Major Update On Bobby Lashley's AEW Debut [Report]

Zack Heydorn | Oct 14, 2024

WWE.com

Even though he did not appear at Saturday night's AEW WrestleDream 2024 PPV event in Tacoma, Washington, former WWE Champion Bobby Lashley is still set to join the AEW roster.

A new Fightful Select report indicates that Lashley was originally slated to appear on the show and attack Swerve Strickland during Strickland's return promo segment with Prince Nana, MVP, and Shelton Benjamin. AEW reportedly pivoted on that strategy.

In the main event of the show, Washington native Bryan Danielson lost his AEW World Championship to Jon Moxley and then was beat down by Moxley and the Blackpool Combat Club faction. AEW did not want to have two beat down segments on the same show, and specifically, two segments that beat down hometown talents from Washington.

.@swerveconfident isn't interested in doing business with @The305MVP & @Sheltyb803

Order #AEWWrestleDream LIVE on PPV!https://t.co/JlBXZPLNGj pic.twitter.com/ehPNuq0q4M

— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) October 13, 2024

Lashley is still set to join AEW in a few weeks and will be worked into the new MVP faction with Shelton Benjamin. All three men were a part of the Hurt Business faction in WWE. The group carried Monday Night Raw through the pandemic and Thunderdome era of WWE and positioned Lashley at the level of a main event, world champion.

Bobby Lashley is a multiple-time world champion. His WWE contract expired in August of this year and was not renewed. MVP appeared in AEW for the first time at the Grand Slam Dynamite event. MVP worked to secure Swerve Strickland as a client at WrestleDream, but was turned down. Benjamin joined MVP on last week's episode of Dynamite.

MORE: The Hurt Business: Are Bobby Lashley, MVP And Shelton Benjamin Reuniting In AEW?