After being one of the true focal points of the final Vine McMahon era, rumor has it that Bobby Lashley and his former manager, MVP, are set to exit the WWE Universe later this year.

Now to some, the idea of Lashley leaving WWE feels borderline unthinkable, as he's a lock for the Hall of Fame and still looks the part of a true main eventer, but when you consider his track record under Paul “Triple H” Levesque, from the non-starter that is The Pride to his lack of title success, and the curious decision to abandon a Hurt Business reunion when it could have been money against the other factions across the promotion, it sort of makes sense; if Lashley's career is winding down, why not go out on top?

Well, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, that might just be Lashley's mindset, as he might decide to take the Business – plus MVP and Shelton Benjamin – to AEW to reboot one of the most popular factions of the last few years on television once more.

“I know that there is talk of them trying to get into AEW. It's one of those things where technically nobody can talk to them because I don't believe either's contract has expired, but their contracts are going to expire, and they are, at this point, as things stand right now, WWE is under the assumption that they are gone and that they are going to try to revamp the Hurt Business,” Dave Meltzer explained on Wrestling Observer Radio via WrestleTalk.

“I don't know if they'll use that name or not; I guess it depends on the ownership of the name. They wanna get Shelton Benjamin, who's also a free agent, and revamp the group in AEW. Whether this happens or not, it depends on Tony Khan. But it's definitely something that is under consideration. I don't think it's a done deal or anything like that, but it's something that is alive. But as of right now, Bobby Lashley and MVP are both going to be gone from WWE when their contract expires, which is relatively soon.”

Now, to Lashley's credit – assuming Meltzer's reporting is accurate – the idea of reuniting the Hurt Business is a borderline no-brainer, so much so that it's frankly crazy that WWE never went back to it. The faction sold plenty of merch, was featured prominently on television, and could have been on par with The Bloodline, even if it ultimately petered out when Lashley turned babyface. After watching Lashley hint at a reunion for years now, including in dialogue with Carmelo Hayes, it's safe to say the Hurt Business will go down as one of the biggest “What Ifs” in WWE history and a potential windfall for AEW should the faction migrate over to Tony Khan's company.

Montez Ford is proud of his time working with Bobby Lashley in WWE

While Bobby Lashley could soon be on the way out of the WWE Universe, that doesn't mean his run with the promotion didn't make a serious impact on the performers he's leaving behind, including Montez Ford, one-half of the Street Profits and a member of the – now probably disbanded – The Pride faction.

Discussing his relationship with “The Almighty” in an interview with Going Ringside back in May, when The Pride seemingly still had a future, Ford celebrated Lashley's insight and pedigree, noting that working alongside him was a dream come true.

“[The Street Profits] is the one thing I’ve done the entire time I’ve been in the WWE, so being transitioned to be with someone like Bobby is so cool,” Montez Ford explained via 411 Mania. “It’s like full circle for me because… when I was watching WWE coming up in middle school and high school, I was watching Bobby Lashley. I was watching his matches with John Cena and him competing for the United States Championship at the time. Then seeing how we had similar backgrounds from coming from the [military] service and then doing WWE. So he was always some someone I watched, idolized, and tried to take after. So now for us being now associated, part of that, it’s like a full circle for me.”

Ford also commented on the potential of a singles run, which has been a dream for many a fan for years now. While Ford would obviously be down to put the WWE Championship around his waist, now, he's focused on getting tag team gold with Angelo Dawkins.

“I feel like for myself and Dawkins, we have so much that we’re still trying to obtain as a tag team. But I will say, if that opportunity happens, and we just spoke of when it comes to the [WWE] draft, myself could be drafted to one show, he could be drafted to one show, so we both always talk about if the opportunity presents itself, like we’re going. But as of right now, we’re still together and we’re trying to win [the WWE Tag Team Championships]. We just won our number one contendership match last week, so the focus at hand is right there. So if I’m worried about being solo at this point, it might knock the focus off getting the WWE Tag Team Championships back.”

For better or worse, it looks like The Pride is no more, and the Street Profits, plus or minus B-Fab, will have to find a new schtick heading into the fall. How that shakes out could define the pairing's future in the Triple H era, which hasn't been fantastic so far.