"Business is good."
The Hurt Business is a professional wrestling stable in WWE, founded by Montel Vontavious Porter, Bobby Lashley, and Shelton Benjamin. Eventually Cedric Alexander would be added into the fold as their fourth member.
"We are The Trope Business":
- Aborted Arc: One episode of Raw ended with the Hurt Business invading "Raw Underground" (a segment on Raw featuring some sort of underground fight club hosted by Shane McMahon) beating up the featured fighters and declared something along the lines that that they were "running this place." Many took this to assume that the Hurt Business had enacted a Hostile Show Takeover of the segment, but the Hurt Business actually wouldn't appear on the segment again ("Raw Underground" was unceremoniously phased out a few weeks later).
- Badass in a Nice Suit: The men are dressed to the nines when not competing, and all are legitimate badasses.
- Evil Versus Evil: While the group has been villainous for its entire run, they describe themselves as being businessmen moreso than bad guys, meaning they're not above taking out other heels to establish dominance in moments of Pragmatic Villainy. For example, they had a feud with the also villainous stable Retribution, whose anarchic antics and attempt to bring down WWE literally weren't good for their business; they made sure Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn couldn't escape US Champion Lashley's decimation in their champion vs. champion match at the 2020 Survivor Series; and of course the whole plan surrounding taking out Drew McIntyre to get first dibs at the WWE title after The Miz's cash-in meant that Lashley would destroy both the heroic fighting champion by underhanded means and the villainous Money in the Bank champion straight up to become the absolute dominant champion. Of course, after every showing of valor, The Hurt Business went back to their villainous deeds.
- Face–Heel Turn: Cedric Alexander joined the group after betraying Apollo Crews and Ricochet (with whom he was teaming with to feud with the Hurt Business, after he and Ricochet came to Crews's aid in his feud with the group over his United States Championship).
- Mouth of Sauron: MVP has described himself as the mouthpiece and strategist of The Hurt Business, a role which Drew McIntyre is often critical of when it comes to Lashley. Bobby and company can all make statements here and there just fine (ask The Miz how he felt about the prospect of How Lashley Sent Me to the Emergency Room, for instance), but MVP's got the natural gift of gab.
- Out-Gambitted: As part of his gambit to clear a path to the WWE Championship, The Miz struck a deal with MVP to have Lashley, who was furious after losing the United States Championship in a triple threat match to Matt Riddle, attack the man who emerged from the Elimination Chamber 2021 WWE title match. The ensuing beating after the Chamber match left Drew McIntyre ripe for the picking, allowing Miz to win the title using Money in the Bank. The only problem? Miz, in his zeal to be champion, failed to grasp the significant trouble that a deal which gave Lashley the first shot at his title would put him in. Eight days later, Lashley would emphatically secure the WWE Championship and command of the Raw title scene for The Hurt Business, with the threat of a cash-in which had loomed over McIntyre's run effectively neutralized for at least several months.
- Scary Black Man: Bobby Lashley even compared to the other members is frightening. Built like a god, freakishly strong, abnormally quick for a man his size, and unless he's beaming with joy because he just won a championship, his face looks like he's a physical predator about ready to rip your head off. His theme music is a more dangerous variation of the faction's music for no other reason than to emphasize this. Even back in TNA, MVP was hyping Lashley up as a monster.
- Villainous Valor: All thanks to Lashley. While definitely not a man who has a problem with devious heel tactics, Lashley doesn't need them; he's perfectly willing and capable of taking out anyone who steps up to him man-to-man, and whenever they needed to go pragmatic and take out other bad guys, MVP and company were basically there to either even out the numbers or prevent the other heel from cheating, allowing The All Mighty's dominance to speak for itself.
- We ARE Struggling Together: Alexander and Benjamin seemed to have this dynamic going for awhile after Cedric joined, due to his hardheadedness and Shelton's uncertainty if he could be trusted or not. Early on in Lashley's title run, the two were kicked out of the stable after weeks of losses and proceeded to occasionally antagonize both Lashley and one another. Shortly after he lost the belt to Big E's Money in the Bank cash-in and MVP got injured, Alexander and Benjamin came out in Hurt Business gear while attempting to help Lashley retake his championship, only to be thwarted by The New Day.
