MVP has heat in AEW.
According to Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select, the current AEW star has gained a certain amount of heat due to the creative decisions MVP has made in the past couple of months.
The noise about MVP started when Wrestling Binder’s JCup2013 brought up how this has been circulating backstage for quite some time. One of the big reasons that MVP has some heat on him is his unwillingness to lose to certain teams, such as FTR.
Reportedly, AEW seriously considered FTR beating Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin for the AEW World Tag Team titles at All In. They were going to follow-up with another victory at Forbidden Door. However, MVP has shut that story down as he wants the Hurt Syndicate to drop the belts to young talent instead.
It’s being said that MVP listed Gates of Agony, The Outrunners, and Private Party as teams he'll be comfortable losing to. The problem is, The Hurt Syndicate essentially squashed Private Party and AEW has done nothing with them since. The Outrunners didn’t fare much better against Lashley and Benjamin either. The Gates of Agony lost to the Hurt Syndicate rather decisively as well. That isn’t to say that the company can’t build a story around these teams coming back and beating The Hurt Syndicate, but creative doesn’t seem interested in going that route, which is why those suggestions feel hollow within many in the company.
Some of the talent also haven’t been a fan of the way The Hurt Syndicate has been presented. Lashley, Benjamin, and MVP are supposed to be heels, yet they engage with the crowd as babyfaces such as high fives after their matches.
One of the more notable things in the report is that MVP dislikes Speedball Mike Bailey. Why? The reasoning is unknown. The report states that there wasn't an incident between Bailey and MVP, but several wrestlers confirmed that MVP was firm on the Hurt Syndicate not dropping the belt to JetSpeed. While it was never confirmed that Bailey and Kevin Knight were locked in to win the AEW World Tag Team titles, MVP’s stance hasn’t sat well with others.
It’s emphasized that Lashley and Benjamin have nothing to do with any of this drama. It’s not clear how much influence MVP has over creative decisions, but clearly, he has plenty if he's deciding who The Hurt Syndicate could drop the belts to. The AEW eliminator tag team tournament has just gotten interesting as the final four teams are The Young Bucks, Brodido (Brody King and Bandido), FTR, and Bang Bang Gang (Juice Robinson & Austin Gunn). Unless Brodido wins, every other team on this list has won the AEW Tag Titles previously. Could that mean The Hurt Syndicate will win at Forbidden Door?
We’ll surely find out soon.