Many pro wrestling personalities have spoken about Vince McMahon’s shock retirement from WWE – now, two-time WWE Champion Bobby Lashley has joined the discussion.
‘The Almighty’ has rarely seen eye-to-eye with Vince McMahon, feuding with the ex-WWE boss in 2007 over the ECW Championship. Now, though, Lashley has passionately commented on the surprising retirement of Vince McMahon.
Speaking with Inside The Ropes’ Kenny McIntosh ahead of WWE SummerSlam, Bobby Lashley opened up on Vince McMahon’s sudden departure from WWE, showing his gratitude to the ex-WWE boss:
“I think it’s great. The first thing I want to talk about is just Vince in general. Vince put a roof over my kid’s head. Vince put food in my kid’s mouth. Vince gave me an opportunity to do this. The reason I’m standing here right now today is because of Vince. The reason why I have this title is because of Vince. The reason why I just bought a Tesla is because of Vince.
Yes, I’ve worked my a** off to get a lot of the things I got, but Vince gave me an opportunity to be able to do this, to get the stage press, be able to have SummerSlam and WrestleMania and everything like that. I’ll be indebted to him for life. He has just been a blessing in my life, he’s taken care of thousands and thousands and thousands of people, and that’s what people don’t understand.
Forget about the controversy that’s going on right now, let’s look at what this man has done. He’s put the roof over heads of literally thousands of people. You’re talking about people on the ring crew, you’re talking about the cameramen, you’re talking about the wrestlers, you’re talking about so many different people he’s taken care of. I think that’s what people need to really understand. That’s a big task.”
Bobby Lashley elaborated on what he thinks the future of WWE will hold with Stephanie McMahon, Nick Khan, and Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque in charge:
“Moving forward, I don’t think that Vince’s influence is going to be gone, but I think right now with Triple H and Stephanie [McMahon] and Nick Khan coming in there, I think those are all the people that worked alongside of him for years, so they’re going to keep going on with the same philosophy, with the same mentality, and I think the business is going to keep going.
Look at this pay-per-view this weekend, SummerSlam. We have some of the greatest matches and we don’t even have our whole roster. There are certain people that are amazing that are not even on this show. You’re talking Ricochet, I don’t think Drew’s [McIntyre] on the show, I don’t think Sheamus is on this show, I don’t think AJ’s [Styles] on.
There’s some amazing talent that are not even on here that haven’t had an opportunity to be highlighted. WWE is going to keep moving in the right direction and that’s straight up. We’re the greatest organisation in the world and it’s always going to be that way.”
Bobby Lashley and Vince McMahon wrestled four matches together, two of which were three-on-one Handicap bouts that saw the latter joined by Shane McMahon and the late Umaga. This all started after Lashley was Donald Trump’s representative for WrestleMania 23’s Battle of the Billionaires match.
Returning to WWE in 2018, Lashley has risen to be one of the most prominent WWE Superstars, regularly featured against – and defeating – marquee acts, such as Roman Reigns, Brock Lesnar, and Goldberg. Since returning, Bobby has held the WWE, Intercontinental, and United States Championships twice apiece.
He’ll defend the US title against former champion Theory – Vince McMahon’s on-screen protege before he retired – at SummerSlam on Saturday night.
If you use any quotes from this article please provide a link back and a H/T to Inside The Ropes.