Impact Wrestling saw a host of names say their goodbyes at the ongoing set of tapings.
Lashley finished up with Impact, and is said to have "his pick of the litter" of where to work, but it's said he's not that interested in working a full-time schedule at this point. There was a lot of bad blood between Lashley and WWE when he left a decade ago, but he's a commodity, and WWE has cared less about age and schedule of late. He's also not competed in MMA in over a year, and isn't factored into Bellator's Heavyweight title tournament.
Ethan Carter III applied for a trademark on his name days after Impact made it known that wrestlers would retain the intellectual property of the characters they portray on their television program. He asked for his release in November, but despite that, was said to get along very well with the current regime of Don Callis and Scott D'Amore, and leaves on very good terms with the company. I'm told he already has suitors. In addition to that, he's already competed on the WWE main roster, so if that option opens up, he'd not necessarily have face the NXT mandate that many do -- though it is an option. He's pulled out of a January 28th show. I've been told by those in WWE that he's joining the company.
Laurel Van Ness is leaving as well. There was interest in her from WWE before she signed with Impact, but that's said to be accelerated significantly after seeing her range as a character and her in-ring improvement. One source at WWE said they'd be surprised if she wasn't signed in 2018.
After working six sets of tapings Chris Adonis/Chris Masters is also gone from Impact. I'm told that a WWE return isn't in the cards.
Overall, the famed "Impact morale" was said to be high. I heard no reports of any of the aforementioned names leaving on anything less than good terms, and Don Callis and Scott D'Amore are well liked and retain the confidence of those on the roster I spoke with.
You can see Fightful's ongoing list of contract expirations at this link.
