Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Bobby Lashley On Brock Lesnar, Shaving Vince McMahon's Head, Kurt Angle, AEW, Hurt Syndicate

Starting point is 00:00:00 Chris the Oh yes, welcome back to another one here on Inside. I'm CBV, Chris Van Fleet. Thank you for being with us on this episode. And thank you as always for making insight the number one wrestling podcast on the planet. I would assume you're already following the show if you're here and you're listening to this right now.

Starting point is 00:00:39 But check. Just check right now to see if you followed the show. And if by chance you haven't hit a run. running knee on that follow button. This interview today has been 17, almost 18 years in the making. Bobby Lashy was my very first wrestling interview that I ever did, January of 2007. He was the ECW champion in his first reign. And I was just starting out my broadcasting career.

Starting point is 00:01:08 I was less than two years in. And I was living in Vancouver, working on a show called 9-69 on what ended up becoming MTV2 Canada. the clips from that original interview are up on my YouTube channel. I've got a silly blonde patch in my hair. It looks like I was part of some pop punk band. Bobby though looks exactly the same. Of course, just the man doesn't age. And when someone has had a career like Bobby Lashley, it's just so hard to narrow it down for an interview like this. Like what are the things that you're going to focus on? What are the things you're going to talk about? And we talked for about an hour

Starting point is 00:01:44 and a half and I feel like we still could go on for 12 more hours. What a career in WWE. What a career in TNA. And I think people sleep on his MMA career. 15 and two in total, undefeated in Bellator at 5 and oh. So what an MMA career. And in October, he made his debut in AEW, reuniting with Shelton Benjamin, Benjamin, an MVP in the Hurt Syndicate. There's obviously a lot to talk about over Bobby Lashley's amazing career. So I hope that you enjoy this. Snap a screenshot and let us know that you're listening. He's at Fight Bobby on Twitter. He's at Bobby Lashley on Instagram. For me, it's just my name at Chris Van Fleet. And here we go. 18 years in the making. Ladies and gentlemen, please enjoy this conversation

Starting point is 00:02:35 with the one and only Bobby Lashley. It's been a long time coming. We're locked in. You were my very first wrestling interview ever. I love seeing the pitcher. The pitcher brings me back to how style used to be. Let me bring this up. We can talk about how silly this was. January 2007.

Starting point is 00:03:05 Right. Oh, I love that suit. And then the hat, I was definitely trying a lot of things at once. You were trying a lot of things. I had a skunk line in my hat. hair. I looked like I, like, worked at Hot Topic or something. I had a puka shell necklace, a sole patch, one little yellow patch of hair, and a zoo york hoodie. Do you remember anything from that interview? Do you remember that interview? Yeah. I remember me, because I didn't do very many

Starting point is 00:03:39 interviews that actually had meaning. And I remember with ours, it was a different kind of interview. And I think I told you that at the time, too. Like, you know, sometimes you have interviews where people are just question, question, question, no basis behind it. But we actually had a good talk. And I think that's what the big thing. That's what I remember from the interview. It was Vancouver, British Columbia. We did it on the roof of City TV.

Starting point is 00:04:02 Yes. I remember we climbed up this ladder. We went to the roof and you barely fit through the area to like get up the ladder and onto the roof. And I went through real easy. And I'm like, is Bobby going to fit? Kind of like wedged yourself through. I'm like, oh, damn.

Starting point is 00:04:18 I'm versatile. And I don't know why I thought it would be a good idea to try to challenge you to a fight slash match during that interview. It had meaning. It was the beginning of something. The way we edited it was, so I set it up like, I don't know, a lot of our viewers might not know this, but I was an amateur wrestler in high school, quite an accomplished backyard wrestling career. here. I also trained to be a wrestler in college. So I'm wondering if right now you're willing to step up, be a man and put that title on the line. You're like, yeah, I'll put this title on the line at any point in time. Like, what about right here right now on the roof of city TV? And you're like, right now,

Starting point is 00:05:04 you just better have some backup. And the way we edited it was I put a record scratch in. Like one of those like, you know, whatever I was thinking at that moment, a terrible idea that was. Well, it started something and now that we can look back at it. That's how we say with anything you do on TV or an entertainment, it's like you can't beat yourself up at the time of what it is because you can always look back at it if nothing else laugh. But at the same time, it lives forever. I'm okay with it. You still look exactly the same almost 18 years later. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:05:43 Yeah. I think I felt like in like a little time warp. that there was between, like, the 10 years of my life kind of just fused together when I was fighting and everything like that and it kind of leaks me up. So I don't feel like, I don't feel any older. I feel really, I feel great shape, you know. I've never stopped working out. It's like an addiction.

Starting point is 00:06:03 That's my addiction. So I'm just that guy. I take it easy. I have fun. But I stay. And my kids keep me young also. You know, when you're running around with kids, my son's like, all right, dad, we've got to go through the football. You know, you've got to be ready.

Starting point is 00:06:16 You got to be there for your kids. that's what it was all about for me, is being able to do things with my kid and stay active because of that. And I think if you are around kids and you allow yourself to just have fun with kids, I think that's what keeps you young. But I mean, that's your mindset, but you also look younger now than you did then. There were some bitches where I was like, man, I was kind of chubby back then. I was like, and then now I look at it, I'm like, I'm a little bit more shredded. This is good. Your version of chubby is like jacked for everybody else. Well, I mean, you know, it's just how you look at it.

Starting point is 00:06:50 We're all over, a little bit overcritical of our body. So when I look at things, I'm like, I want to change this. I want to change that. So, yeah, I felt like before when I came on, I wanted to be the big guy, you know. I was eating like a, like at night I would eat like a large pizza. And that wasn't even dinner. That was just an extra meal that was throwing in there to keep my weight on. Just to get the calories up?

Starting point is 00:07:12 Yeah, just to get the calories. Yeah. I was doing all. I was like, I got to eat, workout. eat workout. But then when you're young like that, that's all you want to do anyway. I mean, when I first got into WWE, I just came from the Olympic Training Center. So I was just, I was training all the time. And training was very important to me. And when the things happened, it happened to me leading from amateur wrestling to pro wrestling, you know, and I've talked about a million times,

Starting point is 00:07:36 you know, with bank robbery and different things like that, they ended my amateur wrestling career and then set me into the pros. I still had that workout mentality where I just, you got to do more. You can't do enough. just had to always train. So when I came into WWE, you know, I was watching film and I was lifting. Like when I was in Louisville at OVW, that's all I did. We went to practice and lifted. Practice lifted and ate. That was our whole life. So by the time I got onto the show, I was like, like, I even had to look back. I was like, damn, is that me on TV? But the amazing thing about you and your career is you've never been a body guy. You've never

Starting point is 00:08:13 just been like in that like pigeonholed into you're just the guy that looks. great. Yeah. Yeah, because we would joke about it. You know, there was show muscles and go muscles. And I would say I had go muscles because I enjoy doing a lot of other things. Like I enjoy boxing, you know, so and you can't box if you're a body bubble, you know. So I've always kept kind of flexibility, stay loose and everything like that. I enjoy yoga. I enjoy being able to explore all kinds of different fitness avenues, not just pumping weight, lifting weights. And when people ask me what my training regimen is, I'm like, I don't know. Because I really just, I go to the gym as like mental clarity. I go to gym because I like to challenge myself. I always talk about challenges.

Starting point is 00:08:56 And I really just go up there because I have different challenges from my pull-up challenge to my push-up challenge and different things like that. And I do it. And then it's like, I set a number for myself. It's like, all right, you did this amount of push-ups or this amount of pull-ups. And that's where you're at. And then the next time I go there, I want to be able to beat that. So there's a series of things that I have to do in order to be better at that challenge. Are you still improving on those numbers now? I changed the contest. Like I feel like sometimes you can kind of peek out certain things where it's like I don't think I'm going to get any better than that.

Starting point is 00:09:30 And I look at like some some contests that other people have done so that I have kind of a gauge. It's like here's where the normal people do it. Here's where the super athletes do it. And then there's where I want to go. So I would try to. Beyond the super athletes. I want to be Superman and everything. Of course.

Starting point is 00:09:46 I want to see how far I can push this thing is the Bobby body. Like I want to see how far I can push myself. So I just keep kind of changing it. Like you do this in pull-ups. And then now your back's amazing because you just set your record in the pull-ups and you train for a month to get ready for this. Now let's go over here. Let's try something else.

Starting point is 00:10:06 And then when I hear things, I'm like, I like that challenger from flipping through social media. And I see like this push-up challenge. I'm like, I want to do this. that. And then I go and try. And I do it. And then I'm like, all right, there's where I'm at. Now let's see where we can go. What was the last age where you didn't have abs? I think these damn cookies that I keep eating are going to ruin it for me. It's either the cookies of the age. Something is going to catch out with me. But I, you know what? So never is the answer. Never. Yeah. What was it? Was it Arnold Schwarzenegger that said, if you want to be a bodybuilder,

Starting point is 00:10:41 pick your parents. Wow. You know, that's, that's kind of hard. But, but if you look it in that, in that sense, it's like, so good. And the Ronnie Coleman ones, like, everybody wants to be a bodybuilder, but nobody wants to lift them heavy-ass weights. Right. So you look at all those.

Starting point is 00:10:59 And I, I think, like, genetic is a real thing. Like, I see my kids. My kids, my daughter, she's happy and go lucky with everything, but she's like a super athlete. And my son is the same way. That's how my kids are. They just came out and I had to tell them. I was like, all right, kids, sit down here. You guys have this special gift.

Starting point is 00:11:22 You have to understand that. You have to like use it. Because that's what it is because their mom, you know, she was Crystal Marshall in WW before. So she's in great shape, you know. And then my oldest is in college, but her mom's in great shape. But my kids with Crystal Marshall, she was like the first MPC national champion. When they started bikini in MPC, she was the first one, and she won national.

Starting point is 00:11:46 She was a national champion. So they have my jeans and her jeans, wrapped up in a one. So I'm like, guys, you might be all right. Athletically, let's see what we can do with this. So I do have genetics to kind of account for a lot of it because I get away with some junk. But for me, I'm very simple with certain things. Like breakfast, I stay very basic. The things that I can stay very basic with, I stay basic.

Starting point is 00:12:12 What are we talking about just like eggs? Let's say across the board. I'll say people ask me how many times you work out a week. I say every day. Do I work out every day? No. Because if I said it for I'm going to work out every day, it gives me those chances that if I can't work out, I'm okay with it. Like if I'm traveling back on Thursday from TV and I just feel wore out.

Starting point is 00:12:35 And I'm like, man, I just really don't want to go to the gym. I just don't go. Like it throws a lot of people off if they have a set schedule and they have to change and they're like, oh my God, it's crazy. But I say every day. So I try to go every day. If I feel good every day, I will go every day. If I feel good every day, I may go twice that day. But I never do anything to stress myself.

Starting point is 00:12:56 If I really want to take off, I just take off. That's why I say every day. So same thing with my diet. Like in the morning, I'll eat egg whites and oatmeal, a little bit of blueberries. And boom, that's very basic. How often do I do it? Every day. But you know what I had this morning?

Starting point is 00:13:14 I was running two legs and I had a leg workout. So I wanted to carve up. So I did this. I just ordered Einstein bagels. So I got like this bagels with turkey sausage, eggs, and a blueberry muffin. So am I true when I say I eat egg whites and oatmeal every day? No, technically. But I do it 90% of the time.

Starting point is 00:13:37 And then those other times where I just want to switch. it up or I want something different or I want to go out to eat or I just don't want to make something that I'll just use it. So those people, though, look at someone that looks like you that shredded and they go, oh, man, that guy never misses a meal. Everything is so dialed in. He never eats ice cream. He never eats pizza.

Starting point is 00:13:55 No. I eat it all. This is why we hate you. I eat it all. But then again, I say I eat it in moderation. It's like some people go at it and they eat dinner and every time they get a dessert. You know, or they go out to drink. every night of the week. And it kind of takes away from the excitement of it. You know, if I'm like,

Starting point is 00:14:16 oh, man, you know what, I'm go out this week Friday, and I'm geared up, I'm geared up for it. So I go out and have a good time and it's like, yeah, some people like water it down because they do it too often. You know, same thing with sweets. Like, I love sweets. Do I have it all the time? No, but sometimes, like, we like cookies. Me and my kids love cookies. And Crumble comes out with a different variation of cookies every week. So when they do it, when I get back, we order them. It's either crumple or it's like Cookie Society or one of these cookie places. So we see which one we like the best and we order them.

Starting point is 00:14:49 So it's almost weekly. So we grub out some quick cookies. And it usually just cures my sweet tooth for almost the whole week because those cookies are huge and we get it in. But then also when I do that, I know that there is a time that I'm going to work out. So I will get my workout in. And sometimes I just remember, I was like, oh, you know, you had a little bit of cookies yesterday you got to be on TV tomorrow i want to ramp it up a little bit so i might turn it up the

Starting point is 00:15:13 volume a little bit maybe get a little more sweat in it abs a little bit more something like that but i keep it very simple how did you become bobby because you could be bob rob rob robby any variation of this little bobby my mom well so my name isn't bobby or robert or frank my my middle name is roberto my family's from panama So I'm a junior, so that's why I got the name. So that just kind of went with me. But I've never heard anyone in my family ever called me Franklin. Never once.

Starting point is 00:15:48 I've always been my mom when she's yelling to me, Bob, you know, my dad, Bobby, my brothers, my sisters, Bobby. I've always been Bobby. So it just kind of stuck with me. And now, you know, everybody deals with stuff. So, you know, we have a therapist or a therapist that I was working with just on just, you know, letting yourself, talk, you know? And she always said, you've got to let little Bobby out. You got this little Bobby out.

Starting point is 00:16:13 You have this big frame to protect this little Bobby because little Bobby likes to have fun. He likes to play with his kids, always in a good mood. She said, that's what people meet. And that's what they think when they meet you. They're like, oh, man, he's so nice. He's so this. You said, that's Little Bobby. She said, the character you play on TV is Bobby Lashley, the Almighty.

Starting point is 00:16:32 So she says, I like the contrast between the two. but people that really know you love the little Bobby. But I appreciate that you're willing to speak about that because there's a lot of people that are going to be watching this going, Bobby Lashley goes to therapy? Oh my gosh. Yeah, man. You know what's crazy is some of the, I want to say darkest,

Starting point is 00:16:52 because I don't want to seem like anything's bad because I'm an ultra-positive person. But some of the times where I felt like I was at my lowest was in actuality. People thought I should have been in my highest. Like when money's coming in, everything's rocking. it rolling it and I'm sitting in a hotel room after a show and I'm like I'm by myself and I'm sitting there. I'm like, what is it? Like it's almost like an empty feeling when you're

Starting point is 00:17:20 traveling on the road and if you do it by yourself because a lot of times I travel by myself. I just like the thing and talk to people back home, talk to my kids or something like that. So I usually just travel. And there's that times where you're like, man, it seems like everything is good and you're just kind of looking for something. And you know what I actually, I actually took this time and I started Googling this at one point. And I was like, ways to make yourself happy. It was crazy because I was like, I was like, you know, things to make yourself happy. Because some people are like, oh, I'm going to go buy a new car.

Starting point is 00:17:50 I'm going to buy this. I'm going to buy that. I'm not there. I'm not like a very materialistic person. So to me, I was like, that's not what I want to do. That's not what makes me happy. And there was a TED talk that came on that I watched one night. And it said, you know, sometimes you can find happiness in other people.

Starting point is 00:18:06 So at that point, I started my nonprofit and then I started going out and I was like, I was like, because a lot of times we don't understand where we are in life, you know? And I say this because one time I had a friend that was going through something and it was like, his life was like at its end, almost felt like this person was like in the deepest, darkest place he could have ever been. And I was like, whoa, like I started talking with him. and come to find out that this guy was like maybe like $1,200 behind. And because of that, it was, it just kept, it was like a reoccurring thing. It just kept telling more and more into a hole because it was like, yeah, I'm $1,200 now,

Starting point is 00:18:53 but I got to try to pay something over here, which this bill comes. And it was like just a cycle of things happening. And if somebody would have just came through it and helped him out with that $1,200, it would have put it right back into an amazing position. because now he's zero balance and now his pay can cover his bills and everything. So I was like, wow. So that's, and when I found out that, it really opened up my eyes. I was like, man, I am very fortunate, very blessed with the money that I'm making and my

Starting point is 00:19:21 abilities to be able to do things and not have any worries. So I started looking out to some of these people and I was like, how can I find and how can I help people out? And that's been kind of a big goal in mind lately. It's just to go and find out where people, have needs and try to meet those. My kids, I told them, when I was going through this, I told them, I was like, what do you guys want to do for Christmas? I said, because I'm not buying you guys toys. I say, we're not doing it. My kids are like, what? And I was like, what? Like, really,

Starting point is 00:19:53 if you guys want something, if you guys really want something, you know I'm going to get it for you. So, but I don't just like hand over things to my kids. I let my kids tell me why they want it and explain to me how it's going to benefit them in some way. And we don't just buy junk. So that Christmas, we were just like, you know what, we're not going to do this. We're going to go find a family. We're going to adopt a family. And then after that, we contacted Titus because Titus was the most connected in everything.

Starting point is 00:20:17 Titus knows everyone. And he always had these big events where he had big charity events. And we went down and saw his charity event. And I'm telling you, I was blown away. This man gave away like four cars, like 200-something bikes, like Nintendo's Xboxes, everything. And then when you went inside this garage, or not garage, excuse me, inside the gym at the school that he was at, if you can think of the bleachers all the way down and toys covering from the bottom of the bleachers all the way up to the top, all the way down. It was a massive amount of toys all on the floor, everything. I was like, how did you do all this?

Starting point is 00:20:53 He's like, worldwide. That's what you are. I was like, come on, bro. I said, I want to be able to do this. The amount of people that he connected to and touched and help out their lives, man. the dude is on fire. I mean, Titus is just, he's, he's truly a remarkable human being. And I always tell him that, because when I went to that event, I was like, I never knew

Starting point is 00:21:16 what you were doing. I saw you posting stuff online, but I didn't know to what extent. And seeing this is mind-blown. You saw him truly changing people's lives, which is, to me, admirable, to say least. How did that first meeting with Kurt Engel go down? How did Kurt Engel get you into pro wrestling? Well, when, so amateur wrestling and pro wrestlers kind of have this before, before. It's, it's, it's, it's, the relationship has been different.

Starting point is 00:21:49 It's, it's been changed up to now. But when Kurt came, I was at the Olympic Training Center training. We were getting ready, excuse me, we were getting ready for world team trials. So it was a big event that we were getting ready for. And Kurt was doing, he was doing the thing yet with WWE. and he came down and when he was doing it, he wanted to just go through practice with us. So he was running with us, drilling,

Starting point is 00:22:11 and everything like that off to the side. And then, you know, Kurt was just kind of like going around. Some of the people he knew I never met Kurt, but I was a wrestling fan, a pro wrestling fan. And sometimes in an amateur rankings, you've got to be a little quiet with that. But I knew Kurt because the cool thing about Kurt was when I was in high school, he was in college.

Starting point is 00:22:30 And when I was in high school, I watched his video where he wrestled Sylvester Turke, And it was like big on TV. It was on TV. They talked, all they were doing was talking about Sylvester Turkey, how great he was. And they were talking about Kurt Engels, like the underdog in this match. And it was just, it was a great match. It was one that I recorded on VHS tapes. How far back that was?

Starting point is 00:22:52 I remember watching it then. So I knew Kurt then and I looked up to him because how tough he was. And how hard he fought and how much he trained. And they talked about his story a little bit. And I was like, that's me. Like, I'm a workout training a hollick. Like, I love to train and get ready for things. It motivates me.

Starting point is 00:23:10 So I was a big fan of his when I was in high school, and he was in college wrestling. And then I moved up to college, and he moved to WWB. And then I watched him, and I saw some of the matches he was doing. And I was a pro wrestling fan before. And when I watched him come up, he was doing, like, amateur wrestling in a pro wrestling world. But he was able to mix the two. And I was like, man, this is, he's incredible. Some of the matches he had with Eddie Guerrero

Starting point is 00:23:35 and some of the other people that he wrestled with, Brock and some of the other big matches that he had, I was like, man, I loved the style, you know. So now when he was out there, I'm at the Olympic Train Center, he comes back and I was like, this is the kid. Like, I was a huge fan of him for 10 years ago. So I was like, man, this is awesome. And then he came to me and he was like, oh, he said,

Starting point is 00:23:57 he said, man, you got a pretty good little, like, you got a pretty good look. And he said, you watch poor else? Absolutely. man, I'm a huge fan of yours. And he was like, man, I'd love to be able to maybe introduce you to some people in WW because it might be a good opportunity for you. He said, I've already talked to coach Kevin Jackson.

Starting point is 00:24:14 And Kevin Jackson said, yeah, just go talk to him. And so we exchanged numbers then. And what Kurt told me at the time, he said, he said, if you would have accomplished what you accomplished in amateur wrestling, in basketball, football, baseball, you'd be probably multi, multi-millionaire playing in the pros. He said, pro wrestling is our pro wrestling, is our pro sport. He said, so you might want to look into it. And I was like, noted.

Starting point is 00:24:40 So one thing led to the next. And then I ended up in WWE. If you've watched any of these interviews on my YouTube channel, you know that I know a thing or two about a good plain t-shirt. It's kind of become my uniform at this point, just a solid black t-shirt or a solid white t-shirt. I have found the most comfortable t-shirt ever with Viori's Dream Knick collection. The Ponto Performance T is amazing because it's so soft and lightweight and has that four-way performance stretch.

Starting point is 00:25:13 It's versatile so you can wear it for something like an interview or going out. It's also something that I wear to the gym all the time. Same with their Ponto Performance Joggers, which are so comfortable. I wear them in and out of the house all the time. In fact, you'll never see me in an airport wearing anything. else but the Ponto performance joggers. Viori is an investment in your happiness. And for anybody listening right now, they're offering you 20% off your first purchase.

Starting point is 00:25:41 So get yourself some of the most comfortable and versatile clothing on the planet by going to Viori.com slash CVV. That's V-U-O-R-I-com slash CVV. How close were you to qualifying for the Olympics? Well, so it was World Team Trials the year before the Olympics. And the Olympics goes nationals, and then if you place in nationals, everybody else that comes, they go together at World Team or Olympic trials. And if you win Olympic trials, then you go.

Starting point is 00:26:15 So World Team Trials is in between the Olympic trials. Every year you have World Team trials to make it out to the World Team. So I had moved up in a weight class, like right before World Team trials. So this is my first kind of go at it at 96 kilos, which is how many pounds? It was 2.11. Could you imagine Bobby Lashley at 2.11? Well, the year before I wrested at 187 and a half. I mean, and I was cutting so much weight.

Starting point is 00:26:43 I was like at the low 200th. So I was like. And what are you sitting here right now? Probably about two, what does it say on TV? 273. Yeah, yeah, that's it. I'm going to go with that. Not quite that much, but close.

Starting point is 00:27:02 But at the time, I was kind of a lot of weight for it. I always cut weight. So when I went up to 211, my body instantly acclimated, and I jumped up to like 220-something, and I felt comfortable at 220. So I cut a little bit of weight, which is the easy way to make it down the 211. I went to World Team Trials for the first, and I took third. So I lost by a criteria point, which we basically tied in the same. semifinals. And then because he scored the first take down, he moved on. He wrestled. He lost

Starting point is 00:27:32 in the finals. And then the guy that he wrestled has to go against the sitting in national champion. So they wrestle, which was Daniel Cormier. So Cormier beat him. So Daniel Cormier went. And I was, you know, I lost by a criteria point. The guy that I got beat by lost by close decision and then Carmay beat him. So, you know, you never can say if you could have made the team or where you were at, but on the latter, I was like in the top five for sure. So how does the bank robbery factor into all this? Well, the bank robbery happened a month after the world, after that tournament. It was like a month or two after that tournament. And what that does is so the next year is where you go to nationals and then you go to Olympic trials. Same tournament, just Olympics,

Starting point is 00:28:22 instead of world. So after a few months after that, that's when the bank robbery happened. And then when I was going into surgery after it, the surgeon told me or the doctor told me that you would probably have to rehab for eight months. So based on timeline, I would have basically been rehabbing all the way out to nationals. So what happened in the bank robbery? You dive to get out of the way of a bullet? Well, so the guy shot and I caught the first bullet. of course yeah yeah I'm gonna keep changing this story until I'm the hero at this damn thing no it was it was very simple and when I looked back at it there was a lot of like questionable things I was I was personal training at the gym and my client didn't show up with sick or something like

Starting point is 00:29:12 that so I was like oh I have some money that I need to go put into the bank so and I had another account that I was getting money from so I was going to put it into my account so I went in there And as I was walking up to the bank, it was like these guys were standing off to the side, and I saw them. And then it was kind of like a little head knot kind of thing. And then I went into the first part, took somebody out of the ATM, then went through the other door. And then as soon as I stood in the other door, it was like, long as it. And then I saw everybody up here, go, ah, screaming. They're dropping down.

Starting point is 00:29:39 And I was like, turn it like this. I don't know what happened. If the guy, like, kicked the door down and just because of that, the gun went off. But the gun went off. I took a dive down on the ground, and I was laying down there on just a cold payment for a while. And that was kind of like that, you know, let's get serious mode, because I was like, I'm in a position of disadvantaged completely, you know, laying on the ground. And that was that time where a lot of your lifters flashed before you, because when he shot,

Starting point is 00:30:13 I don't know, it was something where I couldn't even hear out of the side. So I had like a ringing in my head and then just diving down to the ground, I felt like, you know, just with the contact, I was like, you know, it was shocked. So my whole body was kind of a shock there for a second. And then waited for a little bit. And then there was another shot. And then I kind of moved forward. And I was like, no, no, don't move. Don't move.

Starting point is 00:30:35 Just staying there. And then there was some yelling and commotion going on for a little while. And then the guys like hopped over the counter, stole a bunch of money, ended up getting. out and then I heard like, is everybody okay? Is everybody okay? Because when the guys went out, the president or somebody came and locked the door from the inside and then we started getting up. And when I got up, like my knee was just like cute. But me being a man in this situation, there was a lot of women and stuff. There was people crying and there was an older lady over there that was going through something like she thought she was having a heart attack or something.

Starting point is 00:31:12 So I was like, you know, tend to all those people and I stood off to the side for a little bit. My knee was just, and just pain. And I ended up going up to the hospital afterwards. And when they took a look at my knee, you said, yeah, you completely ruptured your burrosso sack and you tore this, you tore that. It's like, what does that mean? You know, they were like surgery. And that was the whole thing.

Starting point is 00:31:35 When I went to surgery, he was telling me everything. And I'm sitting there calculating. I'm a numbers guy. So it was like, are you going to be out for eight months? And this, that and the other show, I was like, eight months. Let me think backtrack it. I can, okay, eight months is for a normal guy. I can get ready in four months and then maybe a little bit after that.

Starting point is 00:31:50 And I can get ready for this because I have to make it to this tournament, man. I've been wrestling for 20-something years at this point. Like I've dedicated my life to support of wrestling. I want my chance, you know. So I was like, I can still do this. So we went through, we had the surgery and then came out of the surgery. I'm in the straight leg cast. And I'm not able to move for, like, it was the first month.

Starting point is 00:32:14 They were like, just lay around, just basically do nothing and allow this to heal a little bit before we started to rehab. So wait for a while. And then when we started to rehab it, I started getting like super pains again. And then I was already on the mission of making it. I was like, I got to get this time down, you know, eight months to four months and then all this stuff. So I was like putting it all in there. And then they said, no, man, we need to do another X-ray. We did the second X-ray.

Starting point is 00:32:42 and they were like, something's not right. We got to go back in there. So now they scheduled the second surgery a couple months after. So now we have a month after because they were curing something and something happened. I don't know what it was. And then, so basically two months after that surgery, I was going to the second surgery. Now my timelines screwed. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:33:04 Terrible. So I went through that second surgery and then after that I was sitting around at home and just sitting there praying. You know, it's like, what next? You know, I put all this time, effort, and everything in there. Wrestling has changed my life up to this point because I was a kid that came from bare minimums. You know, I didn't live in a, we were poor from my high school years on up. It was not a great situation. So I pulled myself out of there and put myself through college.

Starting point is 00:33:34 And then now I was in the Army. I was making some money, paying some bills. I had life going on. and I'm able to still chase that Olympic dream. So everything was great for me. So when this happened, it was just like, what? I was like, do we have a different journey that I'm supposed to be on? I mean, what is it?

Starting point is 00:33:55 And then that's one, I don't know where I get a call from Joel Briscoe. Hey, I know you have this Olympic trials that you want to jump into, and I know you have goals of make it to the Olympic team. But Kurt said some great things about you. We've been trying to contact you and wanted to get you in here just to get a, like, maybe a bit of a trial so we can see what you have. And I'm looking at this. Because this was from the time I met Kurt until this point, it had to have been four or five months, maybe six months later. So this is a phone call out of the sheer blue after the second surgery where I thought I was done.

Starting point is 00:34:32 So I was like, yes, whatever we need to do. Yes, yes, yes. So we actually plan for me to go to Louisville, to OVW and go see Dr. Tom, go through some drills, and just get kind of a trial. But not a lot of amateur wrestlers can take to pro wrestling. You know, amateur wrestlers don't like to be on their back. Right. What are you doing wrestling? You fall in your back all the time.

Starting point is 00:34:58 It happens. So how were you able to take to it? Just kind of a learning tree. And then I was fortunate enough to be Blaster Lashley. Blaster Lashley didn't have to be on his back that much. Neither did the Almighty. That's true. You don't lose a lot.

Starting point is 00:35:20 It was definitely a learning curve because it was working with as opposed to working against, you know, in amateur wrestling, it's a fight all the time. And it's go hard, go hard, go hard. There were certain people that came in there and kind of helped me out with certain things in my game that I still kind of like play with also to this day. Like when, when Taker came in, Taker was watched me when I first started out.

Starting point is 00:35:41 I was this big kid, a lot of energy. The crowd was behind me. And Taker was like, you keep going down to this wrestling stance. Because I kept going to wrestling mode, you know, amateur wrestling mode. He goes, he says, be a star.

Starting point is 00:35:55 He said, you got to think those people are watching you here. You bring yourself down. You're a big guy. He said, stand up so they can see you more. You know, presentation is something. So I started learning little, little pieces like that from some of the guys that I was around when I first came in.

Starting point is 00:36:10 I was fortunate enough to be around some really amazing people when I first started. I mean, the roster alone, you know, you had JBL, you had Big Show, you had Taker, you had CNA, you had Edge, you had so many of these guys, Bob Hawley, you know, JBL. There were so many guys up there then. Yeah, so those guys were like, here, let me take you by your hand. Yeah. And I want to work with that guy because that's how it was when they, saw somebody come up, oh, there's fresh body to work with.

Starting point is 00:36:37 Oh, I want to work with him. Fit Finley, Regal. I mean, I work with those guys coming up, man. You didn't even, you didn't even need to go to OVW, and you could just go and get put in that group, and you will get better. I mean, you just have to stand there. Around Fit Finley, crazy fits probably one of the most amazing people to work with in that ring. It is magical.

Starting point is 00:36:59 You could just stand there, and he'll make you look like the best wrestling in the entire world. he is that good. Pretty quickly, you get put into a storyline with Vince McMahon. Yeah. Which is like, I mean, it doesn't get much bigger at that time. Yeah. Yeah, that was crazy. When you first get into the business, you don't really understand how quick that machine moves.

Starting point is 00:37:22 Some of the people that are in there right now, they're in there and they just don't understand the magnitude of that machine. They don't understand it. Are you talking about the ability to your whole life can change it a few weeks? weeks or for months. Yeah. I made money. I made money.

Starting point is 00:37:38 Because if you think about it, when I got in, it was like 2005 when I started on the road, right? And then I was out at the end of 2007. So it was a very small piece. And I fed my kids the next, I could even say like 15 years after that with what I got from there. When I went into fighting, I would look at some of the pay that they were paying out. And there were people that made this money, and there were people that made that money.

Starting point is 00:38:07 And it was like in MMA, 5% of the people make 95% of the money. It just, that's just how it is. Yeah. Pro wrestling is almost the same way. And when I came out, I was thrust it into that 5% that was making 95% of the money. Because you had built a name in WWE. Because it was W&B. They weren't just going after, oh, Bobby Lassie, the great wrestler from college.

Starting point is 00:38:26 No, that's why I have so much respect for different people across the board. I don't care how many people have hated on me. I don't care if he've talked trash on me. I don't care any of that. I know what this business has done for me and my family. And my kids are fed right now. My kids are able to do things that I never would imagine doing because of what I got from pro wrestling.

Starting point is 00:38:46 Of course, yes, I did bust my ass and I put in a lot of work. But, you know. But talent only gets you so far. It'll get you so far, yeah. You've got to have people give you that pull up. And that's what I try to do with people right now. But at the same time, I always think the people that able, that gave me that opportunity.

Starting point is 00:39:04 Like, yeah, Vince is going through a whole bunch right now. We understand that. But Vince McMahon has personally had thousands of thousands of people, and people don't understand that. When you have a business like he created, there are so many people right now that are the amount of mouths that he fed and kids that he put through college and houses that he's bought And like there's so much that people don't understand that. Yes, there's a lot of bad things going on with them right now.

Starting point is 00:39:36 But because of that business, we have so many people are able to do things that they probably never had an opportunity to do. Did you understand the magnitude of WrestleMania 23 when they were pitching this to you? No, no. But I learned. And in Maga was like, ooze, who's, you understand how big this is? And I was just like, man, because we were on the road all of the. time, right? So we were, it was just, we were just used to being there, you know, being on the road and traveling and everything like that, we were just used to it. So when you get into a mode like

Starting point is 00:40:07 that, every match is a huge match, you know, I'm standing across the ring with some of these guys that I'm like, like, Booker T, Kane, like I'm tagging with Kurt Engel, like, um, JBL's across from there, man, it was crazy coming up, being a wrestling fan still in this business and being in the ring with all these guys. I was like, so the magnitude every day It was like, until I got out and was able to just sit back and say, man, that's crazy. And even now, I'm having people just come to me from all walks of life. And they're like, man, you don't know what you did to my life. You changed my light.

Starting point is 00:40:46 And I'm like, I had a grown man a couple months ago. I was in Kansas City. And this guy had, he had special needs, but he was functional. And he just, like, I was sitting off to the side. and me and my girl, we were having a drink at the time at this bar, just kind of chilling in the evening. And he just kept on, like, looking. And he was a bouncing.

Starting point is 00:41:04 He was a big guy. Like, he was like 6, 3, 6, 4. See, he was put together. He's big. And he kept looking over at us. And then when I went up and went to the bathroom, he goes over to my girl. And he goes, is this him? He couldn't speak.

Starting point is 00:41:18 So I don't know if he was deaf or he was like, but he had some, he had something. And when I came back, he had went back over there. and she was like, hey, you need to go see that guy over there. He came over to me, and he showed me your picture, and he was telling me how you inspired him to keep going. Because of everything that he was going through, it was very challenging for him, so he was very negative on himself.

Starting point is 00:41:41 He said, you inspired that guy. And when I just, so I get up and I just went over to him, and I shook his hand, I can still remember, man, the guy was like in tears. And he was like, man, you changed my life. And I was like, wow. Wow. I said, this platform.

Starting point is 00:41:57 of WWE is bigger than you know. That's why I always tell the guys, I was like, one, always like, just take your time when you get in that ring. Just look around, man. It's crazy. It's crazy. And I'd tell, I'll be running around in circles. People would see me run around circles.

Starting point is 00:42:11 Because I'm like, I'm like, a kid in a candy store, man. I'm like, this is amazing. And I always tell the rest. I'm like, you know, this is probably one of the greatest days of your life. Take your time and look around at this. And I tell them, people that I'm wrestling, I'm like, man, just take this in, man. This is crazy. because at some point in time you're going to be just Bobby Lashley.

Starting point is 00:42:29 And you can look back to some of these moments and say, man, I did some really cool stuff, was some really cool people. And I said some of those people, you know, right now, when I came back and I was working with some of these people, I'm like, right now you may not be the biggest name right now, but you're a name. And like 10 years from now when I'm sitting back doing my yoga and watching wrestling, like not being a part of any of it, I'm going to look back and I'm going to see the guys like And Theory, Montez, and Dawkins and some of these guys that are in there just killing it right now, Carmela and Trick and some of these guys that are coming up right now.

Starting point is 00:43:03 And I'm going to sit back and watch those guys and are like, you know what? I was in a ring with that boy, you know, back in my day. And I'm okay with that. And I can't wait until that moment comes because those guys have the world in front of them. And I remember myself being in their shoes and their position. And I'm like, man, if there's anything that I can do for you guys, man, just I would love to be able to just give you a piece of advice. at some time or just just be a be another chairleader for you guys russomania 23 battle the billionaires what's the conversations you're having with

Starting point is 00:43:33 vince and with donald trump beforehand leading up to this match that you know all eyes are going to be on this not just wrestling fans it was it was funny it was funny all the way through it because you just watching these two like powerhouses like talk to each other so they're going back and forth i remember and they're on top of everything like i remember there an iconic photo that we had where Vince and Trump were sitting down on a chair and then we were standing above them and then yeah so awesome was in the middle I think everybody was in there crammed into this picture and I remember it was it was something so small but you saw these two Vince and Trump and both of them on they want to be leaders here and we were trying to figure out

Starting point is 00:44:16 how we were going to sit because they initially had it which I don't think made any sense somebody put it down on paper that me and Umaga were supposed to sit in the chairs and have those guys standing with their hands on our shoulders and then stone cold in the middle and them looking at each other. So little things like that are huge, you know? And then the term was like, no, I don't think we should do this. I think we should sit down and based on the way this angle is right here. It makes me look old. So it catches this. I don't want to see that. Let's go here. Vince was like, I don't want to do this. And it was sitting there looking at. I was like, I don't know. I'll stand wherever you guys want me. You know.

Starting point is 00:44:52 So when we put it all together with these two guys, they were able to work together, and then we put it together, and the pitcher came out perfect. I think it was right the way it should have been. Did you show Trump how to do that clothesline? No, no. No, but I could tell you, I remember the backstage. I think Vince was saying it, and Vince was like, he was like, because Trump wanted to be a part of it. He wanted to do something.

Starting point is 00:45:18 He was like, I want to be somebody up or something like that. And I think Vince's whole thing was like, when he starts punching me, I'm going to put my head down so he can punch my head. That's the hardest part of my head. So it's going to hurt his hand. And I think there was something in there. But those guys, I think everybody wanted to do something in that match and be a part of that match. So I don't know who told him to do it.

Starting point is 00:45:39 I don't know when they told him to do it. But leading into that match, it wasn't supposed to be any altercation. But I guess they may have talked or somebody talked and they figured out, okay, we'll do a little clothesline because that could be easy and then jump on top of them in the punching. I don't know where it came from, but that's what they decided to do. So you didn't even know? I didn't know. How come every time there's a hair versus hair match, the razor never works?

Starting point is 00:46:03 It's always like figuring this out, what's going on here? And then it's hard. I was like, how are you guys going to get the clippers down there? Because there's not too many wireless clippers. So I was like, we're going to plug it up someplace. And then I remember the hardest thing with that was, afterwards when we had it you know Vince Vince lost you got to catch we got to grab Vince and put him into the ring

Starting point is 00:46:26 I was like Vince is a big dude you know so just picking him up putting him in the ring it's going to be hard in itself so we're there celebrating they all look up and they go Vince is running and he's halfway up the ramp and I was like well somebody's got to go get him everybody looks at me I was like oh so I go run it up there so now you know if you catch him then you got to walk all the way back down with him So I grabbed him. I was going to go to it. It's a, ah, ha, I almost got away.

Starting point is 00:46:52 No, you didn't. Move. So I pick him up. And I'm walking down. So first I just finished this match, then I got to go catch him in. Then I got to pick him up. And then I got to bring him back to the ring. So I was blown up by the time I got back to the ring.

Starting point is 00:47:05 Wish him out there, you all take him. But there are so many, I mean, that's what wrestling is all about. Every time when we have matches is always like little nuances like that that we know about, that we laugh about. That's what we have. these interviews later so we could be able to tell the crowd what happened. They can watch them back and say, oh, okay, we see it. But there's always little things like that were going through. Like, I remember I slammed Vince on a table at Trump Towers during it because that's

Starting point is 00:47:32 some of the talks. He just wanted to make this thing as big as possible. When Trump came through, he was like, the first thing he said, he's like, he's like, this is you guys' world, so I'm not trying to step in it. But you just let me know what I can do to make this thing bigger. And he was like, whatever I need to do, if I need to make some calls, that people bring people in. If we need to use the tower, just tell me what I need to do to be able to make this work.

Starting point is 00:47:53 So that's where he came from. And we were like, all right, cool. Because we thought, you know, most of the time when people coming to wrestling, they're like, oh, I want this big spot where I'm just bumping everybody and beating everybody up. And so we kind of like constructed where we make them look like stars. Some people hate in the wrestling business. Other people are like, oh, let's just have fun with it. So I see both sides.

Starting point is 00:48:14 But for him, he was just like, let me know what I can do. Let me be a part of it. And, you know, if you're in wrestling, you want to do something wrestling related. When did you find out that you were going to lose the ECW championship to Vince McMahon? Everything was really that day. It was that day when I was supposed to lose that. I didn't know. I mean, because I've always been like that.

Starting point is 00:48:37 You can talk. Most people know me through wrestling business. I'm not one of the people to call the office throughout the week and, like, fight for everything. I'm like, I'm just going to make whatever we do work. So when I came in there, I knew I was in a few events, and I knew every week it was going to be something where he's getting at me. But the one thing he said, he's like, he said, whenever they would do so, he said, don't worry, you'll get it all back.

Starting point is 00:48:59 And I never understood what he was saying at the time. I was like, you'll get it all back. I was like, what are you talking about? You guys have me down. You guys were slapping me, beat me up, and I had to fight through and get away. But that was a great story. And he taught me a great story. He was like, that he'll, that's just getting you, getting you, getting you, getting you,

Starting point is 00:49:15 You just can't get him back. And then when you do get him back, then all the crowd's going to blow up. And that's what we did, because there was a time that I almost got him back in a tag match where it was with Shane, Umaga and Vince. And it was like Shane came in. I got rid of him. Umaga came. I low roped him.

Starting point is 00:49:32 And then Vince was there by himself. And he was like, the whole crowd just like, kill him. And then the minute I grabbed Vince, boom, they were on me. So it took it away. So it was that little roller coaster that we like to play with people. So that story was great. But then again, you're working with the boss. So he has the versatility to do whatever he wants to make the story as big as he wanted.

Starting point is 00:49:52 And we had a lot of heat with that story all across the world. When he won the ECW title and he came in wearing a du rag, I was like, that version of Vince McMahon was ridiculous. Duag Vince. Oh, man. I was like, oh, that's heat. And I didn't know. And that was there again. He was like, check this out.

Starting point is 00:50:13 And he does. I was like, oh, God. But I mean, he gets it. He gets it. That's why I never really questioned anything that he does. I mean, he put me through some crazy storylines and some very cringy storylines and everything. But I kind of tried to find out why. And you probably don't know in the moment, right?

Starting point is 00:50:39 No. And sometimes you go ask him, it's like, no, convince. So I remember telling me that you want me to go and so like beat up these three guys dressed up as girls calling them myself. Like, you know, when you tell them that, that's great. Are you sure? Are we sure we should be doing it? Because I never go in there like, and some people do. And I understand their point because by which, five for what you want, right?

Starting point is 00:51:11 But I came to there. And I was like, after we were doing something else, I forget when they put me with Leo and they started doing some different things with me, I was like, all right, can you explain to me while we're doing this? And he goes, he goes, you know what? He said, Bobby, you are so strict and regimented. You're a super nice guy. Everybody loves you.

Starting point is 00:51:32 But you're so strict on yourself and so hard on yourself. He said, I want to see different layers of you. I want them to see different layers of you because I've seen different layers of you, but we can't get it on TV because you're so almost so military. He said, so one way of going about that is kind of humility. You know, sometimes you have to go and do things that are completely out of your character to be able to, like, get you to different places. And he was like, that's why I want to see different layers of you.

Starting point is 00:52:02 And I was like, noted. I'm going to try it. Although I couldn't pull certain things out. I mean, I tried. And I think moving forward, I've been working with, like, acting coach and stuff like that. And he says, he said, that's, that's the greatest thing that you can do. You want to be very vulnerable in front of your crowd so that they can be able to gravitate to who you are and see who you are. And at that point, I was like, all right, I get it. And yes, I do have

Starting point is 00:52:28 limits to certain things that I would do, but I was very open to a lot of things. When I first started out, I would never have been able to go into a love scene. And that was a hard one for me, especially being the first one I've ever done. So it was a hard one for me. But I think I learned a lot from that, too, because it pulled me out of the character of hard, tough Bobby, want to smash everybody. Was the Lana Roussev love triangle?

Starting point is 00:52:52 Was that probably the most uncomfortable you were or like most, you know, outside of what you had done before? No, you know what? It could have been if I would have worked with someone else. I can say this and I've said this several times before. But then again, you know, I'm very positive. with everything. But I can honestly say it was 100% Lana that that was able to, one, make me feel comfortable

Starting point is 00:53:19 doing it. And then two, just trying to do things to really further that whole feud. She was on top of everything. She was always like, all right, I got a photographer over here. We need to walk. So the people see us together. So it's not like something where they're just like, oh, they don't care about it. So I was like, all I'm thinking about is, oh, who am I supposed to wrestle or go smash?

Starting point is 00:53:37 She's like, no, we need to come over here and take these pictures. We need to go do this. And she was like, pull me all these different directions. And I was just like, all right, all right, all right, all right, all right, all right. You're cool with all this? She's like, yes, because she knows acting and she's able to put herself into characters. Lana's a sweetheart. And I think that she's very, she, I know that she, some people were hard on her because

Starting point is 00:54:01 it was like, it seems like she tries too much. She tries too hard. And sometimes it comes as. I'm not sincere to people, and I think some people kind of jumped on her about it. But working with her, I just, I think she's a sweetheart, sweetheart girl. And she really helped me feel comfortable in that role. And, you know, I had nothing but respect for her going through it because she kept it very respectful. I was working with her and her husband.

Starting point is 00:54:28 And she understood what the plan was. So she wanted to play her part. When you were working with Umaga, walked me through that spot. where you jump through the cage. Oh, man. You know, I was just telling somebody about this like two days ago. And he said the same thing. So certain things you can't practice.

Starting point is 00:54:50 You know, you're not going to be able to practice. And it was, again, Vince, because he was knee deep in that role. That was his role, right? So since it was his feud, he wanted to make sure everything was moving in the right direction. And we needed a button. And we were having that cage match against Bob Hawley. And there was something where they wanted me to do something with the cage or throwing on top him or something like that. And then I was like, I can just, I'll just jump into it.

Starting point is 00:55:16 They were like, well, that might be hard to do. Because if you think about it, we have a match in there. So we're going to be throwing each other against that cage anyway. We can't just like keep it loose so you touch it in the falls. So they have to buckle it. So he was like, okay, you're having a match first off. And then in order to jump this thing, you have to jump off the top rope and hit it. I was like, okay, you got to hit it hard.

Starting point is 00:55:38 I was like, okay, all right. Yeah, okay, what are you saying here? And then Vince comes out. Vince was like, you can jump over that top row. I was like, yes, yes, I can. So I was like, I don't see anything. I don't see what I could do wrong in it. I said, I can jump over the top rope.

Starting point is 00:55:55 And if I have to jump hard, I probably have to hit this one and like build up speed to be able to do it. They said, well, when we go out there, it's on you. Because that thing is latched. So if you don't knock it over and go, you're just going to jump. up on the fence, which it would have been horrible. And I think I would have been in a whole different place in my career now if that would have been.

Starting point is 00:56:16 It would be a totally different highlight. Right. So I was like, I was like, done. I say, but that's how it is. You know, if you talk to most of the wrestlers, some of the bigger moves and bigger things that happened in their career, it wasn't one of those things where I stayed home and practiced it or anything like that. It was just at the moment with the adrenaline and everything going on.

Starting point is 00:56:36 it had to be done so I made it happen. So that's what it was. I looked at him. I turned, I didn't even know how I was going to do it, but I kind of walked in. I was like, and I walked him a little bit.

Starting point is 00:56:47 And I was like, all right, all right, all right. And I just took off. And I ran and, and I jumped. And all I knew is I was like,

Starting point is 00:56:54 I am going to hit that thing as hard as I can. So when I jumped, I was like, oh, boom. And then when you hit it, it's like, it broke. So I was like,

Starting point is 00:57:03 oh, we're going. And I was like, but I don't know where I'm going. Like, I had no idea where I was going to end up because I didn't know if I was going to spring, bounce, and I didn't know if we were going to fall on him and land on him. I didn't know anything.

Starting point is 00:57:12 I didn't know where I was going to land. And then when we hit, boom, and rolled, completely okay. Yes. And that's how, you know, most of the time, that's what we do. It's like something happens. And then we do that whole system check. All right, fingers are good. Hands are good.

Starting point is 00:57:33 Shoulder, oh, I'm all right. I'm all right. You know, fire up. So that's where I was in that sense. I don't think wrestling fans fully appreciate how good and how dominant your MMA career was. 15 and 2, undefeated in Bellator. And I think that if a wrestling fan isn't an MMA fan, they go, oh, yeah, Bobby left for

Starting point is 00:57:53 a little while to do some M.A. Oh, no, Bobby went to lie. You smash some people. I had a good time in there. And you know what for me is I wanted to do it in a way that my career was actually mirroring itself. when I got into WWE, when I got into pro wrestling, it was WW1st. So of course, when I'm going to MMA, it's like strike force right away.

Starting point is 00:58:16 Like I fought one fight and then I went to strike force. So I'm always all the way at the top. But I wanted to kind of kick it back and I wanted to do some like, I was like independence. I did independence in wrestling and I did independent shows there. So actually my record is like I think it's closer to 19 or 2 because there's some fights that weren't even on there that I went and just did because I was like I want to get fights under my was that the original reason you left wwe back then was to focus more on fighting no no no there was just I was in different stage in my life and things were going on that I just felt a need to kind of step

Starting point is 00:58:50 away and then you found yourself in mama yeah because I was like I was like you know what I I love pro wrestling so I still want to be in pro wrestling and if there's another avenue to go then maybe I can do that. But I looked at it is. One, I just wanted to fight. I had a lot of my friends that I went to college with that wrestled. And before I was talking to this, I had an agent out in San Jose, or in Fresno, that was really tied with AKA. So he was like, yeah, he said, man, he said, just go in here and let's get your fight and you want to fight. So I want to start training with, like, that was back where Kane Velasquez was down there. Luke Rockhole was down there. Cormay end up coming and all those guys are up there. So I started training over there at the beginning

Starting point is 00:59:36 and I was just like, you know what? After you learn the basics of boxing and stuff like that and then getting in there and sparring, I already had a wrestling background. I was like, I'm already kind of dangerous, you know, because of my wrestling background. And then I really started really started liking hands, like playing with my hands. And then I went down to American Top Team. And that's when I really like developed a team because I couldn't get up to San Jose so easy, but I could down to Fort Lauderdale. So I was going down to Fort Lauderdale, and I was training before my fights.

Starting point is 01:00:07 And I was just meeting a bunch of guys there, like Bigfoot. There was a couple guys, Moly Walls down there. And there was a bunch of other fighters, like high-level fighters that were in the UFC. And I was training with these guys, and I was like, man, these guys are in the UFC right now, and I'm doing really good against them. Because I can always change up and hit my wrestling

Starting point is 01:00:25 and they get on top of them. And wrestling is about position. So it was like, I learned with Josh Burnett. I was like, take people down and wrestle them on the ground. And I was like, okay, that's easy. Wrestling on the ground is jih Tzu. So I just kind of like learned his style. And I felt really good with that.

Starting point is 01:00:38 I felt comfortable. I didn't feel like I had any serious holes. So I was like, man, I feel really comfortable going into fights. With the MMA record you had, how close were you to go into UFC? Well, so at the beginning, when I first started fighting, I think there was a little talks with it. And they said, yeah, we'll give him the opportunity to, but he needs to work his way up. And I was just like, okay. And it was a decision that I had to make because,

Starting point is 01:01:04 one, I could fight for some other organizations that were offering more money. And I never, I always thought if situation changes in WWI, I thought that, you know, that's my calling. That's where I really deserve to be. I just needed time away because the situations and things were going on. So I was like, here's an opportunity for me to just kind of keep it open and then go back. So I didn't want to like lock up a contract with them because I would have had to really just like shut off wrestling. But did you have discussions later on about UFC like after you had developed as a fighter?

Starting point is 01:01:40 Yes. But it was always, but when I did that, I was with impact at the time, TNA. So I was like, I don't want to give up pro wrestling. That was the biggest thing. And like I don't want to give up pro wrestling. And then when I talked to Bellator, Bellator was like, we'll let you pro wrestling. I was like, done. So I was literally.

Starting point is 01:01:58 Literally doing a, like I remember I was, I was doing a pro wrestling match on a Saturday in the next week I was doing a fight. Like I was, I was mixing them up. I was, I was doing both at the same time. I was like, man, if I had the ability to, I don't get hurt in a wrestling match. I own a gym at home. So I'm practicing and training all the time, sparring three times a week. So to get in a fight, it's like, this is another sparring match. Could we have ever got Bobby Lashley versus Brock Lesnar in MMA?

Starting point is 01:02:28 I think it would have been awesome. I think we would have broke some numbers. I think it would get crazy. But a lot of people try to talk like if I was Jason Brock or anything like that, I was like, no. When I first came in, a lot of people just naturally fantasy book, they were like, Bobby and Brock. You guys are just, you have very similar body compositions.

Starting point is 01:02:49 Yeah. Yeah. And we both had kind of similar characters. I didn't accomplish the things that Brock did. But people still looked at it. us if Brock needs a matchup, that's the guy he should be matched out with. So they looked at it that way. And then when I went into fighting, they did the same thing. They were like, let's get him to fight. And, you know, he was in, we never really matched as far as time. When Brock got back

Starting point is 01:03:13 into fighting, I was into wrestling. When I got out of wrestling into fighting, Brock got into wrestling or he wasn't doing it. So we never really were in the same environment at the same time until I was in WWE and he came back. And that was the first time we were in the same place at the same time. And that's when you guys finally had the match that people had been talking about, I think at that point for like 15 years. Yeah. I wanted to do a lot more with it.

Starting point is 01:03:42 I wish we could have really, really did the things that we could have and should have wanted to do with that. Like what? Man, I think, you know what? I think people would have been really, I think people could have really got sold into just us training to fight each other and in some of the heat that we could have brought like Brock was a natural bully but in this sense he was kind of a baby face because he was that guy

Starting point is 01:04:06 coming back and forth and I was a heel at the time but it could have showed how we prepared for a fight with each other and it could have showed something different like it could have been so much like the rocky story hell if they wanted to they could have put us two together and kind of ran as like doggone role warriors kind of for a while and then like I thought of I was I even went to that point where I was like, man, wouldn't it be cool that they would have brought us both back here and then put us together, have Paul Heyman find a way to put us both together. And then the whole time we win tag team titles and he keeps referring to. I got the greatest fight in the world and the greatest tag team. And then it got to a point of like, who you keep talking about as the greatest fighter?

Starting point is 01:04:43 Because you're only saying one person, you know, so that could have built some natural animosity there. And it's like, hold on a second, man. You keep, I know you and Brock have this history, but you keep saying you have the greatest fighter. and the greatest tag team. So, like, who are you referring to? And it could have been my ego got in the way or something like that, whatever it was, whatever it did, but it brought us apart

Starting point is 01:05:04 because they always said some of the best feuds are the people that were together first and something brought us apart. Could have been. I don't know if we could have put us two together as a tag team because it might have been too dominant. But I still see there were some people in there that we could have had great fights with

Starting point is 01:05:19 and great matches with if we needed to. How much did working with MVP change your career early on. It was different. It was different. So the first time we really did stuff together was that impact. Yeah. At TNA.

Starting point is 01:05:35 And I wasn't even supposed to be there. In impact? Yeah. I wasn't. I was doing them. I had a pro wrestling match that weekend. And I was leaving. And they called me up out of the blue.

Starting point is 01:05:51 And they were like, hey, we need to, you want to come in and sub for? Kurt Engel because I think he was having a match with DC3 or something like that that weekend. And I was like, yeah, are you guys want to do something longer term? They were like, oh, well, we didn't really look at it that way. We just wanted to see if you'd be interested in for this one-off deal. And I was just like, all right, cool, I'll do it. Yeah. So I came in.

Starting point is 01:06:13 And when I did it, it was just like a little piece that I came in for a match. I think I bumped DC3 around or something. I did something there. And then the crowd was chanting. Thank you, Dixie. Thank you, Dixie. And they were going crazy. about me coming back.

Starting point is 01:06:26 So I was like, all right. So after that, I walked back to the back, and I think I was talking big at the time, when I was just like, you want to talk? And he was like, eh. And I mean, let's be real with it. At first they gave me one of those deals

Starting point is 01:06:39 where you want to go do it. And they said, we don't have too much in the budget of TNA at the time, but, you know, we can offer you something to get you started and we can see where it goes. I was like, cool. I'm in. And at the time, you know,

Starting point is 01:06:52 a lot of times with wrestling promoters, because there was that big fight in there. He was like, okay, are you serious? But I was making really good money fighting. I was like, if I could continue to fight, then yeah. Because this is what I'm doing, I'm doing this because I love it. I'm doing that. That pays my bills.

Starting point is 01:07:08 And I'm making a lot of money with that. So I don't have to squeeze you guys. I want to be able to work with some of the guys that you have on the roster. And I want to be able to just get back in there and get back with the wrestling crowd. So I signed. And then after I signed, it was like, all right, we started figuring out where we're going to go. And then they said, oh, we're going to put you with MVP and Kenny King,

Starting point is 01:07:29 who might start this little group, and we're going to put the title on MVP, and then we're going to go with it. Then MVP goes overseas and blows his knee out. And then they're like, oh, no, this all fell apart. This is our whole thing. And they were like, all right, let's see if we can, well, maybe we switch gears. Maybe we can have Bobby go through and grab the title. And I did.

Starting point is 01:07:50 And from there, MVP kind of stepped aside. And he was cool with it. And he was like, I'll be the hype man. And Kenny King, and we just all formed. And we had fun with it. It was a group that we were like, man, we didn't know how hot this was going to be, but it was good. And we saw the chemistry there. That was the first time me and MVP worked together in that sense.

Starting point is 01:08:08 And we were like, man, this is good. This is really good. So we ran with it. And then I held the title for a long time over. And, I mean, I was wrestling everyone. And I had fused with some great views with a lot of really cool people that I end up working with later on also. And then did you know that AEW is going to be the right move?

Starting point is 01:08:29 No. Like I said, I've one of my, a big thing for me is this huge, and I told you about this project that I was doing before. And not even for the money part because it has nothing to do with that. I've always wanted to do this program where I just go around and I interview kids that are just excelling at sports. And I did that because I just, I thought it was very interesting. said to hear how these minds are working.

Starting point is 01:08:55 Like, we know the guys was, like, we know Patrick Mahomes now. What was Patrick Mahomes when he was in eighth grade or ninth grade? When I was younger, we used to look at the Sports Illustrated magazine. And in the back, they would show a couple athletes on there. And they would kind of put out their accolades and everything and things that they were doing. And I used to love that when I was a kid. And I used to, because, you know, for me, with my age, you know, I didn't have Internet and stuff like that. So these are where we would find out what was going on with these kids.

Starting point is 01:09:23 And you had no avenue to see what these kids were doing or where they went, but I just thought it was cool. And I was like, man, that would be cool if I could be on there. But I always wanted to do this program where I go meet these kids. And like I talk about my counselor again when we were talking about, she said, you're just trying to interview a younger you. And I was like, I guess I understand that a little bit because when I was going through sports, I achieved a lot. I won states. I won nationals a few times in college, placed at the world championships. and all along this time, I have no idea what I was thinking.

Starting point is 01:09:56 All I knew is that anything but first place was a failure. And it was like, why was I wired like that when other kids are wired different? So when I got out to make a long story short, I was like, there was a boxing match that was thrown at me, which I was like, man, this would be a cool boxing match. And it's big money, you know? It could have been the last little piece of the money that I needed to kind of like, that I was talking about, you know, paying off some debt and putting some places, buying some more houses and doing some different things.

Starting point is 01:10:21 So I was like maybe just do the boxing match and then just and then just disappear off into the sunset. So I had a whole bunch of things that I wanted to do. I wanted to do this channel where I found these kids, which I started and I started traveling around to find these kids and doing interviews. And it's been amazing. And your YouTube channel. Yeah. Yeah. So I love to be able to just continue on that.

Starting point is 01:10:45 It's not even for the money. It's just for, I think it helps out other kids that are watching and seeing these kids. Because, you know, kids, they're like, oh, man, so-and-so, this kid's so awesome. And kids think that this kid's awesome because he just wakes him in the morning. And then a cake flies on his back. He's like, do-da-da, I'm Superman. I'm like, no, these kids are regular people. So let's pick their brain to find out about him and see what's involved with these kids.

Starting point is 01:11:07 So that's a big program of mine. And then the boxing thing was, I was like, man, that was fun. Who are you going to fight? They threw a name. Oh, dang. Strongman. Eddie Hall. Hall.

Starting point is 01:11:21 Eddie Hall. Oh, man. Like a professional boxing match? Mm-hmm. Wow. For sure. And you know what? It's like, I said this before.

Starting point is 01:11:34 Everybody was asking. They were like, well, who do you think that you can fight that's going to make you the kind of money that you want? And I was like, I'm that person. It's who they're fighting. But that Eddie Hall was also a big name also because everybody knows Eddie Hall for power lifting. Any boxed already. He already did a boxing match, too.

Starting point is 01:11:52 And he did some little MMA match, too. And he's a cool dude, man. I knew him from before, but then when the boxing match came up, I started just kind of going through his stuff. And I was just like, I like this dude. So when you leave WWE, you've got options, right? So you could do the boxing thing like you're talking about. MMA.

Starting point is 01:12:12 You can go back, MMA, you can go back to TNA. Yeah. Or you can go to AED. Yeah. Why did AED make the most sense? Well, so I have a good friend that was working with AEW before Dan Lambert. He was American top team. He was in AEW for a while living out his fantasy dance.

Starting point is 01:12:33 Get mega heat. Dan's one of my favorite people in this world. He helped manage me through fighting and everything like that. It's always been just a great friend, I mean, first and foremost. And I talked to Dan, and we kind of discussed different options. And I asked him about Tony because I didn't know. You don't know anything about Tony if you don't know him. So I was like, well about this Tony guy?

Starting point is 01:12:55 And a lot of things that he told me about him, I was just like, I can respect it. He said, you know, he's got kind of like a little person out of like you in a sense where he goes out of his way to be nice to people. He really likes he has a, he's a genuine person. He told me pros and cons. And I was like, man, I'd love to be able to meet him. But we, at this time, I was talking it as MVP and I was talking to Shell. And we were like, let's run this back. Let's run the group back.

Starting point is 01:13:23 Let's do it. We have that option. You know, we're both, we're all out at this time. So let's see if we can go and do this the right way. Especially because the hurt business in WWE, I didn't, I didn't finish the way it should have finished. Yeah. What happened there? I don't know.

Starting point is 01:13:39 I don't know. I don't know. There was a lot of different things that you could say. I know P went on record saying that we had to die to let other people flourish or whatever it was. I don't know what the case was. I was in an office a couple times where some of the powers of B were there

Starting point is 01:14:00 and some of them were like, oh, we need to split it up, we need to do this, we need to do that. I was like, you know, why? Why? There was not any real reason that was given to us. At one point in time, they said, well, the money's with you in MVP. And I was like, nah, I don't think if we're asking the crowd and we're asking the people

Starting point is 01:14:21 that are watching, yes, there's value of me. Yes, there's value in MVP. But I think the purpose of our group was to build a lot of people that had a lot of talent and then put us together and see how it runs. And Cedric ridiculously talented. I mean, across the board, he could do anything. That guy is fantastic. But he just sits back, you know.

Starting point is 01:14:42 So he needed somebody to speak for. And the same thing with Shelton. Shelton, you know Shelton. Everybody knows Shown. And just his history, his legacy, what he's able to do. And he needed somebody to speak for him. And me too. Like, everybody knew me.

Starting point is 01:14:56 They were like, you haven't been a world champion. You've been in this business forever. When you go to TNA, you ran as a world champion there. We knew you were capable of doing it. You've been here. You were ECW champion. But you have the ability to be a world champion in WW. I need somebody to speak for you.

Starting point is 01:15:10 So it was like, I used to always say this quote. I like this quote, sometimes you have to believe in somebody else's belief in you. So that was what the group was, is that we all believed in each other. So that we worked as a group. And I think that the group was so real that that's why people were like, man, I really like this. And it's very rare that you see that in group. You see a lot of guys coming down the ramp together and they're all together. And you're like, I don't even think those guys hang out with each other.

Starting point is 01:15:36 Those guys are not even with each other, just a bunch of people that they threw together for whatever reason. But we were actually real. And that's what was cool about it. And I think that there was a lot of cool fused that we could have had with it. I've won on record saying a couple and people jumped on me about it. But I mean, in more present day, I would say, of course, Gunther and his group was something that I thought would have been cool for us to run with. Even when I moved over with the street profits, it could have been a really cool for you.

Starting point is 01:16:08 Either way, it would have been a cool feud to go through. Then the bloodline, of course, when the bloodline was just getting going, I think it could have been a really cool little synergy between the two there. I mean, we were matching up at every level, you know, me and Roman and then the Uso's and then you had Sheldon, Cedric. It just could have been a fun feud. And then you had Paul Heyman and MVP. We can all sit back for a second. Let them go out of it for a while to see what happens. And it would have been fun.

Starting point is 01:16:37 Well, now you guys are all back together in AEW. Yeah, yeah. It's a cool, it's a cool little thing we got going on. And going back to what I was saying before, why I picked AEW is because when I did meet Tony, man, the dude was actually surprised me in a lot of different ways. Like he knew everything. I saw him as like he did. The matches that I had, where I was at, what I was doing, interviews that I've had,

Starting point is 01:17:02 just all the way across the board, he really, he's really in touch with a lot of things. And then he came through. And then one thing he said to me after we were talking, and I was just like, this is me and this is stupid. But I'm going to say it. He said, you know what? All right. Because we discussed the first part about us working together. And then where we needed to be as far as like the details of it.

Starting point is 01:17:26 And he was like, all right, we'll fill us out this week. And then he just kind of like threw that off. He said, look, I'm a man of my word. You can trust me on that. And he said, you're with me for as long as we have this. And boom, I'm a man at my way. And I was like. And wrestling business, are you trying to, you work?

Starting point is 01:17:43 I've seen this before. And Dan was with me, and Dan was like, oh, that's one thing I can say about him is that he's a man of his work. And he, in the wrestling business is hard because at a fault, you know, he's, he, the wrestling business can eat you up if you don't have that. If you're not that, you put your foot down. And I think that's the only thing that I could say with Tony. is that he goes out of his way to make sure everybody is happy and everybody's taken care of. And I think that's hard to do in a wrestling business because you can't have everybody be the champ. You can't have everybody like look great, win every match and have all the TV time.

Starting point is 01:18:26 You've got to be able to like massage that and put it where it needs to be. But I mean, ever since working with him, everybody's been really cool. Everybody said the same thing when I came in there. They praised Tony on how he is. And they all say, hey, man, thanks for coming because we're all working together. We want to make this thing big. So thank you guys for coming to be a part of us. And I was like, damn, okay.

Starting point is 01:18:49 So the guys are working as a team trying to make this thing something big. And that's a cool place to be in. When you do finally retire, what do you want your legacy to be? You know what? A lot of people talk about what they want done in the ring. but for me if people say you know Bobby he was a cool dude he was a good guy that's enough for me and that's across the board I mean if they knew me more personally then I would want him to talk about me as a father he is as a provider from my kids and the people around me that meant something

Starting point is 01:19:26 and that's what I would really that's that's what's really important to me and like I said before I understand with wrestling and some people are so dialed into the wrestling part but at the end of the day wrestling is just kicking and punching there's so much more to it there's so much more to being on a platform like you are and being able to influence so many different people around the world. And then another thing, the creative side of it is to be able to have stories and then to be able to put together stories that are entertaining for people that people talk about later. So those are the two parts that are, that I love. And so I just want to be in the talks of some of the stories that people, that people look back on and said, hey, man,

Starting point is 01:20:04 that was really cool. I just think your career is so fascinating because successful as an amateur wrestler. Then you have a great career in the Army. Successful in pro wrestling. Successful in MMA. Successful outside of all this just in business. Where does the mindset come from that drives you to always just want to be the best? Man, you know what? I'm going to go back to my phenons program. There's a kid that I just put out today. His name is Bo Bassett. And everything that he says is everything that I believe. He's like, man, you know what? Sometimes you just got to do what you do. Like, so what I do is I love to train. I love to stay in shape. I love to stay. Everybody says stay ready, so I want to stay physically ready. I'm trying to make myself better across the board.

Starting point is 01:20:48 And when I try to make myself better, I try to associate and put myself with good people. So when you do that, when you work on you and you try to just maximize who you are in the weight room, just mentally in spirits, the person that you are, and you just make sure you're a good person to keep building on that and then put yourself with other great people, then great things happen. So for me, it's like, that's what I attribute all my success to is like, I've always put myself in a position and in places where I'm with good people and I try to be the best person that I can be. And with that, man, I think the sky is the limit, which you get accomplished. That's a very humble response. I appreciate that. Don't be humble for a minute here.

Starting point is 01:21:29 All right. What makes you as good as you are? I'm different. I'm different. I can be, you can't, You can't build another me. I'm a very unique character. I think that. And I think that's one thing that's important on TV. Like, you see, there's some people that are like, I want to be this person, I want to be this person. There's nobody that I really fit in the direct line of who I am. And I think that's what makes me different.

Starting point is 01:21:54 I think that's what people gravitate to me. They say, like I always say I'm an ordinary person. I just do extraordinary things. And I say that because I have. I've done some stuff where I'm like, damn, I really did that. it, you know? Like, there was one that I went viral of crushing this watermelon. I just did that because my onset comes back. He was living with me at the time of Xavier. He was like, he was like, hey man, this is viral on TikTok. You think you can break this watermelon?

Starting point is 01:22:23 I was like, I think so. Yeah. He was like, all right. Well, get the camera. And I was saying, all right, let's go outside. So if I break it, it doesn't mess up the inside. So we go out there and then he grabs the thing. And he goes, you know, we don't have a first, we don't have another take because we have one watermelon. So I grabbed the watermelon. I was like, I squeeze it like this just a little bit. And I was like, damn, these things are harder than I think. Because what happens is when you start squeezing it, it compacts.

Starting point is 01:22:49 So it gets harder. So I was like, all right. I was like, I don't think we should do this on live because if I don't get it, I look really bad here. And then he goes, he goes, oh, you don't think you can get it. So now he starts clowning on me. So I was like, give me that damn thing. Get the, get the camera roll. I'm going to do it one time.

Starting point is 01:23:06 first check it so we just grab and I was like and then I got to the sticking point where I was like oh now it's that sticking point where it's really compact and I was like you got to get through that so I was just like boom when I am broken I was like oh that was cool so I dropped in I was just like dang then he was like damn bro and then he was like those are one of those times where it was like I do have superpowers I believe it so that's what it was it's it's it's been like that my entire life so i've always i've always said that i've had these these really cool ass wow moments and like winning nationals in college and standing on the stage and going and walking out there in college um like just different things that happened in my life

Starting point is 01:23:54 um being in the battle versus the hair hair match um just going into w w and going through my friends back home watch me they're like did you see bobby on tv you know And then walking out there in MMA, like my first fight when I was walking out there, I'm out there walking out there. I was like, what am I doing? I'm in Miami going in the American Airlines arena. I'm walking out there about to find some dude. I was like, what are you doing? And I was like, just ride with it, man.

Starting point is 01:24:25 And that's how it's been in my life. I've been like, just ride with everything. Just go. Like, because I think what people do is that they get in this bubble of like, oh, if I fail, there's no. way you can fail. There's no way you can fail. And most of the things you do, there's no way you can feel. If you go out there with a good mindset and a good attitude and just give it all and just have fun with it, man, there's no way that you can fail. It's win or learn, right? Yeah, yeah. And if you don't put yourself in those places there, you'll never happen. That is how

Starting point is 01:24:52 to bring it all the way right back around. That's how my very first interview with you happened. Yeah. I was working for, it ended up becoming MTV to Canada, I was on a show called 969. And I just said to my boss, I said, we interview comedians and actors and athletes all the time. When WWE comes to town next month, do you think we can interview them? Yeah, sure. We do that all the time. I'm like, oh, my gosh. I'm going to get paid to talk to a wrestler.

Starting point is 01:25:20 And they were like, Bobby Lashley is the one that's going to be doing press. He's the ECW champion and it was amazing. So I want to say thank you for that interview in 2007. And thank you for this one now. Yeah. It's crazy now that people are coming to you for interviews now. Before you wanted to go to the wrestlers, when I saw you, I was like, man, he's interviewing everybody.

Starting point is 01:25:39 Trying. Seenor, Paul. I mean, everyone. So now it's to the point right now that you're the man. So wrestlers are like, man, I got you in on Chris's podcast. Wow, put in a good word for me. Yeah, man, I'm sure everybody would want to get on here. I was coming up here.

Starting point is 01:25:52 I was talking to P and P. And P was like, make sure to tell him, I want to do another interview with him because I got my podcast starting. I just want to get it set first before going. I was like, man. Well, good. I'm going to text him right after this. So they want you.

Starting point is 01:26:03 No, thank you. That means a lot to me. And it means a lot to me that here we are almost 18 years later. Damn. Running it back again. Damn. And I'm only 21. Had that.

Starting point is 01:26:17 I'm going to wrap this up with a question that I asked everybody at the end. Gratitude is the focal point of my life. It means so much to me to focus on the things that I have rather than focusing the things that don't have. What are three things in your life, Bobby, that you're great. for right now? 100% my kids. My kids are

Starting point is 01:26:37 like my fuel in life. My kids are just so much so much of my kids. And then I say my health and I say that because it goes back to my kids.

Starting point is 01:26:55 You know, I always want to be there for them. And then and then I want to say my faith. And I say that in a very loose way, because a lot of people say faith. It's like, where's your faith, a particular faith? My faith is something bigger. You know, my faith is everything that I do and how I feel and what I believe and how I want to treat people and how I want to be treated and everything like that is all in my person, my faith, my belief, why we're here and why we need to work together.

Starting point is 01:27:28 So I just, it's just me. It's just being very, very simple. So my kids, my health, so I can be here forever just to be there for them and so many different people. And then just my faith across the board. Just, just I believe in God. So I believe that God put us down here just to be better and help each other out and just, just do good things and spread goodwill.

Starting point is 01:27:49 I can't thank you enough for this. Yeah, man. Appreciate you, man. I appreciate you. And I can't wait to see what's next for you. Yeah. Skies and limits. Bobby Lashley, ladies and gentlemen, and I feel like this should be part one of hopefully many interviews that we do.

Starting point is 01:28:19 We've got so much more to talk about the next time that we do this. I guess it's technically part two if you really want to count that interview that I did way back in 2007, but part one of a full length interview. And I appreciate that he wants his legacy to be centered around just like him being a good dude. And that is exactly what he is. And we've been trying to do this interview for a long time, like years. There'd been a lot of times where our paths would cross, but the schedules just wouldn't work out.

Starting point is 01:28:48 So a big, big thank you to Bobby for making this happen. And thank you for listening to this and for listening all the way until the very end. Snap a screenshot and let us know you're listening. Tag us. He's at Fight Bobby on Twitter. He's at Bobby Lashley on Instagram. I'm at Chris Van Fleet. and I'll leave you with this quote from Matthew McConaughey from his great book called Green Lights.

Starting point is 01:29:14 So turn the page. Get off the ride. You are the author of your own book. It's true. Sometimes we get caught up in our own stuff that we can't realize that like we're able to just turn the page. Get off the ride. Be the author of our own book. Be great.

Starting point is 01:29:32 Be great, my friends. What an episode. We will see you on the next one for some more insight. Ask CVV number 60 coming up tomorrow. Sending your questions for that, and we will see you back here tomorrow. Jim Rome takes on sports. Why? Because I have a job to do.

Starting point is 01:29:50 With rapid fire takes. So I don't want to hear from you lava pigs on this notion today. No idea what you're talking about. You're complaining more than you like to breathe air. It's like you get up in the morning only to complain and cry and moan on social media about things that you don't even understand. He's the spitfire of sports smack. Ticket manage you of, but get up in here. The Jim Rome Show podcast.

Starting point is 01:30:12 What's your beef? Follow and listen on your favorite platform. You've been warned.

Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Bobby Lashley On Brock Lesnar, Shaving Vince McMahon's Head, Kurt Angle, AEW, Hurt Syndicate

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