Bobby Lashley has had plenty of fights inside the ring, the cage, and outside of it. Across pro wrestling, MMA and amateur wrestling, he's not new to it.
Obviously the three ventures are similar, while also categorically different, while borrowing elements from one another. Fightful has spoken to several athletes across the last five years that have said they had their skills tested by those either curious or eager. Lashley told Fightful ahead of his WWE Hell in a Cell title defense against Drew McIntyre that hasn't happened to him in the ring...yet.
"In the ring, no. There are a lot of times where people subtly test you and you think 'are you?' and then it's gone. They don't really set it in to the point where it's like 'okay, I'll let this go.' I did have an opportunity to roll with Riddle and other guys. These guys have skill. I don't think anyone is at the point of testing me to where I'm firing back 100%," Lashley said.
WWE's own Chairman Vince McMahon has been known to test his own wrestlers physically, even to the point of shooting for double leg takedowns on Olympic Gold Medalist Kurt Angle. Lashley said McMahon takes a different approach with him.
"No [Vince has never shot on me]. He'll try to work a clinch and get a quick one. He's good at pummeling. He knows how to get in there," Lashley said.
For over a decade, Lashley was outside of WWE. He and McMahon didn't have a close relationship and didn't necessarily talk business, but they did keep in contact. In fact, Vince McMahon wanted to catch a workout with Lashley.
"I was heavily [into MMA] but there were times when Vince would reach out to me and send a text here and there. We've always had that common bond and mentality of working out. He would come down to Denver and be like, 'I'll be in Denver, we have to get a workout in.' We never really did, but it was a running joke and a possibility that we've talked about a few times. It wasn't one of those things where we talked consistently, just a few text messages over the ten or eleven years I was gone," Lashley said.
Bobby Lashley will be in action on Sunday, June 20, where he defends the WWE Title in Hell in a Cell against Drew McIntyre. You can see the show on Peacock at 8 PM EST. Lashley will also be at this year's WWE Summerslam, August 21 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Tickets go on sale June 18.
