Bobby Lashley could be AEW’s most intriguing hire as far as former WWE stars go, as he can potentially be a short-term fix to one of the company’s most glaring needs.
AEW for most of its history has had a shortage of top-level stars who would qualify as powerhouses – those wrestlers who could legitimately destroy you in a fight, believably impose their physical will on an opponent in the ring and toss most talents around like rag dolls.
The closest we have seen is AEW champion Samoa Joe, who is listed at 6-foot-2 and 280 pounds, but his title reign lasted just 113 days. We have seen it more with the TNT championship with Wardlow, Miro, Powerhouse Hobbs, Luchasaurus and Joe.
But you can also make the case that several people on that list had their momentum bungled or were lost to injuries and other circumstances at an inopportune time, which is the reason AEW has had a lack of impact from wrestlers of their kind.
The 48-year-old Lashley, who debuted in AEW on Dynamite last week, has been a powerhouse throughout his career. He is listed as 6-foot-3, 273 pounds and his pumped physique adds to the perception of power.
During Lashley’s first WWE championship run and the lead-up to it, the Hurt Lock was one of the most protected moves in the company. He has beaten Brock Lesnar for the WWE championship as part of a resume as an eight-time world champion.
Powerhouses can wrestle a different type match than we are used to seeing in AEW, giving you new ways to build babyfaces – especially smaller ones.
Lashley, because of his age and miles on his career, isn’t a long-term solution. But he and Shelton Benjamin in the Hurt Syndicate look like performers who can impose their will on others.
While monster heels are something WWE has excelled at for most of its history, we haven’t always seen them at the highest level of AEW.
AEW now has a chance to lean into that in a big way with Lashley.