Eli Drake Leaving Soon? MLW Contract News, Lashley’s Character

Impact Wrestling certainly has its fair share of talented stars in the roster right now, but the promotion has also lost quite a few powerful names over the past few months. It was reported just yesterday that DJZ will be joining WWE, but could another top star be on his way to the company as well? According to PWInsider, Eli Drake has not signed a new deal with Impact yet despite the fact that his current deal will expire in May. WWE has apparently has interest in Drake for a while now and made a few indications to sign him during his last round of contract negotiations with Impact. Drake is a former world champion in Impact Wrestling. He was supposed to work a match against Tessa Blanchard a few weeks ago but ultimately refused to partake in the intergender bout.
Major League Wrestling has been established as one of the hottest promotions out there right now. Several stars have been signing contracts with the promotion lately, but some fans have raised questions about the exclusivity of these deals. Names like a The Lucia Bros and MJF have contracts with MLW but are still allowed to compete for All Elite Wrestling. MLW CEO Court Bauer took the time to explain that wrestlers working for MLW can compete for any other promotion that they choose. Bauer did say that the only wrestling promotion that MLW signees cannot work for eight now is WWE. Bauer also talked about his relationship with AEW, and he believes that talent leaving to join AEW full time will not be too much of an issue.
“There’s not a problem. We don’t block anyone from working anywhere. We only have one company where they’re prohibited working for which is WWE.” Bauer said during his interview on Wrestling Inc’s WINCLY podcast.

Bobby Lashley returned to WWE nearly one year ago and he has accomplished a lot since coming back to the company. Not only is he one of the more featured performers on the Raw brand, but he will be going into WrestleMania 35 this April as the defending Intercontinental Champion. However, Lashley apparently had plans to incorporate more of his MMA career into his character when he made his comeback last year. American Top Team gym founder Dan Lambert revealed to Fightful that Lashley wanted to bring his MMA character from Impact Wrestling with him to WWE, but the company ultimately shot this idea down. Lambert did still praise WWE for what they have been doing with Lashley since he returned.