Bobby Lashley reacts to New Day’s WWE release: ‘That was a fumble’
Bobby Lashley thinks WWE made a “horrible” decision by parting ways with New Day members Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods.
In an interview with Good Karma Wrestling, Lashley reacted to the news that Kingston & Woods are no longer with WWE. He called the move a “fumble” on WWE’s part and indicated that he would like to see Kingston & Woods join the AEW tag team division — if WWE doesn’t reverse course by bringing them back before they ever hit free agency.
“It’s one of those things where it’s like — that was a fumble. That was a fumble,” Lashley said. “Bro, you retire those guys. You take those guys to the end and give them whatever they want, because they’ve given the business everything.
“I don’t think there’s a person in the business that says, ‘Hey man, I don’t like those guys,’ or, ‘Those guys treated me wrong,’ or, ‘Those guys weren’t good to me.’ There’s no one. And we saw that one time before when somebody else [R-Truth] got released. When somebody else got released, they had to bring him back because they were like, ‘Uh oh, this is a bad move.’
“Well, this is a horrible move also. But it could be a great move for someone else. So at the end of the day, we might see some different mix-ups and the tag team division might come really, really strong and interesting in AEW. And if so, a tremendous amount of fans will go over there because they’ll start kind of saying, ‘Hmm, what’s going on? Isn’t this business built on respect?’ And if you have respect for the business, you have respect for the people in the business. And these guys should have a lot of respect in the business, so what’s going on?”
Kingston & Woods were granted their WWE releases after being asked to restructure their contracts. They did not agree with the pay reduction TKO was offering, so Kingston & Woods chose to depart the company instead.
In his first public statement since being released, Kingston made reference to how important it is to never accept more than what you’re worth.
Lashley is a former AEW Tag Team Champion as part of The Hurt Syndicate. He told Good Karma Wrestling that he feels like AEW is getting better and better every week, and there’s plenty of room for viewers to become AEW fans while still enjoying what is going on in WWE. He believes there is “healthy competition” between the promotions.
As for his goals in AEW, the 49-year-old Lashley still has his sights on becoming World Champion. He’s already held World titles in WWE and TNA and now wants to do so in AEW.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.