A TRIBUTE TO THE "NATURE BOY" RIC FLAIR

                                                 Working with a legend

MVP, whose 343-day reign as U.S. champ was the longest in WWE history, has enjoyed a number of highlights during his relatively short wrestling career. Two of his biggest, he says, involve his wrestling hero, 16-time world champion Ric Flair.

"The first one was the VIP Lounge where Nature Boy was my guest in Birmingham, Ala. The writers will probably hate me for saying this, but right before we stepped outside, we had our scripts, and Naitch looked at me and said, ‘Kid, we don’t need this, do we?’ I said absolutely not. We threw them away and went out there and did it the old-fashioned way. And it was exhilarating."

MVP’s character, much like the Nature Boy, lives a glamorous life of global jet-setting, fancy clothes, exquisite jewelry and beautiful women.

"For him to say, ‘Kid, you know what, you remind me of a young Ric Flair,’ that’s praise from Caesar."

The second highlight, says MVP, was a match with Flair at Madison Square Garden at the 2008 Royal Rumble that stemmed from the VIP Lounge confrontation. It was during Flair’s last run where he would retire if he lost.

"It was my first actual match in Madison Square Garden, and it was his last match in Madison Square Garden. And I had the honor of tapping out to the figure four. It doesn’t get any better than that."