Bobby Lashley Wanted Out of WWE Day 1 Main Event When Brock Lesnar Was Added to Match

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Bobby Lashley said this week that he initially wanted to be removed from the WWE Championship match at Day 1 when he learned Brock Lesnar was getting added.

During an appearance on WWE After The Bell (h/t WrestlingInc.com’s Matthew Wilkinson), Lashley explained his state of mind when Lesnar’s addition made the WWE title match a Fatal 5-Way, saying:

“The first thing I said was, I said, ‘Get me out of the match.’ I said, ‘It’s a Fatal 4-Way, me and MVP can do something beforehand, get me out of the match.’ Initially, people were like, ‘What? Are you scared of him?’ No, I’m not scared of him, it’s a match where exactly what happened, happened.

“He beats somebody else and got the title. So essentially he can say he beat me, Seth [Rollins], Big E and Kevin [Owens] right? I mean, the match is five people and I was like, ‘That’s not the way this is going down, get me out of the match.’ And they were like, ‘Nah, nah, you got to stay in the match,’ and I was like, ‘Alright.'”

Lesnar was originally supposed to face Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship at Day 1, but Reigns was removed from the card after testing positive for COVID-19.

In an effort to keep Lesnar on the show, he was added to the WWE Championship bout against Big E, Lashley, Rollins and Owens, making it a Fatal 5-Way.

Lesnar went on to win the match and the title, but he got speared through the barrier by Lashley and put in the Hurt Lock as well, which established Lashley as an immediate threat to The Beast Incarnate.

Lashley ended up enjoying his encounter with Lesnar at Day 1, saying: “There was kind of a lot of people that were like, not happy about it. But I looked it as, ‘At first, get me out of the match, but if I’m staying in the match, then interactions we have with Brock, I have to make a statement.”

Lesnar vs. Lashley is a dream match fans have clamored for over the years, and it is finally about to happen, as Lashley defeated Big E, Rollins and Owens on a recent episode of Raw to become the No. 1 contender for the WWE Championship.

As a result, Lesnar vs. Lashley is set for the undercard of the Royal Rumble later this month in a first-time-ever clash.

Lashley may have wanted to avoid losing a match that Lesnar was involved in initially, but based on what happened at Day 1, the stage is now set for a singles clash with Lesnar that could go down as one of the biggest matches in recent memory.

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