Bobby Lashley Admits To Difficulties Working With Younger Talent
Bobby Lashley has been forced to adjust.
Former WWE and MMA star Bobby Lashley is currently flying high in AEW as one-half of the World Tag Team Champions alongside Shelton Benjamin. Since signing with the company, Lashley has embraced his role as the locker room veteran, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t also had to modify his approach.
During a new appearance on the F Y’all podcast, Lashley reflected on his career, discussed signing with AEW, and his and Benjamin’s most recent title defence against JetSpeed and The Patricarchy.
During the conversation, the star was asked whether it was difficult to make that three-way match at All In believable, given how much bigger he is than everyone else in the match.
Lashley explained that the approach to those kinds of matches has changed a lot since he began his career, noting that younger stars today put more emphasis on moves rather than telling a story. He added that he’s had a “hard time adjusting” to the shift, before stating that having a straight-up match with smaller talent makes little sense.
“I’m glad this is being talked about because this is something I’ve been going through a lot today and yesterday. That’s where I came from.
When I first got into wrestling over 20 years ago, the people that were there were Undertaker, Batista, Matt Hardy, MVP, JBL, Rey Mysterio, and Eddie Guerrero. The biggest thing they did was, they didn’t care about the moves. They thought about the story and how it made sense.
The generation has moved a little bit because it’s different now, and it’s something we’ve had a hard time adjusting to, because, just like you’re asking that question, the crowd has to ask that question too. These guys, and it’s not everyone, but a lot of people that are wrestling now, they try to embrace that. ‘Everybody is the same,’ so they just have matches.
When you bring someone that is not a pure wrestling fan, somebody that is just starting out being a wrestling fan and you bring them to their first show, they see me standing in front of this guy and they see this guy doing stuff to me.
They’re like, ‘What, that doesn’t make sense.’ If he were walking down an alley and this guy is walking there, he would just be like, ‘You want to fight?’ And he’d just be throwing punches? He’d be like, ‘Hold on, let me try to talk my way out of this’ or find a different way to defend themselves. There is a story that you tell.
For me, when we go into some of those things, we have to tell those stories. I try to push those stories, but sometimes when we’re with different people, they don’t want to think about the story, they just want to think about moves they are doing.
Shelton is way better at it than me. Shelton is like, ‘Nope, we’re not doing that.’ When they try something in the ring, he just won’t let them do it. Shelton is very forgiving and he gives himself like crazy. I love working with him. Shelton is like, ‘Cool, I’ll do anything for you, but just give me some respect of saying there are certain things I won’t do because of my character.’ He does it very diplomatically and he is great with it.
That’s the fun part of the story. If he comes at me, I’m going to be ripping his ass apart. He has to figure out a way to get out of that. We have to be able to fight, and sometimes it’s hard doing it to certain people because they don’t want to believe that. I’m strong and I can fight. They know this. I always tell people, that’s the hardest thing with me. Let’s figure that out.
Bobby Lashley And The Hurt Syndicate Caught In AEW Controversy
Meanwhile, it’s been reported that Bobby Lashley and the Hurt Syndicate have refused to lose in AEW on several occasions.
Ahead of the August 6 edition of AEW Dynamite, it was claimed that there was heat between MVP and “Speedball” Mike Bailey. According to that report, MVP has made no secret of the fact that he dislikes Bailey and that he didn’t want Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin dropping the World Tag Team Championship to the star and Kevin Knight.
The report also claimed that the Hurt Syndicate had refused to lose the gold to FTR at All In and Forbidden Door. Instead, they would prefer to lose to a younger team such as The Outrunners, Gates of Agony, or Private Party. People within AEW were quick to point out that the duo had already beaten all of those teams.
H/t to Fightful