Last year MVP, Shelton Benjamin and Bobby Lashley reunited in AEW under the name The Hurt Syndicate. Since then they’ve become one of the top acts in the company, but rumors about their status have been making the rounds on social media lately.
During a recent Twitter Space from The Wrestling Binder’s JCup2013 it was claimed that MVP has rubbed a lot of people in AEW the wrong way, which has resulted in backstage heat.
Fightful Select is reporting that they haven’t heard anything regarding Bobby Lashley or Shelton Benjamin, but it is well known backstage that MVP does not like Speedball Mike Bailey. MVP made that clear according to a number of AEW talent, and it’s also being said that MVP did not want The Hurt Syndicate to lose to JetSpeed. No one who spoke on the subject knew of a specific reason in regard to why MVP doesn’t like Mike Bailey.
There was a pitch for FTR to win at All In and start a redemption story. A pitch was also made for FTR to face Will Ospreay and Swerve Strickland after All In, but creative plans for Ospreay were nixed due to his injury. The idea was that FTR would go on to face Cope and Christian Cage at some point. The claim internally is that The Hurt Syndicate said no to facing FTR at All In and the Forbidden Door pay-per-view.
MVP stated that he preferred The Hurt Syndicate to lose the belts to younger teams with his preferences being Gates of Agony, The Outrunners and Private Party. It was noted that they would have been open to discussions about losing to Will Ospreay and Swerve, but again those plans were nixed because of Ospreay’s injury.
There is also said to be frustration in the locker room as the team are heels who do cool moves, beat everyone up, and then high five the fans on their way out. There’s currently no word on The Hurt Syndicate leaving AEW anytime soon as all three members of the group have multiple years left on their contracts.
Regarding MJF’s involvement with The Hurt Syndicate, it was hinted that it was supposed to last longer, but there is no issues between MJF and The Hurt Syndicate behind the scenes.