that point, I was contemplating retirement anyway, I just felt like getting pretty close to the end here, and we talked about it and what the ins and outs would be. And I said, let’s give it a shot. Let’s see what happens. And I enjoyed it. It was pretty cool, the creative process and learning about how that machine works.”
On how close he came to becoming World Champion in WWE: “I don’t know this for an absolute fact, because I wasn’t in on the meeting, but I was told by some people that were. As a matter of fact, one of the writers, [said] there was talk about MVP being World Heavyweight Champion, but there was reservations because of my felony conviction. So for those of your viewers who don’t know, when I was a teenager, I was coming up in Miami, rough gang violence. I was an armed robber, I did a robbery, and I ended up going to prison for several years. Nine and a half years. I served from 16 to 26. [Originally sentenced to] 18 and a half with a mandatory three for the sawed off shotgun, meaning for three years you can’t get time off for good behavior. And consequently, it was as a result of that, when I was at work release, getting out of prison, I met a correctional officer [called] Primetime Daryl D. He was an indie worker, and that’s how I got into the business. Because he would bring in videotapes for us to watch in the morning before they would open up the center to let us go to work. So guys couldn’t leave till 7, so it’d be like, 10 15 minutes, people just kind of milling around. And he’d bring in tapes. And I would be like, Hey, man, how do you guys do that without really killing each other? And he’s like, ‘Well, I see you out there playing basketball, working out. You got a good physique. You’re athletic. When you get out, if you want to give it a try, I’ll show you something.’ So that’s how I broke into wrestling. But going back to my conviction, it was at work release that I met the correctional officer who introduced me to my career. But now I’m a convicted felon.”
Check out the complete MVP interview on “INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet” from September 11, 2025, via the YouTube player embedded below.
