Bobby Lashley - Is he underrated?

[Lt. Al Giardello 0]

I've been noticing a lot of people are lumping Lashley with a lot of the lesser talented workers in the WWE. Which has bothered me, because from what I've seen he actually been impressive and has potential, I just don't think he's working with the right workers since he's left Smackdown.

 

I remember prior to him going to ECW, everyone thought Lashley was a star in the making with his good feuds with King Booker, Finlay, among others. Since he's been pushed to the main event and went to ECW, and started working with lesser talented wrestlers like a fat unmotivated Big Show, Test, Hardcore Holly, Umaga, and his 60 year old boss, he's been shitted on.

 

I understand he has no charisma or mic work, but even without that he's been getting some good reactions especially lately from the crowd. He's been built as a powerhouse, and it's working. But even with his limited charisma, he's still certainly isn't a bad worker, he's a young worker who can't carry lesser talented wrestlers to good matches, but within time I think he can be, he just needs to be working with the right wrestlers. But to lump him with the worst wrestlers in the company is just plain wrong.

[foleyfanforever88 0]

He's not a bad wrestler by any means. But his skills on the mic and their resulting lack of intimidation factor are so horrible that they make me not want to watch him at all.

[Guest huss]

He's not a bad wrestler by any means. But his skills on the mic and their resulting lack of intimidation factor are so horrible that they make me not want to watch him at all.

 

The voice does it for me, makes it hard to even believe he is as huge as he is.

 

[DangerousDamon 0]

I really liked his match he had with Benoit during the draft. If he worked more matches in that style people might like him more.

[Chalmation 0]

gotta remember that this is World WRESTLING Entertainment and not World Promo Entertainment.

 

i know i'm not the only one to feel like lashley has underperformed with this huge push, and i feel that Lashley can be a badass heel and succeed.

 

he has the perfect finisher for his character with the running powerslam. why he stole edge's spear we don't know

 

his title reign in ECW wasn't an outright failure, but he just seems like the roided-up guy WWE has pushed so many times before while guys who have earned a true push don't get one

[Lt. Al Giardello 0]

I really liked his match he had with Benoit during the draft. If he worked more matches in that style people might like him more.

 

Problem is there are not too many mat wrestlers like a Chris Benoit, Lashley can do that style of matches with.

 

I enjoyed the beat the clock match with Benjamin even though it was short.

[Nate 0]

in terms of his in ring ability he doesnt deserve the crap that he gets from a huge chunk of the net audience, hes very skilled in the ring, but seriously he would do much better as a heel thats like a bodyguard for someone like Shelton or MVP that doesnt say anything at all and lets his actions speak for him

[Lil' Bitch 0]

No. His popularity, in-ring skills, and mic skills don't justify his main eventer position. The only thing he was ever good at was feuding with Finlay.

[SamoaRowe 0]

Well, if someone can't have a good feud with Finlay these days, then they probably have no business being in wrestling. Finlay just flat out rocks and even made the Boogeyman enjoyable.

[dubq 0]

I'd like to see him as a heel. Grow some facial hair. Give him a "talker" manager (someone in the vein of Heyman when he was leading around Lesnar).

[mfn 0]

man can't talk.

[Black Lushus 0]

it's too bad he wasn't just a tad more intense and was marble mouthed....AHMED JOHNSON 2.0!

[cabbageboy 0]

If you could combine Lashley and Ahmed's best attributes then you'd have a really big draw. The intensity and deep voice of Ahmed with Lashley being less sloppy and thus far less injury prone.

[Black Lushus 0]

has there been a bigger top name bust than Ahmed, i mean so far as someone that had the potential to be a top drawing mega-star?

[PLAGIARISM! 0]

Stuff like that's kinda relative. Sid was meant to be the next Hulk Hogan, pre scissor attack thing, so in that respect he bombed, but he was still successful and a big name. They must have been shitting themselves with excitement when they first found Ahmed Johnson though.

 

ps. I always manage to get a 'shitting ones self' reference into my posts about Sid, I've realised.

[Lt. Al Giardello 0]

man can't talk.

 

Thats not the point of the thread genius, I'm talking about in-ring work.

[mysterious_w 0]

If Cena/Lashley are told to go 12-15 minutes, they could have a good match at GAB. If they are told to go 20+ I reckon they will overcompensate, slow the pace right down, and it will suck.

[razazteca 0]

Maybe if Bobby Lashley was himself and wasn't trying to emulate a great champion of the past I might be able to tolerate him on tv.

[Black Lushus 0]

who is he emulating...?

[razazteca 0]

Let's put it this way Bobby Lashley has no personality at all so they (the company) has to manufacture one from successful superstars of the past to bad Lashley couldn't fit the mold he had the body type and all but when it came time to open his mouth to speak a few simple one-liners or try to look intimidating it was apparent that the man has no acting skills at all.

[Maztinho 0]

Raza is trying to repackage Lashley as Blackberg.

 

Personally, the way my wrestling watching has gone, I've only seen bits and pieces of Lashley. There wasn't Smackdown around when he was there, and now I don't have cable so I didn't see his ECW or RAW. I did catch his Mania bout with Umaga, and it looked like he could do a solid brawl and he's shown some explosive agility with the Dive through the Cage.

 

He's still fairly young in the business, and remember how green he used to be? He's improving, underrated? I think some people are quick to toss him in the "muscled hoss" pile with Snitsky and Masters, but I think he's better than both of them and could be a solid upper-midcard player for years to come, and if he gets his character down he could be something really special.

[justcoz 0]

I think Lashley will be fine once he gets smaller - which will happen soon I think. I'd like to see him as a heel with a mouthpiece though. Put Ron Simmons, Coach or Teddy Long with him. I don't know. I just find it funny that Shelton Benjamin (and I'd like to see him and Lashley work together more, that would be a good feud) was lost with creative because he supposedly couldn't cut a promo, yet, in every backstage segment they give him, he shows 100 times more personality than Lashley. I guess they forgive Lashley since HE'S HUGE.

[Lt. Al Giardello 0]

Put Ron Simmons, Coach or Teddy Long with him.

 

Why does it have to be a black manger?

[BorneAgain 0]

Put Ron Simmons, Coach or Teddy Long with him.

 

Why does it have to be a black manger?

Because Bobby doesn't trust whitey

 

Actually, if Lashley ever turns heel, I'd stick Estrada with him. God knows they're not using him much now.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Lashley isn't that bad, but he's simply not good enough, in any aspect, to be getting the kind of push he's received, and it's making people think he's worse than he really is. He's not that good, don't get me wrong, but I think people would have a more positive impression of the guy were he still in the lower half of the card.

 

If Lashley does get a mouthpiece, and he absolutely needs one, I expect Vince to give him a white, female valet.

[King Cucaracha 0]

Lashley's clearly an awesome athlete, so there's potential there. He's still green as a pro wrestler by all accounts though, which is par for the course. But he's underrated. At least in my opinion.

 

There's plenty of comparisons to be made with Lesnar and he won everybody over given the time and the opportunity. No reason why Lashley couldn't do the same.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

There's plenty of comparisons to be made with Lesnar and he won everybody over given the time and the opportunity. No reason why Lashley couldn't do the same.

Where Lesnar had the advantage is that he was working with some great workers for so long that he couldn't help but improve. There aren't that many top flight workers still in the company for Lashley to learn from through wrestling them.

[King Cucaracha 0]

There's plenty of comparisons to be made with Lesnar and he won everybody over given the time and the opportunity. No reason why Lashley couldn't do the same.

 

Where Lesnar had the advantage is that he was working with some great workers for so long that he couldn't help but improve. There aren't that many top flight workers still in the company for Lashley to learn from through wrestling them.

 

I'd agree with that. There's a reason why everybody (well, everyone on here I guess) remembers the feud with Finlay over anything else he's done in the company. There's enough wrestlers around to at least give him a base to work with, it's just that they don't seem to be paired with Lashley at all. It's not like he needs to be facing someone of Angle's calibre all the time either, just more experienced wrestlers. The match with Shelton a couple of weeks ago was a step up from his recent efforts. Big Show worked well for Lesnar, he was hardly 'top flight'.

 

But of course, they stick him with McMahon for forever and now Cena of all people. Sigh.

[justcoz 0]

Put Ron Simmons, Coach or Teddy Long with him.

 

Why does it have to be a black manger?

Because Bobby doesn't trust whitey

 

Actually, if Lashley ever turns heel, I'd stick Estrada with him. God knows they're not using him much now.

 

Why does it have to be a minority?

 

Why not Arn Anderson? A perfectly fine white boy?

 

[Perfection 0]

I think Lashley will be fine once he gets smaller - which will happen soon I think. I'd like to see him as a heel with a mouthpiece though. Put Ron Simmons, Coach or Teddy Long with him. I don't know. I just find it funny that Shelton Benjamin (and I'd like to see him and Lashley work together more, that would be a good feud) was lost with creative because he supposedly couldn't cut a promo, yet, in every backstage segment they give him, he shows 100 times more personality than Lashley. I guess they forgive Lashley since HE'S HUGE.

 

EXACTLY. Perfectly said. Real talent like shelton bengamin become nothing more than glorified jobbers while lashley gets monster pushes for one reason and one reason only, his size (who also is obviously the most roided up guy on the roster). Even in a none wrestling capacity, Shelton is about a hundred times more entertaining than Lashley.