10 WWE Stars We Expected To Be World Champion By Now

6. Bobby Lashley

Stone Cold Steve Austin Shinsuke Nakamura
WWE.com

Bobby Lashley is currently the company's highest profile failure of 2018.

It provides zero joy to admit it too. Lashley was a wrestler reborn in Impact Wrestling. One of the very few to benefit from his time in Orlando in comparison to his fast-tracked WWE insta-push, Lashley sharpened the edges of his blunt in-ring and portrayed cocky heel and dual-sports star babyface with equal aplomb.

Back in WWE, and he's back to what he walked away from in 2008. Lashley wasn't John Cena then, and is even less like him now, yet the organisation persist in trying to get him over using all the half-baked tricks they gave 'The Champ'. Sh*tty comedy in sh*tty segments with Sami Zayn left Lashley smelling of one thing only, and it wasn't money.

A victory over Roman Reigns before 'The Big Dog' made the charge back towards the Universal Title was undone by his rank failure to follow up. Bothering Elias like a pervert circling a pool table, Lashley existed only to upset the guitar player's knowing relationship with the audience rather than actually act the avatar he's supposed to be. Fans booed his interruption of a recent Raw concert. How on earth would they respond to him interjecting himself in the top title picture?

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett