Rohit Raju becomes free agent as Impact Wrestling run ends

[Big Red Machine]

https://www.f4wonline.com/tna-news/rohi ... nds-364386

By Josh Nason | @joshnason | Jan 3, 2022 10:11 am

Former Impact Wrestling X-Division Champion Rohit Raju took to Twitter Sunday night to announce he is a free agent as his deal with the company has come to an end.

Raju (Hakim Zane) had been with the company since 2017. While not explicitly stated, it's assumed his deal expired at the end of 2021.

His role increased and his ring name changed in 2018 as he became a fixture in the X-Division along with forming the Desi Hit Squad faction.

The 41-year-old first won the X-Division title in August 2020 in a three-way with then-champion Chris Bey and TJP at Emergence. He would lose the title nearly four months later to Manik (TJP) at Final Resolution and never regained it.

His last in-ring action on Impact TV was in a December loss to Josh Alexander, followed by a defeat to Josh Mathews at Impact's Throwback Throwdown 2 event where he wrestled as Quincy Cosmos.

In addition to Impact, Raju has wrestled frequently on the indies through the years and has been a constant in Midwest indie AAW where he recently lost their Heritage title to Ace Austin and Myron Reed in a three-way.

[cero2k]

sad to see him go, but I think he's already reached his ceiling on several occasions. May as well try his luck somewhere else, he'd be really good in ROH i think

[Big Red Machine]

sad to see him go, but I think he's already reached his ceiling on several occasions. May as well try his luck somewhere else, he'd be really good in ROH i think

I think ROH and TNA need to avoid coming off as just "the place people go when they're done with the other one." That will make both seem smaller.

[cero2k]

I think ROH and TNA need to avoid coming off as just "the place people go when they're done with the other one." That will make both seem smaller.

While true, I do think the lateral moves between promotions could benefit both them and the wrestlers. I think it's more about us fans not seeing these promotions as ' they went there because there wasn't anywhere else to go', but I'm asking for a miracle here.

We used to think like that with territories, where one wrestler leaves to cool off and joins another territory for a season, and we used to praise those wrestlers that went and had runs with promotions all over the world.

[Big Red Machine]

I think ROH and TNA need to avoid coming off as just "the place people go when they're done with the other one." That will make both seem smaller.

While true, I do think the lateral moves between promotions could benefit both them and the wrestlers. I think it's more about us fans not seeing these promotions as ' they went there because there wasn't anywhere else to go', but I'm asking for a miracle here.

We used to think like that with territories, where one wrestler leaves to cool off and joins another territory for a season, and we used to praise those wrestlers that went and had runs with promotions all over the world.

The difference is that 95% of the people only saw the run in one promotion. In this case, the wrestler would have to do a good job of reinventing themselves.

[cero2k]

The difference is that 95% of the people only saw the run in one promotion. In this case, the wrestler would have to do a good job of reinventing themselves.

if only 5% of the people are watching both promotions, then who cares if they jump from one to the other, no one is even gonna know that the wrestler had nothing left on the other promotion

[Big Red Machine]

The difference is that 95% of the people only saw the run in one promotion. In this case, the wrestler would have to do a good job of reinventing themselves.

if only 5% of the people are watching both promotions, then who cares if they jump from one to the other, no one is even gonna know that the wrestler had nothing left on the other promotion

I think with ROH and TNA, though, it's mostly the same people.

[cero2k]

I think with ROH and TNA, though, it's mostly the same people.

then perfect, make it seem like people jump from one to the other and then they can always come back to the original promotion for more work down the line. The perception that you said is on the fans fault, not the promotions

[Big Red Machine]

I think with ROH and TNA, though, it's mostly the same people.

then perfect, make it seem like people jump from one to the other and then they can always come back to the original promotion for more work down the line. The perception that you said is on the fans fault, not the promotions

Yes, but it's something the promotions have to be cautious of.

They could also solve it by trying to work together more so it feels more like a natural destination than a "cast-off" coming in. I just think that guys finishing up in ROH always going to TNA and visa-versa (I'm pretty sure AEW and WWE have raided everyone they really want from ROH and TNA by now, other than the TNA women's division) isn't a good look for either place.

[cero2k]

Yes, but it's something the promotions have to be cautious of.

They could also solve it by trying to work together more so it feels more like a natural destination than a "cast-off" coming in. I just think that guys finishing up in ROH always going to TNA and visa-versa (I'm pretty sure AEW and WWE have raided everyone they really want from ROH and TNA by now, other than the TNA women's division) isn't a good look for either place.

i would imagine that everything that we're talking about is smartly executed. Not everyone would be jumping around, ROH takes the wrestlers that work for them and vice versa, I wouldn't send Johnny Swinger or Fallah Bahh to ROH just because they're done with Impact, but guys like Rohit, Trey, Maclin, even Callihan or W. Morrissey, could be assets to ROH. This also implies that the promotions are not just gonna take the wrestler and make them world champions out of nowhere. Impact has been pretty good at that, I don't see why ROH wouldn't.