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.
WWE did drop the ball on The Hurt Business and tried revisiting the concept (to some extent) by pairing Lashley with The Street Profits and B-Fab. The group didn't really connect with fans and Lashley, MVP, and Benjamin are all no longer in WWE.
All signs point to that trio reuniting either in AEW or on the independent scene and, during a recent K&S WrestleFest virtual signing, MVP confirmed that there had been some brief talks in WWE about getting the band back together.
"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."
MVP added, "It’s one thing when we’re told, ‘We’re going to do this’ and steps have been made, and then there is a pivot without a conversation. That’s not good business. I don’t care what anybody thinks. That’s not how you do business. Needless to say, I was very salty about that."
"We had Bobby going from a two-time WWE champion to not being in the conversation or in the title picture at all. Got put with The Street Profits [Montez Ford & Angelo Dawkins], who were white hot, and they got cooled off," the former WWE Superstar noted. "The Street Profits went from being major figures to sitting in catering. I don’t know why. I don’t understand it, but I don’t make decisions in that way."
Mistakes were definitely made but, as Lashly himself has suggested in recent interviews, he just didn't have the same pulling power with Triple H as he did Vince McMahon. If we assume then that The Game didn't view him as a top star the way his predecessor did, it's no wonder The Hurt Business wasn't a priority in the "Triple H Era."
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