Bobby Lashley: Not Having A Match At WrestleMania 39 Hit Me Hard, I Had To Start Taking What I Want

Bobby Lashley decided to change things up after not getting the chance to compete at WrestleMania 39.

Many fans were upset when it became apparent that the former WWE Champion wasn’t going to appear in a big match at ‘The Show Of Shows’ in April. Lashley did end up appearing at the show, but only to make an entrance and celebrate with his Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal trophy. Lashley won the 2023 Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal on the March 31 episode of WWE SmackDown.

Since WrestleMania 39, Lashley has taken a few breaks away from WWE, but ‘The Almighty’ is now fully back in the swing of things, as he is dominating the SmackDown brand alongside The Street Profits.

While speaking to WWE’s After The Bell podcast for a new interview, Lashley stated that the situation surrounding WrestleMania took a toll on him, noting that his children were looking forward to seeing him wrestle at the show.

“Our business is very troubling at times and is very stressful mentally. You want to know where you’re at, and if you’re talking about the last kind of break that I took, the situation involving WrestleMania really hit me pretty hard. I put in a lot of work throughout the year, put myself at a certain level in the company and I’ve kept that level up and I’ve worked my ass off, i train hard all the time, everybody knows that’s just me. When that big show came around, I didn’t have a spot at WrestleMania. Trying to hold it in but when you have your kids calling when you’re supposed to be there, I’m there in Los Angeles ready to go, you know? The whole time I’m just thinking, call me in coach, call me in, i’m ready. Then my kids, after the first day called [and asked], ‘Hey dad, are you going to be on? If you’re gonna be on we’ll fly up there, we want to see you’ because they’ve been to everything like that. That was kind of a bit of a mind trip, to take a backseat at a time like that.”

Lashley went on to state that upon his return to the company, he looked back at the most successful times in his career and decided to start taking what he wants.

“With coming back, I looked at my career and some of the things that I did in my career, what were the times I was the most successful? Those times were when I really didn’t care as much. A lot of people know me in the wrestling business, Bobby’s a nice guy, Bobby’s a good guy man, I always carry myself that way. But in this business, you see a lot of people who just walk over and step over and get their treatments and get their special treatments and everything like that. If you’re not one of those guys to get that kind of treatment, you got to start taking what you want. So that was me personally.”

Lashley also noted that he was looking for guys in the business that were in a similar place as him at the time, and the first people that came to his mind were The Street Profits.

“But then looking at the landscape of some of the guys in the business, I’m looking at who are those guys that fit that same ideal that I was in. The first people that came into the mind were The Street Profits. Guys are extremely talented, take the gloves off they can whoop anybody in the business. But they’re sitting back eating catering, not getting spotlighted, don’t have titles, not in the title picture. It’s like, god man. It’s the same thing that we did before when I had The Hurt Business, it was a lot of guys with huge amounts of potential that weren’t getting their just due. So that’s kind of been my [purpose] in this business all along, I’m that guy that if you need me for something, I can be there for you. If you need me to represent the company, I can represent the company as a professional wrestler, I can represent the company as a businessman, I can represent the company anyway you need it to be represented at a high level. But the spotlight is what is important in this business.”

In a previous interview, Lashley stated that he wanted to get in a boxing ring and have a big match. Fans can learn more by clicking here.

Fans can see the updated lineup for the November 10 episode of WWE SmackDown by clicking here.

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