10 Crazy Wrestling Partnerships That Shouldn't Have Worked (But Did)

7. Lio Rush & Bobby Lashley

Broserweights Matt Riddle Pete Dunne
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Although their partnership petered out before long, the early days of the Bobby Lashley/Lio Rush pairing were tremendously fun and should have resulted in a prolonged push for both.

Rush had been brought onto 205 Live just three months before becoming Lashley's hype man. 'The Man of the Hour' started appearing in random backstage segments trying to gee the big fella up as he was training and while the early suggestion was that Lio was an annoyance to Bobby, 'The All Mighty' let him in. A hoot of a partnership was born. Lashley was the strong, silent monster who'd use his diminutive manager as a projectile. He benefitted immensely from having somebody to do his talking for him and Rush flourished as a genuinely annoying heel mouthpiece, exuding levels of charisma invisible for much of his prior run.

Tension was sowed towards the end of the partnership before Rush was taken off television in May 2019. Rumours of backstage heat saw him sidelined and while he has since returned as an awesome fixture in NXT's Cruiserweight division, Bobby remains a midcard struggler.

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Andy has been with WhatCulture for eight years and is currently WhatCulture's Wrestling Channel Manager. A writer, presenter, and editor with 10+ years of experience in online media, he has been a sponge for all wrestling knowledge since playing an old Royal Rumble 1992 VHS to ruin in his childhood. Having previously worked for Bleacher Report, Andy specialises in short and long-form writing, video presenting, voiceover acting, and editing, all characterised by expert wrestling knowledge and commentary. Andy is as much a fan of 1985 Jim Crockett Promotions as he is present-day AEW and WWE - just don't make him choose between the two.