MVP has shared a detailed behind-the-scenes account of how The Hurt Business transitioned from WWE to AEW as The Hurt Syndicate, claiming he was the architect behind the move. Speaking on Marking Out with MVP and Dwayne Swayze, he also directed strong criticism at Paul Levesque, calling him “a coward and a liar.”
The decision, according to MVP, was triggered after the release of Shelton Benjamin following his second WWE run. MVP said Benjamin’s exit without an offer for a backstage or developmental role pushed him toward leaving the company.
“When the Hurt Business was broken up, and then Shelton, after 20 years, was unceremoniously released. Just like, okay, you’re done. They didn’t offer him a job as a trainer, as a producer. Like, yo, Shelton is one of the all-time greats. He’s underappreciated. And he doesn’t get the flowers he deserves. But legitimately, Shelton is great. So, having said that, they just released Shelton. So, me and Bobby were still under contract. At this point, I was with Omos and Bobby was doing his thing with the Pride. And I made up my mind, my contract was coming up, me and Bobby had contracts at similar times. And I made up my mind that I don’t want to be here anymore.”
MVP also pointed to communication issues involving Triple H and Bobby Lashley as another factor in his decision.
“And if Triple H is in charge, then I definitely want to be here. Because I don’t like Triple H. I don’t respect Triple H. I think he’s a coward and a liar. And there have been many situations where he was dealing with Bobby, where he didn’t tell Bobby the truth creatively what he wanted to do. There are multiple times that I tried to talk to him. And he would always, I’ll get with you in a little bit or the few times that I got a chance to get him in his office alone, he would call somebody to come in. He didn’t want to deal with me. I don’t respect that. Tell me. I’m a professional. Tell me how you feel. We’re doing business. Based on it, you ain’t got to like me. There’s lots of people throughout my career that I’ve worked with that I don’t like. We’re making money. We’re doing business.”
MVP said he eventually encouraged Lashley to leave WWE and reunite with Benjamin once their contracts expired.
“So, I told Bobby when we were sitting in catering, ‘Dog, I’m not going to re-sign. Don’t resign. You and me get Shelton and let’s go to AEW. Let’s go.’ Bobby was like, ‘Man, I don’t know.’ Like they were paying Bobby bank. And you know, hey, Bobby was on that level that he could just show up and you get easy money. But Bobby’s not that kind of guy. So, after a few weeks, Bobby started to kind of see the environment for what it was, and he was like, ‘Yeah, your right. When our contracts run out, let’s stop re-signing. Let’s get with Shelton. And let’s take this show up across the street.’”
He also revealed that he had already secured the name before the move was finalized.
“And I already knew what I was doing cuz I had already put in a trademark for the Hurt Syndicate. Oh, you already came up with the name. I was already working on this. Already a plan. And I was in Bobby’s ear every week. Bobby, let’s go, dog. Like, we just get Shelton. Let’s go across the street. And it finally came to the point where Bobby was like, ‘Yeah, you’re right. There’s no future here for us. So, my contract ran out. Bobby’s contract ran out. We didn’t re-sign. By our choice. Contrary to what somebody might say, we chose not to cuz we already knew. Shelton lives 5 minutes from me. Like, that’s my brother. So, we had already been talking like, ‘Look, I’m working on Bobby. Let’s get the squad together. And even if we didn’t go to AEW, we could go to Japan. We could do it. Dude, MVP, Shelton Benjamin, and Bobby Lashley. There’s no way it’s going to work.’”
MVP concluded by explaining how AEW officially entered the picture.
“So, at the end of the day, unfortunately, once our contracts were done, we had our conversation about what we wanted to do. We had our representation reach out to Tony Khan. Meetings were had. Tony Khan was like, ‘Yes, I want you guys here.’ And we had a great conversation with Tony Khan, and we were able to take the Hurt Business to AEW as the Hurt Syndicate. So, that whole thing came about because we knew where we wanted to go.”
MVP Reveals How Hurt Syndicate Left WWE for AEW and Slams Triple H
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