AEW Star Bobby Lashley Recalls Being Shot During Bank Robbery

AEW star Bobby Lashley has recalled being in a bank when it was robbed and being shot by the robbers. 

Lashley narrated the frightening incident on "Insight with Chris Van Vliet," which happened before he began his pro wrestling career.

"I don't know what happened, if the guy like kicked the door down and just because of that the gun went off, but the gun went off. I took a dive down on the ground and I was laying down there on just a cold pavement for a while and that was kind of like — that, you know, [was the] let's get serious mode because I was like, I'm in a position of disadvantage completely laying on the ground," said Lashley. "And that was that time where a lot of your life start like flashing before you because when he shot, I don't know, it was something where I couldn't even hear out of the side so I had like a ringing in my head and then just diving down to the ground I felt like, you know, just with the contact I was like, you know, I was shocked, so my whole body was kind of in shock there for a second."

Lashley recalled that after the robbers left the bank, the president of the bank shut the doors from the inside. When Lashley got up and tried to help others in the bank, he realized that his knee had swollen up, and remembered being in intense pain. After going to the hospital, test results showed him that he had sustained some serious injuries, and was informed that he needed surgery.

Bobby Lashley was determined to make it to the US Olympic team, despite suffering the injury. The AEW star revealed that he began to calculate how long he would be out for, hoping that he could recover quicker than what the doctors anticipated.

"When I went to surgery, he was telling me everything and I'm sitting there calculating. I'm a numbers guy so it was like, 'Alright, you're going to be out for eight months and this and that and the other.' So I was like, eight months, let me think backtrack and I can ... Okay, eight months is for a normal guy; I can get ready in four months and then maybe a little bit after that I get ready for this because I have to make it to this tournament, man. I've been wrestling for 20-something years at this point. Like I've dedicated my life to the sport of wrestling, I want my chance, you know."

Lashley said that he was told to rest for a month to allow the injury to heal before he could start rehab. But after the doctors performed an X-ray later on, he had to have a second surgery which gave him no chance of making it for the Olympic qualifiers. 

The AEW star eventually transitioned to pro wrestling, previously crediting WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle for helping him break into pro wrestling, which he did in 2005, debuting on the WWE main roster in September.