WWE May Have Already Dropped A Major Storyline

WWE already appears to be moving on from one of the biggest storylines on Monday Night Raw.

In recent weeks, WWE had been teasing a potential on-screen split between Lana and Bobby Lashley, who were married following a scandalous love triangle storyline that Lana claimed was a huge ratings hit for the red brand. The controversial angle—which reached its climax late last year when Liv Morgan randomly returned out of nowhere to seemingly confess her love for Lana during Lana’s wedding to Lashley—actually was never meant to establish an on-screen relationship between Morgan and Lana, instead being used simply as a shocking way to bring Morgan back to TV.

MORE FROM FORBESTriple H Is In Favor Of Making A Huge Change To WWE ProgrammingBy Blake Oestriecher

With no follow-up plan to Morgan’s surprising TV return, the storyline involving Morgan, Lashley, Lana and Lana’s real-life husband Rusev ultimately led nowhere, in large part because Rusev was taken off TV due to a contract dispute, which explains why Lashley never got his comeuppance and Rusev never got that big victory that many fans expected him to get. While the buzzworthy storyline at least got Morgan back on TV, it seemed to be largely booked on the fly as an angle meant purely for “shock value.” It did, however, get considerable heat on both Lana and Lashley, and though it’s debatable as to whether or not it was “go away” heat or legitimate heel heat, WWE had a golden opportunity to utilize this storyline to transform Lashley into a mega-heel on Raw.

Up until this point, however, that hasn’t happened, and it sure looked like Lashley and Lana were headed for a split in the weeks leading up to and after WrestleMania 36, but after the legitimate release of Rusev—who was let go by WWE as part of the company’s mass release a couple of weeks ago—there was really no reason for WWE to move forward with an angle to split up Lana and Lashley. After all, Lana—who received a “significant pay raise” when she recently signed a new multi-year deal with WWE—is primarily used as an on-screen manager, which is a role that suits her best due to her limited abilities as an in-ring performer.

With Rusev no longer working for WWE and the creative team not showing any real interest in pushing Lashley as a solo act, it actually is more beneficial for Lashley to be paired with Lana, who does a good job of drawing the ire of the WWE Universe even if her shtick isn’t exactly the most entertaining. If Lashley and Lana get that long expected on-screen divorce, what is Lana supposed to do next? Better yet, where would that leave Lashley? Given the way that Lashley has been booked since returning to WWE two years ago, there is little to suggest that an on-screen split with Lana would be good for his career. And the same goes for Lana.

The Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer recently said on Wrestling Observer Radio that “it does look like the divorce got dropped” while numerous other sites have also suggested that plans to have Lashley and Lana get divorced have also been scrapped.

Of course, this is WWE, though, and what holds true this week may change next week, but for now, WWE could and should hold off on any plans to separate Lashley and Lana unless it has a better long-term plan in place for both stars.