MVP explains what it means "to work."
It's not uncommon in wrestling for plans and layouts to change just before something is scheduled to go down. Wrestlers often cite time being cut as a big change that everyone seems to go through at some point in their careers.
Speaking on his Marking Out podcast, MVP recalled a time where Vince McMahon changed the finish to his match seconds before it was scheduled to end.
"Working a match with Cody, he's a great guy and a great worker. That day, they kept changing our time all afternoon, how much time we had for our match. We have 15 minutes, 10 minutes, 12 minutes. They kept changing the time. We were the main event for the NXT show, and it's live. Cody went out first. I think it was Lilian Garcia who was the announcer. I just remember hearing, 'CODY RHODES!' (John) Laurinaitis goes, 'Hey kid, come here.' 'What's up?' 'I need two break spots.' Originally, I was supposed to beat Cody. Whatever reason, they decided...at this point, I was still up [going to win], but instead of the 12 or whatever minutes we had, now we had three segments because they scrapped whatever else they were going to do. We went from having 12-15 minutes to having three segments. [Cody] has no idea, he's out there mentally preparing for whatever we had. I go out there, I do my entrance, the referee comes over, (I say) 'Tell Cody this is the first break spot and this is the second break spot.' The referee goes over and is talking to Cody. From across the ring, I hear Cody go, 'What the fuck.'
"We're going through the match, Cody and I have great chemistry, there was no panic. We're fine, we're just going to work. We get through everything and we're going through the comeback. MVP is supposed to beat Cody. He's bumping and feeding for me, I'm going through the comeback, I grab Cody to hit the playmaker and the referee says, 'Vince says Cody is up! Vince says Cody is up!' We're seconds to going off the air, live. I'm about to hit my finishing move. This match is over. I hear from under my leg, 'What the fuck.' I just say, 'Cody, reverse this, Cross Rhodes.' He came through, hit the reversal, hit the Cross Rhodes, 1, 2, 3, Cody wins.
"We come back through the curtain. Vince takes off the headset and he's laughing. [Imitates Vince laughing]. That shit was funny as hell to him. He thought it was hysterical. If we had fucked that up, he would not have been laughing. It wouldn't have been funny at all. That's why I tell these young guys, 'You have to learn how to work.' I remember being pissed off. Vince thought that shit (was funny), I was not laughing. I remember, I even said some slick shit to Vince. I don't remember what I said, but I said something like, 'Tell the other fuck boys to do that,' something like that. I was hot. I didn't lose it, but I said it enough like, 'Fuck that shit.' He was laughing and thought it was funny. I always cite that story for having the ability to go out there and work live."
Cody and MVP only worked one singles match against each other on NXT back in August 2010. Cody won after nearly 24 minutes.
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