Lashley Calls Out WWE; Rumors on Dom Mysterio vs. Rhea Ripley; Vince McMahon and NXT
Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe.
Lashley Takes Issue with WWE's Treatment of Hurt Business
In the wake of his second WWE tenure seemingly coming to an end, Bobby Lashley gave his thoughts on how WWE utilized him and the Hurt Business coming out of the pandemic.
Speaking during a K&S WrestleFest virtual signing (h/t Subhojeet Mukherjee of Ringside News), Lashley took issue with the phasing out and eventual dissolution of the Hurt Business in WWE:
"It was kind of a spit in the face. We were never in front of a live crowd. During the pandemic, a lot of guys sat at home, 'I'm not going to do this or that' and it was us saying, 'It's work. We're going.' We did everything. We were on half the show most the time. We came out of the pandemic and people started resurfacing, 'Oh, I'm ready to work.' What about the guys who were putting the time in during this dangerous time? We got overlooked. That was a little bit of a spit in the face.
"I think we could have come back and done some big things together. They just didn't want us. Different strokes for different folks. Different people like different things. When the regime changed, the regime wasn't too high on me at all and were definitely not high on MVP and Shelton Benjamin."
Lashley, MVP, Shelton Benjamin and Cedric Alexander dominated WWE programming for long stretches during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the decision was made to remove Benjamin and Alexander from the equation shortly after fans returned to the fold, and MVP eventually left Lashley for Omos as well.
While WWE had opportunities to put the Hurt Business back together, particularly once Triple H took over as head of creative following Vince McMahon's departure from the company, it never happened.
Instead, Benjamin was released, MVP was taken off television, Alexander was put in a tag team with Ashante Thee Adonis and Lashley was made the leader of a new stable with The Street Profits and B-Fab.
The new stable never really hit its stride, and it was reported in August by Fightful Select (h/t Fightful's Jeremy Lambert) that Lashley's WWE contract had expired.
Since then, MVP and Benjamin have resurfaced in AEW, forming the Hurt Syndicate. Per Fightful Select (h/t Steve Carrier of Ringside News), Lashley has signed with AEW as well, and his debut is on the horizon.
While the Hurt Business didn't get the type of run Lashley wanted in WWE, he will have a chance to prove that WWE was wrong for its handling of the faction by performing at a high level in AEW.
WWE Reportedly Wants Ripley vs. Dominik Match
Amid her attempt to take the Women's World Championship back from Liv Morgan, WWE reportedly wants to book Rhea Ripley in a unique matchup.
According to WrestleVotes (h/t Mukherjee), there have been internal discussions in WWE about a singles match between Ripley and Dominik Mysterio, and there is a "real desire" to make it happen while the Ripley-Morgan-Mysterio angle is still going.
After a lengthy run as Rhea's on-screen love interest, Dominik turned on her at SummerSlam in August by helping Morgan defeat her to retain the Women's World Championship.
Dom and Liv shared a kiss afterward, and they have been in an on-screen relationship ever since, while Ripley has been out for revenge.
Ripley had a chance to win back the women's world title at Bad Blood in a match that saw Mysterio suspended from the rafters in a shark cage, but she could only win by disqualification and did not win the title due to interference from Raquel Rodriguez.
It is unclear when or if Rhea will get another title shot, but she has continued her rivalry with Morgan, Mysterio and Rodriguez nonetheless.
During Monday night's episode of Raw, Ripley brawled with Liv and Raquel in the ring. Dom saved Liv from further damage, but Rhea then pulled him into the ring and locked him in a submission hold before he escaped.
The fan reaction was clearly at its loudest when Ripley interacted with Mysterio, so there is no question that there is a desire from the WWE Universe to see them mix it up in an actual match.
Vince McMahon Allegedly 'Hated' NXT
Former WWE announcer Jonathan Coachman claimed this week that longtime WWE chairman and CEO and Vince McMahon was not a fan of NXT prior to his WWE departure.
Speaking on his Behind The Turnbuckle podcast (h/t Mukherjee), Coachman said McMahon had a hatred for NXT since it wasn't something he created:
"What did Vince hate the most when it came to Triple H? He hated something new that people liked; that wasn't his idea. Vince hated something working that wasn't his idea. Triple H came up with NXT. And you notice NXT stars would never be pushed. Now what do you see? What did you see tonight on Monday Night Raw? You're seeing NXT stars all over the place. Yeah, that's Triple H. That's his baby. His best friend Shawn Michaels runs NXT. Vince hated that.
"And that was one of the weak points of Vince McMahon. As much as he says, 'I did things that were good for business,' if he came up with the idea should've been the complete sentence of that because he didn't wanna give anybody credit, much less his son-in-law, so people would think potentially Triple H is smarter than him."
Back in 2012, Triple H launched NXT, which was the new name for WWE's developmental brand in conjunction with the WWE Performance Center.
A strong argument can be made that NXT became WWE's most popular brand for quite some time, as fans enjoyed watching WWE's stars of the future on a weekly show and periodically on premium live events.
There long seemed to be a disconnect between NXT and the main roster, though, as Superstars were often called up to Raw or SmackDown without a concrete plan, resulting in them fading into obscurity.
Since McMahon left WWE for good in January, however, the tide has seemingly turned, as former NXT stars such as Bron Breakker, Carmelo Hayes, Tiffany Stratton and a host of others have made a sizable impact on the main roster.
Additionally, NXT got its own television deal with The CW, and Shawn Michaels has the brand trending back toward where it was when Triple H was running the show.
Since Triple H with the main roster and Michaels in NXT are now very much in sync, the disconnect that once plagued NXT may be disappearing once and for all.
Listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot wrestling topics. Catch the latest episode in the player below.
.jpg?w=600 "Colts Release Kenny Moore")
