After a fairly successful first tenure with WWE (albeit one where he was saddled with the dreaded losing streak gimmick), MVP headed to Japan to pursue a dream. Never one to hide his passions, MVPs love of puroresu is pretty well documented and throughout his time with NJPW it was pretty clear that he was having the time of his life. He would also make history in May 2011 when he was crowned the first ever IWGP Intercontinental Champion, beating Toru Yano in the final. His reign would last 148 days before being ended by Masato Tanaka. Despite not winning any more titles in his time in Japan. MVP was as popular a gaijin (Japanese term for foreigner) as the company has seen in recent times and was a highly respected singles and tag wrestler. He took part in two G1 Climax tournaments with middling success, before leaving New Japan in 2013. You can now find MVP wrestling for TNA, at least until that company finally disappears.
Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.
