Business in the new creative management under Triple H's direction. It's just too bad this couldn't have occurred four years ago.
During the pandemic in 2020-2021, one of the top factions was The Hurt Business. The group included Bobby Lashley, Shelton Benjamin, Cedric Alexander, and MVP. During this timeframe, Lashley held the WWE Championship for 196 days, and Benjamin and Alexander held the World Tag Team Championships for 84 days. Not even three years later, three of the four are no longer in WWE. What went wrong?
Why WWE Killed The Hurt Business
What Went Wrong With The Hurt Business in WWE
At this point, it is no secret that The Hurt Business wasn't given a chance to really build anything special. After his exit from the company, Lashley has been very vocal about his disappointment in the follow-up to their booking during the pandemic. During an interview with K&S WrestleFest, he spoke directly about his feelings about how the faction was handled.
"We were on half the show most the time. We came out of the pandemic and people started resurfacing, 'Oh, I'm ready to work.' What about the guys who were putting the time in during this dangerous time? We got overlooked. That was a little bit of a spit in the face."
In hindsight, Lashley believed the reason they were never given another shot at reforming the faction was because WWE's creative regime at the time only believed in the group while other major superstars were absent due to the pandemic. While Lashley was still given some opportunities at holding the United States Championship, Benjamin and Alexander's television time became more infrequent.
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Since his WWE departure, MVP has also aired out some behind-the-scenes reasons why The Hurt Business ended. In what is now a deleted tweet, he claimed that former Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon wanted to turn the group into the "Nation of Domination 2.0," which was a faction from the 90s that was solely based on The Black Panther Party and the Nation of Islam movement. Obviously, this idea didn't sit well with the of The Hurt Business. In hindsight, the two sides couldn't come to on the direction of the group. That is what led them to a new beginning in AEW.
AEW Are Showing WWE How Badly They Messed Up The Hurt Business
AEW Is Doing What WWE Should've Tried With The Hurt Business
Since their debut on AEW Dynamite in November 2024, AEW has done a phenomenal job of rebuilding The Hurt Business into The Hurt Syndicate. For starters, the decision to crown Lashley and Benjamin the AEW World Tag Team Champions so quickly is a great retaliation to how things ended for them in WWE.
Last month on Talk Is Jericho, Benjamin mentioned he had a discussion with Vince McMahon after the decision was made to end The Hurt Business.
"‘We’ve gone as far as we can with the Hurt Business.’ The Hurt Business was around for eight months before he pulled the plug. When he said that, it was almost like you want to cry inside because nothing I can do for this person seems to help. Nothing’s good enough. I knew then, I don’t really have a future here. At this point, this is just a job where I’m just collecting a check. I want to care, I’ve never been a guy who wants to just sit on the bench and ride the wave that everyone else has created. I want to lead the charge, be the momentum behind the machine. I was like, ‘He’s just never gonna let that happen.'"
Although Alexander is still in WWE on the WWE NXT brand, Benjamin, Lashley, and MVP have all been given a second chance. The decision to split up The Hurt Business for seemingly no benefit has become one of WWE's most reckless mistakes. Not only are they missing out on tremendous talents, it also contributed to the negative aura that was tainting the creative decisions of the McMahon management.
The Hurt Business was composed of veterans who spent over a decade with the company and were putting their bodies and lives on the line every week during the pandemic. The faction had great workers, a believable champion with Lashley, and an entertainment factor aided by MVP's skills as a manager. Unfortunately for them, quickly after disbanding the Hurt Business, WWE would understand the value of a strong faction in a long-term storyline with the unprecedented success of The Bloodline.
Now known as The Hurt Syndicate, Lashley, Benjamin, and MVP they deserve every bit of airtime they can get with AEW. They've already been established as a force to be reckoned with in the company. Now it's all up to Tony Khan to follow up their new era in AEW. He has an ample opportunity to make WWE regret their terrible decision even more.
Sources: K&S Wrestlefest; Talk Is Jericho
