Lashley Returns Home…was it worth it?

I’m not going to recap Lashley’s current WWE run here, because I feel there is too little content to rant on about and if I do I feel I’ll focus far too much on some of the awful booking that’s taken place since April 9th. Honestly, the potential of a Lashley return excited me due to the current size & scope of the WWE roster as well as potential matches & storylines he could have with a wide range of superstars, sadly it ended being everything but that.

From what’s been seen so far, it’s clear that the creative team has no clear path for Lashley heading into the summer, or any season for that matter since his character is being booked in a redundant matter and the crowd reaction only supports this. Instead of an immediate threat, Lashley is just another guy and instead of the unstoppable monster we saw in TNA, Lashley is a 6-foot-5 sister hugger who even Sami Zayn can’t make credible.

Lashley is proof of the state of WWE booking, at least in some cases, not understanding the fundamentals of what makes a superstar special & marketable to the audience and instead have them be completely lost in the shuffle under an aimless gimmick (for more information take a look at Mike Kannelis). He’s become almost a walking parody of Bo Dallas in some ways, what’s even more bizarre is that he doesn’t even remotely resemble the character he was before he left in 2008, let alone his rebranded TNA character and that’s what makes this all the more painful to watch.

Is this the end?

The short answer to this question is no.

It can be far from the end, if this situation is handled with great care.

The reason I still haven’t given up hope and remain optimistic is because WWE’s track record with superstars is a bit inconsistent upon initial returns. Brock Lesnar’s 2012 comeback got off to a mostly terrible start with his illogical loss to John Cena, Goldberg’s 2003 run with the company is best left in the background following his 2016/2017 success & Shane McMahons 2016 return was so confusing I’m still struggling to contemplate what outcome the company was reaching for with his match against Undertaker. While rough beginnings made every fan question whether their excitement was worth it, at the end of the day all these comeback stories have come full circle and provided us with some fantastic memories over the last few years.

Is Lashley and his character in a bad state as of this moment? Yes, but I urge fans to hold on for a tiny bit longer.

WWE might have developed a reputation for calling up stars and never fully following through with them (most the NXT call-ups come to mind) but a star with his potential is almost impossible to go by unnoticed. With our luck maybe, WWE can turn this shamble of a storyline him & Sami Zayn have going into something that will re-establish Lashley as the threat we knew him as once upon a time.

Okay maybe that last glimmer of hope seems a bit out of reach, but you get the point, right?

The point is WWE might have jumbled up one of its biggest possible success stories, but is this really anything new when it comes to a company that has the depth and history behind its reigns that the WWE does? I might end up eating my words here but I’ll take that chance, because I firmly believe Lashley is far too good to be ignored and sooner or later we’ll be just as excited to see him as we are the likes of Seth Rollins but by no means will he fade into obscurity like many before him.

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