WWE: Bobby Lashley Group Name Revealed, Sean Waltman Denies Rumors of Being in Men’s Rumble Match, RAW TV Deal Talks Update

Bobby Lashley & Street Profits’ Faction Named “The Pride”

WrestleVotes reported that their sources stated that WWE officials recently went ahead with their plans for Bobby Lashley’s faction with the Street Profits to be officially given the name of “The Pride.”

It was reported that WWE officials had originally planned to officially debut this new name for Lashley’s faction at last week’s SmackDown show but this plan was dropped at the last second for reasons currently unknown.

Lashley confirmed that this is the new name of his group following a recent update he made on his Twitter bio stating “leader of The Pride.”

Bobby Lashley’s bio says he’s the leader of The Pride. pic.twitter.com/7LRtKIM0rg

— Fightful Wrestling (@Fightful) January 12, 2024

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Sean “X-Pac” Waltman Denies Rumors of Him Being in 2024 Men’s Royal Rumble Match

As noted before, WWE currently has early plans for WWE Hall of Famer Sean “X-Pac” Waltman to be a potential surprise entrant for this year’s Men’s Royal Rumble match for their Royal Rumble 2024 event later this month.

Waltman commented on Twitter earlier today denying the recent rumors and reports of him competing in this year’s Men’s Royal Rumble match.

I can still go at the drop of hat, at least for a few minutes. I can do all my kicks, except the one in the corner & I can do that again with a few weeks training. I'm at least month away from taking my shirt off in public, so zero chance I'll be in the Rumble.

— Sean Waltman (@TheRealXPac) January 12, 2024

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WWE’s Talks for New RAW TV Deal Update

WWE has been in negotiations with several interested bidders for their next television deal for their RAW brand. Among those that WWE has had talks with or are currently interested in a potential deal includes Disney, Amazon, and Warner Brothers Discovery. Of the interested bidders, Amazon Prime is speculated to be the current leading candidate to get the media rights for RAW.

LightShed Partners’ Rich Greenfield reported that he currently predicts that Amazon will also be the likeliest destination for WWE’s next television deal for their RAW brand but is not ruling out Disney securing a deal in the end for their FX network.

In regards to Warner Bros Discovery, Greenfield currently predicts that WBD will not be retaining their NBA television deal which would open the door for them to make a serious push to try to get a deal for WWE’s RAW. Greenfield also stated that this would not mean that WBD would be getting rid of AEW and instead believes that both could exist together on WBD owned networks and platforms.

“Ultimately, we expect Raw rights to end up at WBD. Given our belief that WBD will lose the NBA, Zaslav will need to add live, sports/sports-like content to satisfy distributors. As previously mentioned, WBD adding CFP rights could provide marquee event content to pair with its NCAA tournament and MLB postseason rights. However, they will also need tonnage to replace weekly NBA games. Raw, which actually provides higher viewership most weeks than the NBA, serves that purpose. We do not see WBD’s interest in AEW as an obstacle and both could exist on their distribution platforms.”