10 Times TNA Succeeded Where WWE Failed
5. Bobby Lashley
When Bobby Lashley debuted in WWE, he had everything that Vince McMahon looks for in a main event star. He was big, he was athletic, and he was ripped to the bone; sadly for the audience, the one thing he lacked was mic skills.
Lashley saw a meteoric rise in the WWE and, within a year, had won the United States Championship. He would also go on to hold the ECW Championship twice in the WWE’s revived version of the Philadelphia brand, and memorably appear as Donald Trump’s surrogate wrestler in the Trump vs. McMahon “Battle of the Billionaires” at WrestleMania 23.
Nevertheless, Lashley never seemed to truly connect with the audience and was gone by mid-2007, having been fed to John Cena at the Great American Bash and suffering an injury thereafter. He was quietly released in early 2008. Lashley would appear sporadically for TNA throughout 2009 and early 2010 with little impact, attempting to spread himself between wrestling and MMA at the time.
However, when he returned in 2014 as a heel, he seemed refocused and won the World Heavyweight Championship within months. As champ, Lashley became a better performer all-round, with vastly improved mic skills and smoother wrestling ability. Lashley has become a true asset to the company ever since.