Franklin Roberto Lashley was born on July 16,1976 and is an American professional wrestler, mixed martial artist and bodybuilder.
80 Facts About Bobby Lashley
2.
Bobby Lashley is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand.
3.
Bobby Lashley is an eight-time world champion, having been a two-time WWE Champion, two-time ECW World Champion, and four-time TNA World Heavyweight Champion.
4.
Bobby Lashley is known for his mixed martial arts career in Bellator MMA and Strikeforce.
5.
Bobby Lashley debuted in WWE in 2005, appearing on the SmackDown brand where he became a one-time United States Champion.
6.
Bobby Lashley subsequently pursued a career in MMA and had his first professional fight in December 2008.
7.
Bobby Lashley was a one-time X Division Champion and the final King of the Mountain Champion.
8.
Bobby Lashley ultimately won the WWE Championship twice, becoming the third African-American to hold the WWE Championship.
9.
Bobby Lashley is the only wrestler to have multiple reigns with the aforementioned championships.
10.
Franklin Roberto Bobby Lashley was born in Junction City, Kansas, on July 16,1976, the son of a US Army drill sergeant.
11.
Bobby Lashley grew up in a single parent household with a mother who barely spoke English and struggled to secure a good job.
12.
Bobby Lashley has three older sisters, one of whom is still on active service in the US Air Force as of 2015.
13.
Bobby Lashley later graduated from Junction City High School, where he continued to wrestle.
14.
Bobby Lashley attended Missouri Valley College, where he was the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics National Wrestling Champion in the 177 lbs category in 1996,1997, and 1998, and graduated in 1999 with a bachelor's degree in human-service agency management and recreation administration.
15.
Bobby Lashley followed his father into the United States Army after college, and continued to compete in amateur wrestling in the army's World Class Athlete Program.
16.
In 2003, while living and training in Colorado Springs with the goal of qualifying for Team USA to wrestle at the 2004 Olympic Games, Bobby Lashley witnessed a bank robbery and was forced to dive for cover to avoid gunfire; this resulted in a knee injury that required surgery, ending his amateur career.
17.
In January 2005, Bobby Lashley made his debut for Ohio Valley Wrestling a WWE developmental territory working as Blaster Bobby Lashley.
18.
On November 14,2006, Bobby Lashley moved to the ECW brand.
19.
In early 2007, Bobby Lashley was selected by Donald Trump to represent him in a "Battle of the Billionaires" match, against Vince McMahon's representative, Umaga, which featured Vince's long time adversary Stone Cold Steve Austin as the guest referee.
20.
Bobby Lashley legitimately injured his shoulder during the match and after an examination days later, it was revealed he had a damaged rotator cuff but would not need surgery at the time.
21.
In July 2008, Bobby Lashley wrestled in Puerto Rico at the World Wrestling Council's 35th anniversary show, defeating Rhino.
22.
Bobby Lashley entered the ring and hugged Angle while the rest of the Mafia held a beaten and battered Mick Foley upright.
23.
Bobby Lashley went on to attack random wrestlers until he was granted what he wanted.
24.
On February 10,2010, Bobby Lashley's profile was removed from the official TNA website.
25.
Bobby Lashley returned to Japan on September 25,2010, for a tag-team match with Bob Sapp against Kendo Kashin and Tamon Honda.
26.
Bobby Lashley won the first round match against Keith Hanson, but was defeated in semifinals by Josh Barnett.
27.
On June 26,2013, Bobby Lashley signed a two-year contract with IGF, after winning the promotion's general election.
28.
On October 20,2012, Bobby Lashley wrestled Jay Bradley and Robert Anthony in a three-way match for the vacant Resistance Pro Wrestling Heavyweight Championship, which was won by Anthony.
29.
On December 27,2014, Bobby Lashley defeated Mexx and Tiny Iron to win the IWS Heavyweight Championship.
30.
On March 9,2014, Bobby Lashley returned to TNA at Lockdown in Miami, Florida, answering Ethan Carter III's open challenge after his scheduled opponent Kurt Angle could not wrestle due to an injury.
31.
Bobby Lashley regained the championship on January 7,2015, after interference from MVP, King, Samoa Joe and Low Ki, as well as Eric Young turning on Roode.
32.
However, due to El Patron's controversial victory, the championship was returned to Bobby Lashley, leaving his title reign uninterrupted.
33.
Bobby Lashley then entered a feud with Roman Reigns, where both men believed that they were the rightful challenger to the Universal Championship.
34.
At Royal Rumble on January 31,2021, Bobby Lashley entered the Royal Rumble match but was eliminated by multiple wrestlers.
35.
Later that night, Bobby Lashley attacked Drew McIntyre, allowing The Miz to cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase to become WWE Champion.
36.
Bobby Lashley then feuded with Kofi Kingston where a match for the WWE Championship was made between the two at Money in the Bank.
37.
Two nights later on Raw, Bobby Lashley answered Rollins' open challenge for the United States Championship, but proceeded to attack Rollins before the match started.
38.
Bobby Lashley uses the spear and the swinging full nelson submission hold, known as the Hurt Lock, as finishers.
39.
Bobby Lashley made his mixed martial arts debut at the Mixed Fighting Alliance inaugural event "There Will Be Blood" on December 13,2008, at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida.
40.
Bobby Lashley won via TKO over Joshua Franklin in 41 seconds of the first round.
41.
Bobby Lashley was supposed to fight Ken Shamrock, but his opponent was changed to Bellator MMA veteran Jason Guida after Shamrock tested positive for steroids.
42.
Bobby Lashley went on to defeat Cook with a guillotine choke just 24 seconds into the first round.
43.
On June 27,2009, Bobby Lashley defeated Bob Sapp at the PFP: Ultimate Chaos event in Biloxi, Mississippi.
44.
Bobby Lashley was scheduled to make his Strikeforce debut against undefeated heavyweight Shane Del Rosario at Strikeforce: Miami, but for unknown reasons, Strikeforce decided to change his opponent.
45.
Bobby Lashley was then expected to face journeyman Jimmy Ambriz on January 30,2010, at Strikeforce: Miami, but that matchup was scrapped.
46.
Bobby Lashley defeated Sims via 1st-round TKO victory to remain undefeated.
47.
Bobby Lashley was expected to fight on April 17,2010, at Strikeforce: Nashville, as the promotion had already submitted an opponent for Bobby Lashley and was awaiting approval from the Tennessee Athletic Commission.
48.
Bobby Lashley faced Chad Griggs at Strikeforce: Houston on August 21,2010.
49.
Bobby Lashley came out shooting the takedown, and ground and pounding.
50.
Bobby Lashley dominated at first, but Griggs caught him with a series of uppercuts on one of the takedowns in the first round, opening a gash under the left corner of Bobby Lashley's left eye.
51.
Bobby Lashley had trouble keeping Griggs from striking him, even though he had dominate control over him on the ground, but Griggs was still finding openings on the bottom.
52.
Bobby Lashley was able to continue in the second round, continuing takedowns and ground and pound.
53.
Bobby Lashley eventually passed to mount halfway through the second round and unloaded many good punches on Griggs while maintaining control.
54.
Referee Jon Schorle then asked the fighters to stand up due to inactivity, despite Bobby Lashley being in full mount at the time.
55.
Bobby Lashley later complained to the referee about the cut under his eye, and with 33 seconds left in the second round, referee Jon Schorle asked the ringside doctor to inspect the cut.
56.
However, with Bobby Lashley deciding to continue fighting, controversy was created when referee Jon Schorle did not put Bobby Lashley back in the mount position as he was when the fight was originally stopped.
57.
The ring doctor then stopped the fight, resulting in Bobby Lashley losing at the end of the second round by TKO.
58.
Backstage after the fight, Bobby Lashley was taken off on a stretcher due to dehydration.
59.
Bobby Lashley was expected to debut against James Jack however on March 16,2011, officials announced they had lost contact with Jack and instead John Ott stepped in to fight Lashley.
60.
The pace of the fight slowed down drastically in the second round, where Bobby Lashley began to display the same cardio problems that affected him in his previous fight.
61.
Bobby Lashley was able to win a unanimous decision, despite suffering the effects of illness.
62.
Bobby Lashley was scheduled to fight Eddie Sanchez at Titan Fighting Championships 19.
63.
Bobby Lashley defeated Kevin Asplund at Titan Fighting Championships 25 on June 7,2013, winning via keylock submission.
64.
Bobby Lashley was then set to headline Shark Fights 21 against Tim Hague.
65.
On November 11,2011, Bobby Lashley became the new Shark Fights Heavyweight champion defeating Karl Knothe in the first round by submission.
66.
Bobby Lashley next competed at India's Super Fight League's third event, SFL 3, against James Thompson.
67.
Bobby Lashley was scheduled to face Matthew Larson at GWC: The British Invasion: US vs UK on June 29,2013.
68.
Bobby Lashley won via rear naked choke submission in round one.
69.
Bobby Lashley fought at Xtreme Fight Night 15: Indestructible on November 8,2013, against Tony "The Rock" Melton, which he won via unanimous decision.
70.
In July 2014, it was announced that Bobby Lashley had signed with Bellator MMA.
71.
Bobby Lashley made his promotional debut against Josh Burns on September 5,2014, at Bellator 123.
72.
Bobby Lashley won the fight via rear-naked choke submission in the second round.
73.
Bobby Lashley won via submission due to punches, in the first round.
74.
In March 2015, Bobby Lashley signed a long-term contract extension with the promotion.
75.
Bobby Lashley won the fight via TKO in the second round.
76.
Bobby Lashley won via rear-naked choke submission in the second round.
77.
Bobby Lashley later dated former WWE wrestler Kristal Marshall, with whom he had a son named Myles in 2008 and a daughter named Naomi in 2011.
78.
Bobby Lashley is featured in the video games WWE SmackDown vs Raw 2007 and WWE SmackDown vs Raw 2008.
79.
Bobby Lashley made his first appearance in a WWE video game in 11 years appearing as a downloadable character for WWE 2K19.
80.
Bobby Lashley appears in WWE 2K20, WWE 2K Battlegrounds, WWE 2K22 and WWE 2K23.