Bobby Lashley was given a giant push when he debuted in WWE, feuding with Vince McMahon,
winning the ECW Championship and being a part of one of the biggest WrestleMania matches
in history.
But after only a few years, he quit the company.
I am Luke Owen and this is the real reason Bobby Lashley quit WWE in 2008.
2007 was set to be a break-out year for Bobby Lashley.
After being traded from Smackdown to ECW in 2006, Lashley was involved in the highly-promoted
feud between Donald Trump and Vince McMahon - culminating in a hair vs. hair match at
WrestleMania 23 with Lashley as Trump’s pick against Vince’s choice Umaga.
He then feuded with Vince himself, facing him for the ECW Championship - winning it
back at June 3rd’s One Night Stand.
Lashley then moved to Raw where he quickly became the number one contender to John Cena’s
WWE Championship.
However, their match at The Great American Bash 2007 was Lashley’s final WWE PPV appearance.
He suffered an injury in his match with Cena, and WWE shot an injury angle with Mr. Kennedy
to write him off TV for the rest of ‘07.
Bryan Alvarez wrote in Figure Four Weekly, “Bobby Lashley may be out the rest of the
year...
The feeling at TV was that this was bad and he'll probably need surgery, which would put
him out of action likely until 2008.”
Lashly, though, wouldn’t be back.
On January 22nd 2008, Bobby Lashley wrote on his website, “I am sorry to everyone
here but I am serious when I say I won’t be back.
Everyone wants to come here and hear the real story and I am telling you the real story.
Circumstances which are out of my control left me no decision but to leave the WWE.I
can’t go into details of this now but like I said before sometimes people will hate you
personally and try to destroy you which has happened here.
Evil has prevailed.”
Since that website post, it has been revealed that the person who Lashley was talking about
was WWE producer Michael Hayes [9-screen].
Lashley’s then girlfriend Kristal Marshall revealed on Diva-Dirt in 2009, “Michael
Hayes had made blatantly racial comments to Bobby and on numerous occasions told him he
didn't like him directly.”
It was reported by WrestleZone in 2008 that Lashley’s issues with Hayes were among the
reasons he was moved from Smackdown to ECW, and in an interview with In Your Head Online,
Lashley told a fan, “You're always going to have problems with people you're working
with, and I had issues [with Michael Hayes].
I don't really want to talk about it.”
There were also reports that Lashley and Kristal were upset about an angle between herself
and Teddy Long - which she felt was morally degrading.
Marshall told Diva-Dirt in 2009, “I went to Stephanie McMahon and voiced some concerns
I had about the storyline...
Stephanie told me it was going to be very tasteful, Michael Hayes on the other hand
told me it was going to be very raunchy.
I was getting two stories from two different people.”
She added that when she refused to do the storyline, she got the reputation of being
difficult to work with and that was why she was let go.
Reports from the time had said that this was also one of the reasons Bobby wanted to leave,
but Lashley dismissed that as rumour and innuendo on an episode of Voice of Wrestling in 2008,
“I think that story was leaked from somebody that wanted to make me look back or wanted
to cause some conspiracy”
Dave Meltzer reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Bobby was unhappy with the
company’s lack of plans for him after he was cleared to wrestle again in December 2007
[8-screen].
He wrote in the Observer Newsletter in February 2008, “Lashley was recently cleared to return
to action and had spoke with John Laurinatis to get things rolling.
But in a follow up conversation Lashley stated that he would not be returning to the company.
This has now put a lot of heat on Laurinatis.”
Lashley confirmed this was true, telling Voices of Wrestling in 2008, “You were waiting
for a big return and I was waiting for a big return also...
I was trying to find out what's going on, when am I coming back...
I guess, the person in charge of bringing me back was not ready for me to come back...
the person in charge at the time of writing me back into the show was Michael Hayes...he
said he didn't have anything for me.”
It was also reported that Lashley did not like the rigorous touring schedule of WWE,
which Jim Ross confirmed in a February 2008 blog post stating, “Bobby apparently did
not like the travel demands of being a pro wrestler in today’s marketplace, nor do
I think that Bobby ever fully understood the business of sports entertainment, which added
to Lashley’s consternation at times.”
Lashley joined TNA in 2009, but would leave less than a year later to focus on his MMA
career - where he holds a 15 and 2 record.
He returned to Impact Wrestling in 2014, and re-joined WWE after WrestleMania 34 to be
part of the Raw brand.
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I’ve been Luke Owen and that was wrestling.