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Alberto El Patron won the impact Championship last night but it was almost a former TNA champion who was planned for a big return in that spot at the Orlando, Florida TV taping.
PWInsider.com has confirmed that Bubba Ray Dudley AKA Bully Ray was extremely close to returning last night and facing Lashley for the championship. We are told by multiple sources that the company made him a big-money offer to come in with a top spot. All signs are it was extremely close to happening but at the last minute the two sides were not able to consummate the deal.
One Impact Wrestling source confirmed that after it was obvious they were not going to sign Dudley for the spot, they reached out to Alberto El Patron late Wednesday night and came to terms with him for the last minute debut.
We are told the plan was to hide Alberto until he made his debut. The company went to great pains to hide Alberto while in transit but then Ed Nordholm tweeted out a photo of Alberto and Jarrett in the ring together before the taping began. [Update 5:52 PM - A TNA source reached out to deny the company went out of their way to hide Patron's debut, noting it was a "taped show."]
PWInsider has also learned that Impact reached out to another name to potentially take that role before Alberto, but we have not confirmed who that other name is as of this writing.
The initial plan was for Drew Galloway to win the championship last night but Galloway opted not to sign a new Impact contract and instead the part of the company, siding the last minute nature of Impact's offer.
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