Has the WWE permanantly ruined Lashley's career?

[djcdm]

Someone just wanted another Lashley hat thread. Me I mark for him I will admitted that he needs a mouthpiece and take more control in his matches. But damn he is going to be one the stars in a few yrs.

[joeman]

I think the word is mis-utilizing him. Plus, who are we to say we know what is best for Lashley in this company? He chose to leave Smackdown and anyone would take an opportunity to be world champion if asked. Of course he didn't pay his dues, but then again we have rapid CM Punk fans suggesting that Punk should be ECW champion even though he was on the program for less than a year.

[Juggalo/Hulkamaniac]

This thread is a little one-sided. Yo ucan either do two things to a powerful rookie wrestler: either wait to put a belt on him or put it one him earlier to help that title at the same time. In other words, I like whats gonig on now. He'd kill any ECW wrestler past or present! "He doesn't belong in ECW"... my NES!

[Rocky Van Heineken]

Lashley's totally undeserving of any world title. He needs a manager and a heel turn, IMO.

[Richard]

First his career is fine to say the least right now and, in ring he is nowhere near as bad as the vocal make him out to be. He is going to get better and ECW is the perfect place for that as he is not quite good enough for Smackdown or RAW but, bigger than OVW or DSW.

Secondly, barring someone purposely injuring/killing someone on TV or committing a felony, there career is never permanently ruined in Pro Wrestling. Especially when you are (or were) a main eventer and World Heavyweight Champion.

[joeman]

rockygotfingered said:

Lashley's totally undeserving of any world title. He needs a manager and a heel turn, IMO.

The problem is when he turns heel, there is a 50 percent chance it might flopped, but as always the WWE will be blamed for it.

[Rocky Van Heineken]

If they give him a good enough mouthpiece, it shouldn't flop. He makes a much more credible heel than a fan loving babyface.

[Godhand]

It didnt ruin Lashley's career but he does run the risk of burning out to quickly. There is a severly limited roster in ecw and few of them look like legitimate threats to Lashley. Still I have never liked Lashley and if he fails I will laugh my sexy ass off.

[Arturo Classico]

I feel people would like him if he was in a decent feud or was a heel and was just bad ass. Look and constrast Lashley with Lesner. Lesner was popular because he destoyed people like the Hardys and looked sick and had an awesome, original looking finisher, the F-5, also he had a manager to do his talking since he was weak in that department. Now look at Lashley he has no orginallity, he does finishers made famous by the Bulldog, Goldberg and Faaroq(DAMN!). Also he is portayed as a baby face but has nothing interesting to say and sucks on the mic. A feud with someone charsimatic would help him alot maybe with Taker or HHH or Micheals or I don't know someone that would help him develop into a charachter. Vingettes alone do not work, yes they did that with Lesnar to but also they gave him good feuds. Lashley in ECW will not develop as long as he is crushing jobbers. Also I don't hate Lashley, I hate how they are using him.

[Juggalo/Hulkamaniac]

Brock Lesnar was booring. The reason I never watched SD back in 2003.

[Arturo Classico]

Lesnar is alot of things but he is not boring!

[Threadkiller [Classic]]

First of all, be careful with any Brock Lesnar knocking. Since

a) Lesnar, personality aside, was teh awesomes.
and
b) Wrestlecrap is pretty much Lesnar Country (I forget who said that).

Moving on, I think Lashley is really good. His summer feud with Booker was among my favorites of last year and went a long way in helping him learn how to work AND getting him over (by the time Great American Bash rolled around and the crowd learned he couldn't compete, just listen to those "Let Him Fight!" chants).

However, the problem with Lashley is the same problem Nitro has, which is not the fault of either of them but of WWE's star-building methods. They put titles on guys as a way of helping to get them over to the point where fans will buy them in their role as champion. This is in stark contrast to the attitude era with guys like Steve Austin, who was MONSTROUSLY over long before he won the title. By the the time his shot came around, fans were SCREAMING for them to put the title on him because Steve Austin was a guy they bought already as world champion and had already for a long time.

You can't put the Intercontinental title on Nitro and say "We'll worry about getting him over later" or, even worse, "Don't worry about it. The belt will make people care about him." That just won't fly today. You need only look at guys like Randy Orton, who was working perfectly at getting heat and slowly gaining main event credibility in his role as Intercontinental champion before WWE jumped the gun and DECIDED the fans were ready to see him as a main eventer. That's not how it should work at all. As a result, Randy was given a world title and cornered into a situation that required he turn face (since no one was going to buy HHH as a face at that time), a decision that chopped him off at the knees. Randy has taken the better part of two years recovering from it when if they'd just waited a year, hell, half a year longer, the fans would have been more ready to accept Randy as legitimate.

Lashley was over on Smackdown, but not main event over. That's the second prong of WWE's star creation methods. The minute a guy gets the least bit over he's shunted into the main event. (And situationally over, not generally over - that is to say that a guy like Batista was hugely over because of the situation - the feud with HHH - and less so on his own merits. The transfer to Smackdown hurt him because JBL couldn't make him look as good as HHH could) Lashley, in his current role, is not being taken as seriously as he could have been as if they'd just held off a bit longer on putting a world title on him. But hey, I'm not the head of a publicly traded company, and the fact is that Vince (like myself and a lot of others on here) sees something in Lashley.

We'll see where this all goes. But one thing's for damn sure. Lashley needs better opponents, STAT. I don't care how big of a badass Hardcore Holly is in real life. He'll never NOT be seen as a jobber in the eyes of fans, and beating Holly won't do much in the way of getting you over. You're better off moving Finlay over to ECW. He's part of the reason Lashley got better so much faster. Plus, he's a badder ass than half the ECW lockerroom.

[joeman]

The reason WWE is pushing a lot of people to the main event because of the fact that there isn't a lot of main event material wrestlers today. Some say this was the cause of Brock Lesnar leaving the company and giving the WWE a huge void that isn't filled yet. WWE needs to slowly build someone who would main event in the long term, if they want to create lengendary superstars in the ranks of Hogan and Austin(which they want to do).

[rrm15]

juggalones7 said:

Brock Lesnar was booring. The reason I never watched SD back in 2003.

Good for you. A lot of people liked him.

[Andrew is Good]

Lashley's over, and is definitely a tremendous talent. My problem is I feel he's given too much too soon. Once ECW starts having their own house shows, I'm afraid they won't draw that much with Lashley as Champion, mostly because he's not ready for the position.

The Lashley hate since the title reign sprang up not because Lashley is a bad wrestler or an overall bad talent. He's just not ready for the position.

[Person With A Hat]

kingsofwrestling said:

I feel people would like him if he was in a decent feud or was a heel and was just bad ass. Look and constrast Lashley with Lesner. Lesner was popular because he destoyed people like the Hardys and looked sick and had an awesome, original looking finisher, the F-5, also he had a manager to do his talking since he was weak in that department. Now look at Lashley he has no orginallity, he does finishers made famous by the Bulldog, Goldberg and Faaroq(DAMN!). Also he is portayed as a baby face but has nothing interesting to say and sucks on the mic. A feud with someone charsimatic would help him alot maybe with Taker or HHH or Micheals or I don't know someone that would help him develop into a charachter. Vingettes alone do not work, yes they did that with Lesnar to but also they gave him good feuds. Lashley in ECW will not develop as long as he is crushing jobbers. Also I don't hate Lashley, I hate how they are using him.

There's a reason my friends call him Black Lesnar, after all. Coulda done so much with the guy...

[Hiroshi Hase]

He shouldn't be anywhere near a mic, but the guy is over with the casual fans and isn't going away anytime soon as Vince seems to like Lashley.

[kkliq]

andrewisgood said:

Lashley's over, and is definitely a tremendous talent. My problem is I feel he's given too much too soon. Once ECW starts having their own house shows, I'm afraid they won't draw that much with Lashley as Champion, mostly because he's not ready for the position.

The Lashley hate since the title reign sprang up not because Lashley is a bad wrestler or an overall bad talent. He's just not ready for the position.

Well, what are the gonna do? Lashley is the closest thing to a bona-fide main eventer they have. With the exception of RVD(who's got a 0.000000001 chance of regaining the title) there's no other wrestler on ECW who could look remotely close to SD! or RAW main eventers.

[faithnowhore]

Not ready for the position is an understatement....honestly this guy does not have much going for him besides being big...austin, hogan, michaels, hhh, rock all had charisma and good mic skills, lashley has none of that, to be that big of a star, you need that. and maybe aside from last night, his pops are not that big. I would have loved to see him back in the attitude era, would have never survived

[Joekishi]

rhzombie18 said:

He needs a full blown match with someone who can work to get him over, like Benoit, Regal, Finlay, or Micheals.

He's had full blown matches with Big Show, Hardcore Holly, Finlay, Regal, and King Booker and those matches did get him over.