In an October interview with The Lame Guys podcast, Bobby Lashley gave his idea for a potential feud with Gunther.
Lashley said, "When Gunther was rolling, there was one thing I wanted to do with him, and everybody would have been like, 'Ohhhhh.' If we were still the Hurt Business, I was like, 'I want to roll up on him, and I want Gunther to say, 'People like you don't deserve a chance at my title.'' People would have been like, 'What did he say?' We would have toed that line. If you think about the German and these black dudes. 'Is there a little bit of racial tension there?' We didn't have to go there, 'What do you mean by 'People like you.'' He could be like, 'Older guys in wrestling.' The crowd would have been like, 'Uhhh, did he say that?' Then I was going to say, 'I think you look familiar,' and do one of these [Holds his thumb, indicating a mustache]. There it is! I don't know if we could have went there, but if we could have. There are so many things you could toe the line with there, and it could have been a huge feud."
His comments sparked much criticism and backlash from fans online.
Lashley returned to the Lame Guys podcast for part two, and was asked about the response to his comments.
"I guess I took a little heat because some people were taking some of the things I said as, 'He's trying to do a racial thing.' In the wrestling business, if you look at some of the groups that are formed, they are formed in an interesting way. That happens. It's not so much a negative thing either way, it's just how they are put together and formed. Certain groups, I think it would be interesting to see the dynamic of teams working together. In our society right now, a lot of these groups butt heads anyway. Why do they butt heads? It can be for whatever reason. I think if you brought that to life and on TV, some of them can be fun. By all means, I am not racist towards any particular group. I don't know why people ran with it. That's one thing in the wrestling business, that is unfortunate, we do have these dirtsheets. Some are ran by companies and some are ran by guys in companies. It's ridiculous and they try to look for things to pull out to get some clickbait and then they spew some drama online. For those people, just stay away from me. I'm just not that guy spreading it. There are some guys that want that out, and they sit and have beef and battles with each other. For me, I'm very confident in what I am and what I can do and what I have going forward. I'm not that guy. They can stay offline and leave my interviews unheard. I'm not that guy to spew any hate. I didn't like how it ran. Some people came to me and were like, 'Ah man, that would have been cool.' Others were like, 'Ah man he....' I saw one post, 'Bobby really has CTE right now. He's losing his mind.' Is that where it's gone?"
Lashley is currently signed to AEW, making his debut at AEW Fright Night Dynamite and reuniting with Shelton Benjamin and MVP.
Lashley is set to face Swerve Strickland at AEW Full Gear.
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