Wrestling's "MVP" Motivates Troubled Teens
Ask any wrestling enthusiast: MVP is a WWE superstar.CBS News correspondent Michelle Miller reports he's an international celebrity with a seven-figure salary to boot.
"My signature move is the ballin' elbow, because I'm a baller," MVP said. "A big baller, big money, big lifestyle."
World Wrestling Entertainment
Full Impact Pro Wrestling
That's today. Just 10 years ago, MVP (that's short for Montel Vontavius Porter) didn't have fans - he had guards and he was serving time behind bars.
"By 14, the graffiti crew turned into a gang," MVP said. "And about15 of us ststealing cars. At 15 I was arrested for the first time for armed robbery," he said. "At 16, I was facing 11 life felonies."
The teen, born Alvin Burke, was sentenced to 18 years for armed robbery and kidnapping. With good behavior he served 9 years and learned a valuable lesson.
Dale Earnhardt Jr, Talks about MVP
"Crime does pay, it pays well," he said. "But what they don't tell you is you have to pay it all back with interest."
So now, in between his over 150 wrestling tour dates, the 37-year-old has become a champion of a different sort, reaching out to troubled teens and hoping they learn from his mistakes.
"With him being the living example, it makes everything seem more doable," said Cadet Stephen Jones.
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His message is "anyone can do anything" - but they just need a little help. In MVP's case it was a corrections officer who trained him to be a semi-professional wrestler.
"Sometimes that's all the kids need, just one person to look at them and say, 'man he's just like me. If he can do it, I can do it.' And that means a lot to me," MVP said.
MVP, now the official spokesman for the National Guard's Youth Challenge program, visits schools and juvenile detention centers to share his story.
National Guard Youth Challenge Program
"When I talk about the kids that I'm able to influence them in a positive light, that's one of the few times I don't have words," MVP said.
For a man who's rarely short on words, that's really saying a lot.
MVP will be wrestling in WrestleMania XXVI on Sunday, March 28.
