Bobby Lashley.

I've seen Bobbys name brought up alot over the past week, especially in the "WWE r racist" farce. It got me looking back over some of Lashleys work, and I realised I'd forgotten just how good the guy was.

He was a big man that had the agility of a cat, had a decent repetoire of moves for a bigger man, and brought the Dominator back. He was seriously poor on the mic though, but that didnt seem to hamper him with the "Soft spoken hard hitting" gimmick he was carrying. No doubt he was destined for a real World Title before he left for MMA/TNA.

IMO, should've went over Cena at the GAB 07.

So, thoughts? Could Lashley have been the next Lesnar? Should he have been given a World Title? Do you think he was as good in the ring as I do?

He was just too cheesy for me. He had a good 'impact' moveset and was very smashmouth, but he was too clean cut and lacked an edge. I'm not sure if he would have worked better as a heel but as a face he was devoid of charisma and lacked star power.

You can have all the amateur wrestling background in the world, but that isnt what draws unfortunately.

I couldn't believe his voice was actully his when I first heard him. A decent wrestler who WWE obviously had alot of faith in, and they seemed to want to elevate him. They got their fingers burned again, though.

Don't think he deserved a World Title at time of leaving, but he was being positioned. His career highlight being WM23 vs Umaga, and shaving Vince bald.

When the main fault a guy has is his voice then I don't think thats a reason not to push him so long as he ticks alk the other boxes, Lashley should have been a star but the WWE didn't have a clue how to market him, the Baddest Man on the planet Mike Tyson had a ridiculous voice but you always felt he could kill in the ring

They did push him very well though Lashley, so when he finally did enter the main event picture it felt much more natural than say Jack Swagger or even The Miz. He became US Champion, then ECW Champion, then finally entered the main event picture, but they just never really followed that run again, usually going for the shortcut to the top.

I think if he hadn't left when he did he would have been a multi-time WWE Champion by now.

I thought he had zero charisma and his only facial expression looked like he was trying to hold in a fart.

He had the look WWE likes, and the amateur background (though it didn't translate to being exciting in the ring) but nothing else.

Also, is there a less hard-sounding name in wrestling history than Bobby Lashley?!

Lashley was boring,end of story. Can't even make it in mma.

HitmanOwl wrote:Lashley was boring,end of story. Can't even make it in mma.

Because MMA is easy?!

Lashley always gave the impression he was really sorry for doing anything that may damage his opponent enough to win a match, if that makes any sense. He was too apologetic and too robotic - he was concentrating so hard on not messing up, he never came across as being a bad-ass at all, and a guy that size should be destroying people!

Plus his ears were stupidly small.

Well if you ain't good enough or hard enough,why bother? If your a mma fighter and Lashley is stood infront of you it wouldn't put the fear of god into you.

Brock will hurt him.

HitmanOwl wrote:Well if you ain't good enough or hard enough,why bother? If your a mma fighter and Lashley is stood infront of you it wouldn't put the fear of god into you.

Dunno, I wouldn't square go him.

He does have 7 wins in 8 fights, which I would say is pretty handy.

I wouldn't take him outside if he spilled my pint either. He is huge.

He would beat the snot out of you but you would be bored the whole time.

Of course he would,he's built like a brick sh@t house but if I was a ufc fighter I would eat him alive.

I'm in no doubt will see him back in wrestling at some point.

Where did you get the idea that he would get destroyed in MMA when sodhat has pointed out he has 7 wins in 8 fights, you have litterally nothing other than the fact you didn't like him in his WWE run to back up the fact he would rubbish in UFC.

Are you ok?

7/8 fights won doesn't mean he has made it in mma.

True, but he's hardly been a flop has he? 7-1 is a good record. Brock Lesnar is only 5-2.

Edit: And current UFC Heavyweight Champion; Cain Velasquez is 9-0. Has he not made it? He's only had 1 more fight than Lashley.

HitmanOwl wrote:Are you ok?

7/8 fights won doesn't mean he has made it in mma.

I think it actually does dude. Beating 7 guys and only losing once in a competetive sport is pretty good whatever the sport, so I'd say your argument that if you were a UFC fighter you would beat the snot out of him is null and void.

I'd personally say Lashley could have been huge if he had another good opponent to feud with. His JBL feud died quickly and against Cena he couldn't put on a great match. If he could have had the feud that Cena is having against CM Punk now I think he could have made a great heel and a good World Champion.

Tbh your probably right.

He has made and won against some top draw fighters.

Sorry to sound dim but were his fights against legitimately good fighters or a few guys they found on the street?

After all, beating Man Utd is more impressive than beating Torquay

Put it this way who are the guys he beat?
I couldn't tell you either,by my standing when he makes it,it is when he's in ufc fighting the best of the best.

Put him in with the best and see how many he wins then.

I know I don’t post in the Wrestling thread but I just wanted to say that Bobby Lashley is 6-1 not 7-1 and to compare him with Brock Lesner and Cain Velasquez is wrong as both of these fighters have fought the very best in the UFC while Lashley has not even come close to this.

Bobby Lashley has fought in the MFA and SRP (both 3rd rate local American fight promoters) against opponents that I have never even heard off. He has a fight and a win against the joke that is Bob Sapp. When Lashley went to a major MMA organisation such as Strikeforce he went 1-1 (then was cut) and looked terrible as he was gassed out after 1 round. Brock and Cain fought the best and that is why they are respected, Lashley fought average competition and looked ok that was all.

As for the WWE being racist... Probably. How many black champions since the sport started? 2% 3% maybe? That’s the result of a racist organisation.

Watching his fight againt the 6'8" guy was pretty impressive when he won by TKO in the first round. Though saying that he has fought Jason Guida who has an appaling record in MMA.

While I agree with what Gibbo has said about Lashley in MMA, because I am not even going to claim to have any knowledge on the subject of MMA, I'd disagree with him on the racist organisation part of what he said as all you have to do is read the older thread about it to realise that it's not actually that bad.

Leone wrote:While I agree with what Gibbo has said about Lashley in MMA, because I am not even going to claim to have any knowledge on the subject of MMA, I'd disagree with him on the racist organisation part of what he said as all you have to do is read the older thread about it to realise that it's not actually that bad.

The racist opinion is just my opinion and it has to be stated that I know very little about the WWE and have nowhere near the in-depth knowledge that others have on this board. I shouldn’t have put it so bluntly maybe.

I'd probably agree their is racism in wrestling but I wouldn't say it is largely in the WWE. I'd personally say it's "grass roots" level more and that black guys are struggling to get into the sport even if they wanted to, because of dodgy promoters or trainers, though as someone said above, why would most guys, no matter what race, want to go into wrestling when if you are a good athlete, NFL/NBL/MLB will pay you so much more.

gibbo104 wrote:
As for the WWE being racist... Probably. How many black champions since the sport started? 2% 3% maybe? That’s the result of a racist organisation.

I asked this in the other thread too. How many black people have gone into wrestling over the years compared to other races? How many even want to compared to other races? Just because, say, only 3% of champions have been black, it doesnt necessarily mean the organisation is racist..in any capacity at all! It might just mean that for every 10 guys from other races want to get into wrestling only 1 black guy does. The reason could purely be a statistical one.

I have no idea though tbh. It would be interesting to know the figures on who joins wrestlings schools...see if there is a particular area that has more people wanting to start wrestling than any of the others!

I havent ever seen a Lashley match as my wrestling "down-time" was while he was in the 'E. Did i miss much? :S