Thursday night Impact Wrestling returned to the Impact Zone and former WWE Champion Alberto Del Rio, now known as Alberto El Patron, made his big debut. Impact wasted no time putting their World Title on him, as he faced off against Bobby Lashley and although the finish was shrouded in controversy, Alberto walked out with the belt.
PWInsider reports that initial plans called for Drew Galloway to win the World Title at Thursday night’s tapings, but Galloway parted ways with the company earlier this week.
Impact Wrestling officials were also trying to get Bubba Ray Dudley to return to the company. Bubba was reportedly offered a big money deal, which he was close to signing, but at the last minute the two parties weren’t able to agree to the deal. Had Bubba returned he would have faced Lashley for the title.
When Impact Wrestling officials realized that the deal with Bubba Ray Dudley wasn’t going to work out, they reached out to Alberto El Patron on Wednesday and put a deal together at the last minute.
It’s also being reported that the company reached out to another name to put in that spot, but it’s not known at this time who it was.
It certainly seems like Impact officials had a plan in place that they didn’t want to deviate from, but it looks like they were flexible in regards to who could possibly fill the open spot.
Bubba Ray Dudley is a former TNA World Heavyweight Champion and he had a lot of success in Impact Wrestling while he was using his Bully Ray gimmick. Now that the two sides are talking once again it should be interesting to see if he returns.
Good to know that tNa can still do business with Bubba. He’s great as a singles competitor. wWe missed out.
[…] It was recently reported that Bubba Ray had been talking with Impact Wrestling about a potential return, but talks fell through. Due to his negotiations with Impact, some believed that his deal with ROH was thrown together at the last minute, but that’s not the case. […]