Welcome to another eWrestlingNews Question of the Day!
Shelton Benjamin defeated Lio Rush on last night’s episode of AEW Dynamite, but a noteworthy moment happened when MVP still handed a business card to Rush. While MVP’s post-match promo was mostly dismissive of Rush and went straight to trying to woo Swerve Strickland (again) toward joining The Hurt Syndicate, it does present a question worth asking.
..#AEWDynamite pic.twitter.com/6QX8irLggw
— 🖤 Lio Rush (@IamLioRush) October 17, 2024
My question for you today is “Ignoring Swerve Strickland, should Lio Rush and/or possibly anyone else on the AEW roster join MVP and Shelton Benjamin in The Hurt Syndicate?”
Remember to answer with your response in the comments below.
As far as my answer…
I’ll bury the lead here and say yes, I think Rush should join the group, and he shouldn’t be the only person added to the mix.
Of course, I and most people are expecting Bobby Lashley to join AEW soon enough, if he hasn’t already come to a deal, and to be a part of this group. As much as I love Shelton Benjamin, he’s not going to take priority as the top dog in the faction; that will be Lashley’s job.
But there’s room for more than just those two in the ring and MVP outside of it. Look at how beneficial this was for Cedric Alexander despite all of WWE’s attempts to do barely anything with him (and, to be honest, not as much of a focus on The Hurt Business as they should have gotten in general, overall). Considering AEW has three different midcard titles for the men’s division without even counting Ring of Honor, as well as both duo and trios tag team titles, The Hurt Syndicate doesn’t need to be a stable of one main-eventer and his two cronies and nothing more.
Rush works as part of Top Flight, but they don’t need him, either. Action Andretti, Darius Martin, and Dante Martin as a trio is perfectly fine, especially if Leila Grey stays around as their valet. Rush takes them out of the trios division and into a quartet while not offering anything different to the group, as he wasn’t being positioned as a step above them. If anything, he gets lost in the shuffle. But as part of this group, he becomes the resident cruiserweight who will have a different style than Lashley’s power game and Benjamin’s overall athleticism and well-roundedness.
Plus, Rush and Lashley have a history together. It may not have been the best pairing ever, but there’s room to explore that partnership again in a different way without the odd machinations of Vince McMahon putting his stamp on everything. I have a feeling they could have offered more to the product together if they weren’t taking direction from him at the time, as he probably just thought it would be funny to see a little guy and a big guy together and nothing more.
I think there’s room for at least one more member on top of them, if not two, and the best people for those positions could depend a lot on what other plans Tony Khan has, but let’s speculate and toss out some ideas.
I’m assuming this will be an all black male stable, rather than incorporating any women, nor any men of any other race, but there’s nothing that inherently says that HAS to happen. However, as that’s what The Hurt Business was, that’s the limitation I’m keeping to myself. I’d be interested to see them expand a little more beyond that, but it’s up to them, and if that’s not what they want to do, that’s totally fine. But for the sake of it, I’ll toss out the idea that I think Ortiz could stand to be in a group like this, and if they were to recruit a woman, Athena or Queen Aminata would be neat.
As far as actual other options go, though, I think a lot of people would be quick to say Powerhouse Hobbs, but I’d disagree. I think he is too close to what Lashley brings to the table and they’d clash. I’d rather see them feud than team up.
When’s the last time we saw Scorpio Sky? Could this be a method to do something more with a guy like Lee Johnson? The next step for Lee Moriarty? Are we ever going to see Keith Lee back in action again?
Here’s my controversial picks, though. If The Acclaimed were to ever split up, I think Max Caster could use the rehab of ditching the rapping gimmick and going into this group, and I think there’s something to be at least temporarily considered when it comes to Ricochet being in this faction. Yes, that does offset what Rush does, as both are high-flying acts, but Ricochet could not only team up with Rush for an exciting duo, he’d also be cured of his biggest detraction, which is his promo skills. Having MVP cut those promos for him could be what propels him to the next level as the #2 guy behind Lashley.
It’s something to think about. None of this should be rushed (no pun intended). But I do think at the very least, Lio Rush should be recruited as a member of The Hurt Syndicate.
What do you think? Drop your thoughts below!
