Bobby Lashley wants to 'make history' on his return to the WWE

It’s been 10 years since his last run with the global sports entertainment giant, but his hunger for professional wrestling is as great as ever.

He’s got the look, he’s gone away to prove he has the talent - including a notable run in Impact Wrestling - and now he wants the titles to show for it.

Well, one title in particular - the Universal Championship, held by Brock Lesnar.

The careers of Lashley and Lesnar have drawn numerous parallels, but the latter always seemed to have the upper hand.

Both had good initial runs with the WWE, but it was Lesnar who became WWE champion within a year, while Lashley had to settle for the less revered ECW Championship.

They both also left to try their hand at mixed martial arts.

While Lesnar became a megastar off the bat in UFC, Lashley went the long way round, winning in several lesser promotions before landing in Bellator - the second-largest MMA promotion in the world, behind UFC - and taking his impressive fight record to 15-2.

Lesnar returned to the WWE six years ago and has become the most dominant superstar of his generation since, while Lashley’s comeback just one month ago was a little more understated as he warms up for a crack at the big time.

And perhaps that’s where Lashley’s fire burns.

“For 10 years I’ve been getting asked ‘when are you going to fight Brock?’”

That’s not an answer to a question posed in the interview ahead of WWE Live’s return to the Genting Arena on Tuesday, that’s Lashley’s final message - squeezed in before his next media appointment.

He openly suggests it is ‘a hint’ as to what his future might hold.

“He has the title. I didn’t come here to have a good time, I want to make some history.

“Whoever I need to run through, I will run through them.”

WWE and mixed martial arts have become increasingly linked in recent years, sparked by the success of Lesnar on both sides of the fence.

That has led to legitimate global megastar Ronda Rousey swapping the octagon for the squared circle and more and more MMA-based links and lines within WWE.

Lesnar himself has been involved in WWE angles that look more suited to MMA than professional wrestling - one particular finish where he bloodied Randy Orton at Summerslam 2016 was so heavily MMA influenced that some wrestlers in the back at the show believed Lesnar had gone rogue to legitimately hurt Orton.

And perhaps that is why when reading back through this interview that one line from Lashley piqued this writer’s interest.

Answering a question about a potential return to MMA, Lashley said: “I train the same, so if Vince (McMahon, WWE chairman) called to say he was going to lock me in a cage then I’m ready.”

It’s curious Lashley would suggest McMahon, a professional wrestling promoter, would ask him to return to the octagon, but WWE’s dalliance with MMA has got to such a stage that maybe it is time they went the whole hog and had a legitimate MMA fight over a championship.

Were it to happen, Lashley would certainly be creating that history he so desperately craves.

Bobby Lashley and more Monday Night Raw Superstars will be in action at the Genting Arena, Tuesday, May 15.

Tickets available now from here