Bobby Lashley reveals 12-time world champion played a major role in him joining WWE

Bobby Lashley made his WWE debut in 2005. He was one of the most hard-working talents on the roster for the next three years, during which he even co-headlined WrestleMania 23 as World Champion alongside Batista and John Cena.

During a recent sit-down interview with the Millionaire Goals Podcast, The All Mighty disclosed that a Hall of Famer was the major factor that got him invested in a WWE tryout.

Kurt Angle is a six-time world champion in both WWE and TNA, a legend of the industry, and an Olympic gold medalist. Lashley detailed that during one of the practice sessions at the Olympic training center, The Wrestling Machine showed up and complimented his look and brought up his potential to become a professional wrestler:

"[And then] Kurt Angle, who was in the WWE at the time, Kurt comes down, he sees us, and he was like, 'Man, Bobby,' he said, 'You got a good look. You ever think about doing professional wrestling?'" Bobby Lashley recalled. [6:34 onwards]

It took another decade for Bobby Lashley to go out, work several other projects -including a remarkable stint in MMA - before returning to the Stamford-based promotion in 2018 and hold the company's top prize three years later.

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Bobby Lashley was a huge fan of WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle

Coming from similar backgrounds, Lashley admitted that Angle was an inspiration to him. After the conversation he had with the Hall of Famer and some unfortunate events that transpired, The All Mighty eventually landed a deal with Vince McMahon's wrestling promotion.

The All Mighty spoke highly of Kurt Angle, revealing that he followed the latter's career trajectory:

"Kurt was, I was a huge fan of Kurt, because I watched him when he was making his way through high school, through college and everything like that. He was a monster. Beast! And then he went to WWE, so I kind of followed his career a little bit also, through the professional run," Lashley said.

On Friday Night SmackDown this past week, Bobby Lashley finally got in the ring and spoke about his new alliance with the Street Profits. He made things short, sweet and to the point.

It remains to be seen where the creative team are heading with this blockbuster union on the blue brand. Current NXT Champion Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams are also heavily rumored as future members, with the former dropping a message recently.

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What are your thoughts on Bobby Lashley's new faction and who else do you feel The All Mighty could recruit? Sound off in the comments section below.

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If you use the quotes in this article, give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription and credit the original source.