Bobby Lashley opens up about a raw moment with Vince McMahon after he won the WWE Championship for the first time.
Bobby Lashley first entered WWE in 2005. in less than a year-and-a-half, he was wrestling Vince McMahon on pay-per-view. Vince would win the WWE ECW Championship from Lashley as payback for Lashley helping Donald Trump shave the head of Vince McMahon at Wrestlemania 23 in 2007.
Lashley would defeat Vince McMahon to gain the championship back at WWE One Night Stand and shortly thereafter, Vince McMahon would fake his own death and Bobby Lashley would leave the promotion.
Now, Bobby Lashley has finally come full circle after defeating The Miz for the WWE championship on Monday, March 1, 2021.
Speaking with Ryan Satin, Bobby Lashley revealed early advice from mentors such as John Bradshaw Layfield and Booker T and also detailed Vince McMahon's reaction to Lashley finally winning the WWE Championship.
"Booker came on and said it one time on one of the pre-shows, he was like, ‘Man, you should be main eventing. I don’t know what you’re doing right now, but I don’t know why they don’t have Bobby main eventing WrestleMania.’ Booker said that. To me, that meant the world, because I have so much respect for Booker," he explained. "I have so much respect for a lot of the guys that I came up and first worked with, like JBL and Booker, some of those guys, so I’ve been hearing some really good word from some of those guys and those words really resonated in me and let me realize to stop just having fun."
He continued, "You’re not here to have fun. Vince doesn’t want you here to have fun. Vince wants to get in an argument with you because you’re fighting for something that you want. Vince wants you to step out of the box and do something bigger. Vince wants you to want WrestleMania so much that the crowd forces them to give you that title. And I think I started to get into that point this last year, several months definitely. I’ve been mean, man. I’ve been mean. I go out there with a vengeance and there’s a whole lot of confidence running through me.
"When I was able to go through that curtain [after winning the WWE Championship] and give Vince a hug, he grabbed me and he held me for a while and was like, ‘Man, I’m proud of you.’"
Many of Bobby Lashley’s peers reacted to the moment following this week's episode of Monday Night Raw. You can learn more about that here.
