Bobby Lashley Believes WWE Is Going Away From ‘All Mighty Open Challenge,’ Wants Guys To Step Up
Whether he was the WWE Champion or the reigning WWE United States Champion, Bobby Lashley has welcomed all challengers.
To get that point across, Lashley would hold the All Mighty Open Challenge on episodes of WWE Raw to get fresh opponents for his reigns.
With Vince McMahon gone, Lashley thinks he will be moving away from open challenges.
“I don’t think we really do that anymore. I think Vince (McMahon), am I supposed to say Vince? I think we’re going away with the open challenges,” Lashley said on the Masked Man Show following WWE SummerSlam.
Lashley continued by saying that even if the open challenges are gone, he wants guys to step up to his level.
“Everybody is aware that I’m open for challenges, but I don’t think I’m going to go out there and say, ‘it’s an open challenge, Oh my God, someone is coming out.’ I don’t think we need that. There are a lot of guys that are real hungry right now and need to make a name for themselves. I’m giving them the opportunity. Our roster is so stacked right now. There are guys on our roster that are sitting down right now, not doing anything and they are incredible. (Mustafa) Ali, incredible. Apollo (Crews), incredible. Ricochet, incredible. Those guys. Shelton (Benjamin), Cedric (Alexander), all these guys that haven’t had an opportunity to step up and have that big match. There are the Seths [Seth Rollins] and Kevins [Kevin Owens] that are on that different tier, but we have such a stacked roster on Raw and SmackDown and so many guys are ready to step up and take the challenge. I’m here. I say this all the time, in order to hold a title in WWE, you can’t just have cool moves. You have to be willing to fight. I’m a big test for anyone. If you beat me, that’s a huge deal, you’re now on a different level in WWE. You separate yourself from just being a guy trying to make it. If you beat The All Mighty, you’re on a different tier. I welcome it for some of these guys. I’d like for one of these guys to get to that point where they start beating me so I have someone to challenge. I want Ali to step up, drop everything down, knuckle up and start swinging. I want Theory to get to that point where he can look me face-to-face, put his hands up and start swinging and take me out. I want these guys to be able to do that. I welcome that,” he stated.
Lashley defeated Theory at WWE SummerSlam to retain his WWE United States Championship.
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