Bobby Lashley
Bobby LashleyHeight: 6"3' Weight: 273lbs.
Hometown: Junction City, Kansas
Wrestling Debut: 2003, in Ohio Valley Wrestling
Signature Move: The Dominator
The man who became the first Black ECW World Heavyweight Champion started out unassuming enough. Prior to his start in the OVW, which can be considered the minor leagues to the WWE's majors, he was a 3x national amateur wrestling champ between 1996 and 1998, fighting his way up to the NAIA National Wrestling Champion. He continued his wrestling throughout his time with the US Army, and in the Fall of 2003, he started to wrestle through OVW, getting his training from Lance Storm.
Back then, dude was known as "Blaster" Lashley for no good reason, fueding as a heel against a bunch of no names. Flash forward to mid 2005, touching down first for Smackdown!, playing up his amateur background and going on a huge victory streak, which was not broken until WWE No Way Until 2006, where he was handed his first loss by the one like JBL. He went on to fued with Finlay for a while, competed at Wrestlemania 22 (his first WM event), and ended up being the guy who lost to Booker T, the same night dude became "King Booker T" - Lashley got the last laugh, however, spearing Booker through his own throne!
While Lashley was getting shine facing Booker T's court, he was nowhere near the star he was when he ended up jumping ship to ECW in November of 2006, after spending a little over a year wrestling for Smackdown!; and did he enter with a BANG! This is where I truly started to follow dude, seeing him rise to the occasion at the December to Dismember Extreme Elimination Chamber match was sick, especially considering that dude had to go through both Test AND Big Show. After winning the ECW World Heavyweight Title, he successfully battled Big Show, RVD, Test, Hardcore Holly, Kenny Dykstra and others before getting his next big push: being selected by Donald Trump to represent him in the Battle of the Billionaires match at WM23, which put him up against Vince McMahnon's pick, Umaga, in a hair vs. hair match between Trump & Mr. McMahnon. Since this match, Lashley has been battling the McMahnons and Umaga on both RAW and ECW programs, eventually losing the ECW World Title to Mr. McMahnon at Backlash. Most recently, at Judgement Day 2007, Bobby defeated Shane McMahnon, Vince & Umaga in a 3-on-1 match, but did not retain his belt b/c he did not pin Vince.
What does the future hold for Bobby: well, last night, Shane McMahnon took a chunk of time out of RAW to announce that in two weeks, there is going to be a three-way draft between the RAW, Smackdown and ECW brands, where any superstar can be picked for any brand. I'm not a betting man, nor do I know if this will happen, but with Lashley's extensive coverage on RAW and on WM23, would you be shocked if he jumped back to one of the other brands, possibly RAW? I see him on there all the time, whether it's breaking the Master Lock or beating up on the McMahnons. And you know what? His style is more geared toward the WWE of today, as opposed to the stuff you see on ECW nowadays. He looks like he'd be more at home beating on guys like Edge or Umaga, even John Cena. After he runs through the big guys in the ECW, who is he going to beat up? CM Punk? If he jumps ship, remember where you read it first...
Dude might not be the flashiest star in the sky, nor is he the most technical wrestler, but he combines his strength with his will to earn and turns those gifts into success. Would I like to see him regain his ECW title? Hell yes. Would I rather him regain the WWE US Championship, or possibly grab the WWE Championship from John Cena? Oh hell yes! He's the next new Black face for Pro Wrestling, and we salute you, Bobby Lashley.
related links:
Bobby Lashley on Wikipedia
Bobby Lashley on WWE.com
Bobby Lashley Online
Bobby Lashley on ObsessedWithWrestling.com
Here is a memorable Steel Cage match between Bobby lashley, Hardcore Holly and Finlay:
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