AEW's MVP Details How His Past May Have Kept Him From WWE World Title Run

AEW's MVP has disclosed that WWE had plans for him to be a world champion during his first run with the promotion, but those plans were shelved due to his felony conviction.

The former WWE United States Champion is a convicted felon who was sentenced to nine-and-a-half years in prison after taking part in an armed robbery. MVP stated that this is the reason he never became a world champion in WWE, as he was unable to travel to certain countries with strict laws regarding the entry of convicted individuals.

"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," he said during his appearance on "Insight." ""Because there were potentially countries that I couldn't get into. So how can you be the World Heavyweight Champion, but you can't go to this country? Like going to Japan. Japan is very strict about people who [can enter], like James Brown, they wouldn't let into Japan. But because I went over for a Japanese company, they were able to smooth it over with the visa process."

The former WWE star also revealed in the interview that he was barred from entering Canada for a long time before he could obtain a letter of rehabilitation to finally enter the country, which he has to take along with him every time he enters Canada. More recently, MVP didn't travel with his fellow AEW stars to the UK for the promotion's AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door pay-per-view. 

However, prison played a key role in his love for wrestling, as a correctional officer introduced him to it, ultimately leading him to train and eventually become a wrestler.