A nine-time former WWE champion made his in-ring debut in AEW this week on Dynamite. The star in question, Bobby Lashley, afterward suffered a post-match assault by his Full Gear 2024 opponent.
It was announced during the November 20, 2024, edition of Dynamite that Bobby Lashley would wrestle his first match in the company on the show. Shortly after arriving at the arena with his stable-mates, former WWE Superstars MVP and Shelton Benjamin, The All Mighty would be assaulted by Swerve Strickland, who sought retribution for The Hurt Syndicate's recent onslaught on him.
Later on the program, Lashley picked up a dominant victory in a two-on-one handicap match against Cheeseburger and Joe Keys. After the match, however, The New Flavor's music played, and his manager Prince Nana distracted Benjamin and MVP with a steel chair from near the entrance tunnel.
This allowed Strickland to sneak into the ring and knock out the two-time WWE Champion Lashley, who also had reigns with the ECW World Title, the IC, and US titles during his time in WWE, with a steel-chain-wrapped-fist. He further knocked The Franchise Playa and The Gold Standard off the apron and delivered a House Call and then a Swerve Stomp on The Destroyer, laying out the former WWE Champion. Although the former Hurt Business quickly regrouped, Swerve left the ring in time and taunted his rivals from the crowd.
It remains to be seen if Swerve Strickland will be able to defeat Bobby Lashley this Saturday at Full Gear.