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The UK Sun features an audio interview with WWE World champion Edge and WWE United States champion MVP, which you can check out by clicking here. Highlights of the interview featured:
MVP on the Wellness Policy Saving His Life: "A lot of the media shows that I've seen. The emphasis has been on steroids and things. In WWE, that's a culture that has kind of passed. Once upon a time, guys may have been chugging beer in the locker room. Now, it's more about protein shakes. It's a more health and business than it has been in the past. Everyone talked about steroids, steroids, steroids but no one focuses on the other aspect. If anything, the fact that it found the issue with my heart and may have saved my life, that should have been a major story, but no one carried it, nobody cared."
Edge on inspirations in the business: "Shawn Michaels was a huge influence. Bret Hart was a huge influence. Hulk Hogan was the person who turned me onto the industry with his larger than life cartoon character persona. Ric Flair. Then there were guys like Randy Savage, Ted DiBiase, Cowboy Boy Orton, Mr. Perfect, guys that once I started to understand to understand the intricacies of what I was really watching, I paid attention to, and then I morphed into the Shawn, the Bret thing and moved away from the Hulk Hogan...I always loved him, but when I started to see there was more of an art to this, high impact, the interest was there."
Edge on Who He Wants at Wrestlemania: "For me, Undertaker."
MVP on Mania: "Most likely, the return of Matt Hardy, but it remains to be seen."
MVP on loving International talents: "I grew up in Miami in Florida, so I had more of a Southern feel. I actually got to see Dusty Rhodes....once I broke into the business and started training...as I was blessed with people to introduce me to European and Japanese wrestling, that's where I became familiar with names like Johnny Saint and Rollerball Rocco and all these guys. Japanese wrestling, I was a huge fan with Sayama, the original Tiger Mask. Some of his matches with Dynamite Kid were years ahead of their time."
Edge on Whether Smackdown is the premier show: "I've always said both shows are really different. It's kind of like comparing the Yankees and the Red Sox. It really is two different fields....I think maybe with them missing John, if you look at it as a race, maybe we're a little bit ahead with Undertaker, Batista, Rey Mysterio, myself and MVP, we're pretty loaded, but their's is too - Triple H, Shawn Michaels and so on. It's two different shows."
Edge being disappointed with his short John Cena feud: "From a company standpoint, I think we could have run a lot longer, especially since John was getting booed against everyone but me at the time...My mentality become, "OK, well watch what I do at Wrestlemania."
The pair also discuss the art of putting together a good match and doing too much in one match, doing less in order to get your persona over and learning how to slow down, how much of the Lita situation led to Edge's rise as a top heel, Edge's Wellness policy suspension, WWE catching MVP's heart defect via the Wellness Policy testing and more.
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