Bobby Lashley - Overrated or Underrated?

[mayhem]

Bobby Lashley joined TNA this year after being a world champion in the WWE and is known for his big physique and debuted at No Surrender.

However is he overrated or underrated for example he brings that experience and drawing power from WWE but as he is doing MMA as well he is having to shift from feud to feud in TNA because of his hectic schedule.

Lashley's matches haven't really stood out against Rhino and Samoe Joe and the build up to the feuds are short so the excuses to book him into angles are going to become monotonous eventually. His matches with Steiner aren't worth much in the long term and he doesn't deserve to be TNA Champion and with MMA as well they are unlikely to book him to be champion.

His in ring work is quite average as is his dragon sleeper finisher and he doesn't really help to put over new talent the way he is being booked e.g beating Roode. He even says he could leave pro wrestling due to stress so is Lashley's presence worthwhile to TNA?

 

[johnbragg]

AS usual, depends on who's rating him.

I'd say that the consensus is that he absolutely sucks, terrible, fire him, no wait set him on fire.

He's not that bad. He has a physique, he has minor name value and MMA novelty value. He's well below average on the mic, average to below average in the ring.

And he sees his future in UFC with TNA and Strikeforce as steppingstones along the way.

So I think TNA is doing the smart thing--squeezing every ounce of juice out of that orange before it's gone. Give Lashley a title shot on PPV, get Styles a dominant victory over a monster-looking guy, and then Lashley moves on to MMA full time.

Does he deserve a title shot? As a pro wrestler, no. But as a time-limited novelty for TNA, it's smart to give him the shot.

 

[TellMeWhy]

I think he's quite underrated. Yeah in WWE, Vince had a hard on for his physique and pushed him too fast and shoved him down our throats in the process but the guy has tons of potential and ability especially for a man of his size. In WWE, I believed he was limited in the ring as to what he can do and in TNA, I believe he's playing it safe because I'm sure he doesn't want to risk injury and miss any MMA training or any MMA fight. But with that said, he had a phenomenal match with Chris Benoit on RAW 2007, he pulled a great match out of Cena at The Great American Bash in 2007, he had a nice little feud with Umaga, and in TNA, he had a nice match with Samoa Joe. And on this week's Impact, he had very solid matches in the Championship Series tournament. Overall, I think Bobby is not a shit wrestler and has plenty in him.

I think the internet just has a hatred for big men and gives him slack because of his lack of persona and mic skills. But if you look past that, he's very athletic, he's a powerhouse, he has an amateur background and can wrestle good technical matches (Ie: His matches against Wolfe, Joe and Benoit), he's got good speed, he can work, and he can put on good matches. I don't see what's wrong with him. If anything, he's underrated. I just wish, he can be booked in longer matches to show a little more because I know for a fact that he can hang with some of the best wrestlers in TNA without a doubt and if you can do that, then you're pretty good.

 

[Avrusha92]

I think Bobby Lashley isnt over rated, and isnt under rated. Hes pretty good reminds me of Black Lesnar, or Goldberg. Amazing powerhouse wrestlers.

since I was a major Goldberg fan, I enjoy seeing someone that reminds me of him. When he first came to WWE on Velocity i think: Me and all my cousins where like WOW!! speechless.

 

[SuperKnockout]

hmmm.... I think that he is a bit overrated. He was great in wwe, and in mma. but in tna, he is getting no real match rivalrie time. when he beat rhino at, IDR a ppv... He won with a clothsline, it wasn't that great. He got hyped when he was going with mem, but now?? IDK

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I have to say overrated. Over the course of several months, TNA has hyped the crap out of Bobby Lashley and what they've done with him hasn't lived up to that hype, not by a long shot.

TNA is little more than a side project for Lashley in between MMA gigs. His heart ultimately doesn't lie in TNA and we all know that. And, for me at least, that does make it a little harder to really get excited about the guy. The various one month feuds that he's had with Rhino, Samoa Joe and Scott Steiner feel generic, hastily thrown together and serve as little more than filler for me personally.

In the ring, Lashley is about average. There's not really anything all that great about the guy. In the WWE, the most exciting things I saw associated with Lashley were during his matches with the Big Show in which he demonstrated some downright freakish feats of strength with a legitimate 500 pounder at the time. His mic skills are poor and I don't really see the guy as having all that much charisma. Whenever I see Lashley, it's just kinda meh for me.

Now that Lashley is in the run for a title shot, I just feel that it's going to be a waste of time. It's highly unlikely that TNA will put a championship on Lashley. Whenever Lashley's next MMA fight comes up, he'll be gone for extended periods training for the fight as well as helping to promote it.

Overall, if Lashley were to be gone from TNA tomorrow, I can't say that it'd upset me very much. I don't really dislike the guy and I certainly don't like it. I guess it'd be accurate to say that I just don't really care about anything associated with him in TNA right now, which screams overrated to me.

 

[Lethalfan]

For me I say the man is underrated. He is a pretty good wrestler and a pretty good mma fighter as well. His mic skills may suck. But He can improve greatly if he had a good manager. The only thing i can say about lashley is that he is a bad face but could be a great monster type heel.

But that's for another thread. He has had some good not great matches back in wwe against Kennedy and did pretty well in that elimination chamber match. But I can see how people can say he is overrated but in my opinion he is not.

 

[Too Cool]

From my point of view i will have to say overated.Tna are trying to make out that he's the next big thing but apart from his size theres nouthing else going for him in my opinion.

He's non existent on the "mic" and i cant remeber a memorabel match/moment so far far in his tna run. I think this whole ultimater fighter tna/mma thing is just rather boreing and has gone to far. I think this is due to the fact he just has no character.

If he is this top mma/tna star he should at least play the roll of one!

 

[It's Damn Real!]

Overrated, but not by much.

He's very weak on the mic, but his size, physique and actual in-ring ability are actually average to above average at times. The fact he looks as though he does makes me wonder why he simply isn't booked with a valet or a manager. His wife seems like she'd make a good candidate for one. Let her speak for him, and let him do the rest of the work in the ring where she can't help him.

 

[PEP3]

At this point in his career, I'd say Lashley is over-rated. He was hyped to the skies in WWE, only to leave before he ever truly got to live up to that potential. Then, as a free agent working in MMA and now TNA, he's finding himself with all of those old expectations heaped on him again.

TNA should allow Lashley to grow and develop into his potential at the same rate/speed any other performer might. Freeing him of the preconceived notions about what he should bring to the ring, how he should be booked, etc., will allow him to mature in ways that are more appropriate for the point he is ACTUALLY at in his career.

The way WWE hyped him, he is expected to be a true force to be reckoned with, and many might have expected him to already be wearing gold in TNA. While I entirely believe those things are likely in his future, I'm pleased to see the company giving him some upper-midcard feuds to grow into, relaxing the expectations so he doesn't HAVE TO carry the company in just a few short months.

This will allow the fans to decide on their own how behind this man they are, whether they want him as World Heavyweight Champion and how he should get to that point. As far as skills go, I think he's an above-average big man, fully capable of living up to his hype/expectations. At this point in his career, though, too much has been placed on him too soon.

As a result, he can't help but be "over-rated."

 

[NSL]

I'd say he's rated about right, actually.

He's a big powerhouse, wth legit brawling ability. He's improved his wrestling a ton since leaving WWE, and it shows with his matches of late. He worked a decent tournament with guys wrestling 3 different styles, and had a great match with Samoa Joe at Bound For Glory.

For the OP - Who says he needs to put over young guys? He's one of the guys being put over right now...He needed the win over Roode. Roode didn't need the win to get Beer Money a tag title shot...

 

[Leafy]

He's overrated by TNA, but underrated as a whole. He has intensity which is good to see in a powerhouse like him. I hate seeing powerhouses who move slow and are smug. I like seeing him move around the ring at the speeds he does because he puts on a cruiserweight aura but then lifts people up in a military press.

He created some memorable moments in WWE like going through the cage against Umaga, and he helped bring us the Milan Miracle. He has yet to impress me in TNA, and we he may never impress us with his MMA career starting. Could he be that fighter that links wrestling and MMA? Will we look back at Lashley as the bridge between them? Who knows but Bobby is underrated by us, the IWC. We think of him as a botchy, slow wrestler, but he can wrestle and is a poor man's Lesnar. Which isn't a bad thing.

 

[Miko]

So I watched all of TNA iMPACT last night, and I learned one thing, Bobby Lashley>Desmond Wolfe. One was entertaining, the other I just couldnt be motivated to give a shit about.

Seriously though, Lashley's a big, fast and entertaining guy, he cant talk much, but thats okay because he's got his wife to talk for him. Now he's challenging AJ Styles for the TNA Title in what I reckon will be the match of the night. Not only that, but you all reckon AJ's been booked like a weak champion, what if he gets a clean win over Lashley? You dont come much more credible than that.

So I'd say he's underated by us the internet know-nothings, and rated just right by TNA.

 

[RavensFlock1990]

I think he's rated aout right. TNA hasn't overbooked him. He lost to Steiner and hasn't went on some monster run like WWE had him do. He's very good in the ring for his size. He's fast and entertaining. Not a great promo cutter but still good enough to get his point across like how Lesnar was.