AEW World Tag Team Champion Shelton Benjamin appeared on Talks Is Jericho to discuss a number of topics, including WWE and Vince McMahon disbanding the Hurt Business.
Benjamin said, “Things were going extremely well over in WWE — and I like to say this because people say WWE. Not WWE, Vince [McMahon], for whatever reason, he decided that the money was with Bobby and MVP as his manager and he was just done with it, the Hurt Business. We never gotten a straight answer as to why. When I initially got the news, I went to Vince and was like — I’d been there for a few years with nothing happened and I was like, I finally have something that we can actually work with and elevate me that benefits the company, especially during the pandemic era because in my opinion, the Hurt Business and Roman Reigns carried WWE during the pandemic era.”
On how splitting up the group felt like a betrayal:
“I felt a bit betrayed because I come here every week, I never complain, I risk my life just like everybody else. When other people wanted to stay home, you never had to question whether or not I’d come to work. So, for us to bear that burden — and mind you, obviously we’re not the only ones. We’re not the only people, but the fact that we were always willing and we were actually producing, for you to just immediately turn around and just kill it, what the fuck man? His comment to me was, ‘We’ve gone as far as we can with the Hurt Business.’”
On how nothing he could do for McMahon could work:
“The Hurt Business was around for eight months before he pulled the plug. When he said that, it was almost like you want to cry inside because nothing I can do for this person seems to help. Nothing’s good enough. I knew then, I don’t really have a future here. At this point, this is just a job where I’m just collecting a check. I want to care, I’ve never been a guy who wants to just sit on the bench and ride the wave that everyone else has created. I want to lead the charge, be the momentum behind the machine. I was like, ‘He’s just never gonna let that happen.’”
You can check out the complete podcast below.
(H/T to Fightful for transcribing the above quotes)
