Shelton Benjamin was one of the casualties of the latest wave of WWE releases. The former Intercontinental Champion was let go from the company in September 2023, six years after returning from an extended hiatus away from the WWE.
Benjamin initially found success teaming with Chad Gable, but it wasn’t until he joined Bobby Lashley, MVP and Cedric Alexander in 2020 to form the iconic stable called “The Hurt Business” that he became a big part of Monday Night Raw.
The group became one of the most entertaining factions in the WWE, donning designer suits and bringing an air of coolness and danger to the product during a tough time in wrestling, due to the pandemic.
This run saw “The Gold Standard” win the Raw Tag Team Championships alongside Cedric Alexander, while Bobby Lashley won the WWE Championship for the first time in his career in 2020. The group was bigger than the sum of its parts, and fans were disappointed when they were split up in 2022.
Speaking to Kurt Angle on The Kurt Angle Show, Benjamin revealed that the success of the group came because they were friends outside of the ring, and it was fun working with his friends on TV every week.
“We’re actually friends, we actually consult with each other, we actually joke with each other. So, when they started having us work together it was like work became really fun again because I was doing stuff with my friends.”
“At that time of my career, when I was extremely frustrated, it came in as a breath of fresh air and the fact that it was getting over despite not having a crowd.“
After the group disbanded, Benjamin and Alexander continued to team under the name “The Hurt Business”, but found little success until his release in 2023.
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