AEW star MVP touts Tony Khan's leadership, talks untapped potential of Bobby Lashley, Shelton Benjamin
Time goes by so quickly sometimes it’s unreal to think that MVP and his Hurt Syndicate faction members, Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin, have been at All Elite Wrestling (AEW) for nearly two full years.
MVP first debuted on Sept. 25, 2024, after a second stint with WWE. Lashley and Benjamin would debut on "Dynamite" a few weeks later. Since then, MVP has guided the duo to one AEW tag team championship reign.
He reflected on his time with AEW in a recent interview with Fox News Digital, contrasting the company with other places where he’s worked.
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"AEW is really cool because the corporate culture there is so different from the other places that I’ve worked. Tony Khan is extremely passionate about professional wrestling. For him, it’s not just some business venture, he truly loves pro wrestling," he said. "He eats it, he drinks it, he breathes it. He’s been a wrestling fan since he was a small child. He knows more wrestling probably than anybody I know just because of his encyclopedic knowledge of history. And working for him is a pleasure. The climate, the atmosphere there is so relaxed and everybody’s passionate.
"Everybody knows we have an opportunity with AEW to create something new. And WWE has been ‘the’ company and AEW has come along and has given wrestling fans a legitimate alternative to the WWE brand. I don’t get into the tribalism. I love professional wrestling and I don’t care what three letters are in front of it. The tribalism is ridiculous. I eat at McDonald’s and Burger King. … And at this stage of my career, AEW has a lot of young talent who have huge upside but lots of them are still learning how to do TV and how to approach professional wrestling from a television perspective.
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"So, I have enough experience working across various companies and doing TV literally around the world that I’m able to impart some of my experience on them to hope to grow individual talent and collectively contribute to the growth of the company. So, I love it, just because the atmosphere there is so comfortable and you know, at least from my experience and what I think most people from AEW will tell you, it’s refreshing to work for a boss who truly cares about his talent and who cares about professional wrestling as an art form, as form of entertainment and not just a bottom line business venture."
Benjamin and Lashley still look and perform as well as they did when they first started with WWE. Benjamin will turn 51 and Lashley will turn 50 in July.
MVP said the duo are "still capable of virtually anything," even at their age.
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"Bobby and Shelton, they didn’t tell me but they found the fountain of youth," he told Fox News Digital. "I wish they would smarten me up because I don’t know where that is. It seems like Shelton, now at 50, is better than he’s ever been and he hasn’t lost a step. He still looks amazing. Bobby, if you take a picture of Bobby from when he debuted and put it to a picture of him right now, there’s virtually no difference. They’re still capable of virtually anything. They still have awesome matches with younger talent. In terms of what the untapped potential is, we’re the Syndicate man – domination."
The Hurt Syndicate will play a major role at Double or Nothing on Sunday night in New York. Benjamin and Lashley will team up with Chris Jericho, Kenny Omega, Jack Perry, Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson in a Stadium Stampede Match against Ricochet, Bishop Kaun, Toa Liona, Mark Davis, Andrade El Idolo, Clark Connors and David Finlay.
What can pro wrestling fans expect from a Stadium Stampede Match, which debuted at Double or Nothing in 2019? MVP put it simply.
"I’ll sum it up in two words: chaos and violence."
