Csonka Looks at Impact’s Latest Departures: EC3, Borash, Lashley, More

Welcome back to column time with Larry, and today we’re going to talk Impact Wrestling and their latest departures. I have done my best to track things here, here, here, here, and here. Anyway, I hope that you enjoy today’s column, and feel free to share your thoughts. It’s wrestling, we love it and will disagree. The only rules are “have a take, be respectful of other’s opinions and don’t be a dick.”

* NOTE: Please keep in mind the purpose of the column, the company and its roster are constantly changing, and I think that is something important to discuss as it happens. This is not a column meant to be filled with malice and negativity.

* QUICK BIT: Mario Bokara, Ava Storie, and Idris Abraham are all gone from the company. They were all low card victims on the regime change for the company. Bokara had some solid potential, but is sidelined due to injury. Storie was a project that was going to need a lot of time to develop. Abraham was going to be an X-Division jobber at best, he was solid, but again no real loss. I hate to see people lose their jobs, but they are bringing in much better talent (Kiera Hogan, Cage, Aries) and more to come.

Chris Adonis: Chris Adonis is a funny case, I was an advocate for him years ago when WWE released him. I hated his early run there, he was horrible, wasn’t ready for TV and was constantly exposed as such. But leave it to WWE to kick the guy to the curb just as he “gets it,” and is putting on good matches. He toiled around the indies after that, scoring a lot of international gigs off of his time in WWE. He did a good job of keeping himself booked and keeping busy, but WWE showed no interest in a return and Adonis waited on GFW to officially begin, which didn’t happen until Jarrett got back into TNA/Impact Wrestling. He left after the January tapings, and Impact reportedly didn’t see it coming. But if you paid attention to interviews, it was pretty obvious that he wasn’t completely pleased with his role in the company. He always talked about wanting to be more than Eli Drake’s buddy, but judging by his performances, he peaked in that role and in 2018, there are too many other talented performers to bring in and use. While Adonis was fine in his role, I find his departure to be no real loss, especially when a guy like Cage is coming in, and there are rumors that Impact also wants Jeff Cobb.

Hania: I had a lot of concerns when Impact brought in Hania, first of all there was the fact that they were bringing her out of retirement (I wasn’t sure about her dedication to returning), and there had been tons of rumors that professionally she was difficult to deal with. The original reports claimed that she was fired after refusing to lose in 90-seconds to Su Yung. Other reports claimed she made the decision herself to leave following that booking decision. She then denied she was fired, claiming that her departure was “a mutual decision, and there is absolutely no bad blood or hard feelings on either side. I’m thankful, had a good time even met some cool people.” Either way, at this stage when the company is trying to find a new identity and start fresh, Impact didn’t need low-level wrestler that was difficult to work with. There are too many more talented women out there to bring in that are way more professional.

EC3: To be completely honest with you, I never saw much in Derrick Bateman while in WWE. When he first signed with TNA, I still didn’t see much in him, but to the company’s credit, they went all in with him and not only gave him a big push, they went all in on him. Derrick Bateman was a complete bust, but he thrived in TNA/Impact Wrestling and became a star there. He grew as a performer, turned into a really good talker, and at times, was the best thing in the company. You cannot take away the chance and platform that the company gave to him, because without it, Derrick Bateman is toiling around the indies, working low-level shows and likely never evolving into what he became. While I find EC3 to be a loss for Impact, I think that it comes at the right time and that it works out well for all involved. Impact frees up a roster spot and some money and can bring in fresh talent. EC3 gets his second chance with WWE, which is obviously something he wanted. I also feel that he was in a place where he had done it all in Impact and became stagnant as it felt as if the company wasn’t sure what to do with him moving forward.

Lashley: Lashley was a guy set to be the next big thing in WWE, but an injury late in his run and rumors of tension with Michael Hayes over racial remarks involving his then-girlfriend Kristal Marshall, and also claims that Hayes wouldn’t book him due to racial issues. Bobby Lashley was a wet dream for Vince McMahon, in a company where there had been claims that they never seriously pushed a black athlete to the top, Lashley was going to be the answer for them. He won three national college amateur wrestling championships, so that made him legit; was well-spoken, college educated and spent time in the army, so Vince and company didn’t have to worry about any negativity from his background, and he was fucking jacked. He was everything Vince wanted, to the point that when they did bring him up they had Fit Finlay work with his exclusively on the road for months to get him ready. Once he left WWE, his heart did not seem to be in wrestling for the longest time. His early stints in AAA, TNA and the independents just felt like Lashley cashing a check; they were a complete disappointment. So when he made his return to TNA in 2014, you could understand why I eye rolled it and wrote it off early. Considering he had previously said that MMA was his priority and that it caused issues with his first TNA run, I expected no real change. Thankfully I was dead wrong. This Lashley looked like he wanted to be there, worked like he wanted to be there, and at the (then) age of 37, he started to put things together and really become the performer many thought and hoped he would be. He seemed more comfortable in the ring and on the mic, he was having fun, and delivering in great matches with guys like Eric Young, Jeff Hardy, Austin Aries and Kurt Angle. Lashley was finally living up to his potential, and at times, was one of the best parts of TNA/Impact Wrestling’s programming. I give Lashley a ton of credit or not only turning things around but his dedication to improving. Also, the company went all in with him and gave him the chance to thrive and the stage to succeed on. But much like EC3, it feels that Lashley has done it all in the company. His booking the last few months was lackluster, and he just didn’t feel like the same guy. His explosiveness was gone and “kick ass, give no fucks Lashley,” was just a guy. But also like EC3, he’s a loss, as he’s another star that they helped build into what they became. But at age 41, and with a high salary, letting him go bring in fresh talents is the right move. LikeEc3, Lashley will reportedly head back to WWE, and I am interested to see what this new Lashley can do in his second shot with the company.

Jeremy Borash: In what was the biggest departure and easily the most surprising, WWE hired Jeremy Borash. The reason that came as such a surprise was because there were no rumblings that Borash wanted out, or was planning a move; if anything, Borash was considered a lifer with the company. Despite what Impact will say publicly, Borash is a HUGE loss for the company. Not only was he a lead announcer and part of the creative team, but he did so much behind the scenes for the promotion that the likelihood of finding one person to fill his shoes seems almost impossible. Over the years, Borash did backstage interviewing, hosted fan events for the company in the UK, traveled around and filmed content for the company to use on TV, worked with the Hardys on the Broken Universe concept, and was the main reason that the British Bootcamp reality series came to life. There have also been reports over the years that when the company was strapped for cash, which was seemingly a lot, Borash spent his own money on many things for the company. Through the good and the bad. Borash was always there and I never saw him leaving like this, if anything, if he left I figured that Anthem would fire him before he walked. For as much as a loss as it is for Impact, it’s an extremely smart and big hire for WWE. Borash will be working in several different role, similar to what he did with TNA/Impact Wrestling. Borash’s decision to leave came after he surveyed the changing landscape in pro wrestling and felt that this was the time to make a move that he’d avoided making in the past. The feeling is that Paul Levesque is building the foundations of his team in NXT so that he will have a team in place whenever the day comes that he’s in charge of the main roster. Some have said that this was foolish, but over the years it has been established that Kevin Dunn is Vince McMahon’s guy and that when the day comes that Triple H & Stephanie take over, he’s out and their team is in. People like William Regal, Terry Taylor, Shawn Michaels and now Borash are being put together so that when the time comes, Triple H and team can slide right in with no issues. Borash has worn so many hats in the wrestling businesses, from WCW to TNA, that the hire makes complete sense to me.

Once we have a locked in set of new arrivals and some appearances to judge them on, I’ll be back to talk about them.

– End Scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”