Interview with WWE star Bobby Lashley
I had a chance to interview WWE wrestler Bobby Lashley just before he competed for the WWE championship. (Unfortunately, he lost to John Cena.) He’s been competing in the WWE for about two years and is one of my favorites. When I first saw him debut on SmackDown I couldn’t wait to see him wrestle […]
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I had a chance to interview WWE wrestler Bobby Lashley just before he competed for the WWE championship. (Unfortunately, he lost to John Cena.) He’s been competing in the WWE for about two years and is one of my favorites. When I first saw him debut on SmackDown I couldn’t wait to see him wrestle in bigger matches. I’m a big fan because he plays a good guy and doesn’t cheat. His wrestling skills are enough to win, so he doesn’t run away or resort to using weapons.
Talking to him I learned that being a wrestler, then becoming a WWE wrestler, is life changing and that fans, like me, play a big role in encouraging wrestlers to continue fighting in the WWE.
How did you decide to become a wrestler?
Well I started amateur wrestling in the seventh grade and I started because I played sports every season and there were no sports for seventh graders during the wintertime except wrestling. I tried it out and I was pretty good when I first started and I just got better from there.
How long did it take for you to get into the WWE? Was it hard for you to break in?
What happened was that I was amateur wrestling and I was at the Olympic training center. And at one of my tournaments, which was actually the World Team Trials, which is a big major tournament in the United States, somebody from the WWE saw me and when they saw me they said I had a good look, good build. They saw my athleticism and they wanted me to come out to try out for the WWE. So [in 2004] I went to Louisville, Ky., where they have one of the developmental programs and I was there for about a year and a half before I was brought on to TV.
What kind of effect have your fans had on you?
I love the fans. That’s the reason why I do this. If we didn’t have fans I would be amateur wrestling, training people. I love being in the WWE and I love the fans that we have. The fans are the reason why I pull myself up when my body’s beat up and I’m worn out and I’ve got to travel and everything like that. And then I get one of my fans to come up and ask for an autograph and take a picture with me and then I know why I’m here and it just gives me my drive back.
Why do you think wrestling has been so popular?
It’s an outlet for people—people with everyday lives. It’s a chance for them to go out there and be entertained. It gives people the opportunity, when they have struggles at home or they have struggles at work or something like that, they can almost envision that person that they have struggles with in the ring and they can cheer for the good guys. We have something that anybody and everybody can relate to.
I’ve noticed that you don’t do a lot of talking in the ring and you mostly focus on wrestling. Is not talking part of your personality or is it scripted?
That’s how I was brought up. You know we have some people out there who love to have the microphone and talk and hype themselves up. I was always trained and I was always taught you do your talking in the ring. There are a lot of people that do a lot of trash talking and they run their mouths a lot and that’s just not my style.
With the recent tragedy do you think wrestling will remain popular? [WWE wrestler Chris Benoit is suspected of killing his wife and son, and then himself. Steroids were found in Benoit’s system. Following the deaths, there were many discussions about steroid use in professional wrestling.]
Yes. With any profession something is going to happen. As shocking as this was it happens in every profession. It’s not going to kill wrestling off. It’s going to make people more even more aware that we are going through a lot. I can’t say why he did it. I can’t say anything about it. That’s going to happen in every profession. I mean if a doctor did it, is it going to kill the medical profession? No. It just happens.
Were you a fan of wrestling growing up? Who did you look up to?
I was a huge fan. I watched it every chance that I had. Every match that came out I had a person that I cheered for. I can’t say there was just one because over the course of a show you have like five, six, nine matches so in each individual match there was someone that I liked. There was everyone from Hulk Hogan to Kurt Angle, Triple H, Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat, The Rock. Even people still wrestling today. I was a big fan of so many different people.
