MVP has opened up on the drug culture in WWE and how the introduction of the company’s wellness program saved lives.
MVP first signed with WWE in 2005, over a year before the promotion introduced its wellness program, which cracked down on the abuse of pharmaceuticals in the locker room. On the latest episode of his Marking Out podcast, the star explained that, prior to the program coming into force, many young stars saw getting involved in the drug culture as a way to become “one of the boys.”
“At one point, guys were taking pain pills because, hey, you got an injury. If you don’t work, you don’t get paid.
“The abuse of the pharmaceuticals that I saw from guys that were friends of mine, and some of them are no longer here. So, you know, the whole drug culture was a big thing when I started and it was a way to get in, a way to be accepted, a way to become one of the boys.”
However, MVP refused to get into that side of the locker room, saying his experience in prison meant he was prepared to push back when other wrestlers tried to intimidate him.
“That used to bother me, because remember, when I came I was coming out of prison and into wrestling, so this wasn’t my first time away from home. You Ain’t intimidating me, I’m not afraid to say, ‘No, I’m good on that.’
“So I never got into the drug culture early on, but I would see other young guys who were trying to be accepted and trying to be cool, that would come up, be like, ‘Hey fellas, look what I got.’
“They just wanted to be accepted. They wanted to be cool, and that drug culture was something that was big.
MVP Says Wellness Program Quickly Decimated Drug Culture In WWE
When the wellness program was initiated, MVP says that pill sharing was “decimated” in the company, something he believes saved lives.
“The wellness program came along, top-down effect. There were no shaking pill bottles in the locker room anymore. And that culture of sharing pills got decimated with the wellness program.
“We used to joke around and say, ‘Man ever since they started the wellness program, I don’t feel so well.’ But it saved lives, right, in the grand scheme of things, it truly did.”
MVP is currently signed to AEW, where he is part of the Hurt Syndicate alongside Shelton Benjamin and Bobby Lashley. While he still gets in the ring for the promotion, the star recently admitted he expects to wrestle for the last time in 2027.
