Bobby Lashley can be the box office champion WWE Raw needs

Even though Bobby Lashley has been wrestling since 2005, there is nobody on the WWE roster with more untapped talent than him.

Let me say that again.

A man who has competed at an Olympic level, accrued a 15-2 record in Bellator, won both the United States and Intercontinental Championships twice, and ruled Impact Wrestling as a four-time world champion won his first world title in WWE in 2021.

I want that to really sink in.

Lashley returned to WWE in 2018 on the night after WrestleMania 34. Let’s make this clear: he had nothing to prove. In Impact, Lashley had already shown that he could be a promotion’s top star, put on great matches with just about anyone, and, yes, cut great promos.

There is this misconception that the “soft-spoken” Lashley cannot cut a promo. He cannot turn a horribly-written pile of junk into something salvageable like, say, The Miz, because he is a bad-ass who is not going to act in a self-deprecating manner or say the things Miz would say. But if you give him dialogue that is powerful and speaks to his character, I promise you he can deliver soundbites that feuds are built around. That is literally all you need from someone in his role.

We hear a lot of self-important talk from the WWE-only crowd about how you have to “prove yourself” in the E or whatever, but that’s a lot of big talk. The real challenge for most wrestlers transitioning to WWE isn’t an issue of talent, but rather an issue of adjusting to the micromanaging, the more mainstream audience, and the heavy lean from wrestling to sports entertainment. And it can be very frustrating for wrestlers trying to navigate all of these things – and doubly so for viewers who wonder why someone as talented as Lashley gets saddled with a storyline like the Rusev/Lana one or doesn’t snuff a world title opportunity until years into his run.

Make no mistake, Lashley was excellent when he had real opportunities. His double-turn with Kevin Owens was an early sign that if he could just get the right storyline or feud, he’d be well on his way. Lashley even got a great feud out of Braun Strowman, which is not an easy task. And last year, at the start of his career-altering run with MVP, Lashley tore the house down with then-WWE Champion Drew McIntyre.

Bobby Lashley can be a megastar in the Brock Lesnar tier, not just his future opponent

Lashley has stated that he returned to WWE for one major reason: to have a marquee match with Brock Lesnar. He even took things a step further by saying that he wants to be WWE’s Lesnar in 10 years.

And that’s what I want to focus our discussion on. Bobby Lashley can be the “Next Big Thing” for WWE. I’m not just talking about 10 years from now. I’m talking about one year from now, using this title reign to vault Lashley to another level.

What does Lesnar have that Lashley doesn’t? They have similar athletic backgrounds. The intimidation factor? I mean, have you looked at Lashley? He called himself “Black Superman”, and we can all only nod our heads in agreement.

In the ring, Lashley’s strength is jaw-dropping, and the moves just seem to come easy to him. Like Lesnar, Lashley is great at making his opponents look good and knows how to maximize their strengths by understanding how a man of his stature should sell and picking his spots. You don’t wrestle for more than 15 years across different promotions – while also being a legitimate fighter – without picking up all the right tricks.

Lashley has been perfecting his craft in the ring for more than a decade, and unlike a lot of people who fall into the “up-and-coming” bracket, Lashley has experience being a top guy for a major wrestling promotion. It’s been there, done that for Lashley.

The United States Title run was vital for a key reason

Even in WWE, his United States Title run showed WWE management that Lashley can be that type of attraction for them as a WWE Champion. On the surface, his title run may not have seemed that special. Lashley barely defended the title. In fact, he had only five title defenses from Aug. 30 until dropping the title at the Elimination Chamber.

But Lashley was never meant to be an “Open Challenge” champion. See, people say that’s what they want from the US Champ, since they are nostalgic for the John Cena open challenges of yore. But did you really want Lashley locking it up with a bunch of un-credible challengers every other week in meaningless contests?

No, no you did not. What we got was perfect. Lashley made the US Title feel important, which is something it has rarely been since its inception. No longer WWE’s ugly mid-card title, Lashley elevated the US Championship to something that mattered. When he and the Hurt Business walked around backstage or stood in the ring with the title in full view, you knew that belt meant something and that to even think of getting in the ring with Lashley, you had to prove yourself.

We can split hairs on the undeserving eventual winner of the championship due to circumstances, but, at that point, WWE realized they had the opportunity to strike now with Lashley. They needed him to be the WWE Champion NOW and to elevate that title, because The Miz wasn’t going to cut it. And it was time for a change on the Drew McIntyre front.

WWE Raw needed Bobby Lashley in this role more than anyone

When you look at the landscape of Raw, there is literally nobody better to lead the show than Lashley, especially with the backing of the Hurt Business and his manager MVP, who is having one of the best managerial runs in wrestling history.

What does that sound like to you? A dominant world champion with legitimate fighting experience leading Monday Night Raw head-and-shoulders above the rest with an accomplished wordsmith and genius wrestling mind in his corner? It has to give you Brock Lesnar vibes, right?

Raw needs a strong male world champion who can perform at a high level in big matches, has the commanding presence of a top star, and has the execution of character work and in-ring psychology to both captivate the audience and elevate his competition. This show needs someone who dares to be great, dares to be different, and is proven in that spot. Lashley is all of those things, and it blows my mind that we’ve had to wait this long for him to become only the third Black WWE Champion in history. I know it shouldn’t blow my mind, but it still makes me think, “Jesus, we had to wait this long!”

But let me tell you something, WWE had better make it worth the wait and not drop the ball. They have the unique opportunity to go beyond “making a star” here. No, no, Lashley is already a star, and if you don’t think that, you haven’t been watching professional wrestling closely for the last decade. What WWE can do now is take someone who is already a star, maintain the platform they are already giving him, and then use that platform over the course of 2021 to turn Lashley into a megastar, box-office attraction on the level of Brock Lesnar.

WWE must capitalize on this window with Bobby Lashley

Dream big, people. This is the time for WWE to start taking some chances on wrestlers who have proven with their work and consistency that they can offer so much more to this product. And before anybody brings up the fact that Lashley is one year older than Lesnar, know that age is meaningless both in wrestling and in sport (just as Tom Brady or Luka Modric, depending on the sport you follow). What matters is performance, and Lashley is, in 2021, the pinnacle of performance when you watch that man go to work.

There is no reason why Lashley can’t move the needle for Raw with the Hurt Business and MVP in the same way that Roman Reigns, Paul Heyman, and Jey Uso are carrying the SmackDown men’s scene. There is no reason why Lashley cannot back up his words about being at that Lesnar level. Because you can’t name a single thing that Lesnar or any other dominant, attraction-type world champion has that Lashley does not. In-ring work, promos, athletic ability, the savvy that comes with experience…Lashley has it all.

And in 2021, what I want to see is Lashley at the very top of the mountain, pulling up an entire show and a whole bunch of individual wrestlers up with him. This should have happened years sooner, but now that MVP is here and the stars are aligned with Lashley finally winning the WWE Title, it’s time to forget the past and focus on making the most out of his opportunity in the present and near future. Lashley has been ready for this.