YMMV / Bobby Lashley

• Audience-Alienating Era: Despite the initial anticipation (see below), his 2018 WWE return has quickly descended into this in the eyes of a lot of fans, with his initial heat being largely toned down thanks to a combination of factors, almost all of which are down to corporate decisions.
  • Being instantly used as a regular placeholder tag team partner for Braun Strowman.
  • The awkward pacing and motion in his matches while trying to reacclimate himself to the WWE style.
  • Being unable to use any of his finishing moves due to either not being safe enough (Dominator) or already being used by two current top guys (Running Powerslam and Spear).
  • A sit-down interview with Renee Young in which he seemed to be putting over his sisters as being more badass than himself for subjecting him to a Hilariously Abusive Childhood.
  • The subsequent feud with Sami Zayn in which Zayn's attempts to mock Lashley as well as his sisters wound up being groan-worthy.
  • And then he got stuffed into a terrible Love Triangle storyline with Rusev and Lana.
  • It would take MVP's return to WWE and the formation of The Hurt Business to pull Lashley out of the funk, eventually leading him to the WWE Championship in March 2021.
• Awesome Music: Hell Will Be Calling Your Name, his last entrance theme of his first WWE run.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Downplayed and very brief, but initially, Lashley's 2018 return to the WWE was fairly received. Fans would even expect Lashley to claim the Universal Title from Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam 2018 (if the recent reports were true). Part of this is due to them wanting Roman Reigns to pull his first-ever solo Face–Heel Turn first before winning the Universal Title at WrestleMania 36 instead of immediately winning against Lesnar at SummerSlam 2018 because it's "bad for business", although Lashley being the most likely (and realistic) candidate to actually beat Lesnar for the title based on attributes and credentials was a more prevalent factor.
• Fan Nickname:
  • "Black Lesnar", "Blackberg". Which Bobby reportedly despises due to its racist undertones. He has admitted, however, that part of his motivation to re-sign with WWE in 2018 was a dream match feud with Lesnar for the Universal Championship. His #1 contendership win over Roman Reigns at Extreme Rules 2018 was going to set that for that year's Summerslam, but got overrode in the episode Raw after the event. He finally got the one-on-one dream match he wanted four years later, at Royal Rumble 2022.
  • His Power Trio with Baron Corbin and Drew McIntyre has been given the nickname of "The Midcard of Evil" by the guys of WrestleTalk.
• Harsher in Hindsight: Lashley's cuckolding of Rusev and becoming a heel couple with Lana was never a popular storyline to begin with and before Bobby Lashley found his groove with the Hurt Business, his love triangle with Lana and Rusev was considered one of his lowest points. Fast forward to 2024 and Vince McMahon is forced to resign from the company because of a highly publicized sexual assault lawsuit. And one of the disturbing details we find out about the upcoming trial is a sleazy text where Vince allegedly told the woman now filing the lawsuit that he wanted to watch black men performing carnal acts with her. So in retrospect, one might not be able to shake off the creepy feeling that through this storyline, Vince was quite possibly using poor Bobby as a vehicle for his own sordid fantasies, especially in conjunction with long-lived allegations that he didn't like the idea of Rusev and Lana being together in real life and kept trying to break them up in real life by having them break up in Kayfabe that predate but include that storyline.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: One of Lashley's accomplishments in his first WWE run was being the first man to break Chris Masters' "Master Lock" full-nelson submission. As of his return to WWE, he now uses the full-nelson (which he's dubbed "the Hurt Lock") as his main finisher.
• Just Here for Godzilla
  • Counted on with Spike TV, first by sending mixed martial artists to TNA and then Bobby Lashley to Bellator, as pro wrestling and mixed martial arts fan bases don't crossover all that much in the US. Lashley's second heel run literally crossed over both pathways at once with the storyline involving American Top Team.
  • Although he did not catch on quickly in the company, Lashley's perservence seems to have paid off. With most of the TNA originals and The Broken Hardy clan gone, a lot of fans watching Impact Wrestling through the (post-)Global Force era would do so just for Lashley.
• Narm: For a former US Army Captain with the physique of an Olympian, the man is practically a treasure trove of Narm.
  • His supposedly badass character being routinely described as "soft spoken" to the point of it being in his entrance video? All the various amusing nicknames smarks have given him? The infamous "I say your name is Finlay, and you're a bathturd" promo? Or the "No!", or the "old enough to be my dad's uncle" comment? Good God, Lashley is made of Narm.
  • Much of his Narm stems from one source — his high-pitched, lisping speech. Nothing deflates a massively-muscled, built-like-a-Sherman-tank, military-alumnus Scary Black Man like having him open his mouth and sound like the most stereotypical Flamboyant Gay guy ever.
    • He soon realized this and went into MMA, where he doesn't have to talk and can actually kick ass.
    • And then he went to TNA, where he initially had promo time every week for awhile before getting more than one actual match.
    • And in MMA, he (or his management) instead gets a reputation for dodging anyone who would be an actual challenge/threat and isn't the champion (i.e. Alistair Overeem, Strikeforce heavyweight champion) or Fedor Emelianenko.
  • The absolutely bizarre interview conducted by Renee Young had Bobby recall fairly traumatic events caused by his sisters with an unnervingly calm smile on his face.
  • On the other hand, Mike Tyson also has a high-pitched lisping speech but still manages to intimidate people with his strength, skill, and natural talent. With the right booking or presentation, Bobby can overcome this flaw.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Ever since his return, his second run was plagued by bad storylines (Lashley's sisters -Sami Zayn-, the marriage angle with Lana) and stables (the infamous "Midcard of Evil" with Drew McIntyre and Baron Corbin). This changed in 2020, when he was recruited by MVP for his new stable, The Hurt Business. Ever since then, his profile steadily rose until in 2021 he managed to win the WWE Championship.
• Retroactive Recognition: One of Lashley's sisters, Francis, was played by Max Caster.
• Ron the Death Eater: It took TNA fans a long time to realize Bobby Lashley was supposed to be the babyface in his feud with Samoa Joe.
• Win Back the Crowd:
  • TNA fans were never particularly thrilled to see Lashley until he became the centerpiece of the trio with MVP and Kenny King, due to MVP's injury. Lashley consistently delivered quality opening and main event matches when TNA desperately needed good television, and MVP's promos allowed Lashley's own charisma to shine through without fans actually having to hear Lashley's voice. While this was merely "winning" the crowd for Lashley himself, it also started winning the crowd back for those who had given up on TNA and wouldn't have imagined they'd be turning back in for Lashley.
  • The Beat Down Clan angle was able to start generating even more good buzz for TNA, again when they really needed it. Unfortunately, while the buzz remained, ratings declined as the fans willing to stick with or return to TNA simply could not keep up with the channel hopping, Destination America and Pop not being as widespread as Spike.
    • Lashley ended up having a cooled down but solid high-tier babyface run after rejecting the Beat Down Clan before turning heel again on his own a year later.
    • He also ended up with much improved mic skills to the point he was actually able to put some bass in his notoriously soft voice.
    • Also, his proper use of his natural talents in the ring still continuing to mightily improve, he became one of the most captivating parts of Impact Wrestling simply by virtue of being a dominant beast.
  • Lashley's second run in the WWE was received only marginally better than his first. It was bogged down by terrible writing, awkward interview and mic spots, and go-nowhere feuds against Sami Zayn and later Roman Reigns.
    • With Reigns, he was immediately seen by the WWE Universe as little more than a stepping stone to set up for the dreaded third match between Reigns and Brock Lesnar. Though Lashley actually won their first match, Reigns defeated him in a number one contenders' match, thus setting up yet another Reigns/Lesnar match.
    • He also got a Face–Heel Turn towards a going-nowhere association with Lio Rush and a terrible love triangle with Rusev and Lana (because Vince breaking them up, putting someone in between them, and ruining everyone involved has never happened before).
    • Lashley finally got a chance to restore his monster credibility again... through an association with MVP. He ran with this chance, dominated the Raw midcard as United States Champion in 2020, and ultimately became WWE Champion in 2021, with even many who doubted Lashley in the very beginning of his return declaring him a vast improvement over transitional champion The Miz.