AEW Had No Plans for Hurt Syndicate to Become Tag Team Champions

AEW Dynamite on January 22 delivered a huge shocker in Knoxville, Tennessee, when Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin of The Hurt Syndicate steamrolled Private Party to become the new AEW Tag Team Champions. The win was dominant, brutal, and decisive, with Lashley sealing the deal with a vicious spear. But here’s the kicker—this wasn’t AEW’s plan just a couple of months ago.

Fightful Select reports AEW originally had no intention of putting the tag titles on Lashley and Benjamin, meaning this title change was a last-minute shift.

“The internal claim was that Hurt Syndicate as tag team champions was not the plan a couple of months ago.”

The match itself was absolute carnage. The Hurt Syndicate wasted no time taking control, methodically destroying Zay and Quen before putting Zay through the announce table like a rag doll. Private Party fought back, pulling off a huge 450 Splash that looked like it could turn the tide, but MVP shrugged off the moment like it was nothing. Lashley’s spear sealed the win, and just like that, AEW had new tag champs.

So what’s really going on here? Did AEW scramble to change things up, or is this the start of a dominant run for The Hurt Syndicate? Was Private Party set up to fail, or did AEW see something big in Lashley and Benjamin at the last minute? Sound off in the comments!