Top star says his push got derailed after Bobby Lashley suddenly left WWE - "That's frustrating"

The WWE Universe had to give up any hope of a Bobby Lashley comeback after the multi-time champion officially debuted for AEW on this week's Fright Night Dynamite. A top star in the Stamford-based promotion has now opened up about how his future was derailed by The All Mighty's injury first and then his subsequent departure from the company.

The Pride began forming in July 2023 as Lashley recruited Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins of the Street Profits, with B-Fab joining six months later. After a rough start for various reasons, the faction gained momentum against The Final Testament, resulting in a WrestleMania XL Philadelphia Street Fight featuring special guest referee Bubba Ray Dudley, who celebrated with the babyfaces post-match. The future seemed bright, but most of their momentum was gone the following month.

The All Mighty was then injured just before the start of the King of the Ring Tournament, and he ultimately departed WWE in mid-August. This nixed The Pride, but B-Fab continued managing The Profits. Ford just opened up on what happened, telling The Daily Mail that he was glad for time with Lashley, but it also taught him a big lesson: anything could happen and anyone could leave suddenly, but it's on oneself to pick up and run with what's left, which is what he's trying to do.

Ford admitted that fans rejected the idea of The Pride being heels, despite trying to force it. He touched on the big lesson he took from the storyline and recalled how frustrating the stop-start pushes have been for The Street Profits.

"When all of those things were happening, we were very, very excited, because he [Lashley] was somebody we looked up to, somebody I watched as a kid, and now I'm being paired with him, and he's being my mentor, and he's ushering us in this new chapter of the Street Profits. All these things are running, we have a WrestleMania win, and then boom, it just stops. And it's been this constant stop and go and stop and go and stop and go with the Profits where we'll get momentum and then the momentum will stop, then momentum will start again, and the momentum will stop. And for us, that's frustrating, because it's hard to get behind a team whose momentum starts and then it shifts again," Montez Ford said. [HT: The Daily Mail]

The Profits failed to capture the WWE Tag Team Championship from now former champions Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa of The Bloodline in August and then were unable to dethrone NXT Tag Team Champions Fraxiom in September.

Ford and Dawkins also came up short in a Triple Threat Ladder Match for the tag titles this month, then lost a number-one contender's Triple Threat Match with Pretty Deadly and winners DIY. Newcomers The Motor City Machine Guns currently hold the blue brand's tag titles.

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The Street Profits set for WWE SmackDown

Despite coming up short of championship gold in recent months, The Street Profits remain focused on the WWE Tag Team Championship. Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins will continue climbing the ranks in the division on tonight's episode of SmackDown.

WWE's second-ever Triple Crown Tag Team Champions will face Pretty Deadly on tonight's show. This will be the third televised match between the two teams. Ford and Dawkins got the win on the July 5 edition of SmackDown, while Elton Prince and Kit Wilson won on June 23, 2023.

Tonight's SmackDown is the Crown Jewel go-home show and was taped last week at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. WWE has also announced the following for the show: Imperium vs. Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton, a face-off between Liv Morgan and Nia Jax, plus a Fatal Four-Way with IYO SKY vs. Bianca Belair vs. Lash Legend vs. Piper Niven.