When Bobby Lashley, fresh off losing his match to Seth Rollins due to referee unavailability in the main event of RAW, laid hands on two officials and then Adam Pearce on his way to the back, folks assumed that it would have some sort of ramifications on the greater WWE Universe, but who expected to see “The Almighty One” fired from the promotion entirely in the heat of the moment?
Sure, wrestlers have been “fired” for their in-ring action within a storyline only to return in an interesting way – need I say more than Mr. America? – and Lashley is one of those upper-card performers who are either competing for championships or on the shelf, but why formally announce his release other than to get folks talking, especially if it wasn't true? Did Pearce even have the authority to fire Lashley in such a public way, or would he, too, have to have a conversation with his boss, Paul “Triple H” Levesque, about his authority under the new regime?
Unfortunately for Pearce, it looks like the latter, as he had to take to social media to formally unfire Lashley and apologize for his own behavior.
“I'd like to address what happened to end Monday Night Raw between myself and Bobby Lashley,” Pearce said h/t Fightful. “First and foremost, despite what I said last night, Bobby Lashley is not fired. That said, Bobby has repeatedly crossed the line. Last night, he physically crossed two referees and put his hands on me, not to mention spearing WWE official Pete Williams last week. All of that behavior is unacceptable. All of it will be addressed, and it will have repercussions. Despite that, I feel I need to apologize to the WWE Universe for the way I conducted myself. In the heat of the moment, I allowed emotions to get the better of me and, frankly, I said some things I shouldn't have. I'll never apologize for having passion, but looking back, it's obvious that I didn't channel mine in the right direction. I regret that. Bobby and I are going to meet later this week man-to-man and discuss the ramifications of what he's done and more importantly, how we can move forward and do business together with the respect that we've always had up to now. Again, I formally rescind Bobby Lashley's termination and I sincerely apologize for my part in escalating an already volatile situation.”
Oh no, did Triple H just take part in some #hotshotbooking, with Lashley's firing simply utilized as a tool to get folks talking before it was quietly reversed behind the scenes? Or did Levesque instead overrule Pearce's decision and undermine his authority despite being physically attacked by the supersized “Almighty One?” Either way, this story is going to be incredibly interesting to follow… or not, depending on how the bout is booked.
My official statement regarding Bobby Lashley and the end of Monday Night Raw last night. #WWERaw @wwe @fightbobby pic.twitter.com/neW8Ozi8x4
— Adam Pearce (@ScrapDaddyAP) December 13, 2022
Seth Rollins commented on Bobby Lashley's release from WWE.
Before Pearce released his apology video on Twitter, Rollins stopped by The Bump to give his take on what happened at the end of his match with Lashley and how he felt “Scrap Iron” handled the situation.
“Well, luckily this isn’t my sandbox,” Rollins said h/t Fightful. “I don’t have to make that decision. I will say this — I don’t know who’s got the temper problem. I don’t know whether it’s Pearce or Lashley. Both of them seem to be a bit of a hothead here. Pearce dropping some very unsavory language on Monday night, goodness gracious. But I get it, you know, you get pie-faced by a man, you’re in the heat of the moment, things happen. I feel this is very similar to Bobby. So I’ll be very curious to see, honestly, how they hash these things out and what comes of it. You can’t crack an official in the head, you can’t pie-face Adam Pearce. You can’t do those things. You gotta be a professional. I mean, professional, I am the king of professionalism. I go by the book all the time, so I understand these things. I would never do anything to put myself in a situation like that.”
“I’m very curious to see how the two of them kind of handle this business, or if maybe somebody else needs to step in. I don’t know, if ‘Papa H’ needs to come down and lay the hammer down, the sledgehammer, so to speak, who knows? We’ll see.”
Well, as it turns out, Rollins' quasi-prediction was right; “Papa H” lad down the sledgehammer, reversed Pearce's decision, and set up a very interesting power dynamic on RAW and SmacDown that will have to be addressed in the not-too-distant-future.
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