Bobby Lashley Joins AEW: Backstage Details On His Dynamite Debut
Bobby Lashley finally debuted on AEW Dynamite - here's the backstage latest on his signing.
Bobby Lashley finally debuted for AEW on last night's episode of Dynamite - but the former WWE Champion has actually been signed to Tony Khan's promotion since September.
Fightful Select has the backstage scoop on Lashley's arrival, noting that AEW signed Bobby before his Hurt Syndicate manager, MVP, debuted 25 September's 'Grand Slam' Dynamite special.
The outlet notes that AEW had considered debuting Lashley with an attack on Swerve Strickland at 12 October's WrestleDream pay-per-view. This didn't happen. Previously, Ibou of WrestlePurists has stated that with several big angles already taking place at WrestleDream, AEW postponed Lashley's arrival to allow it to stand on its own:
The Bobby Lashley return angle was delayed to allow for it to stand out, as AEW felt they had enough big angles at WrestleDream and didn’t want it to be lost in the shuffle.— Ibou, of WrestlePurists (@BackupHangman) October 13, 2024
Lashley debuted as Dynamite closed, joining MVP and Shelton Benjamin in the Hurt Syndicate. Benjamin had lost a singles match to Swerve Strickland when MVP was seen making a telephone call. After a brief dip in the house lights, Lashley emerged, assisting his reunited allies in a beatdown of Strickland and manager Prince Nana.
Bobby Lashley Believes WWE Buried Him
Bobby Lashley officially left WWE on 16 August, when his contract expired, though he hadn't been used since a 5 May house show match with Santos Escobar.
The 48-year-old's prominence and push had diminished considerably under Chief Content Officer Paul Levesque, who took WWE's creative reins after Vince McMahon resigned in disgrace in July 2022. Recently, on the Lame Guys Podcast, Lashley stated his belief that WWE was burying him on the way out, despite consistently strong crowd reactions (h/t POST Wrestling):
"That’s when I got to the end of my career. I mean, when things changed and it was like I got pulled off of a lot of things and I was like, okay, you can pull me off but, I said just as long as I get a second on TV… Any time when I walked out, ‘Bobby! Bobby!’ The crowd went crazy. I was like, man, they’re trying to bury me as much as they can. Pull me off of WrestleMania the first time in my entire career. Just put me in the back where I was in the background just wearing a suit, doing nothing. I was like, all right, you guys can put me in the back and I wear a suit. I’m gonna get some slick ass suits to put on. I was like, any time you guys give me an ounce of time on TV, I’m gonna look like a fricking star and that’s what it’s about."
Lashley left the market leaders a two-time WWE Champion, reigning for close to 200 days in 2021, then again, briefly, from 29 January 2022 to 19 February. His last televised WWE match came on the 12 April episode of SmackDown, where he met Santos Escobar and LA Knight in a Triple Threat.