The Hurt Business once stood a very real chance of becoming WWE's top heel faction. Led by Bobby Lashley, MVP served as a manager and Shelton Benjamin and Cedric Alexander provided backup starting in 2020.
They were pushed seriously, with Lashley holding the United States Championship and Alexander and Benjamin becoming RAW Tag Team Champions. However, shortly after the All Mighty became WWE Champion, he booted the tag team from the group and remained with MVP until the manager was paired with Omos for what proved to be a largely forgettable alliance.
There's no denying that WWE dropped the ball on The Hurt Business and attempts to revisit the concept (to some extent) by pairing Lashley with The Street Profits and B-Fab fell flat. The group didn't really connect with fans and Lashley, MVP, and Benjamin are all now signed with AEW.
In a new interview, the former WWE Superstar pointed to Triple H being the main reason behind his decision to walk away from the sports entertainment giant.
"I left the first time to go to Japan. This time, I didn’t want to re-sign and I let it be known that I wasn’t going to re-sign because the new management in place...anytime, I don’t care where you work, when new management comes in, it’s good for some people and not for other people," MVP explains in the video below. "New people come in, old people go."
"So I just felt that it was definitely time to go because the new management just wasn’t for me, and I ain’t for him," he added, clearly referring to The Game.
The response to the AEW debuts of Lashley, Benjamin, and MVP has been largely positive, and it comes at a time when Triple H's WWE is being criticised for not spotlighting more Black talent on RAW and SmackDown each week.
Earlier this year, MVP confirmed that there had been some brief talks in WWE about getting The Hurt Business back together before Triple H pulled the plug on the idea.
"We were told we were going to be reunited. I still have a shirt. The shirts were made. Hurt Business on the front. Back in business on the back," he revealed. "They were made. We were told that it was going to happen. Next thing I see, Bobby is with the Street Profits. ‘What happened here?'"
"I get a call from Bruce [Prichard], 'Somebody should have called you. Sorry. We decided we’re going in a different direction.' What the f**k is that? That’s not professional."
You can watch the full interview with MVP in the player below.