Looking back at Bobby Lashley’s five best matches in Impact and WWE

After the ending of this past Sunday’s Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, one thing became clear: Now is the time for WWE to strap the rocket to Bobby Lashley’s back and let him be the monster heel we saw him be in Impact Wrestling several years ago.

WWE scripted the perfect storyline to move Lashley into the title picture by having new WWE Champion The Miz make a deal with Lashley and MVP so that Lashley would get a future title shot. If WWE is serious about pushing Lashley, then they need to have him destroy the Miz to win the belt in a handful of minutes, similar to how Brock Lesnar squashed John Cena at SummerSlam 2014, and hold on to the title until SummerSlam, where we will hopefully get a Lashley vs. Lesnar WWE Title match.

Debuting in WWE in 2005, Lashley has won the ECW World, Intercontinental, and United States Championships during his two stints with the company. As amazing as those accomplishments are, however, his time in Impact Wrestling is where he became a better all-around performer. In Impact Wrestling, Bobby captured every men’s title the company had to offer — including a storyline where he held all of them at the same time — while compiling a 15-2 MMA record.

With his rare combination of size and excellent in-ring abilities, Bobby Lashley is one of this generation’s greatest wrestlers, achieving plenty of success in pro wrestling and MMA. For today, we’ll focus on his pro wrestling career, specifically…

These are the top five matches of Bobby Lashley’s career

5. WWE: Bobby Lashley Vs. John Cena (The Great American Bash 2007)

Bobby Lashley enjoyed a successful run in WWE’s version of ECW where he became a two-time world champion. When Bobby Lashley got drafted to Raw in 2007, he went straight for the WWE Championship and received his first shot at the title in a five-pack challenge match at Vengeance: Night of Champions, but failed to win the title after then-champion John Cena pinned Mick Foley. At the following PPV, Bobby would get a title shot again, this time in a one-on-one match against John Cena at the 2007 Great American Bash. The battle between Cena and Lashley was a great match that saw Lashley kick out of Cena’s F-U (now the Attitude Adjustment), necessitating Cena to hit a top rope F-U to put the challenger away.

4. Impact: Bobby Lashley Vs. Drew Galloway (Slammiversary 2016)

Four years before WWE decided to possibly make this one of their WrestleMania main events, Impact wrestling gave Lashley and Drew McIntyre — who wrestled under his real name in Impact — the headliner spot at one of their biggest shows on the calendar. The then-TNA World Heavyweight Championship match was contested under “Knockout or Tapout” rules, which made it a must-see because of how brutal and bloody it was. The match ended with Lashley knocking Galloway out to win the match and the title.

3. Impact: Bobby Lashley Vs. Eddie Edwards (Genesis 2017)

After Lashley lost his Impact World Title to Eddie Edwards in 2016, we saw another, more brutal side of “The Destroyer”, as he went on a quest to gain his championship back. After a couple of failed attempts, Lashley finally regained the title in a classic 30-minute Ironman match at Genesis 2017. The match started with Lashley jumping out to a 2-0 lead, but Edwards evened the score with two needed quick pinfalls over the challenger. However, Lashley would apply the Anaconda Vice toward the end of the match to get the submission and pick up the deciding fall to win the world title for the third time.

2. WWE: Bobby Lashley Vs. Drew McIntyre (Backlash 2020)

When Lashley and McIntyre faced off at Backlash 2020, the WWE audience got to see a glimpse of what the Impact wrestling audience saw a couple of years earlier. The only problem the match had was that it was used to advance the horrible Lana storyline, and it wasn’t as violent as their Impact wrestling match. Still, this was an excellent wrestling match for WWE audiences who never seen these two wrestle each other.

1. Impact: Bobby Lashley Vs. Kurt Angle (Impact Wrestling, April 3, 2015)

This is not only Lashley’s best match, but this was also one of Impact Wrestling’s best matches.

For people who don’t know, Kurt Angle was the one who helped Bobby Lashley get into professional wrestling. The two never got to have a match in the WWE, but they eventually had their first-ever singles match in 2015 in Impact Wrestling for the world championship. Lashley vs. Angle was a great match that showed both wrestler’s amateur wrestling backgrounds.