10 Failed WWE Pushes One Tweak Away From Excellence
7. Bobby Lashley (2006-2007)
Why it failed: Because WWE didn't realise then that over-pushing babyfaces could lead to catastrophe.
A prototype for the Roman Reigns/Seth Rollins sort of megapush-gone-wrong, Bobby Lashley was pushed beyond the moon in late 2006 because...well, just f*cking look at him.
It remains one of the great mysteries how WWE have failed to get over a refined version of him since his 2018 comeback, but the initial mess they made over a decade earlier was only slightly more excusable. Green as grass but a heaving mound of mass, Vince McMahon gave him the ECW Championship at the expense of another roster member that could have done more with it (more on that later), and made him Donald Trump's advocate in one of the highest-drawing WrestleMania matches ever long before he was ready for the role.
One Tweak: Calm down dear.
A Lashley seasoned and sharpened by a year or so extra rising up the ranks could have been a one ready to win Royal Rumbles and headline WrestleManias. The rejection from the audience wasn't as billious as the sort of of reactions received by Batista, or later Reigns and Rollins, but only because such a thing wasn't the norm back then. Merely bored by the act, fans were indifferent rather than indignant.