Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast
Release Date: September 21, 2017
Guest: Bobby Lashley
Recap By: Matthew Wilkinson
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Newsworthy Items
- Bobby Lashley was only signed to TNA because Kurt Angle got hurt.
- Lashley reveals Donald Trump is a nice guy.
- Bobby Lashley wants to face Brock Lesnar.
- Sam paid tribute to Bobby Heenan: the greatest of all time.
- Sam will be at No Mercy on the Kick Off
- Sam wants to see Cody Rhodes at Starrcade
Show Highlights/Rundown
Sam starts the show announcing that he will be doing another live show in October with Bully Ray as his guest. He then runs through what is to come on this week’s episode.
This week’s interview is also from a live show, where he interviewed Bobby Lashley, somebody he said was brilliant to talk with.
Bobby Lashley Interview
Sam said the first thing that comes to mind with Bobby is what he is doing with his career right now. He says he is in a pivotal point of his career as Bellator wants him to push his MMA career harder.
Bobby said the first time he tried to go to TNA the company said they didn’t have anything for him, so he pulled back and did independent shows. When he tried to get back into to TNA, Bellator offered him a deal even though he wanted to get back to wrestling. He signed with them because they were on Spike TV as well.
Bobby thinks that at the time TNA had a lot of press for having a lot of ex-WWE guys, which is why he believes they didn’t sign him straight away.
He said he only got signed because Kurt Angle got hurt and they needed someone to do a one-off spot. However, because the crowd was so behind him TNA ended up giving him a full-time deal.
OVW
Bobby said that Kurt Angle played a big part of him getting signed for WWE. He was taping a vignette for the company at an Olympic training center and he needed people to workout with for it and Bobby was one of them. Kurt saw him and said he had a great look and asked if he had thought about professional wrestling. Kurt told him that there was no real money in amateur wrestling and he should think about something else for the future.
Angle passed Lashley’s number on and he was offered a try-out, but it was at the time when he was pushing for the Olympics so he told WWE he wanted to wait. He said the turning point was when he went to a bank and there was a robbery, he dropped to the ground as he missed a bullet and he thought ‘it’s not supposed to end like this.’
While he survived, he ended up with a major knee injury which set his amateur career back. During this time, he got another call from WWE and they stressed that they just wanted to sit down for a chat with him. Bobby agreed, but didn’t tell them about the leg. He was made to run the ropes and try-out for four days, even though he had just taken off his leg brace for the first time.
Bobby told a story about when he bodyslammed Jim Cornette but almost killed him because the rest of the OVW guys were dead weighting him so Jim weighed nothing when he tried to help him with the move.
Main Roster
Sam pointed out how the first people he worked with was Finlay and Booker T, which was to help teach Lashley while making him look great.
Bobby said the absolute best was Fit Finlay because he was believable as an opponent for him. Bobby felt that could be a problem due to his size that some opponents just couldn’t beat him in the fans eye, but Finlay broke that mold for him.
Sam asked how he was treated on the main roster and Bobby said he escaped the hazing, likely due to his size. He admitted he was worried about JBL because he was supposed to beat him for the title straight away and he had heard about his hazing.
Bobby said he earned respect from Bob Holly because he would hit incredible chops, though, one time he avoided it but then opened up to take it which Bob appreciated.
ECW
Bobby said this time in his career he was oblivious to a lot of things and the dirt sheets were one of them. Sam asked if he realized after the December to Dismember PPV that things had gone horribly wrong.
Bobby admitted he didn’t realize that WWE were killing ECW’s name until they ran the show at the ECW Arena when the fans hated on the WWE. He then spoke about the people he got to work with and how lucky he was. He revealed that The Undertaker was a brilliant mentor to him. He said one time he was getting hit with very stiff shots and Undertaker told him if it happened again he had the green light to deal with it in the ring from him.
Working with Vince
Sam asked what it was like to work with Vince McMahon and Bobby answered by saying it was amazing. He felt like he was learning from the best, not just from Vince but also Shane, Umaga, and Stone Cold.
Bobby said that Vince always wanted him to go for it and hit him with his best shots and he loved working it.
Sam asked how he felt about his WrestleMania 23 moment. Bobby admitted that Donald Trump is a nice guy. Donald came in and asked how he could help and make things better rather than throw his weight around and demand things.
Leaving WWE
Sam asked why Bobby left WWE in a way that seemed very abrupt, it was a question that Bobby wanted to avoid but he said there was a circumstance that happened that made the decision take place.
Bobby admitted he never wanted to leave and said he still has good relations with people such as Triple H and Shane and stated that someone legitimate needs to beat Brock Lesnar, hinting at himself.
Sam wondered if it is frustrating that his best matches are taking place with less eyes on him. While Bobby said it can be, he also feels that his potential is through the roof.
Sam asked if Bobby can see himself back in WWE. Bobby thinks there are certain things that need to happen, and he said Brock is the match he wants to have, even though they’ve never even met.
In regards to TNA, Bobby said he is paid to go out and fight and that’s what he focuses on rather than the politics of it. This brings an end to a very interesting and entertaining interview.
End of Interview
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Bobby Heenan
Sam spoke about the death of Bobby Heenan and said we have lost more than a legend. He said there was something that felt like it was magic in WWF and attributed a lot of that to Heenan.
Sam said Heenan is by far the best manager and color commentator WWE has ever had. He continued to say that no matter who he worked with, he made the good guys look stronger and the bad guys look even badder, in a good way, putting the talent over incredibly.
Sam said that Bobby was never trying to win cool points with anybody and would do things so that the statements he was making would make out that he had no credibility, yet without damaging his actual credibility.
He felt that Bobby tailored himself to the talents needs, whatever they were missing or needed to get to the next level, Bobby would fill that gap.
Sam said that as much as he loves Paul Heyman, Bobby Heenan blows him out of the water, something he stated was no small task. He hopes that fans spend some time watching his old content and appreciating it. He believes there will never be anyone as good. Sam thanks Bobby Heenan for his contributions and his family for sharing him with the fans.
State of Wrestling- Starrcade
Sam believes the biggest story this week, (aside from Bobby Heenan) is the return of Starrcade. He thinks it is a good thing that WWE own all the library content for WCW, ECW, and important historic territories. He does think WWE needs to spend some time explaining why these shows are important and he feels Starrcade will end up as a WWE Network special, which he thinks should be a one night festival of wrestling.
Sam doesn’t want to see Starrcade return as a regular PPV, as he believes the show has had its time and if it was to come back it would need to be on the level of the ‘Big Four’ PPV’s.
No Mercy
Sam then moves the conversation to the upcoming WWE PPV, No Mercy, where he will be on the Kick Off show. He thinks the PPV is on the level of a Big Four due to the matches that are happening. He also thinks Roman was great this week.
Sam believes it is time for the match as the more ‘pipebomb’ type promos that they do, the less believable they all seem as they sound more scripted. Sam predicts Roman to win the match, as why else would it be happening this soon.
Moving through the card, Sam doesn’t think he can tell you Brock will leave with the title but admits that he would be surprised if Braun Strowman won.
Sam believes that Bayley and Sasha Banks have Mega Powers potential in terms of storytelling. He doesn’t think they are spending any time to develop the Nia Jax and Alexa Bliss situation, other than on social media. However, he thinks Bayley and Banks have been established as friends over years over storytelling, from NXT to now. That is why fans are so desperate to see a turn from Banks, but he thinks the money move is to have Bayley do the turn.
Sam believes they could have a women’s feud without the championship and after all this time the fans would be incredibly invested. He wants it to be done in a way that Bayley feels justified and believes she is in the right, but the fans will see it differently.
Before he moved on, Sam thinks that it would be cool to see Cody Rhodes team with Dustin, without the paint, at Starrcade.
SmackDown
Sam thinks that Shinsuke Nakamura is in a very odd spot right now. He believes the anti-Japanese promos from Mahal are very weird and what he’s trying to do is a stretch. In 2017 it might not fly be everyone.
Sam now wants to see Nakamura rip Jinder’s head off due to the story, but he worries that won’t happen at Hell in a Cell. Sam questions why WWE is pushing the envelope as far as they have if they don’t have that sort of pay off.
Sam is really looking forward to a match between Natalya and Charlotte and is happy to see her back featured highly on the show. This wraps up the show for the week.
Rating: 8.5/10
This was a brilliant episode of the Sam Roberts Show that was highly entertaining throughout. When the two hours just fly by, you know it has been a good listen. The interview segment with Bobby Lashley was very entertaining and it was interesting to hear in such detail about his time with WWE, I would like to see him back as a guest in the future as there was plenty left to discuss. The State of Wrestling was, as usual, plenty of fun with great insight and the Bobby Heenan tribute was touching and heartfelt. Overall, a really solid episode that is certainly a must listen.
Subjects Covered (With Timestamps)
00:00-Sponsor Ads
01:23-Show Introduction
04:40-Bobby Lashley Interview-Signing for TNA
12:31-Joining WWE (OVW)
33:20-Joining the Main Roster
44:03-ECW
52:01-Working Vince McMahon
1:00:07-Leaving WWE
1:08:37-End of Interview
1:09:00-Advert
1:10:30- Bobby Heenan
1:28:23-State of Wrestling-Starrcade
1:44:20-No Mercy
1:57:18-Smackdown
About the author
Matthew Wilkinson is from Bradford, England. He’s been a fan since the late ’90s with the Attitude Era and was then heavily invested again through the rise of CM Punk and Daniel Bryan. He can be found on Twitter at @MC_Wilkinson1
For more, check out last week’s recap of Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast with Big Cass.
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