10 Things WWE Wants You To Forget About Bobby Lashley

10. His "TNA" Run

Upon Lashley's 2018 re-debut, WWE served Impact Wrestling.

"My tag team division is full," said Kurt Angle, in response to Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn's begging. "But I hear TNA is hiring." This was a burn that incinerated more than one layer of skin. WWE was either unaware of the Impact rebrand (per the Wrestling Observer at the time, Vince McMahon still believed "TNA" was his competition, hopelessly ignorant of NJPW's western rise) or knew full well that the name of the company is as irrelevant as the company itself.

WWE is very careful to acknowledge the achievements of AJ Styles, Robert Roode et al. They do so in the case of the former by prioritising his work "in Japan", more or less their shorthand for "acclaimed, but dry and impenetrable". In the case of the latter, Roode is a man who had "honed his craft all over the world". Translated: Roode is experienced at getting himself over everywhere, and deserves the attendant respect. Lashley's Impact run was a boon - he was no longer the chosen one lacking the depth to bond with the audience, but an act of real talent and substance - but it was also in some circles perceived as the preserve of the past-it.

Lashley just did MMA. That's all. Or nothing, since they barely said owt about why he'd been gone so long.