The Hurt Syndicate opens up about incomplete WWE journey
The Hurt Syndicate reunited on AEW programming after former WWE Champion Bobby Lashley made his debut in the promotion on Fright Night Dynamite. The group recently shared more about their motivations behind going All Elite.
After MVP's debut on Dynamite: Grand Slam 2024 and then Shelton Benjamin's arrival on the Fifth Anniversary edition of the Wednesday night show, Bobby Lashley made his first appearance in the Tony Khan-led promotion on October 30 to take out Swerve Strickland in the aftermath of the latter's victory over The Gold Standard.
Over the past couple of years, numerous wrestling fans have voiced the opinion that WWE mishandled The Hurt Business, besides criticizing the way the faction was split up back when Lashley, Benjamin, and MVP were still signed with the sports entertainment juggernaut.
Speaking on Close Up w/ Renee Paquette, Montel Vontavious Porter seemingly echoed the views mentioned above when he reflected on the premature dissolution of The Hurt Business and revealed that the former WWE superstars had signed with AEW to conclude their stories properly in the Jacksonville-based company.
"Why now? Quite frankly, because we had an idea that initially was conceived by Bobby [Lashley], and we were able to put it together, and we executed it flawlessly. And it was very organically popular, and unfortunately, it was ended long before anybody was ready for it to end. We felt that we wanted to give our story the proper ending that it deserved, and Tony Khan was kind enough to allow us to bring our conglomerate here and continue doing what we do better than virtually anybody else," MVP said. [00:29 - 1:09]
Bobby Lashley sheds light on the origins of the origins of The Hurt Business in WWE
Later in the same interview, Bobby Lashley discussed the idea of the Hurt Business in backstage discussions with Shelton Benjamin following MVP's 2020 comeback at the Stamford-based company. The All Mighty also expressed his gratitude for having had the opportunity to work in a major wrestling program alongside his friends.
"I always wanted to do this Hurt Business because when I was fighting, my boxing coach used to wear this shirt, Hurt Business, and I always, I just loved it. I loved the name, and I was like, 'Man, I wanna do Hurt Business'... And we were talking backstage, and then we said, 'Alright, [MVP's] there, we got us two, I said, that's already a group. And we were all friends, anyway, we always used to talk, and the best thing is that we had an opportunity to work with your friends. You work with your friends, it's real." [1:45 - 2:11]
Lashley is set to face Swerve Strickland at AEW Full Gear 2024 later this month. It remains to be seen how The New Flavor will fare against the former WWE Champion.
Please credit AEW Close Up with Renee Paquette and add H/T to Sportskeeda for quotations from the article.