Before signing with AEW, Bobby Lashley discussed the pros and cons of working for the promotion with Dan Lambert.
Lambert, the founder of MMA gym American Top Team, is a huge pro wrestling fan who has worked as a manager for AEW, TNA and MLW. He played an old-fashioned wrestling loyalist in AEW while also leading a faction that included Ethan Page and Scorpio Sky. Lambert is also friends with Lashley. He managed Lashley in MMA and appeared with him in TNA.
A new episode of Insight with Chris Van Vliet with Lashley as a guest. Lashley said he spoke to Lambert about AEW during free agency. Lambert told Lashley that Tony Khan was a real person.
“So I have a good friend who worked with AEW before – Dan Lambert. He was the top American team. He was in AEW for a while, living out his fantasy. Dan is one of my favorite people in this world. He helped me cope through fights and things like that. “He was always just a great friend first and foremost,” Lashley said.
“And I spoke to Dan and we discussed different options. And I asked him about Tony because I didn't know, you don't know anything about Tony if you don't know him. So I thought, 'Oh, what about this Tony?' And a lot of the things he told me about him, I said, “I can respect that.” He said, “He's kind of a little character like you in a way, and he goes out of his way to be nice to people “He's a real person.” He told me the pros and cons and I said, 'Man, I'd love to meet him.' But at that point I was talking to MVP and I was talking to Shelton [Benjamin]and we said, “Let's go over this again.” Let's lead the group back. Let's do it. We have this option. We are all outside right now. Let's see if we can do this right.'”
Lashley debuted for AEW in October and reunited with MVP and Benjamin as The Hurt Syndicate. Last month, he picked up a victory over Swerve Strickland at AEW's Full Gear pay-per-view.
