At Money in the Bank on May 10, MVP was scheduled to face R-Truth, but was replaced by Bobby Lashley, who quickly defeated Truth. The following night on "Raw", MVP aligned himself with Lashley. At Backlash, MVP managed Lashley as he challenged Drew McIntyre for the WWE Championship, but he was unsuccessful in capturing the title due to an altercation between MVP and Lashley's storyline wife, Lana, that distracted Lashley and allowed McIntyre to retain his championship. The following night on Raw, Lashley had a rematch against McIntyre for the WWE Championship in a tag team match that also involved MVP and R-Truth, but he lost again when the latter pinned MVP. On the July 20 episode of "Raw", Shelton Benjamin joined his stable, now known as The Hurt Business.