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WWE Superstar Shelton Benjamin has revealed that his original role in The Hurt Business was going to be much different.
The Hurt Business formed on WWE RAW back in May of 2020 and became a fixture of the company's programming during the ThunderDome era.
Bobby Lashley, Shelton Benjamin, and Cedric Alexander got together on a recent episode of WWE's Table For 3 to discuss how the group came together and so much more. During the conversation, Benjamin revealed that his initial role in the group was going to be a Suge Knight-type character that was later given to MVP instead.
"They didn't know what to do with me and what they were doing, you know," Shelton Benjamin said. "I don't think anyone was on board with, myself included. So when you approached [me] with [the idea for The Hurt Business], I think you said I could be the Suge Knight character and everything."
He added:
"As you described it to me, I'm listening. I was just thinking to myself, 'Okay, the more you describe this, that's just not me.' I'm like, the more you talk like, that feels like [MVP] and every time looks like him too. Yeah, so we can be a tag team. But [MVP] is more like what you're describing. That's MVP. You know, that's, that's tailor-made for him."
Shelton Benjamin reveals how Cedric Alexander was selected as the fourth member of The Hurt Business
When the trio's roles were decided, it was up to Lashley, Benjamin, and MVP to figure out the group's fourth member.
While both Ricochet and Apollo Crews were considered, they ultimately decided upon Cedric Alexander to help raise his stock in the company.
"That's when we started talking, okay, 'Who's going to be the fourth member?' We had such a huge talent pool of people we could choose from, you know, Ricochet came up, Apollo came up. We weighed the pros and cons and everybody was like, Nah, Cedric is the one," Shelton Benjamin said. "Part of what we were trying to help elevate other people but first we had to be elevated and I know my stock shot up. I have to believe that [Cedric's] stock shot up when we came together and started working like, you know, now we're working with a monster. It was so much fun and everything came together so organically." [H/T: Fightful]
The Hurt Business was a popular faction during its run. At the height of their dominance, Alexander and Benjamin were the RAW Tag Team Champions, while Lashley held the United States Title all while MVP served as their manager.
The All Mighty is currently on a singles run after ending his heated rivalry with MVP and his new protege Omos.
