Following his surprise at the Royal Rumble, MVP returned this past Monday for a match on Raw against Rey Mysterio, which the performer is stating was his final WWE match.
The 46-year old entered the Rumble as a surprise in the #12 slot and was eliminated by Brock Lesnar in his first WWE match since 2010. Following the loss to Mysterio the next night in San Antonio, he confirmed it was his final WWE match but that he isn’t finished wrestling yet.
MVP signed with WWE in 2005 and was assigned to Deep South Wrestling before the call-up to SmackDown in 2006. He was pushed out of the gate and would engage in programs with Kane and Chris Benoit, including a match with Benoit at WrestleMania 23 in April 2007. He became United States champion for the first time in May 2007 defeating Benoit with two straight falls in a two-of-three falls match. MVP held the title for close to a year before losing to Matt Hardy in April 2008.
In March 2009, he regained the United States title from Shelton Benjamin and dropped it to Kofi Kingston in June. After a run on Raw, he was drafted back to SmackDown in 2010 and at this point, the company had cooled off on emphasizing MVP and would be let out of his contract in December that year.
In 2011, he joined New Japan Pro Wrestling with one of his goals to work at the Tokyo Dome and would do so at Wrestle Kingdom VI and VII in 2012 and 2013. He also became the inaugural IWGP Intercontinental champion in May 2011 as the promotion toured the U.S. prior to their accessibility on UStream and later New Japan World for non-Japanese fans.
This was followed by stints with TNA and MLW in the United States along with independent dates that he been working. In January 2018, he had a cameo on the 25th Anniversary of Raw during a backstage segment.
