Former WWE Champion ‘removed from roster’ and could exit for good amid contract update
A top WWE star and a major rival to John Cena could be on his way out of the company with reports his contract is due to expire.
Bustling behemoth Bobby Lashley hasn’t wrestled in a televised match in the better part of three months, despite being a two-time WWE Champion.
Lashley's last outing in front of the cameras came back in April, an unsuccessful attempt to challenge for the number one contendership of what was then the Undisputed Universal title.
In five wrestling matches since then, he's battled only at non-televised events, and the last of those came back in May when he defeated Santos Escobar during a WWE European tour.
It marks a drastic departure from screens for the 48-year-old, who once fought John Cena for the WWE Championship at The Great American Bash in 2007.
A new report from Fighftul in the US states Lashley, a former US Marine, could now exit WWE altogether having wrestled there for more than nine years across two spells.
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The outlet also verified a further report from PWN that claimed the company had even gone as far as to remove the powerhouse from their internal rosters - though at the time of writing he still features as a talent on WWE's website.
They noted: "Former world champion Bobby Lashley's WWE contract is up within the next month or so, possibly over the course of weeks.
"PWN learned that Lashley was removed from the internal roster page, though he is still featured on the company's website, and Fightful was also able to confirm that news.
"Lashley has been out of action for a number of months, and sources have told us that he plans on continuing wrestling if for some reason an extension is not reached with WWE."
Lashley’s situation is one of many like it in recent months as WWE has worked to manage its roster.
Fightful confirmed recently that veteran Natalya put pen to paper on a new 'multi-year' deal with the company to continue a main roster tenure that stretches back the better part of two decades.
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The multi-time former world champion is niece to Bret ‘Hitman’ Hart, and is generally regarded as one of the best professionals in the business.
Chad Gable is another name to have renewed terms with WWE under the stewardship of Paul Triple H’ Levesque, the company’s Head of Creative.
Speaking about the development, Gable admitted the veteran’s leadership played a big part in his decision to re-sign, saying: “What I’ll say regarding Hunter; when he took over, he saw my trajectory change almost immediately.
“I started getting a lot of singles matches with some of our top guys and, to me, a lightbulb went off and it was like: ‘things might be different now,’ and they have been ever since.
“He’s delivered on pretty much everything he’s ever told me.”
Ricochet, a former rival of Logan Paul in WWE, left the company following the end of his term, bowing out in sensational style during a rivalry with Bron Breakker.
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One major player yet to confirm their future one way or another following the end of their contract is Becky Lynch.
The Man hasn’t featured on screen for WWE since May but remains one of the biggest stars in wrestling.