Bobby Lashley is a WWE superstar with an interesting career. He’s done wrestling then MMA then returned to wrestling where things just clicked for him. He’d found his character range and settled into what he could or should do in the ring—he just needed to put this new knowledge.
Lashley’s program against Drew McIntyre in IMPACT Wrestling played a major role in this. It raises the question of why didn’t the first run in WWE work as it seemed it might.
Initial WWE Run
Lashley came into WWE in late 2005 and in the same form we see him now. Like a couple of other OVW call-ups, Bobby had an impressive look, was very powerful, and had the extra razzle-dazzle of being a collegiate wrestling champion. WWE had some success with legit wrestlers in the decade so why not scoop up another?
The future World champion came in with a winning streak similar to Samoa Joe’s in TNA. He was clapping opponents in singles competition but suffered losses outside of that.
JBL eventually ended Lashley’s streak in February 2006 but he remained in the running for singles gold. As a blue chipper, he had something of a line-skip pass and was typically in the mix in the upper reaches of the undercard.
When he was drafted to the ECW brand he arrived as a main event on the bubble. Bobby Lashley quickly snatched up the ECW title which led to the biggest storyline of his first run: against Vince McMahon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otyh-_83YM4
Lashley’s goal became regaining his ECW title and it took teaming with future President Trump and fighting McMinions before he finally got his gold back at One Night Stand 2007.
He would be traded to the RAW brand and stripped of the ECW title. He didn’t arrive empty-handed as he was still kept in the mix of main event happenings. At the end of July 2007, Bobby Lashley picked up an injury and would have to take time off before being released in early 2008.
Salvaging Bobby Lashley in His First Run
I always found it odd when superstars are released and they only have a couple of months left on the mend. After getting released in February 2008, he went to Japan and Mexico. He’d also have two runs in IMPACT/TNA with his MMA pursuits breaking up those stints.
It’s up in the air how Lashley would’ve been used after returning from injury in WWE since things change rapidly on broadcasted wrestling in a few months’ time.
Unless a company is really behind a wrestler when they return their progress isn’t saved and the other wrestler they had a storyline with would’ve long since moved on. It’s not even a storyline worth reigniting at that point.
I don’t think Lashley needed to be salvaged in his first WWE run. The company was all in on Lashley and kept him in the mix. He didn’t get lost in the shuffle, he was part of the shuffle.
However, he was the weakest part of the shuffle as he was new to it, and could be rotated out if necessary.
With that said, I didn’t see Bobby Lashley getting lost in the shuffle when he returned. He was a project that was making progress, WWE just needed to handle his mic work or get him a mouthpiece at this time.
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