MVP On Current WWE Run Being The Most Entertaining For Him, Paul Heyman's Influence

MVP called in as a guest for a recent live stream of "The Hall of Fame" show with Booker T and Brad Gilmore. The conversation included breaking down MVP's return to the WWE after his initial departure, and how it slowly snowballed into the television role as manager and leader of his new stable, "The Hurt Business".

When it came to speaking on his return, MVP seemed to be caught by surprise with how it all went. Having ended his main run with WWE in 2010, his is in the midst of a resurgence. He even thought retirement was in the works but instead things quickly kept rolling for him and the momentum has carried him to the current day.

"We started off at the Royal Rumble and then the next night in San Antonio, I got the chance to wrestle Rey Mysterio," MVP explained to the hosts. "Who is my son's favorite wrestler, so he got a chance to see daddy on TV. That's all I wanted. Then I was offered a job as a producer, which I thought, alright that's great. I was going to retire this year anyway and they asked me, 'MVP, would you do a VIP Lounge segment? MVP, would you do a short match? MVP, would you do a backstage segment?'. Once COVID hit, everything changed. My responsibilities as a producer became less and my responsibilities on TV became more".

This has led to the formation of the "The Hurt Business", including the recent inclusion of Shelton Benjamin. MVP said that his current run has been the most entertaining to him. He made reference of a sports legend as an analogy of why he thinks this could be.

"I remember Shaq talking about his early years in the league and he was just so much more dominant because he was younger and stronger and athletic. Then as time went on, he couldn't take the shortcuts that he did when he was younger," MVP explained. "But he became a smarter player and I think that's where I'm at now. I'm just a smarter player.

"I have more experience and you know when I was a younger guy, I could go out there and I can do a 20-minute match every night. I have no desire to do that now. If it's up to me, I would just talk every night, but I'm still going to be in the ring and I can definitely say that it seems under the current circumstances, this version of MVP is definitely one of the most entertaining."

As far as whom he credits with inspiring this more deliberate approach, he didn't hesitate to mention Paul Heyman. His role in being at the side of Brock Lesnar has paved the way and opened the door for him to be able to be featured so prominently upon accepting the new position.

"I think we have to acknowledge Paul Heyman, the advocate. I think without Paul Heyman," Porter posited. "Doing what he did for Brock Lesnar and bringing that position back to prominence where Vince can see that and go, 'yes we need that', that allowed me to come in and let's just be honest. For a long time, people have been saying that me and Bobby Lashley are the black version of Heyman and Lesnar."

"In that regard, I think part of what makes me so comfortable in the role is that I've always had to get the gap. I was a huge fan of and in my opinion, the best that ever did it period bar none. I think because I was such a fan of his work and I understood it and watched it for so long, being able to communicate as both a wrestler and as just a communicator, I think that put me in a position to be able to adapt it as well, but I think the shout out got to be to Paul Heyman, because I don't think we would be here if it wasn't for what he and Brock Lesnar were doing together in the modern era of course."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit Reality of Wrestling with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

Mehdy Labriny contributed to this article.