During his appearance on Chasing Glory, MVP discussed the circumstances surrounding his WWE departure in 2010. Here’s what he had to say:
Because my dream was to wrestle in Japan. Yeah, when I started professional wrestling, I was first introduced to Japanese wrestling. Norman Smiley, he introduced me to Japanese wrestling. He wrestled in Japan for some time. And I was like, ‘Woah, that’s intense. Wow!’ So, I had a dream that I wanted to wrestle in the Tokyo Dome. I wanted to wrestle in New Japan Pro Wrestling. And I had a year left on my deal. And I asked Vince McMahon — actually, I asked Johnny Ace at the time because we used to talk. A lot of people don’t know Johnny Ace made his career in Japan for All Japan. So, there would be times where me and John would drink a beer, and we’d talk about pro wrestling. And I would just sit there, and I would drink up all of his stories about Japan and the guys I used to watch on VHS tapes that he worked with.
And I had a year left on my deal, and they were trying to get me to re-sign a five-year deal. And I just, I didn’t want to at the time. My inner flame was kind of flickering, you know. And Japan was calling me. I needed that fire again, I needed that motivation.
You can listen to the podcast below:
Credit: Chasing Glory. H/T 411Mania.