The Beat Down Clan


The Beat Down Clan is a Heel stable led by MVP. It was a prominent stable in Total Nonstop Action from 2014 to 2015. MVP and Kenny King reformed the team during Ring of Honor's 2019 Tag Wars. A variation of the group has been reformed in WWE, with MVP as the manager of Bobby Lashley.

History

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling

Formation

On March 9, 2014, at Lockdown, MVP gained total control of wrestling operations in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling as his team defeated Team Dixie. On the May 8 edition of Impact Wrestling, after telling TNA World Heavyweight Champion Eric Young how "proud" he was of him, MVP turned heel as he attacked Young and announced himself as the number one contender to the championship at Slammiversary XII. On the May 15 episode of Impact Wrestling, Bobby Lashley made his return, running out to seemingly aid Eric Young and fend off attacks by MVP and Kenny King, but instead turned heel and hit Young with a spear, allying himself with MVP and King. The group then spent the following month feuding with Young over the title. However, TNA announced on the Friday before Slammiversary that, due to a torn meniscus, MVP was deemed medically unfit to compete, thus removing him from the match. According to PWInsider, the original planned finish for the match was to crown MVP as champion.

Championship success (2014–2015)

Lashley, now going officially by only his last name, earned a chance at the title at Slammiversary in a triple threat match also involving Austin Aries, but failed to win after Young pinned Aries. On the June 19 episode of Impact Wrestling, MVP and King helped Lashley win the TNA World Heavyweight Championship from Young, but firing Earl Hebner in the process. On June 26 episode of Impact Wrestling, MVP was relieved of his duties as Director of Wrestling Operations by Board of Directors representative Earl Sullivan Armstrong as he attempted to fire Bobby Roode, and MVP's replacement as Director of Wrestling Operations was revealed to be Kurt Angle. MVP then began to lead the group as a manager in a feud with Angle and other prominent faces in TNA, with both sides trading victories: while Lashley defended his title successfully against the likes of Eric Young, Jeff Hardy, Austin Aries, and Bobby Roode, King found himself and MVP taking losses to the same wrestlers more often than not. On September 18, 2014, at the tapings for the October 29 edition of Impact Wrestling, Lashley lost the World Heavyweight Championship to Roode.
Lashley regained the championship on January 7, 2015 with the help of MVP and King, but also from new members Samoa Joe and Low Ki as well as the turn and betrayal of Roode by his friend Eric Young. On the following night's tapings of the January 16 episode of Impact Wrestling, MVP presented the group as his "family" and officially christened them the Beat Down Clan. Later that night, Low Ki defeated Austin Aries to win back the TNA X Division Championship, which he had lost to Aries the previous night, following which MVP attempted to present Lashley as the centerpiece of the Clan as well as a "founding member". However, Lashley refused to become a part of this new group and decided to leave, but was attacked by the other members with MVP saying that the title belongs to the BDC. On February 6 at Lockdown, Team Angle defeated The BDC in a
Lethal Lockdown match and Bobby Roode defeated Eric Young who left BDC afterwards. On February 17, 2015, Samoa Joe announced that he had parted ways with Impact Wrestling, thus removing him from the BDC. On the February 20 edition of Impact Wrestling, MVP won a 20-man Gauntlet Match to become the number one contender for Lashley's TNA World Heavyweight Championship by last eliminating Kurt Angle with interference from Kenny King and Low Ki. MVP failed to capture the title the following week, with Lashley retaining the championship via pinfall victory after interference from the recently debuted Drew Galloway.
Low Ki lost the X Division title on the March 20 Impact broadcast to Rockstar Spud; the latter cashed in the X Division title match contract that he had won at Feast or Fired earlier in the year. However, On March 15 at the tapings for the April 24 edition of Impact Wrestling, Kenny King won a ladder match to bring the X Division Championship back to the BDC.
On the April 10 edition of Impact, the BDC faced The Rising in a six-man tag match. During the match, Homicide interfered on the BDC's behalf, thus joining the stable in the process. On the April 17 edition of Impact, the BDC failed to capture the TNA Tag Team Championships. On May 11, 2015, King lost the X Division Championship against Spud. On June 24, 2015, Hernandez made his return to TNA, joining BDC in the process. Later that night, on the tapings aired for July 1, the BDC defeated The Rising in a 4-on-3 Handicap match, forcing The Rising to dissolve. The next day, Low Ki announced that he had parted ways with the company.

Disbanding

On July 15, 2015, Hernandez was released from the company following a legal dispute between Lucha Underground and TNA regarding his contract, which TNA was under the impression was no longer active. As a result, TNA had to scrap a significant amount of material that had already been shot involving the BDC. MVP announced his departure from the company two days later. Kenny King, as the only active member of the BDC left, was taken off of television for two months and eventually departed for Ring of Honor in September while Homicide, who had been injured when the Hernandez dispute erupted, was quietly released.

Ring of Honor (2019)

After four years, on January 25, 2019, MVP appeared as Kenny King's mystery partner at Ring of Honor's Road to G1 Supercard show in Houston, Texas. In turn the duo reformed The Beat Down Clan coming down to the ring wearing the masks. They would go on to defeat the team of Willie Mack and Colt Cabana advancing themselves in the Tag Wars tournament. MVP and King lost in the semi-finals of the tournament to Brody King and PCO.

WWE (2020-present)

On the April 27 episode of Raw, MVP introduced his new associates Shane Thorne and Brendan Vink who challenged Cedric Alexander and Ricochet to a match the next week. On the May 4 episode of Raw Thorne and Vink defeated Alexander and Ricochet earning their first victory. At Money in the Bank, MVP was scheduled to face R-Truth but instead announced his replacement to be Bobby Lashley who quickly defeated Truth. The following night on Raw, MVP confronted Lashley backstage and told him that he needs to focus and get back in WWE Title contention while also blaming his wife Lana for holding him back. Later on in the night, after MVP, Thorne and Vink lost a six-man tag team match to Truth, Alexander and Ricochet, MVP and Lashley attacked Truth and left together, thus confirming their alliance.The following week, Lashley and MVP observed McIntyre's match against Corbin from the stage. After Drew McIntyre defeated Corbin, McIntyre stated he wanted to face Lashley, who was held back by MVP. On the May 25 episode, it was confirmed that McIntyre would defend the WWE Championship against Lashley at Backlash.
On Raw, June 8, MVP gained his first victory since his return defeating, with Lashley, The Viking Raiders. At Backlash, Lashley was unsuccessful in capturing the WWE Championship due to an altercation between MVP and Lana at ringside which distracted Lashley and allowed McIntyre to retain his championship.The following night on Raw, Lashley confronted Lana and blamed her for his loss at Backlash stating that she used him to get famous including making their sex life public. Lashley would then ask for a divorce before leaving with MVP. In the same night he 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 his manager. During the same episode Shelton Benjamin faced Apollo Crews where Crews won after using the ropes as leverage. Following the match in a WWE Network exclusive, MVP promised Benjamin a rematch but for the United States Championship thus teasing an alliance between the two. On the June 22 episode of Raw, MVP offered to Crews a place in his stable, now named as Hurt Business, but he refused it so Benjamin attacked Crews. Despite this, Benjamin was still defeated by Crews.

Members

Championships and accomplishments