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Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP): I’ve Signed A Long-term AEW Contract Extension

Posted: Nov 14th 2025 By: Kyle Curran

In an exclusive interview with Adventure Gamers, Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) revealed that he has signed a long-term contract extension with AEW. He thanked Tony Khan for the opportunity and looks forward to many more years to come in the company.

Here are the key stories from the interview:

I’ve signed a long-term contract extension with AEW and I thank Tony Khan!

We want the newest member of The Hurt Syndicate to be organic

Feuding with Ricochet has been amazing, he’s doing the best work of his entire career

Once we capture the Trios Titles, nobody is safe as we’re coming for singles gold!

AEW is so much fun, nobody is walking on eggshells like they are in WWE

Adventure Gamers: I’m delighted to be joined by a legend of the game, MVP. How’s things?

MVP: Feeling great, man. Life is going well, everything’s lovely. I have absolutely no complaints.

AG: Is there anything you want to say before we get into it?

MVP: I do want to say this. I want to say thank you to Tony Khan, because recently I signed an extension and I’ll be with AEW for quite a while in my current capacity and hopefully beyond in a managerial capacity and to whatever extent, possibly behind the scenes. I’m very happy where I’m at right now in my career at this stage to be able to continue to contribute to the business and make money with my friends and entertain at the level that we’re still able to maintain. I appreciate Tony Khan for giving me, Bobby and Shelton an opportunity to get the team back together for a final run and the future looks bright.

AG: You mentioned Kyle Fletcher to us before. What have you made of his run with the TNT Championship?

MVP: I think Kyle’s brilliant man. He’s a brilliant kid. He looks like a star. He gets it. He presents himself as a star and he has a huge upside, his aptitude. And whenever I happen to run into him and he asks for insight or asks for an opinion on his match, you can see him make the adjustments. He doesn’t just ask for the sake of doing it to score points with veterans or whatever. He does it because he genuinely wants to improve his game. So I think during his title run, he’s represented himself exceptionally well during this run. And I see a bright future for Kyle Fletcher.

AG: Would you be up for a singles match with him eventually?

MVP: I’d like to try but I don’t know if I can keep up with the kid! I’d have to take him down to slow him down. If you think you’re going too slow, slow down.

AG: John Cena is retiring next month, do you have anything to say about him?

MVP: I have immense respect for Cena because his work ethic is second to none. When you say getting to know the man. Honestly, I never knew Cena out of work, out of the work environment. So I feel like I never got to know the private John Cena. He’s always on, he’s always doing something. And this is praise, I’ve never met somebody who is so fully dedicated to the company to work. We could be up all night before drinking with the boys. And we used to knock out cases of beer and I’m not exaggerating, bottles of whiskey. And man, he’d be up at 6:00 AM to do that media. You wouldn’t think that he had been going hard the night before. His work ethic man, that the guy was always working nonstop. So my opinion of him professionally is that he is definitely in the pantheon of all time greats. I feel like he was the Hulk Hogan of this generation, if not greater. He holds a Guinness Book of World Record for Make a Wish with wishes granted for sick children. I mean, he always seemed like a cool guy. He always treated me great, he was always cool with me and he was a leader, a good dude. So he kept his inner circle very small, cool with everybody. But people that he would call friends or family, I think he was very wise about how he conducted his business.

AG: When we spoke to you last time, MJF had just joined The Hurt Syndicate. How was it working with him and did you learn anything in particular from him?

MVP: Working with MJF was fun. It was interesting. As far as what we learned from him…I think he learned a lot from us. Because as successful as he is, he’s still young and he’s still got lots to learn. And between the three of us, we’ve got over 60 years of experience. So there were lessons to be learned and he’s a tremendously talented kid with a huge upside and we’ll see what the future holds. And even young guys like MJF who are so far ahead of the game still have a lot to learn and I think sometimes, you get some youthful exuberance and some cockiness and we all go through it. I remember I was always a student of the game and always willing to learn, there were some times early in my career where I thought I had things figured out. And then you realize a little bit later that I thought I knew way more than I did, but now I’m here at this point. It’s like peeling away layers of an onion. He’s still climbing, he’s still learning, and I can’t say enough about his talent.

AG: Is there anything you wish you learnt earlier on in your career?

MVP: How to be a better politician. In the wrestling business, one of the things I was taught early on by some old school veterans is business gets done at the bar. It’s about relationships and you’ve all heard the stories through the years of different wrestlers being politicians and I’m just not a very good politician because I’m brutally honest, sometimes to my detriment and I don’t believe in cutting people off at the knees for my benefit. I don’t play those kinds of games. I won’t do that. And I’m not going to let anybody talk to me however they want to talk to me or treat me in any kind of way. I’m willing to stand up for myself regardless of where I’m at in the hierarchy. As far as I’m concerned, we’re all men. So, treat me as such, just because you’re a bigger star than I am, doesn’t mean you can disrespect me or talk down to me. I’m not standing for that. I’m your peer. You want to teach me something, I’m willing to learn, but I’m not your child. So I won’t stand for people talking to me that way. But back when I was coming up, playing politics was a big thing. Knowing you know the right people to hang out with, the right people to party with, the right people to associate yourself with. And I just was never into that. I’d rather just hang out with the people that I like instead of pretending to like people that I don’t, so I can get ahead. So I guess if I had been a better politician, I probably could have done some things differently, but at the end of the day, it just wasn’t really my game. And learning never stops. It never stops. Now, I remember hearing Ric Flair say that 20 years in the game, he’s still learning. And once you know it all, then it’s time to quit.

AG: You recently revealed that you are open to adding a new member to the faction, are there any updates on who that might be and when we might see a fourth person?

MVP: None at all. We’re open to it. It’s something that we want to do. I don’t know what’s going on and it’s above my pay grade, but we’d love to have Cedric Alexander back. But that’s above my pay grade. But if Cedric’s not available, or for some reason we can’t have Cedric, there are a few other guys that we’ve talked about amongst ourselves that we’d like to have. But the issue with The Hurt Syndicate is that our relationship is organic. We weren’t just three random guys that were thrown together and had to learn to get along. We’re three guys that are legitimate friends that actually hang out away from work. We train together, we go to events together. We’re actually friends, so you can’t just throw some random guy with us that we don’t vibe with because then that throws off the whole group. It’s not organic and it comes across as such. So we would like it if at some point when a new member is added that we have some input into who that person is because we don’t want to throw off the chemistry of the group. It’s got to be an organic fit so that that younger person, whomever it may be, can vibe with us, learn from us, grow with us, and we can have a relationship. Because after every show, me, Shelton and Bobby go somewhere and we get something to eat and we talk about what happened that night, we’ll find a nice steakhouse and we’ll get some nice steaks and I’ll sip on some Macallen 18 or something, and then Shelton will sip on his Sprite and Bobby will drink his water. You don’t get a physique like Bobby and Shelton by drinking anything but water! Bobby will have a drink on occasion, but he’s not a drinker. Shelton, he doesn’t drink at all. Nothing. Not a drop. He drinks Sprite by the gallon. Sprite and Lemonade. That’s why I laugh, I see sometimes in comments or some of the talent going against us in promos will call us old and talk about how old we are. Dude, I can literally be your dad, but I’m more fit than you. I can beat your ass into a coma if I wanted to. There’s nothing you can do about it. So if you are calling me old and you don’t look half as good as I do, and I’m twice your age, what’s your problem? The fact that we’re all where we’re at, and we can still go the way we do. And like I said, Bobby and Shelton, they look better now than they did 10 years ago. I laugh at the old comments because yeah, I’m a grey beard, but you should be aware of an old man in a game where men die young.

AG: Are you guys wanting to capture the Trios Titles eventually?

MVP: Absolutely. I have got to keep reminding everybody, because all of these people ask why Bobby hasn’t gone for the AEW title, it’s the same with Shelton. It’s because we don’t want to yet. We want to enjoy this part of our career, being brothers and having fun together. Because Bobby specifically said he had never been a Tag Team champion in his career. He’s held all the significant titles, but never had a tag team championship title. So that was by design. Alright, Bobby, let’s add to your collection. Somebody posted a meme of Bobby with all the belts that he’s won and how many times he’d won stuff and I think people don’t realise how decorated a champion Bobby is. And Shelton as well. But Bobby said he wanted to be a tag team champion. And since I haven’t retired yet, let’s get the trios titles. Let’s get that business done. And then once we do that, then everybody on the AEW roster is in big trouble because I’m setting the dogs loose. I’m setting Shelton and Bobby on singles title runs, and nobody’s safe, nobody.

AG: How much are you enjoying your feud with Ricochet and The Demand?

MVP: It’s been a blast, man. It’s been a blast. I see such a huge upside to those guys. They need reps. And there’s no substitution for reps. And working with them, they’re so eager to learn. They want to get better, they want to work hard. They really just wanna work and they want to do good. It’s my opinion that Ricochet is doing the best work of his career. And it’s funny because years ago when we were at this indie company that used to run out of South Florida. Ricochet was there, and he went out and it may have been with Swerve Strickland. They had an amazing match. It was a super indie-rific match. And I told Ricochet afterwards, I said ‘when you learn how to work, you’re gonna be good.’ And he didn’t like that at the time, but years later we laugh about it because now he understands what I was telling him. And now he’s hit his stride. He’s got it now. He understands it. You don’t have to do everything you can do because you can do it. The whole idea is to pull an emotional response out of the audience, and you do that more with your character than you do with your moves. The moves are illustrations to the story, but now he’s getting more of a reaction. The other night here in Houston, they wouldn’t let him talk. Every time he tried to talk, they were booing and telling him to shut the F**k up and it was good. So that’s the essence of what we do. When you pull emotion out of the audience, people clapping and cheering because an incredible aerial maneuver is great, but nobody is gonna hate you for doing that. So now he’s able to still do these awesome aerial maneuvers when the time calls for it, but now he’s getting an emotional response from the audience, and that’s what sells tickets.

AG: Is it tougher for you or easier to work with a guy like Ricochet who can do all the high flying moves?

MVP: It’s super easy because he does all the work. All I have to do in a match with a guy like Ricochet, I just have to be able to post and base for him. Then he makes all my shit look even better. Because if I hit him with a clothesline, he does an inside out bump. If I hit him with a big boot, he makes all of my shit look infinitely better. What he’s able to do with his body control and how he sells the little details, how he’ll scrunch up his fingers and arcs his back and bounce. He’s brilliant. I love working with him.

AG: Who’s an easier night’s work, Rey Mysterio or Ricochet?

MVP: Rey Mysterio. Now the thing is with Rey, if you touch him with one finger like that, the crowd boos, boo, ohh, boo. He’s so beloved and he’s the greatest Luchador of all time and he’s so beloved. He just makes everything easy, if you want to take a West Coast pop, you’re gonna get a 6-1-9, you’re going to get a splash and it’s over just like that. But through that, anything you do to him, you just punch him, kick him, slam him, and you get all the heat in the building. Rey is one of the greatest people I’ve ever known. Man I say this all the time. There are three people that I know, if you come up and tell me that they screwed you over or that they did you wrong in some kind of way, I’m just gonna punch you in the mouth straight away because I know you’re lying. Rey Mysterio, Norman Smiley and Kofi Kingston. If those three people come up and tell me they did you wrong in some sort of way, I’m gonna punch you in the mouth because you’re lying.

AG: Can we have a word on how it is to work with Tony Khan and how different it is working with him over Vince McMahon and Triple H?

MVP: It’s very different because Tony Khan is a completely different human being, with a completely different personality. He’s just a nice guy and a good person. I’ve never had any kind of a relationship with Triple H. Vince I was able to work with and with Vince, Vince knows exactly what he wants, how he wants to do it, and if you can present something that is better, sometimes Vince will listen, but when Vince has a vision, that’s it. You go with it. There’s no second guessing it. Tony Khan is a lot more interactive and will take in a lot more ideas and he’s more willing to be pliable when it comes to his vision and how he wants to present it and what he’s willing to do to add to it or to change it. He’s just a nice guy. It’s funny, like his energy level. He’s always happy and I’ve never seen him be mean to somebody. It’s a much different environment where WWE was very corporate, very tight laced, for some people even uncomfortable and they’re made to feel like they’re walking on eggshells and people are scared of getting fired. That environment doesn’t exist in AEW. It’s way more relaxed. No one’s walking on eggshells. The boss has time for everybody. And it’s super fun. No stress.

AG: Do you think WWE are stuck in the past?

MVP: I can’t say because they’re under new management, so I have no idea how things are. I mean, I’ve got some friends that I talk to over there periodically, but we do talk, we don’t talk much about work, so I have no idea what’s going on over there these days under the new management, I don’t know how things are, so I can’t comment.

AG: I was watching Instagram Reels last night and a video came up where you were cutting a promo on Smackdown and the crowd were chanting ‘Power Ranger’ at you because of your all blue gear. How hard is it to speak on the mic and stay in character when the crowd are saying things like that?

MVP: Well, it’s easy for me because. I understood the business. Of course I’m gonna sell that I’m angry and let them see I’m not happy with them calling me names. So staying in character is easy because my character is a heel. But in terms of talking, that’s fine because I know the people at home are gonna pick up what I’m saying on the mic. So I’m not concerned about the people in the arena hearing me, you know? I’ll play along for a little bit, but the message has to get out. I’m getting that message out to all of the fans at home watching, not just the small group of fans that are in the arena. So being able to do that is fine, but I used to always say to myself, you guys aren’t real wrestling fans because you don’t call Liger a power ranger, so you’re not real wrestling fans.

AG: We recently spoke to D-Von Dudley, and he said that he experienced racism back in the two early 2000s in WWE. Have you ever experienced anything like that in the industry?

MVP: Not blatantly, not overtly blatantly. I have been around people that told off-color jokes that are probably inappropriate in the workplace. But I didn’t take it personally. I love a little off-color humour at times, but there are people that if you ask around ew-WWE circles that everybody kind of agrees that this person has dropped some n-bombs. I say that in terms of yeah, I believe this person has dropped some n-bombs at some point, but I personally have never had anyone say something overtly racist to me so I can’t make that claim, but I do suspect that there are some people who are no strangers to saying those things.

AG: Was it more common then than people may think back in the early 2000s?

MVP: Before my time perhaps, because I’ve heard Teddy Long tell some stories about some people that were overtly racist to him without care. Different OG names and guys like D-Von said he’s experienced things like that. Actually I made a joke and I made it uncomfortable when we were talking about me being in the Inferno Match. We had a private meeting and with Vince and there were a few other of the producers and technical people around, and when they told me what they wanted to do, I made the off-color joke of ‘I sense this isn’t some of your first time setting a black man on fire’ and that went over very uncomfortably. I was trying to make a joke, so I was making an off-color joke. But it was funny to me at the time, but I personally didn’t experience it blatantly to my face. But I’ve heard things said about other people that experienced things. Mark Henry had an episode, D-Von says he’s had an episode. I think Shelton said he had an episode. But sometimes it comes disguised as humour. Sometimes that is how people really feel but they try and laugh it off. But that’s not just WWE, that’s just certain people that have a certain mentality. So in conclusion, I never personally dealt with anything overtly to my face.

AG: You’re a huge fan of Japanese wrestling, what did you learn from working with New Japan-Pro Wrestling back in 2011-2013?

MVP: Oh man. I had so much fun. I got to work with my Japanese wrestling heroes. I got to learn, but a lot of it I kind of knew because I was such a fan of Japanese wrestling. And one of the biggest compliments I got one day, Shinsuke (Nakamura) told me after a match. He said, ‘all the boys say your style and timing are very Japanese.’ Because my dream was Wrestle Kingdom ,Tokyo Dome. My goal was WWE, WrestleMania. I dreamed about wrestling in Japan and professionally speaking, I wanted to one day wrestle in WWE. And I was able to experience both, except I got to do it in reverse. I got to go to Japan, already established as a star. So my treatment was better and once I went to Japan, a lot of Japanese wrestling fans are aware of American wrestling, but they don’t watch it. So you have to go and get yourself over. All over again, you come with credibility, but now in front of them you have to show them why you’re good, why they should cheer you or boo you. So I learned how to get myself over in another environment, in another country with another language and another style. And I loved it. I learned volumes, man. Just pacing and timing. And I remember sending out a tweet years ago with a picture of Shinsuke Nakamura and Machine Gun (Karl Anderson). And I said, these are two of the best wrestlers you’ve never heard of and years later, those guys went on to become stars, and Shinsuke has done phenomenal for himself. My best matches in Japan were with Shinsuke.

AG: Kurt Angle said Rikishi once pranked him by not wiping his butt before giving him the stinkface! What’s the best or most memorable prank you’ve pulled on a fellow wrestler or vice-versa?

MVP: I don’t play pranks, man. No, I don’t play that sh*t. Your idea of funny is my idea of disrespect. I don’t like guys shaving guys eyebrows off when they’re asleep, I don’t do stuff like that man. We might be able to play a prank. Like, the one prank I was in on was this one young wrestler got pissed the night before. And the next day he didn’t remember what happened. He was alright, but he was just wasted. And we pranked him and told him that he pissed on Rey Mysterio, Louis Vuitton boots. And he was like, ‘you gotta be kidding me.’ And we were like, ‘yeah man, those are $800 boots, man.’ So every week we made him pay a hundred dollars. kitty to pay for those $800 boots. And then after he paid all the money, then we gave him the money back and told him, ‘nah, you didn’t piss on the boots, man. You just got f**ked up.’ We were just ribbing, you know? So it was funny. It was okay. But nobody got a pill in their drink. Nobody got their hair cut off. Nobody got anything that was disrespectful. And a lot of the pranks I hear about guys playing on each other, that’s not funny. That’s disrespectful to me. So call me a sour puss, but I’m with Ron Simmons on that sh*t. Don’t play with me, man. I respect you. You respect me. Let’s laugh. Let’s have a good time. But there’s certain lines we shouldn’t cross.

AG: It seems as though Bret Hart is very much on the same page as you when it comes to Triple H. He recently labelled him “a phony” and somebody who “became Vince’s hit guy.” Do you know of many ex-WWE athletes who actually respect this guy?

MVP: Man. I agree with Bret’s assertion. I’ve said before, I call him a coward and a liar. Let’s put it like this. If you really want to, you can go to YouTube and you can look up the interviews of various wrestlers through the years of what their opinion is of the man. Interviews of guys that were his friends, what they had to say about the guy. I can think of more guys that dislike him than I can think of guys that do like him. And people say MVP’s salty or bitter. Like, no, I have personal issues with the dude, stemming from professional stuff, but just the things that he does, how he carries himself, I just don’t have respect for the guy.The newer generation, they don’t know that guy yet. So the one of those that came up underneath him in NXT, they think he’s brilliant and a lot of them should for the hand he’s had in their career. But the guys that had to work with him back in the day will tell you a different story almost overwhelmingly. And so it’s not just me saying it. There’s guys who are way up the totem pole than me that are telling you that this guy’s, no bueno.

AG: Who’s the strongest wrestler you’ve been in the ring with?

MVP: Mark Henry. There’s nobody in the business stronger, nobody.

AG: The funniest wrestler you’ve ever met?

MVP: Shane Helms. He’s got the quickest wit on the planet.

AG: The stiffest wrestler you’ve ever been in the ring with?

MVP: The Great Khali.

AG: The best technical wrestler you’ve ever been in the ring with?

MVP: That’s a toss up between Kurt Angle or Chris Benoit.

AG: And the last one, what’s the most painful finisher you’ve ever taken?

MVP: Oh, easily The Great Khali’s chop across the head. There was no work on that at all. That was just that big thick acromegaly bone coming down on your skull and I think universally,