William Regal On Working With Bobby Lashley Early In His WWE Career, Lashley Growing His Skills As A Rookie

On a recent edition of Gentleman Villain, William Regal discussed working with Bobby Lashley early in his WWE career, Lashley thanking him for helping him grow his skills as a rookie, and much more. You can read his comments below.

William Regal on working with Bobby Lashley early in his WWE career: “First of all, I liked him. Just a lovely, polite fellow. There’s only been two times in my life when I’ve felt completely helpless in the ring. One was I think the first time I wrestled Bobby, and without meaning it, he grabbed me and [threw me] and there was nothing I could’ve done to stop myself from flying from one side of the ring to the other [laughs]. Let’s put it that way. I just realized this man is just in a different league. I never wrestled Brock [Lesnar], and I’m sure Brock could’ve done the same. I also a lot of tricks to stop people like that, but I wasn’t expecting that. I said something to him, ‘Just throw me,’ and before I knew it, I was on the other side of the ring. I was going, ‘Oh, this fellow….’ The only other time was in 1992 when I went to Egypt and wrestled a fellow named Klaus Wallas. He was a super heavyweight, silver medalist judo player in the Olympics and was also rated in the top-five people of the World’s Strongest Man. He hadn’t wrestled for five years, and his first match back after five years in Egypt was against me.”

On Lashley thanking him for helping him grow his skills as a rookie: “Bobby came up to me at SummerSlam last year. I’m watching the tryout people, and I hadn’t seen him in a while because obviously I was down in NXT. I’ve always liked Bobby, really nice lad and lovely fellow. I said, ‘I’m glad to see you’re doing well,’ and just went, ‘I want to thank you.’ I said, ‘First of all, you never have to thank me for anything.’ He said, ‘No, I want to thank you. I had it easy. My first year on the road, I wrestled you 60-something times and I wrestled Fit [Finlay] 60-something times. In that year, I just learned everything.’ This is somebody coming into the job – he got 120-something matches in one year against Fit Finlay and William Regal. Who gets that now? Reps against people who have been doing this for a lifetime?”

If using any of the above quotes, please credit Gentleman Villain with an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.