Jeff Jarrett recalls early negotiations with Bobby Lashley before WWE return
Bobby Lashley currently plies his trade in WWE but has worked in several major promotions throughout his nearly two-decade-long career, including TNA/IMPACT. Jeff Jarrett recently recalled his early negotiations with The All Mighty to get him through the doors of his promotion.
During the early Teens, Double J worked as Executive Vice President of Development/Original Programming of IMPACT Wrestling, and in 2014, Lashley was competing in mixed martial arts under the Bellator banner, a subsidiary of Viacom. It just so happened that Viacom also owned Spike, TNA's primary broadcaster.
Additionally, Bobby Lashley was already somewhat of a household name from his time in WWE and other MMA promotions. So, it was a no-brainer that Jeff Jarrett wanted to work with him. He said the following on his My World podcast:
"And right behind him [Lashley] is Bellator, which is also Viacom owned. So that is kind of where all the initial discussions, 'Hey, Bobby’s fighting over here on our Bellator brand.' I don’t wanna say that they ask of any interest, but when we kind of saw, I hate to use this word — I guess it’s such a four-letter word now, the synergy that, hey, our schedule isn’t full-time. And I think he had a... I think his first deal was a three-fight deal. Not a lot," said Jarrett.
The Hall of Famer continued:
"We knew there was gonna be a possibility of us working together. And like you said, when we kind of dug, look, Bobby looks phenomenal. It was just like, why did he leave? Why did he leave up there? Why did he let him go? But yeah, we were...all of us were definitely interested." [H/T: PWMania]
Bobby Lashley teases new stable in WWE
Since parting ways with IMPACT in 2018, Bobby Lashley returned to WWE and has won multiple world championships. More recently, he has appeared on SmackDown in backstage segments teasing the formation of a new faction.
A few weeks ago, he was spotted talking to The Street Profits. He later followed this up by having a meeting with Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams of NXT.
Some have speculated that these segments could be hinting at a new incarnation of The Hurt Business taking shape imminently. Although this has not been confirmed, fans will be overjoyed to welcome back the popular, albeit short-lived, stable.