MVP Says Criminal Record Prevented WWE World Title Run and AEW Forbidden Door Appearance

MVP talks about how close he came to becoming a WWE World Heavyweight Champion and explains why his criminal record was a major reason it never happened, as well as why he had to skip AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2025.

When MVP debuted on the WWE roster in 2006, he was immediately catapulted to the top of the WWE Friday Night SmackDown lineup, feuding with Kane and The Undertaker in his first few months on the roster. He would capture the WWE United States Championship at WrestleMania 23 and the WWE Tag Team Championship later in 2007. It seemed as though he was on course to become a WWE World Champion.

Speaking with Chris Van Vliet, MVP says he was told by one of the writers that there were talks of him potentially becoming one of the top champions in WWE, but reservations hindered these talks due to his prior felony conviction.

“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. So for those of your viewers who don’t know, when I was a teenager, I was coming up in Miami, rough gang violence. I was an armed robber, and I did a robbery, and I ended up going to prison for several years. Nine and a half years. I served from 16 to 26. [Originally sentenced to] 18 and a half with a mandatory three for the sawed off shotgun, meaning for three years you can’t get time off for good behavior.

“Consequently, it was as a result of that, when I was at work release, getting out of prison, I met a correctional officer [called] Primetime Daryl D, he was an indie worker, and that’s how I got into the business. Because he would bring in videotapes for us to watch in the morning before they would open up the center to let us go to work. So guys couldn’t leave till seven, so it’d be like, 10 15, minutes, people just kind of milling around. he’d bring in tapes. I would be, Hey, man, how do you guys do that without really killing each other? He’s like, Well, I see you out there playing basketball, working out. You got a good physique. You’re athletic. When you get out, if you want to give it a try, I’ll show you something. So that’s how I broke into wrestling. But going back to my conviction, it was at work release that I met the correctional officer who introduced me to my career. But now I’m a convicted felon.”

Continuing, he explained how his felony conviction makes it difficult for him to travel to certain countries, as evidenced by a trip to Australia for Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore promotion. He also revealed that it is for these reasons that he had to miss the recent AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2025 event in London.

“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. Canada. I couldn’t get into Canada for a long time. I had to go through a process there where people had to write letters of recommendation. It costs 1000s of dollars in legal fees to get something in Canada. They call it a letter of rehabilitation. They said, Okay, you’re rehabilitated. You can come to Canada. You always have to bring this letter with you, because if they ask, ‘Have you been convicted of a felony?’ I say ‘Yes, but here’s my letter of rehabilitation.’ Then I can get in. Australia, the last time I went to Australia was with Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore. It literally took an act of Congress, and at the 12th hour, some Parliament official, nobody wanted to sign off on my document to let me in. Somebody knew somebody, and some member of parliament or whatever, signed off on it, and I was able to get in Australia. Now England, the United Kingdom, just started the electronic transfer authorization, and they ask the question, ‘Have you been convicted of a felony that required you to have a 12-month stay or longer in a correction?’ Well, yeah, I did nine and a half years, so I answered truthfully, and that’s why I wasn’t allowed in for Forbidden Door. So coming full circle, as it was told to me, there was a conversation about me being a World Champion. But there were reservations because of my convicted felony.”

MVP would hold the WWE United States Championship for 342 days. He was also a main event talent in TNA during his tenure with the promotion, and now, he works for AEW alongside Shelton Benjamin and Bobby Lashley in The Hurt Syndicate.

Check out the full interview with MVP below.