Bobby Lashley
| Franklin Lashley | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | July 16, 1976 Junction City, Kansas |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Bobby Lashley Blaster Lashley |
| Billed height | 6 ft 3 in (190.5 cm) |
| Billed weight | 273 lb (124 kg) |
| Billed from | Colorado Springs, Colorado |
| Trained by | Ohio Valley Wrestling |
| Debut | 2003 |
Franklin Roberto (Bobby) Lashley (born July 16, 1976) is an American professional wrestler better known as Bobby Lashley. He is currently performing on the ECW brand of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), where he is the reigning ECW World Champion.
Early career
Lashley attended Missouri Valley College, where he won three national wrestling championships between 1996 and 1998, placing fourth in 1995. Throughout 1997 and 1998 he was the NAIA National Wrestling Champion, competing at the weight of 177 pounds (80 kilograms). Lashley later joined the United States Army, where he continued to wrestle.
It was somewhere in this time that Lashley took up serious training to build close to 100 pounds (45 kg) of muscle on to his body, raising him from 177 pounds to around 273-279 pounds.
In November 2003, Lashley signed a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment and was assigned to its farm federation, Ohio Valley Wrestling, where he started his training under Lance Storm. While in OVW, Lashley was known as Blaster Lashley, and was a member of the Bolin Services stable along with Mike Mondo, and Ken Doane. In mid-2005 Lashley appeared at four live events, wrestling in dark matches for both the RAW , SmackDown! brands.
World Wrestling Entertainment
On September 23, 2005, Lashley made his televised WWE debut on SmackDown! under the name Bobby Lashley (or sometimes just Lashley). Lashley was introduced as a three-time National Amateur Wrestling Champion, four-time All-American, a two-time Armed Forces Champion and a 2002 Silver Medalist at the Military World Championship. In his first match, he squashed Simon Dean then, in his pay-per-view debut at No Mercy 2005, defeated Dean once again.
On the November 11, 2005 episode of SmackDown!, Lashley defeated Orlando Jordan in a qualifying match for a place on Team SmackDown! at the 2005 Survivor Series where, despite a dominating performance, he was the first to be eliminated.
On January 6, 2006 Lashley became the first announced participant from SmackDown! to be entered into that year's Royal Rumble. At the Royal Rumble Lashley was the 8th wrestler to enter the match, but was eliminated quite early (6th) by RAW's World Tag Team Champions Kane and The Big Show.
Following the Royal Rumble, Lashley began a feud with John "Bradshaw" Layfield leading up to a match at No Way Out 2006. The match ended up being Lashley's first loss in singles competition thanks to interference from Finlay.
During February and March, Lashley was involved in an intense feud with Finlay which saw the pair brawl on many occasions even until the pair were put into a in a Lumberjack Match that Finlay won (after use of his shillelagh).
On April 2, 2006 Lashley competed in his first WrestleMania (WrestleMania 22) in a losing effort in the Money in the Bank Ladder Match.
Lashley next entered SmackDown!'s King of the Ring tournament. He lasted until the finals, defeating Mark Henry and Finlay in the process. In the final round, held at Judgment Day he was defeated by Booker T with help from Finlay. Later, as Booker was being crowned, Lashley speared Booker from his throne.
These acts developed into a feud with the newly named "King Booker" and the other members of his court, Queen Sharmell, Finlay and William Regal. During this feud Lashley won his first professional wrestling championship by defeating John "Bradshaw" Layfield for the United States Championship, which he lost to Finlay a little less than two months later.
Not long after losing the title, Lashley was declared unable to compete according to a physician who stated that during an annual exam, Lashley was found to have elevated enzymes of the liver; therefore, would not be cleared to wrestle until further evaluation. On July 28, 2006, WWE.com stated that Lashley was cleared to compete. Lashley soon made his return to the SmackDown! roster to continue his feud with the court and went on to earn his first match for the World Heavyweight Championship at No Mercy 2006 against King Booker. This match later became a four way bout that also included Batista and, Booker's ally, Finlay, which King Booker won after pinning Finlay.
On November 14, 2006, Lashley moved brands to ECW, making a surprise appearance. Lashley went through first Hardcore Holly then the Big Show to sign a contract for the final spot in the Extreme Elimination Chamber match for the ECW World Championship at December to Dismember. At December to Dismember, Lashley was the 5th person released into the match. He eliminated Big Show by pinfall after a Spear to become the new ECW Champion. This made Lashley the first African American to hold the ECW title.
Lashley had a successful title defense against Big Show followed by competition from Rob Van Dam, Test, Hardcore Holly, RAW´s Kenny Dykstra and SmackDown!´s Mr. Kennedy.
In wrestling
- Finishing and signature moves
- Managers
Championships and accomplishments
- Missouri Valley College National Championship (1996, 1997, and 1998)
- NAIA National Wrestling Champion (1997, 1998)
- Military World Championship Silver Medalist (2002)
- Ranked #51 in the PWI 500 in 2006.
- Most Improved Wrestler of the Year (2006)
- Rookie of the Year (2005)
- ECW World Championship (1 time, current)
- WWE United States Championship (1 time)
Trivia
- Lashley appeared in the WWE DVD Best of Confidential as an amateur wrestler in a Kurt Angle segment.
- Since moving to ECW, Lashley has made use of a ring entrance style that closely resembles that of former WWE wrestler Brock Lesnar, by jumping to the ring apron with fireworks coming out of the turnbuckles.