Lashley: The Ratings Killer

[GhΩst]

While Lashley is not a bad wrestler...okay he sucks...anyways, whenever he is on my television, it is an automatic change the channel...this program cost a lot of money, but it is worth it not to see that stupid Girl Scout on Steroids.

He has no charisma, and the fact that he is always going to win in ECW makes it not fun to watch his matches anymore (his one's with Finlay, were decent but tolerable...thank god for Fit) .

 

[woodson]

While Lashley is not a bad wrestler...okay he sucks....

Okay, so Lashley got pushed too fast, and he's not good on the mic. But he certainly doesn't suck as a wrestler. He's a three time national collegiate wrestling champion. I'm willing to give the guy a chance. I'm not too keen on him being champ because he just doesn't have the charisma and presence to carry a brand. But for folks to say he can't move in the ring, he's slow, he's not talented--that's just b.s. If you don't like the guy, cool. But don't discount his talent. Also, when he jumped through the steel cage onto Umaga--that was badass! I'm gonna cut him some slack and see what he can do.

 

[GhΩst]

He's a three time national collegiate wrestling champion.

Being an amatuer wrestler and being a professional actor...wrestler I mean wrestler...are two different things. In amateur wrestling, you don't need charisma and certain moves do not have to look like they hurt as long as they work. Professional wrestling is the exact opposite; therefore since Lashley's performance does not seem realistic, Lashley sucks.

 

[A.J.]

The thing is Lashley, doesnt strike us or catch out attention in the way Vinne Mac is pushing him at us. And tell Lashley can work on his chrisma and in ring work its never gonna work out excpet with little kids who are sadly brainwashed by Vinnie Mac. The fact that Lashley is always winning does make him a ratings killer i mean ok we know you will likely by domianting or squash great whats on channel 4 lol. he needs work until he does it will never work.

 

[Suzymbc]

The thing is Lashley, doesnt strike us or catch out attention in the way Vinne Mac is pushing him at us. And tell Lashley can work on his chrisma and in ring work its never gonna work out excpet with little kids who are sadly brainwashed by Vinnie Mac. The fact that Lashley is always winning does make him a ratings killer i mean ok we know you will likely by domianting or squash great whats on channel 4 lol. he needs work until he does it will never work.

Thank you! There is nothing special about Lashley to make us care about him as a champion and Vince is pushing him like he is the second coming of Christ. One minute he is a driven champion who will stop at nothing to destroy his opponents, and the next he's playing with kittens and playing Deal or No Deal. Do you think Vince would put Umaga out there to guest star on a game show. Of course not, because that is not in line with his character. Lashley either needs to be the nice guy you take home to mom or the badass who kills everyone in the ring. I am right with you when it comes to channel surfing during the Lashley matches because they are the same every week. It's like reading the same chapter in a book over and over again. I know exactly how each match is going to start and end.

 

[delirious1]

like its been said, got pushed waaaay too soon, needs to work on his mic skills, damn solid wrestler though, and possibly a future main eventer

 

[cereal]

I Don't really care for lashely either, his matches are strangly dull, it's too predictable. He has received far to big of a push just on his look. I think, as great as it is seeing Lashley as ECW Champion, that he was thrust in to the main event to soon. I think that it's sad that just because wrestlers such as RVD and Sabu are in McMahon's doghouse, the company looks to Lashley to become the cornerstone for ECW, when fans aren't responding to him as they would if he had an actual buildup. Why not give the title to RVD, even if only for a short time, and build Lashley up as a solid contender, eventually having him win, instead of just giving it to him without any sort of feud, and any way of quialifying on ECW, and proving himself.

 

[jedite]

Lashley cannot sell moves in the ring, he has no kind of charisma in the ring, and his matches are boring. As people have said, ameatur wrestling is different than pro wrestling, the way that people wrestle in college and ameatur wrestling is compeletely different than wrestling in WWE. Next, Vince is trying to do with Lashley, like what he's doing with John Cena, they're trying to make him into a Superman or Dominator. You never see Lashley lose a match, and the matches that he does have aren't exciting at all. Does he have mic skills? None!
Prime example: "You say your name is Finlay, and you love to fight. I say you're name is Finlay, and you're a bastard."
That promo singlehandedly told me that this guy has no kind of personality or charisma.
Lashley is horrible, and that's why ECW ratings have sinking like the Titanic.
An analogy is ECW is the Titanic, and Lashley is the iceberg. You know the story.

 

[robwylde90]

Quite simply , i cannot remember lashley ever being cleanly pinned at all ever since his debut. Its completely ******ed to make a big, emotionless, talentless guy with 4 moves , no charisma and no mic skills the cornsersotne of ecw , especially when you have cm punk who is the opposite of all those things. lashley doesnt draw and until either his balls drop or he gets some work in, he should be sent back to the amateurs wer he belongs.

 

[ROHDude]

I think calling Lashley a ratings killer is way over the top. How about referring to Kenny as a rating killer? Kenny hasn't really built any charisma and not that many people would be excited to see him wrestle. I think the reason there isn't much interest in Lashley is because he has yet to be in a match where anyone thinks he would lose. However, his match with Umaga will be important for him.
I still think he will be completely overshadowed with so much elements in the match.
Billionaire vs. Billionaire, Hair vs. Hair, Champion vs. Champion, and one of the most popular superstars of all time as the special guest referee.

You're wrong about Kenny not having any charisma. I do believe he was the reason that the ratings probably dropped during that match, and that has everything to do w/ the annoying Spirit Squad gimmick. He'll always be remembered for that which is going to hurt him. The WWE dropped the ball on that one.

 

[Abyss]

I think his promos are slightly, just slightly getting better. His only problem is that he can't act tough and act soft or whatever you want to call it, it just doesn't work.

It's ridiculous.

I do also think that he can't sell moves, he just look like he's got constipation issues.

 

[bigbossman316]

I think lashley is just terrible the only thing the guy has is size and that isnt everything as we have seen with many wrestlers and vince doesnt get it. I mean his finisher is called the dominator how plain and pathetic is that there is nothing good about the guy

 

[Capt. Charisma]

Out of the 3 so called 'champions' he is the better in the ring, but that is only by default of Cena nd Batisita been the two least talented main event wrestlers in WWE history. Lashley pisses me off thio becuase he has guys job to him like cena does only lashley does it quicker, he has absoloutaly nothing to do with ecw and was doing better on smackdown. No1 buys the ecw title crap its the least vauled of all the titles and has less prestiage atm than the change 5 times a show hardcore title, hes a joke, although i will sya he does have some potnetial unlike cena and batisita fact is he still sucks, and i hate all the battle of the billionaires crap so that smkaing me hate him even more, especially when orton, kennedy and pretty much any heel thats available is jobbing to him.

 

[mabuza]

Bobby was rushed too soon.I'm kinda ticked with the whole "Battle of the Billionaires" because It would have been a better match up had they involved Kennedy/Booker/JBL etc. vs. The Rock/Austin/Hogan/Cm Punk/Matt Hardy etc.Umaga& Bobby arnt the best choices.I still feel he should have stayed in the US title division on SD! and that RVD should have been given back the title.

 

[sean]

I don't give a rat's a$$ about lashley-Johnny*No Talent* Cena-Batista or any of the other no talent losers polluting wwe at the moment...

 

[Cracker5000]

I am fed up with Bobby "talk about a massive push" Lashley. I used to be fan of his when he was on SD when he was in the midcards but he became the "main event" of wwe when people didn't really give a crap about him. I'm surprised McMahon made him a star cause he can't even sell a bloody T shirt. How many people do u see with a Lashley Shirt?

 

[Y 2 Jake]

To get Lashley over thay need to do what they did when he was on Smackdown. They paired him up with decent wrestler's like Booker & Finlay. It seem's pretty obvious to me that all they need to do to get Lashley over again is to send Finlay to ECW. The feud's been done to death. But fan's would still rather see that than a feud with Snitzky. When Lashley's done with Finlay. Send over Booker. When that feud's finished send over Benoit. Etc, etc, etc.

Eventually he will get over again like he was 6 month's ago.

This isnt what I want to happen by the way. It's just what I feel would be good booking idea's from a buisness standpoint.

 

[wordvivo]

Lashley please go away! Go back to the army or whatever you used to do! Become a amateur wrestling coach but please go away!

 

[rkonitro34]

idk if its just me but i thoguht i heard the crowd go crazy for him on ECW and at WM23. hes obviously no Cena or HBK but give it time and he will be up there. once ECW gets more contenders for the title, he'll be in good shape.

 

[mysticx0]

he needs some facial hair so he can actually sell when he tries to look angry. he has no skills at all when it comes to attitude. his wrestling is extreme alright...extremely BASIC.

lashley is the headpiece for a soon-to-be-defunct-again ECW.

 

[sean]

Who gives a crap if the crowds go wild for him? They are made up of morons, kids, and the like... They cheer cena and batista too, you forget? They cheer many losers who don't even deserve to be employed in wwe, let alone a champion. Give me a fin break... Go away cena-batista-lashley-masters-snitsky- etc

 

[Shocky]

At wrestlemania i saw something that I like, Lashley started to show some character in that match. Now he is still stiff as a piece of wood, but I think its the style that he is being forced to wrestle.

Lashley has the amateur wrestling background to be a great pro wrestler. I think Vinnnie Mac is too busy trying to make him a giant ape with huge power moves. I think if we get to see Lashley go more to a mat style wrestling, something hes comfortable with, we might see a pretty damn good wrestler being created.

The problem is this, and we know the reasoning behind it, Lashley shouldn't have gotten that strap just yet. Big Show was hurting, but he was the only name value of ECW. You couldn't have given that belt to Test or Holly, you might as well have just thrown the belt in the garbage doing that. Sabu and RVD are in the doghouse and won'ts ee gold unless its their wrist watch, and CM Punk has a long way to go yet. So this makes Lashley the obvious choice.

The company is too busy trying to make Lashley into the next Brock Lesnar. Lesnar had a burning intensity in him that no one else has ever had in the WWE. LOok at what that man did, and the impact he left in just 2 years, it will never be replicated. Lashley's background won't allow him to be taht character that the WWE wants. He is a soft spoken military kid with a shit load of discipline. He needs a mouth piece, and yes i understand the irony of a Brock Lesnar comparison, but wanting Lashley to go Heel and be with Heyman. I think it would work.

If you've looked at my post, you know I was hard on this guy, but I think between him and "You Can't See Me" or Big Dave Dudd, Lashley is the best of the three.

 

[sean]

Oh no doubt Lostley is best of those 3 losers. How could he not be. Batista can't even execute 2 moves in a row without falling all over himself and Johnny 'no talent' Cena needs his opponent to hold his hand in every move and can't sell/ execute any moves properly to save his life.

 

[Cracker5000]

His mic skills are getting better if you watched ECW this week. He's beginning to show more personality. Cena's fine on the mic, no major worries there but big dudd Batista must get a mouthpiece now! Scooby Doo can speak better than this clump of crap.
I don't want Lashley to turn into another Cena or hogan cause he's getting beaten up in all his matches then he makes an amazing comeback.
However Lasley is improving.

 

[Shadowmancer]

Lashley has potential, It is just that he is broadcast in a wrong way to get over with fans, Lashley has the potential, as you say he is getting better on the Mic, but that is only part of the story, they need to have him go back to what he was doing when he first came on the scene, have him do suplexes and other moves like that, I personnally like his finisher, it does what a finisher should, look devastating. Im sorry if this sounds like Kaedon to some of the older members, he does have the amateur Wrestling background to base his moveset off. I just don't see why Vinnie MAc or the Creative team don't see that as a building block for people to care about what Lashley does in the Ring. I will agree with everyone and i have said before along with most other members of this board that they pushed him too soon, they could have had him in the EEC at D2D and had him lose, it would further his development as a wrestler. But as to what we have now, he needs to have a credible feud with some reason behind it and have him lose the title, give him the hungry animal gimmick that worked so well in the past on guys like Benoit. It would improve the standing with a number of people.