This past week has seen a lot of new faces arrive in Impact Wrestling and a lot of new developments storyline wise. But it’s also seen some departures. Ethan Carter III (EC3) made his departure from the company at last night’s tapings, earning the pink slip in the Feast or Fired match. At tonight’s tapings, it appears that Bobby Lashley also finished up with the company after losing two straight matches to the debuting Brian Cage. Following his final match with Cage, Lashley said his goodbyes to the crowd as he was leaving.
Scoop #29: Lashley says goodbye to the crowd, takes a bow, and exits pic.twitter.com/zfbMMS5tsf
— Jacob Cohen (@MrJacobCohen) January 15, 2018
Following a four year career with the WWE, beginning with time in developmental at Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) in 2004, debuting on Smackdown in 2005, then moving to the rebooted ECW brand in 2006, where he won the ECW Heavyweight Championship. He headed to Raw a year later, but after a lengthy injury, he was released in 2008.
He made his Impact Wrestling in 2009, joining Kurt Angle in the Main Event Mafia, but his first run with Impact lasted but a year. He left in 2010 to focus on his MMA career. But after four years, he returned to Impact in 2014, where he became one of the focal points of the main event, becoming a 4x Impact World Heavyweight Champion. His fourth and final reign ended this past July, when he lost to Alberto El Patron.
Lashley has long mentioned a desire to face WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar before he retired, and a match of that caliber could be enticing to his former employers. At 41 years old, Lashley hasn’t got much time left in MMA and it may be better to finish off his combat sports career in sports entertainment. Lashley becomes the third major Impact talent, after EC3 and “Cowboy” James Storm, to leave the promotion following the change in management following Jeff Jarrett’s departure.
