MVP Gets Candid About His Wrestling Future and Upcoming Retirement Match

MVP knows that his retirement from wrestling will happen within the next few months as his desire to compete at a high level is dwindling.

MVP | All Elite Wrestling

MVP has yet to wrestle a match this year, but he confirmed Friday that he's not officially retired from in-ring competition just yet. That day, however, is drawing closer.

During the latest episode of the Marking Out Podcast, available now on BZZR and Monday, August 10 on YouTube, MVP revealed that he expects to wrestle his final match sometime in 2027, and he fully plans on staying retired once he does leave his boots in the ring.

The 52-year-old has had a very successful pro wrestling career that dates back over 20 years. He's toured all across the globe with stops in WWE, NJPW, TNA Wrestling, and most recently, All Elite Wrestling, and after enduring years of wear and tear, his body is just about ready to call it quits.

MVP's days as an active competitor will soon come to a close

The Hurt Syndicate | All Elite Wrestling

"My ability to wrestle at a high level is deteriorating because of time," MVP said on this week's Marking Out. "I don't have the explosiveness that I used to. And let me be real with you. I don't have the desire. My passion for actually getting in the ring and having that match isn't what it used to be."

Professional wrestling isn't the young man's game that it once was. 40 is the new 30, as advancements in sports medicine and other aspects of the business have performers reaching and sustaining their prime years far later than the veterans that came before them.

Look no further than MVP's running buddies in The Hurt Syndicate, Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin, as prime examples. Adam Copeland, Christian Cage, and Chris Jericho are also still wrestling at a high level into their early and mid-50's, but all of these men have only succeeded in delaying the inevitable.

"Even when you're like LeBron (James), where you spend millions of dollars on your body trying to stay at peak performance with nutrition, supplements and training, and there's all of these things to do to keep your body at peak performance, father time's undefeated, man,"

MVP last competed on the October 22, 2025 edition of AEW Dynamite. The Hurt Syndicate had an opportunity to capture the AEW Trios Championships, but came up short against Samoa Joe, Katsuyori Shibata and Powerhouse Hobbs, now known as Royce Keys in WWE.

If there is one more championship run in his future, it will likely come in the form of an AEW World Tag Team Championship or AEW World Trios Championship run alongside Lashley and Benjamin. MVP says his aspirations of holding singles gold have already dissipated.

"If Tony (Khan) says, 'Hey, I want you, Bobby and Shelton to do a trios match,' I'm ready," MVP said. "I can give you a tag. But if Tony said, 'Hey, as a gift to you, for your career on the way out the door, I'd like to give you an AEW Championship title run.' I would say no."