Grilling JR - Bobby Lashley [Show Notes] (Patreon)

Bobby Lashley

Franklin Roberto Lashley was born on July 16, 1976. He was the son of a United States Army drill sergeant with three older sisters.

He was introduced to amateur wrestling in seventh grade as an off-season alternative to football.

He attended Missouri Valley College and was the NAIA National Wrestling Champion in the 177 lbs category in 1996, 1997 and 1998.

He was training to qualify for Team USA in the olympics in 2004 when he was a witness to a bank robbery and in his force to dive for cover to avoid gunfire injured his knee which ended his amateur career.

When did you first become aware of Bobby Lashley? Was it his amateur background? Gerald Brisco? Who scouted him?

From Figure Four Weekly December 1st, 2003:

“Tank Toland, Demond Thompson, Mark Magnus, Chris Cage, Brent Albright and Bobby Lashley have all been signed to developmental deals.”

What do you remember regarding these talents? Out of this “class” Lashley was the only one with any real success. Was that expected at the time?

On one of the early episodes of Bobby Lashley being in OVW Jim Cornette proclaimed on commentary that Lashley had the same amount of potential as Brock Lesnar had when he started.

First glance at Lashley it’s hard not to see the comparison. How long until Vince got a look at him that he started salivating at that thought?

Did Lashley take to pro wrestling as fast as Lesnar did? What were the differences between the two that you remember at the beginning of the training?

You’re out of talent relations by the time Lashley is coming up through OVW but Cornette has him squashing people under 1 minute as a heel.

Do you feel that this was the best introduction for him to learn how to work on TV? We’ve seen a lack of insistence of short matches for guys with limited ability but also guys who can do more than their shown be held back to do more by agents. What’s the best course of action in your opinion?

On March 19th 2005 Bobby Lashley goes on the road for house shows in Knoxville, TN and defeats Spike Dudley. It’s within a year of his debut on OVW TV (really close to 3 months) that he’s put on the road.

Is there a time that’s best for wrestlers to be put on the road to learn or is it all a case by case basis? In the sense of case by case basis can you remember anyone who you knew immediately wasn’t ready or someone who was down too long and was always ready and never given a chance (Steve Bradley and Reckless Youth come to mind from the late 90s.)

From Figure Four Weekly 5/16/05: “There was a huge shake-up in OVW Monday as booker Jim Cornette was suspended for five weeks for blowing a number of gaskets recently.”

What do you remember about this? Cornette had obviously reached his breaking point with dealing with WWE and Johnny Ace as he’s referenced so many times before. Was this just something that was bound to happen and he was a ticking time bomb?

Tommy Dreamer was reported as taking over for Cornette and got a lot of flack compared to Cornette’s booking.

Was it a fair criticism from what you know and do you feel that it could’ve stunted Lashley’s growth to bounce from booker to booker?

Lashley was put back on the road and even got a win over Val Venus in Dayton, Ohio. 

How important is it for a younger wrestler just learning to get on the road and learning from the veterans? Also is it more important to learn the system in place than having the freedom earlier in their career?

Figure Four Weekly July 18th, 2005: “It was a cleansing this week as during a five-day period WWE released 19 contracted performs, including Jim Cornette, Matt Morgan, several men just drafted, all three Dudleys, two newlyweds and a pregnant Diva who had just been told weeks earlier that she had nothing to worry about that.”

This was the first mass cut since the transition from you to Laurinitis. Did these people reach out to you regarding the releases? Any hostility towards Johnny Ace that you heard? Any of these people that were released (Dudleys, Joy Giovanni, Kenzo Suzuki, Matt Morgan, Charlie Haas, Jackie Gayda, Marty Janetty, Dawn Marie, Mark Jindrak, Maven, Kidman, Shannon Moore, Akio, Gangrel & Kevin Fertig) come to you as missed opportunities for the company? Many would return later on obviously but anybody that was completely shocking to you at the time? Any input you had in these from the current Talent Relations department or Vince?

These cuts were obviously made to clear some of the “stale” talent and have people like Lashley bumped up to the main roster.

Obviously some had bigger contracts as the Dudleys but was this also a cost cutting move at the time to get cheaper talent up since the business wasn’t exactly on fire currently?

He was given a name change from Blaster Lashley to Bobby Lashley. This was a change for the better.

Something that was obvious early on was Lashley’s facials were very good. This is something that a lot of people aren’t able to grasp quickly and he was able to do so.

Smackdown 9/23/05

Bobby Lashley debuts on Smackdown. From Figure Four Weekly “Simon Dean vs Bobby Lashley. Tony Chimel read Lashley’s entire resume before calling him out, which is more than they’ve done for 99% of the guys that have debuted in WWE in the past ten years. Lashley, who the last time I saw him had the best physique in all of wrestling, looked ten pounds heavier this week. Sweet Jesus. Crowd was totally into him because he’s a monster. With that said, he still needs so much work. Fans went nuts when he won, so provided they don’t screw this up and try to have him go 20 minutes with someone next week, there is a strong possibility he can be the Next Big Thing.”

Was Simon Dean the perfect opponent for Lashley in his debut? What were your thoughts watching this debut? Perfectly done or was something missing?

Figure Four Weekly 10/17/05

“Vince McMahon once again proved what sort of stuff he was made of when, on Raw this past Monday night, Jim Ross was publicly humiliated in what might be his final-ever WWE appearance after over a decade of loyal service.

Most of you know the basic story by now. Jim Ross is supposedly “too old” or “not pretty enough” for the Raw lead announcer duties. Vince has been trying to phase him out, without success, for years. He wanted to get Mike Goldberg of UFC, but Goldberg, after being “smartened up”, wisely turned down the job. Vince, not to be deterred, went through with the plan anyway and fired Ross on air.”

What did you know at the time? Did you know Goldberg was being negotiated with? When before Raw were you made aware of what was going on? What was your role after this for the company?

No Mercy 2005:

Bobby Lashley debuts on PPV defeating Simon Dean again. 

He wasn’t ready yet obviously but he was put in a position to not look unready. Did you see future PPV main eventer just by looking at him at this point?

Dave Batista did an interview around this time slamming OVW and brought up Lashley himself:

“There are still people brought up without the right preparation. Look at Bobby Lashley - I don’t even think he’s close to ready. Bobby Lashley, if held back for a while, could have been another Brock Lesnar. He’s got the amateur accolades and he’s an incredible athlete.”

Batista has a rep for not giving a shit about what he says...but he’s got a point here right?

They take away Lashley’s first name at this point. Seems to be a common theme in WWE where names come and go.

Why is that? A Vince McMahon-ism?

You have colon surgery around this time. How much wrestling are you watching at this point?

Lashley is still wrestling in OVW while on SmackDown at this point.

Is this just getting him more work to get him better or is this not one of the biggest injury risks ever?

Bobby Lashley defeats Orlando Jordan to become a member of Team Smackdown for Survivor Series to join Eddy Guerrero, Rey Mysterio, Batista and Lashley. Sadly this was the last Smackdown before Eddy passed away.

This was the first sign of a mega push for Lashley to be put with these names. Was this also a learning experience as well for him to acclimate himself to the main event talent and position?

Survivor Series 2005: Raw vs Smackdown Survivor Series Match (Batista, Randy Orton, Rey Mysterio, JBL and Bobby Lashley vs HBK, Kane, Carlito, Big Show & Chris Masters).

Masters and Lashley worked against each other and Masters tried to put him in the Masterlock but Lashley was too big to hook it in. Masters tagged in Carlito and Lashley threw him around...Lashley went for the dominator on Shawn, but Kane grabbed him by the throat and gave him the choke slam, and Shawn got the pin.

Is this just typical WWE booking themselves into a corner and having to get themselves out of it by just having Lashley in and out in 5 minutes here?)

2005 for Lashley ends with him squashing people like William Regal, Paul Birchill, etc. 

This is an attempt to rehab after the quick loss at Survivor Series that didn’t need to happen right?

On January 6, 2006 Lashley becomes the first SmackDown wrestler to qualify for that year’s Royal Rumble. He would enter 8th and eliminated only Sylvian Grenier before being dumped by Big Show and Kane.

He was transitioned to a feud with JBL where he lost his first singles match on TV because of Finlay.

Marrying up Lashley with JBL and Finlay was to get him up to speed on working TV quicker and faster instead of just doing squash matches right?

He did take some losses to Finlay via shillelaghs on TV.

There’s a way to make losses count and to increase the overness of a baby face. Was this a way to do this or was it backwards for Lashley?

At this point in his career Lashley had the size and speed...what was he missing? He didn’t seem very confident in promos. Would a mouthpiece had made him more effective earlier in his career as we see now with MVP speaking for him?

WrestleMania 22 Bobby Lashley makes his WrestleMania debut. It was won by Rob Van Dam. Not long after SmackDown announced a King of the Ring of tournament which Lashley made it to the finals after defeating Mark Henry and Finlay. He lost to Booker T which turned Booker T into King Booker.

How fucking awesome was the transition of Booker T to King Booker?

Lashley fueds with King Booker and his court (Sharmell, Finlay & William Regal) and he finally wins his first championship over JBL for the United States title on the May 26th edition. He would lose it on July 14th to Finlay.

Seems to be a lot of stop and starts with Lashley. Was there a worry to go all the way with him because of how green he was?

For the Great American Bash 2006 from Figure Four Weekly:

“Word broke that Smackdown’s Bobby Lashley was being taken off the show after tests discovered elevated liver enzymes...In the bodybuilding world, it’s common knowledge that liver issues are often a side effect of oral steroid use.”

This was also the show where Great Khali had a liver issue (diseased). It later came out that between Lashley, Khali, Kid Kash, Super Crazy, Joey Mercury & Matt Hardy all had wellness issues.

Was this just the wellness policy working in full effect?

Right around this time ECW was being relaunched.

How early in the process was it thought that Bobby Lashley would be better on the “developmental” brand?

Lashley would return and move into a World Title match against King Booker, Batista and Finlay for the No Mercy PPV in October. This was Lashley’s first World Title match since he was promoted to the main roster.

Was he ready? It was obviously much safer to have him in 4-way matches to limit exposure in singles matches and the 3 other men in there it helps dramatically right?

Around this time your contract expires and you’re working on a week-to-week basis. What was that like?

On November 14, 2006 Bobby Lashley is moved to ECW. He debuts on the brand by signing a contract to become the final member of the Extreme Elimination Chamber match at the disastrous ECW December to Dismember PPV.

How or when it was real obvious this PPV was going to be a disaster?

At December to Dismember, Lashley entered fifth and proceeded to eliminate Test and Big Show to win the ECW Title.

Was this not the worst promoted PPV in WWE history?

The fans revolted against Lashley because they wanted CM Punk or RVD to win and this was obvious when they were eliminated before Lashley entered to give the heels the heat that Lashley would get off beating Test and Big Show.

Could this have been a giant misstep for the career of Bobby Lashley?

Paul Heyman and Vince McMahon part ways the day after the PPV (fitting timing considering what just happened…) as it was obvious he wasn’t into Vince McMahon being the man in charge of ECW.

From Figure Four Weekly: “Regarding Lashley, and some claims in the past days that one of the big blow-ups between Vince and Paul was Vince wanting Lashley as champ and Paul wanting CM Punk, the reality is that Paul had been trying to get Lashley into ECW for the past several months, going as far as to explain to him that Michael Hayes didn’t like him and would never push him on Smackdown, but Heyman loved him and would make him champion in ECW.”

This sounds like something Paul would do wouldn’t it?

In March 2007 Bobby Lashley was the first person to break the Chris Master’s Masterlock Challenge. Brand split huh?

In early 2007, Lashley was selected by Donald Trump to represent him in a “Battle of the Billionaires” match, against Vince McMahon’s representative Umaga, which also featured Vince’s long time antagonist Stone Cold Steve Austin as the guest referee.

Why Lashley vs Umaga here? Did they really matter with what this was being billed as...Battle of the Billionaires?

Hair vs. Hair match. How good was Lashley, Umaga and Austin in this match?

WrestleMania XXIII - $46 million is what this was projected to gross. Lashley vs Umaga was not the main event as Cena vs Michaels went on last.

The real main event was McMahon vs Trump but the gist of this was to put it on Lashley and have him feud with McMahon and to be the new “Stone Cold” after this right?

Lashley feuds with Umaga, Vince & Shane McMahon and Vince McMahon even defeated Lashley for the ECW title.

That’s a nice fuck you towards Paul isn’t it?

Lashley tears his rotator cuff in a match but works through it. Lashley ends up defeating Vince McMahon on June 3rd at One Night Stand to regain the ECW World Title.

Just one week later for the draft episode Lashley is drafted to Raw and is stripped of the ECW Title by McMahon.

This is also the draft where you’re moved from Raw to SmackDown.

Right after this he’s put into a 5-way match against Mick Foley, Randy Orton, King Booker and John Cena for the WWE Title.

This is an odd mix of people for a WWE Title match. How all over the place was WWE creative at this time?

Lashley works Cena at Great American Bash one-on-one where Cena retains his title. Lashley suffers an injury during this match and he’s written out by Mr. Kennedy injuring him on July 30th. It is the last time he’s seen on WWE TV until April 9th, 2018. Over 10 years.

In early October his girlfriend Kristal Marshall is released from her WWE contract.

What happened with the release of Kristal?

Kristal recently said in an interview: “I wanted to get more information on the Teddy Long storyline. I couldn’t for whatever reason. I didn’t know anything about the Edge storyline. They were keeping a lot under wraps from me. I inquired about what was going on, and I think sometimes what I’ve learned through life is when you’re a woman and you’re outspoken, and you're an advocate for yourself, you get labeled as difficult. You get labeled as hard to work with and people don’t like that.”

Did Kristal’s firing lead to Lashley leaving? What was their backstage relationship like?

Did Lashley and Kristal have an issue with Michael Hayes as long has been rumored?

What exactly happened here? How does Lashley go from that mega push to being released on February 4, 2008? He went from being part of the biggest money match in the history of WWE to less than a year later being released.

From Dave Meltzer Wrestling Observer: “Lashley received $250,000 for the (WrestleMania) match, and complained to many of his friends, but was insistent that was not the reason he quit the company. He was already bothered by a shoulder injury at the time of his biggest push, but worked through it until the end of July when he opted for surgery for a torn rotator cuff. While he was out, the company quietly fired his girlfriend, Kristal Marshall, considered shocking because usually the girlfriend of a star the level of Lashley is protected. Even though out of action for the last five months of the year, Lashley earned right at $1 million, but in January, made the decision not to go back on the road and quit the promotion.

He was given a complete release on the terms he would not publicly disparage the company.”

Lashley moves onto indies and TNA and MMA.

Never say never but the way he left did you think he would be one to never return?

Did you see any of his work in TNA/Impact?

Did you think he had a future in MMA or was he too late to start?