Ahead of his Bellator 154 main event fight this weekend on Spike TV against former top-ranked UFC contender Phil Davis, Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal spoke with the folks at WrestlingINC.com about his run in TNA Wrestling, explaining why he specifically blames former Bellator MMA President Bjorn Rebney for the way his tenure with the pro wrestling promotion went.
Below are some of the highlights from the Muhammed Lawal interview:
On if he has been paying attention to the state of TNA and their many recent talent departures:
“I’ve been paying attention, man. I was kind of worried when Kazarian and Daniels left,” Mo said. “Then Samoa Joe left. Then AJ Styles, Eric Young, Austin Aries, Bobby Roode- Bobby Roode can wrestle his ass off. The guys that could really wrestle are leaving. I hope they can bounce back. That’s not good, especially when AJ Styles left. They lost a lot of great wrestlers, and I hope they can turn the corner and move forward on a positive note.”
On being brought into TNA with a lot of fanfare but having things slow down quickly because he fought MMA so frequently:
“Everything got messed up quick because of my fight schedule. I was in OVW, had a couple of matches there. I was working with Al Snow, Nick Dinsmore and Nick Miller, who is known as Trailer Park Trash. I was learning a lot from Frank Miller. TNA didn’t really have a chance to use me because of my fight schedule. I fought like 5-6 times that one year.”
On blaming former Bellator MMA president Bjorn Rebney for the way his TNA run turned out, noting current president Scott Coker would have handled it better:
“Not really, with the fight schedule it was hard. Bellator with Bjorn was iffy. Coker would have done a better job trying to coordinate the schedule with TNA. I think the blame is on Bjorn. I was working with Kenny King and people at FSW. I was hoping I could do something, me and Kenny King, the Knockout Kings. Bjorn, I don’t know what his plan was. I don’t think he had a plan.”
Make sure to visit MMANews.com this weekend for a complete Bellator 154: Davis vs. King Mo report.