Bobby Lashley: What Could Have Been

[RoyHahn]

As we all know, Bobby Lashley was released from the WWE as he was a rising star. He had received immense pushes, and by the middle of 2007 was challenging Cena for the WWE Championship. He was one of the most legitimate ECW Champions in recent memory, bringing credibility to the title, and was truly the last ECW Champ to seem equal to the other two world champions. He defeated Umaga in the main feud of WrestleMania 23, a major accomplishment.

If he didn't have trouble and get released from the WWE, what do you think would have happened to him? I think, for one, that he would be a major main event player right now, akin to Brock Lesnar in his prime. I think Lashley would have been the sole survivor of Survivor Series and I think he would have won the Royal Rumble, and the main event at WrestleMania. The guy had massive talent in the ring, and he was developing decent mic skills. I think his future was extremely bright. Imagine if the WrestleMania 24 main event was Bobby Lashley vs. Edge for the World Heavyweight Championship.

I definitely think he would have gone very, very far. What do you all think?

 

[Khalifa]

yeah i also believe he would haev gotten very far. i would see a few more world champ runs . probably being batista vs lashley at this years wrestlemania would have been the outcome i think. he wasn't that good in the ring. well actually he was pretty good. but his mic skills could of been better. i liked the guy.and then i saw him getting released i was like oh no. but i think he would of been the best african american in history.

 

[OIL]

With more training in the ring and work on his promos Lashley could have become a huge, huge star. He was more than solid in the ring, obviously needed more work but he could carry a match. Promo wise he was very weak, and would have needed A LOT of help on that front.

He had the look of a monster heel, or a monster face which worked perfectly. He was already part of a huge storyline going into WrestleMania 23, and was a dominant ECW Champion. Challenging Cena for the title was way too soon IMO, because he was never going to win it, and for him to be taken seriously he needed to win it the first time he challenged for the WWE Title.

So, all in all, he was on course to becoming a huge WWE star. He would have become WWE Champion, prehaps by now. Surely in the HoF after that, but it dosen't seem like that will happen anymore. Well, who knows..

 

[agentmichaelscarn]

It seems like the WWE was starting to push him so by now he very might have been world champion or the very least main eventing some PPVs but personally I was never really big on Lashley. Even though he was built like a truck I never thought of him being intimidating or a monster like I did with somebody like Goldberg or Lesnar. I hate to bring up the way somebody talks or looks but I think that is why. Lashley had one of the least intimidating voices Ive ever heard from a big guy and his face wasnt that intimidating either. He looked and sounded like a young kid to me. I didnt think he had the presence of say an Umaga, Goldberg, Lesnar or any other "monsters" like that. Those guys legitimately looked like they wanted to kill you when they were in the ring I never got that vibe with Lashley.

 

[My$terio_Fan]

I think Lashley would have been a top star on Raw right now. He was well liked backstage, and had a great build/look and I think he would have been given the WWE belt. He probably would be pushed similar to Batista and would have be an unstoppable force. I don't know if the WWE would risk turning him heel since he lacks the mic skills and because he was well liked by fans. I don't think he would have been demoted Umaga and became a midcarder. Lashley could have been a very big star in the WWE if he stayed. If he would have returned he would be the top face on Raw right now along with Batista.

 

[Checkmate]

I look at Lashley like I'd look at the early part of Lesnar's career in the WWE. Comes in, makes a huge impact, and wins the title from a big name player. Granted, Lesnar did so against the rock (instead of Big Show) and won the WWE title (instead of ECW). However, this is more or less the same thing.Coming into new territory and winning something big within a few years is a great push, and means that you are worth something in the business.

Now, as to where Lashley would have gone, I look at the last year of Lesnar's career and where he would have gone from there. If Lesnar was still around, he arguably would have main evented countless more PPV's and had many more feuds before leaving the business. Lashley would be in the same boat. He would have taken the title from someone on RAW (maybe not Cena, but whatever), and would go on to main event some PPV's.

I don't think Lashley would be the guy to sell out Wrestlemania, nor be the big main event guy, but there are many feuds that we missed due to his premature departure.

Imagine-

Undertaker VS Bobby Lashley at Wrestlemania for a title.
Batista VS Bobby Lashley
Edge VS Bobby Lashley
Randy Orton VS Bobby Lashley
HHH VS Bobby Lashley
Chris Jericho VS Bobby Lashley

These are just a few matchups that could have happened at main event level. It also would be interesting to see how he would work with the upper mid card guys.

I guess we will never know.

 

[Showtime]

I never really cared too much for Lashley, his character was just too one-deminsional to me. He was solid wrestler, had a great look, was liked backstage, and was over with the fans as face. I knew his character would become world champion, he had paralells to another 'next big thing' that came before him, just a tad slower than Lesner did. Lashley was a great ECW champion, was given a mainevent storyline with Vince and Trump for WM, and faced Cena one on one for the title at GAB.

So without question, if Lashley had stayed with the WWE would he have become a WHC/WWE champion, yes, would he have been champion by now, maybe not. Lashley's mic skills are not the best part of his game, plus returning along side when John Cena returned would've pushed Lashley to the back seat for a while for the title. But eventually, Lashley would've been champion, he had the look that Vince likes, he's a solid wrestler, has army background, and still had huge amounts of potential feuds,^^ as pointed out by the wise checkmate above me, plus with time his mic skills would've improved with practice. He would've been a multi time champion, but I'm not sure if he'd be a very great or memorable champion. By that i simply mean he won't reach the ranks of Hogan, Austin, and Cena. He would've been a good champion for many years.

But then again that seems to be the same with guys like Lashley (lesner, goldberg, kennedy, god please prove me wrong kennedy) come in with a big winning streak and limitless potential, done or half done after about 2 or so years. But if Lashley had stuck around, yeah, he would've be champion.

 

[Tim]

Lashley definately would have gone very far if he had stayed in the WWE. I could've seen him outlasting people in everything, the Royal Rumble, Survivor Series match, anything. I also could've seen him as a Brock Lesnar type character, a guy who rose quicky and then was in the main event for a few years. If he stayed in the WWE, he would probably have been the WWE champ by now, and he might've even been the current champion.

But he was rushed into the WWE title scene and his program with Cena. I would've given him time to build up on Raw before thrusting him into a program with the WWE champion. We all knew he wouldn't win the title straight away, but if he had had one or two feuds on Raw before being in the main event scene, he would've seemed to have had a chance and would have been a real option for WWE to put the title on.

The fans were behind him, he put on entertaining matches, he could work with a lot of different superstars. There was only one thing he was lacking: mic skills. HE could not cut a promo to save his life. He was boring on the mic. He was not the strong silent type of guy, he was more a fan friendly monster, or at least that's what he was built up to be. If he had worked on his mic skills, he would have been perfect for the WWE as a champion, but if they had built him up as the silent type, he needn't have worried about his mic skills.

Like the Show said, he would have been done or almost done after 2 and a half years in the business. He didn't have the staying power that other superstars had, he was going straight to the top, and he would've gone straight back down again if he stayed for too lng. BUt I think he still had 1 or maybe 2 years left in him, so he should've stuck around longer than he had. He would've been champion by now, and he would probably have won King of the Ring, and done something with the title.