500 Words... On Bobby Lashley
Posted by Lee Baker
on 04/03/2007
As a wise man once said:
“You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink”.
Well, I’m a (self-professed) wise man, and I say this:
“You can lead wrestling fans to a show, but you can’t make them cheer Bobby Lashley…”
Like it or not, and in the face of fan indifference, Bobby Lashley’s super-push continues. He’s had the kind of push most wrestlers would sell their soul to the devil to receive, having broken the previously unbroken masterlock, won the US and ECW titles and dominated just about everyone from the Big Show to Randy Orton. Damn, he’s even been booked in the yearly Vince McMahon feud… and helped to
shave the boss bald! It really is the push of all pushes. On next weeks RAW I’m half expecting him to walk on water… and then turn the water into wine.
But is the push deserved? Well, based on his ring work, no, it isn’t. I think it’s fair to say that he has improved since debuting in the big league, but is still decidedly average and fails to inspire. However, that isn’t the be all and end all; the likes of Hogan and the Warrior were pretty lousy in the ring but made up for it through their connection with the crowd. That is Lashley’s problem though – he is totally incapable of making such a connection. If you cast your mind back to early 2005, Batista’s face turn began to gain steam as he started to connect with the fans for the first time. It was the same with Cena in late 2003. Their pushes worked because they grew out of the residing support of the fanbase. Lashley doesn’t have such support. In fact, I think “general audience apathy” sums it up quite well. On the whole, when it comes to Lashley, the fans just don’t seem to give a sh*t.
If there is something to justify this push I really can’t see what it is. The Warrior was a dire worker, but he got the crowd pumped. Push justified. Chris Benoit was (and is) a poor mic worker and has little personality outside of the ring, but he was (and is) an amazing, intense in-ring performer. Push justified. Lashley is an average worker with absolutely no personality whatsoever (seriously, the guy makes Chris Benoit look like Jim Carrey) but he still gets pushed. It’s one of Vince’s quirks; once he has his mind set on pushing someone then
god damn it he’s going to do it, irrespective of the fans feelings on the matter. I can only assume that he’s banking on Lashley to improve as much as Brock Lesnar did. Sadly, there are no signs of it at the moment.
Let me ask you this question: If Bobby Lashley was 40lbs lighter, would he be receiving such a huge push? I’d personally guess that if he was 40lbs lighter he wouldn’t even have a job with the company. Therein lies the problem.
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My name is Lee Baker, and that was 500 words.
Any questions, queries, praise or abuse, feel free to email me at eoe4w@hotmail.com. A response is guaranteed.
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