AEW star and pro wrestling legend MVP recently discussed various topics on an episode of his podcast, “Marking Out,” with Dwayne Swayze. One of the highlights of their conversation was MVP’s recounting of how former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon changed the duration of his match with Cody Rhodes just before they were set to enter the ring.
MVP said, “Working a match with Cody, he’s a great guy and a great worker. That day, they kept changing our time all afternoon, how much time we had for our match. We have 15 minutes, 10 minutes, 12 minutes. They kept changing the time. We were the main event for the NXT show, and it’s live. Cody went out first. I think it was Lilian Garcia who was the announcer. I just remember hearing, ‘CODY RHODES!’ (John) Laurinaitis goes, ‘Hey kid, come here.’ ‘What’s up?’ ‘I need two break spots.’ Originally, I was supposed to beat Cody. Whatever reason, they decided…at this point, I was still up [going to win], but instead of the 12 or whatever minutes we had, now we had three segments because they scrapped whatever else they were going to do. We went from having 12-15 minutes to having three segments. [Cody] has no idea, he’s out there mentally preparing for whatever we had. I go out there, I do my entrance, the referee comes over, (I say) ‘Tell Cody this is the first break spot and this is the second break spot.’ The referee goes over and is talking to Cody. From across the ring, I hear Cody go, ‘What the f**k.’”
On the finish being changed at the last second:
“We’re going through the match, Cody and I have great chemistry, there was no panic. We’re fine, we’re just going to work. We get through everything and we’re going through the comeback. MVP is supposed to beat Cody. He’s bumping and feeding for me, I’m going through the comeback, I grab Cody to hit the Playmaker and the referee says, ‘Vince says Cody is up! Vince says Cody is up!’ We’re seconds to going off the air, live. I’m about to hit my finishing move. This match is over. I hear from under my leg, ‘What the f**k.’ I just say, ‘Cody, reverse this, Cross Rhodes.’ He came through, hit the reversal, hit the Cross Rhodes, 1, 2, 3, Cody wins.”
On McMahon’s reaction after the match:
“We come back through the curtain. Vince takes off the headset and he’s laughing. [Imitates Vince laughing]. That shit was funny as hell to him. He thought it was hysterical. If we had f***ed that up, he would not have been laughing. It wouldn’t have been funny at all. That’s why I tell these young guys, ‘You have to learn how to work.’ I remember being pissed off. Vince thought that shit (was funny), I was not laughing. I remember, I even said some slick shit to Vince. I don’t remember what I said, but I said something like, ‘Tell the other f**k boys to do that,’ something like that. I was hot. I didn’t lose it, but I said it enough like, ‘F**k that shit.’ He was laughing and thought it was funny. I always cite that story for having the ability to go out there and work live.”
You can check out the complete podcast below.
(H/T to Fightful for transcribing the above quotes)
