Former TNA World Heavyweight Champion Expected To Leave Company In Early 2017
TNA being active will always be a positive thing for professional wrestling fans. Although many criticize the product, and there are many elements that are worth criticizing, WWE not having any competition would potentially make a lackluster brand even worse. However, the inconsistency in executive leadership is hurting TNA from a fan’s perspective. Despite these major hurdles from the Total Nonstop Action brand, there has been a significant amount of loyal, credible talent competing within the company. TNA has been known recently for taking misused or underutilized talent from WWE and creating champions out of them.
Bobby Lashley did have a successful career in the WWE, but there were some major differences he had with the company that caused his departure despite winning both the United States and ECW Championship and representing the President-elect Donald Trump against Vince McMahon (represented by Umaga) at WrestleMania 23.
Ethan Carter III (EC3) competed as Derrick Bateman under the NXT umbrella before it became a successful brand. His career was stagnant and had no direction for the foreseeable future. When he made his debut in TNA as Dixie Carter’s nephew, his career skyrocketed. Defeating three TNA Hall of Famers – Sting, Kurt Angle, and Bully Ray – Carter reach the zenith of his career by capturing the TNA World Heavyweight Championship.
As Drew McIntyre, Drew Galloway was once Vince McMahon’s “chosen one,” putting him in a favorable position of being one of the top names in the company. Galloway would be pushed on SmackDown, and defeated John Morrison for the WWE Intercontinental Championship. All of a sudden, McIntyre started losing, and his career plummeted. Although he did win the WWE Tag Team Championship with Cody Rhodes, his career was pretty much wrapped up when he was inserted as one member of the 3-Man Band (3MB) faction.
Galloway would debut in TNA, and be a top babyface on his way to becoming TNA World Heavyweight Champion just a few months after joining the company.
https://www.facebook.com/drewgalloway1314/posts/1201028126575897:0
While his character started to lose a bit of steam after a turn to the darkside, Galloway still proves to be one of the biggest assets that TNA had to offer.
Now, he just may be on his way out.
According to John Canton of TJRWrestling, Dave Meltzer is reporting that Galloway is expected to leave TNA when his contract is up in February of 2017 unless he accepts the offer that was once turned down.
“Drew Galloway (former Drew McIntyre in WWE) is a free agent in February. No idea if WWE has interest, but it’s possible. It was noted in the Wrestling Observer that his offer from TNA is around $200,000 but he turned it down. That’s with them controlling his bookings and he gets a lot of look headlining indies in Europe as well as the US that likely pay good money.”
“Meltzer noted it’s possible that WWE and/or New Japan would have interest. He could still accept TNA’s offer if it’s there or something similar.”
“He’s 31 years old now and recently just got married for the second time. I know Sheamus and Jinder Mahal were in the wedding party since they had pics from the wedding.”
“They totally dropped the ball with this guy in WWE. He’s a main event talent.”
It should be interesting where Drew Galloway goes in 2017. Already being heavily involved with EVOLVE, who have recently been a strong recruiting area for talent, a WWE return could be on the horizon for Galloway.
Galloway is also planning to continue competing for independent wrestling promotions, as he is a part of a tour in February 2017 with Insane Championship Wrestling.
BREAKING: #ICWFightClub hits the road in February 2017! Tickets on sale this Monday at https://t.co/MxVCTNDgeg ? pic.twitter.com/3cN1Phh1Xj
— ICW (@InsaneChampWres) December 16, 2016
Wherever Galloway decides to go, even if he does stick with TNA, he seemingly has a number of years in the business ahead of him and has a significant amount of promise regarding building his brand to even greater heights.
[Featured Image By Impact Wrestling]
