You can see why Vince McMahon might have been a fan of Bobby Lashley. He was a national wrestling champion, had served in the United States Army and he was absolutely jacked. He was tailor-made for the WWE and, after suffering an injury while training for the olympics, he decided to give pro-wrestlign a try. Lashley was pushed hard from his debut in October 2005, but not too hard. He still had to learn how to work better and show more charisma before WWE could book him in top-line feuds. He had some great matches with Finlay and Booker T and was clearly improving as a worker. WWE switched him to the ECW brand in November 2006 and he quickly captured the ECW Championship. As ECW Champion, Lashley had the biggest match of his career as one half of the Battle of the Billionaires against Umaga at WrestleMania 23. That Lashley was chosen for such a high-profile match, even if Vince and Donald Trump were the stars of the show, shows how much WWE valued and trusted Lashley. Following Mania 23 Lashley continued to rub shoulders with the big stars like Vince McMahon and John Cena. Unfortunately for Lashley, he had to take six months off for shoulder surgery. When he was due back, he was released from his contract, which was a surprise to many fans. This was a man whom some assumed would be headlining the WWE for years to come. Behind the scenes, however, all was not well. Lashley was unhappy with his WrestleMania 23 payoff, the treatment of his girlfriend Kristal Marshall and apparent racism from WWE writer Michael Hayes. Lashley is doing fine in MMA and TNA, but this is a guy who really could have been the face of the company.
