MVP wants to add a “youthful spark” to The Hurt Syndicate.
Since joining AEW in 2024, The Hurt Syndicate has been a dominant force as a trio consisting of MVP, Bobby Lashley, and Shelton Benjamin. The group did, reluctantly, add MJF to the line-up during 2025. However, Lashley and Benjamin soon turned on the Salt of the Earth and voted to end his short stint with the faction.
Speaking on the Battleground Podcast, MVP explained the decision to kick MJF out of the Hurt Syndicate, saying the AEW World Champion “just didn’t make the cut.”
“We are currently discussing adding a new member. The last go-around, we tried it with MJF. It didn’t go well because he just didn’t make the cut. He wasn’t good enough. He doesn’t have the drive, he doesn’t have internal capability for true violence.”
The experience with MJF “soured” the group on trying another member, but now MVP thinks it could be time to bring in some youthfulness.
“He’s a huckster… I went out on a limb and vouched for him with my colleagues but, he just didn’t make the cut so, that kind of soured us a little bit about trying to add somebody new but, we think we do need a little youthfulness.
“We need a youthful spark, so, it could be about time to add a new member.”
MVP Won’t Be Able To Bring In Former Hurt Business Member
For some time after MVP, Lashley, and Benjamin signed with AEW, many fans thought their former Hurt Business ally in WWE, Cedric Alexander, could join the group too. As it turned out, the promotion may have had the same idea, with Alexander revealing he was offered an AEW contract around the same time as the Hurt Syndicate formed.
The star declined the offer and opted to join TNA. He has since explained that it appeared to him that MVP, Lashley, and Benjamin were planning to end their careers with the Hurt Syndicate, while he plans to keep going for at least another decade. With that in mind, he decided he wanted to be “his own man” instead.
H/T to Fightful for the above transcription.
