WWE Champion Bobby Lashley left WWE in 2008. He then went on to wrestle in Impact wrestling and dappled briefly in MMA. He worked with Bellator MMA for six years and was released in 2020.

Lashley returned to WWE in 2018, after a 10-year absence. He won the United States Championship upon his return and eventually won the WWE Championship for the first time in his WWE career.

Despite his absence, Lashley never completely lost touch with WWE. As revealed to Fightful, Vince McMahon kept contact with him. But the duo did not necessarily have a close relationship and didn’t talk business.

“I was heavily [into MMA] but there were times when Vince would reach out to me and send a text here and there,” “The Almighty,” said. “We’ve always had that common bond and mentality of working out.”

“He would come down to Denver and be like, ‘I’ll be in Denver, we have to get a workout in.’ We never really did, but it was a running joke and a possibility that we’ve talked about a few times. It wasn’t one of those things where we talked consistently, just a few text messages over the ten or eleven years I was gone,” Lashley revealed.

Vince is known for “testing” his performers by attacking them out of the blue. McMahon once famously attacked Kurt Angle with a double leg takedown. However, he never tried the same with Lashley.

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Bobby Lashley outside of WWE

Right after his release, Lashley appeared on Lucha Libre’s AAA promotion. He debuted on Impact under Kurt Angle’s wing but quickly turned on him and turned face.

He was a part of Impact for four years before getting released to focus on his MMA career. Lashley came back in 2014 and was with the company for four years. He won the Impact World Heavyweight Championship four times.

Apart from pro wrestling, Lashley holds an impressive 15-2 record in MMA. Lashley would face old foe Drew McIntyre at Hell in a Cell this Sunday.

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