Bobby Lashley launched "The All Mighty Era" by cinching in The Hurt Lock and savagely making The Miz tap out on the March 1 episode of Raw.
Ever since becoming the WWE Champion that night, Lashley has been on a torrid pace, having defended the title against the likes of The Miz in a rematch and Sheamus in back-to-back weeks. The implosion of The Hurt Business didn't keep Lashley's former stablemates, Shelton Benjamin and Cedric Alexander, safe from Lashley's title reign of terror, either, as he bulldozed through them as well.
Carnage laid to waste in his path, Lashley can now further stamp "The All Mighty Era" with a WrestleMania moment for the ages. The WWE Champion will have his chance to do just that Saturday, when he defends the title against Drew McIntyre on Night One of WrestleMania 37, live from Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.
"That would be a dream come true," Lashley tells DAZN News about delivering a WrestleMania moment as champion. "That’s all the hard work I put into this business, everything that I’ve done over the years to get me to where I’m at now … that would be the culmination. That would be everything."
A moment that gets replayed and etched into the minds of fans indelibly aside, Lashley has a entirely separate agenda for yearning to demolish McIntyre on Saturday night. That's because the 44-year-old sees a one-way traffic victory over McIntyre as the possible bait needed to lure Brock Lesnar for a WrestleMania match in the future. Given each Superstar's mixed martial arts background — Lesnar a former UFC heavyweight champion and Lashley undefeated as a Bellator fighter — Lashley would even welcome MMA being incorporated into a possible WrestleMania showdown.
"Man, I think that would be great," Lashley says of the possibility. "It could be a cross promotion. It was something that was talked about a long time ago and it wasn’t me and Brock. It was someone from wrestling going over to kind of cross promote, but I think that kind of fell through.
"We have the people here: Myself, Brock," he continues, rattling off the personnel needed to give the dream match daylight. "I stay in shape and I’m always training.
"I think if there’s a possibility to do it, I think it would be a great opportunity for me and Brock to do it."
However, that possibility of seeing "The Beast Incarnate" vs. "The All Mighty" dissolves quickly if Lashley drops the title to McIntyre, a former champion, on Saturday night.
"Drew beat Brock in five minutes or maybe even less," Lashley points out. "So, in order for me to make that match happen and make that match credible, I need to beat Drew this year. I beat Drew this year … then I have something over Brock. That’s the reason he comes back."
While Lashley is hopeful that a dominant win this weekend is enough bait to haul Brock back, he says the rest would be up to Lesnar himself.
"I think the hardest thing is not because I don’t want to do it. I just don’t know what Brock’s doing," Lashley concedes.
Yet, Lashley remains undeterred.
"Brock probably needs a reason to come back. I have the WWE Championship. That’s one reason," he says exuding confidence. "The second reason was I beat the person who beat him and that’s a milestone to climb. So, hopefully we can do that, so that match could happen eventually."
Until then, Lashley would like nothing more than to build his profile as a dominant champion.
"It’s one thing to win that title, but it’s another thing to actually build that legacy and dominate," he adds. "I have that ability to. I’m that guy right now. That’s why I have it.
"I had to go out there and take it," he tacks on. "It all goes together, man. It’s first getting that title, then dominating and building that legacy.
"I think that I’m right at the point in my career that I can do that. I walk through Drew and no one stops me after that."
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Bobby Lashley always had wrestling skills with decorated accomplishments to show for them, including being a three-time wrestling national champion and a four-time wrestling All-American in addition to being one of the last ECW champions. A 5-0 run at Bellator MMA from 2014-2016 helped pave the way for an eventual return to the WWE, where he would reign as Intercontinental Champion, before becoming just the third African-American Superstar to become WWE Champion just last month.
Steadily-improving mic skills help round Lashley out as a more complete performer. But still, there was something missing in Lashley's astute estimation.
That would change one week after Lashley became champion. The March 8 episode of Raw had hundreds of illuminated gold dots on a black backdrop preceded by a sequence of gold lightning bolts crashing down, as if Lashley was summoning the Gods or he was a God himself. Then, came plumes of smoke.
An intense drum pattern would then lead the way for the ring announcement of "The All Mighty WWE Champion ... Bobby Lashley!" Menacing horns then accompanied Lashley, as he sauntered out to the ramp, crossing his arms briefly before stretching them apart widely and pointing his index fingers diagonally up to the WWE ThunderDome ceiling inside Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. The chiseled, colossal WWE Champion in his full glory.
Just like that, Lashley had received a new, epic ring entrance befitting of a champion. Ask the veteran, and it was his missing link 16 years in the making of becoming champ, too.
"As a champion, it is the total package," Lashley says. "It is every piece of the puzzle. It has to be that presence when you come out. You have to walk like a champion, talk like a champion, look like a champion and put it all together. Until you put it all together, you don’t get it.
"If you have what it takes, it comes," he adds about the revelry, including a grand ring entrance, that accompanies being a champion. "If you don’t, it doesn’t come. That’s it. Period. Point blank.
"I’m just grateful to be in the position that I’m in right now."