MVP On Why He Left WWE in 2010, Tribalism in Wrestling

MVP spoke with Chris Van Vliet recently and discussed a variety of topics including why he left WWE in 2010, as well as tribalism in wrestling and how his son didn’t even know he was a wrestler until recently. Highlights of his comments are below.

On his son not knowing he was a wrestler: “My son, Camden, he’s 10. He’ll be 11 next month, he discovered wrestling, and he didn’t know daddy was a wrestler. But he discovered wrestling, and he liked it. For me as a dad, it was just crazy that my son would teethe on my action figure. He has no idea, but for me, it was pretty cool. And I remember one day we were in the store, and we were in the toy aisle, and he’s pointing out, ‘Daddy, that’s Samoa Joe!’ He’s just pointing them out. He’s calling him by name. I’m like, when did you start watching wrestling? Then I felt some kind of way, because these were my colleagues, and I was still working independents and things like that, but I wasn’t on TV, and I thought man, I want my son to see daddy on TV. I want him to be able to walk down the toy aisle once and see, oh, look, there’s daddy. So I put in a call to Paul Heyman, because I knew that the Royal Rumble was coming to Houston that year, and there had been a couple times since I left the WWE. Let me make that point, because a lot of people thought I got fired. I didn’t get fired. I had a year left on my deal, and Lauriniatis was asking me to re-sign a five-year deal, and at that time, I was burned out on the WWE machine. That was 2010.”

On why he left WWE in 2010: “I was talking with Vince one day, and I said, ‘Vince, I didn’t go to superstar school to become a professional superstar. I went to pro wrestling school to become a pro wrestler.’ [He said] ‘Well, you’re a superstar around here, pal.’ We laughed about it, but Japanese wrestling was my passion. For me, my dream was the Tokyo Dome, my goal was WrestleMania. Usually people go to Japan, get over and then come to the WWE or WCW, whatever. I needed to recharge. I needed to rekindle that flame, that passion for wrestling. So I asked for my release, and they were kind enough to give it to me with the promise that when you’re ready to come back, come back. And I never came back. I ended up going to Impact, and that was a business decision, because just the amount of dates that I had to work versus the income, so I could make more at WWE, but I’d work three times as much. So my son had no idea that was part of life for me.”

On wrestling tribalism: “I realize how fortunate I am. You know, over 20 years in this space, and I think about some of the people who haven’t had that opportunity. I have friends and colleagues that work for all the wrestling companies. Why would you want somebody to lose their livelihood? I want all the wrestling companies to be successful, the more successful they are, the better it is for us, the wrestlers, and you, the fans. So I just don’t understand that mentality, that kind of almost pure hatred, the tribalism, between brands. But one thing I do get, I do get the kids that want to be extra cool, [who say] ‘I don’t watch that mainstream stuff, dude, I watch the cool niche companies.’ Which I think that’s dope, because I was one of those guys before people knew what New Japan was. I was a tape trader, and wrestling was only WWE and WCW. They had some Japanese guys on there. Well, those guys have a whole career in a whole other country that you’re not aware of. So I’ve always just been hungry for wrestling. Whether Japanese wrestling, Lucha Libre, European wrestling, it’s all wrestling, just sit back and enjoy it.”