The Miami Herald is featuring an interview with former WWE star MVP who talks about his departure from the company and wanting to work in Japan.
“I had a year left on my contract. [Executive vice president of talent relations] John Laurinaitis was coming to me to re-sign like he had a number of times. I had actually been avoiding him because I hadn’t made my decision yet. I was still trying to figure out what I wanted to do. I hadn’t come to terms with my decision.
On a professional level it was a culmination of a lot of things. I just wasn’t happy anymore and felt I wasn’t being given the opportunities that I had been given previously. It was time for me to make a decision, and I didn’t want to re-sign. I asked if I could be out of that final year so I could go and pursue my original dream of wrestling in Japan.
I have to say John Laurinaitis gets a bad rap from a lot of people. He is in a really crappy position. His job makes you very unpopular. He and I had a good relationship. He was the guy that hired me and gave me my first opportunity. John Laurinaitis, a.k.a. Johnny Ace, spent 10 years in Japan with the All Japan [Pro Wrestling] promotion. He and I would talk about Japanese wrestling all the time over beers.”He knew about my passion for Japanese wrestling. I made no secret about it. I would talk about it all the time. I expressed to him I wanted to leave here on good terms. There are guys that have left here in the past and have returned, who have done well. Japan is where I always wanted to be. When I presented it to him in those terms, because I didn’t speak to Vince [McMahon], I asked him to speak to Vince for me. He just understood that I wasn’t happy and needed to go. He was very accommodating. That was on a Tuesday at SmackDown!. He called me that Thursday to tell me he spoke to Vince, and Vince agreed to let me out. I can’t tell you how happy I was.”