WWE Raw

Former WWE Champion Returns To WWE Raw, Enters Royal Rumble

By Sondra Ruth. Published 10th January 2023.
WWE Championship belt

Bobby Lashley hasn’t been seen on WWE television in nearly a month. Prior to his absence, he’d been embroiled in a feud with both Seth Rollins and Austin Theory over the United States Championship, and at Survivor Series he faced both men in triple threat action. Austin Theory was victorious on that night, pinning Rollins and becoming US Champion for the second time.

On the December 12th episode of Raw, Seth Rollins and Bobby Lashley faced off in the main event to determine the new number one contender to the United States Championship. Near the end of the match, Lashley applied the Hurt Lock, but the two men crashed into the referee, sending him to the outside and leaving no one to immediately count the pinfall after Lashley hit a spear. When the official made his way back into the ring, Rollins was able to kick out, and delivered a Pedigree to Lashley for the pinfall victory.

Enraged, Bobby Lashley confronted the referee after the match, and when another official came to save his colleague, he was knocked out by The Almighty. This brought out Adam Pearce, who yelled that Lashley couldn’t act this way. He then shockingly made the decision not to suspend Lashley, but instead declared that the former WWE Champion was fired from the company altogether.

The next Day, Pearce apologized for his hot-headedness and rescinded Lashley’s firing, declaring instead that the star was merely suspended.

Now, on the January 9th episode of Raw, Bobby Lashley made his return to the red brand at long last, interrupting a promo segment between Seth Rollins and Austin Theory. After delivering a spear to Theory, the star got on the microphone and declared that he was back and was entering himself into the Royal Rumble on January 28th.

MVP Took Credit For Getting Bobby Lashley Reinstated On WWE Raw In Another Hurt Business Tease

Later in the episode, Byron Saxton approached Bobby Lashley in his locker room to ask about his return to Raw. However, before Lashley could open up, MVP interrupted and said that he and the former WWE Champion had business to attend to. This comes after the manager was seen talking to Shelton Benjamin and Cedric Alexander backstage last week, indicating that he’s keen to get the popular Hurt Business back together.

However, Lashley wasn’t immediately warm to MVP’s interruption, and made it clear that he hasn’t forgotten MVP turning on him to join Omos ahead of WrestleMania 38. MVP revealed that he was the one who got Adam Pearce to lift Lashley’s suspension, saying he thought Lashley would be grateful.

Lashley responded by saying that he does appreciate the help, and as he hasn’t punched MVP in the face yet, they’re making progress. MVP insisted that he wanted to mend fences between the two and wants the entire Hurt Business back on the same page.

Full results from the January 9th episode of Raw can be found here.