The Hurt Business: Does AEW Have Enough Room For Bobby Lashley, Shelton Benjamin and MVP?

Bobby Lashley, Shelton Benjamin and MVP are all free agents. The trio all departed WWE at separate times, Benjamin being the first to exit after he was released in September 2023. Lashley and MVP followed suit, as both men’s contracts reportedly expired this past August, neither electing to re-sign. Benjamin and MVP have both made their post-WWE presences felt on the independent circuit, with Benjamin wrestling for PROGRESS in the United Kingdom while MVP showed face at GCW Bloodsport to set a match against Josh Barnett into motion. Lashley has been quite the opposite, laying low within the wrestling world save for a couple of cryptic social media posts.

Collectively, Lashley, Benjamin, and MVP were the original three members of The Hurt Business, a fan-favorite WWE faction that dominated WWE Monday Night Raw during the pandemic era. The group, which also included current WWE star Cedric Alexander, was unexpectedly disbanded in the lead up to WWE WrestleMania 37, and while a couple of reunions were teased, The Hurt Business never returned to full-time operations. Now that the trio are without the bounds of WWE contracts, The Hurt Business reforming seems to not a matter of if, but rather when and where.

AEW Holds Discussions With The Hurt Business

All eyes have been on All Elite Wrestling as The Hurt Business’s new office of operations.

Earlier this week, reports emerged that Bobby Lashley, Shelton Benjamin and MVP have had discussions with AEW. This comes a couple of weeks after a trademark was filed for “The Hurt Syndicate” by the same company that trademarked “MVP” and “Ghetto Strong Style,” the latter of which was MVP’s New Japan Pro Wrestling theme song.

Does AEW Have Room For The Hurt Business?

“Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.”

That age-old principle is largely applicable to All Elite Wrestling’s free agent strategy. AEW President Tony Khan has made multiple blockbuster signings in 2024, namely Kazuchika Okada and Mercedes Moné, and both of those talents have been regularly utilized across all AEW programming.

That said, for every properly-utilized star is at least a couple of talents that are registered MIA. Miro and Ricky Starks come to mind, as those two fan-favorites have been absent from television for well over six months with no real explanation for their sabbaticals. Other once white-hot signings like Andrade and Keith Lee came into AEW guns blazing but failed to sustain that initial momentum after their opening feuds.

AEW’s Success With Booking Factions

One common denominator in those aforementioned struggling signings is that they were all singles competitors. 

Since the company’s television inception in Fall 2019, AEW has been the land of factions. Talent that struggled to make it onto AEW Dynamite by their lonesome became weekly regulars thanks to their associations with groups. Angelo Parker and Matt Menard in Jericho Appreciation Society. Wheeler Yuta in Blackpool Combat Club. Shawn Spears in The Pinnacle. This is something that The Hurt Business has working in its favor: it’s a lot easier to bring in a trio that shares the screen with another multi-man faction than attempt to book three individual new signings.

As for who they stand opposite against, two readymade feuds exist against the new-look Blackpool Combat Club and The Elite. Those two assemblies of antagonists have been holding numbers advantages in their rivalries, as the BCC stands opposite Darby Allin and Bryan Danielson individually right now while The Elite have run singles and tag programs as they defend their respective championships. 

Killing Two Booking Birds With One Stone

The Hurt Business is an immediate natural foil to either of those groups. Should they need a fourth man to completely even the odds, AEW could proactively kill a second bird with one stone by bringing Ricochet into the fold. 

MVP recently revealed that he wanted Ricochet and Cedric Alexander for The Hurt Business in WWE but was told he could only pick one. He opted for Alexander in thinking that Ricochet didn’t need the boost as much. Ricochet’s AEW run only began a couple of weeks ago, but fans are already questioning where he fits in the company’s long-term vision following his inevitable feud with Will Ospreay. Linking him up with The Hurt Business not only gives him more direction but also proactively solves his looming promo problems by making MVP his mouthpiece.

Business can be booming under the AEW umbrella, but it all depends on how long the company is willing to invest.