Rohit Raju becomes free agent as Impact Wrestling run ends
Former Impact Wrestling X-Division Champion Rohit Raju took to Twitter Sunday night to announce he is a free agent as his deal with the company has come to an end.
Raju (Hakim Zane) had been with the company since 2017. While not explicitly stated, it’s assumed his deal expired at the end of 2021.
His role increased and his ring name changed in 2018 as he became a fixture in the X-Division along with forming the Desi Hit Squad faction.
The 41-year-old first won the X-Division title in August 2020 in a three-way with then-champion Chris Bey and TJP at Emergence. He would lose the title nearly four months later to Manik (TJP) at Final Resolution and never regained it.
His last in-ring action on Impact TV was in a December loss to Josh Alexander, followed by a defeat to Josh Mathews at Impact’s Throwback Throwdown 2 event where he wrestled as Quincy Cosmos.
In addition to Impact, Raju has wrestled frequently on the indies through the years and has been a constant in Midwest indie AAW where he recently lost their Heritage title to Ace Austin and Myron Reed in a three-way.
Since 2011, Josh has been a contributing editor to Wrestling Observer/F4WOnline.com and also hosts the Punch-Out podcast. He has also written for Fight Magazine, Bloody Elbow, Bleacher Report, and other websites. He's a 2000 graduate of the University of Maine, worked in pro sports, and once was an indie ring announcer.