What Is Bobby Lashley's Net Worth?
Bobby Lashley is an American professional wrestler and mixed martial artist who has a net worth of $4 million. Bobby Lashley competed for the WWE from 2005 to 2008, then he returned to the WWE in 2018. Bobby has won two WWE Championships, two ECW World Championships, and four TNA World Heavyweight Championships, and he has also won the TNA King of the Mountain Championship. "Pro Wrestling Illustrated" named Lashley Rookie of the Year in 2005 and Most Improved Wrestler of the Year in 2006, and in 2021, the magazine ranked him #3 on its list of the top 500 singles wrestlers. Bobby has also had a mixed martial arts career with Strikeforce and Bellator MMA, and he has appeared in the films "The Way of War" (2009), "Beatdown" (2010), "Blood Out" (2011), "Walk-ins Welcome" (2011), and "Green Ghost and the Masters of the Stone" (2021) and the television series "Rush Hour" (2016).
Early Life
Bobby Lashley was born Franklin Roberto Lashley on July 16, 1976, in Junction City, Kansas. Bobby has three sisters, and his father was a drill sergeant for the U.S. Army. Lashley has said of his youth, "My family comes from Panama, and I grew up in a single parent household with my mother, who barely spoke English. She couldn't get a good job, yet there were four of us for her to raise." Bobby attended Fort Riley Middle School, where he began wrestling as a seventh grader. After graduating from Junction City High School, Lashley enrolled at Missouri Valley College, and he was the school's National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics National Wrestling Champion (177 lbs category) three years in a row. He earned a degree in human service agency management and recreation administration in 1999. After college, Bobby joined the military and wrestled in the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program, winning both a gold and silver medal in the senior freestyle wrestling event at the Conseil International du Sport Militaire World Championships. In 2003, Lashley was training in Colorado Springs, hoping to qualify for the 2004 Olympic Games, and when he witnessed a bank robbery and dove for cover to avoid being shot, he injured his knee. The injury required surgery and led to the end of his amateur wrestling career.
Professional Wrestling Career
Bobby made his professional wrestling debut for the WWE developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling in early 2005, and a few months later, he wrestled in four live WWE events. His televised debut took place on a September 2005 episode of "SmackDown!," and in January 2006, he wrestled in the Royal Rumble. Lashley then competed in WrestleMania 22, made it to the finals of the King of the Ring tournament, and won the WWE United States Championship. He competed in the World Heavyweight Championship in October 2006 but lost to King Booker. The following month, Bobby began wrestling for the ECW brand, and in December 2006, he became the first African-American ECW World Champion. He won the championship again in June 2007, and later that month he was drafted to WWE Raw and Vince McMahon stripped him of the ECW World Championship. Lashley underwent surgery on his left shoulder in August 2007 and took a six-month hiatus, and the WWE released him from his contract in February 2008.
In May 2008, Bobby started competing on the independent circuit, and from 2009 to 2010 and 2014 to 2018, he wrestled for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. He won the TNA/Impact World Heavyweight Championship four times and the TNA King of the Mountain Championship, TNA X Division Championship, TNA Championship Series, and TNA Joker's Wild one time each. Lashley returned to WWE Raw in April 2018, and he won the Intercontinental Championship in January 2019 and March 2019, followed by the WWE Championship in March 2021 and January 2022 and the WWE United States Championship in August 2020 and July 2022.
Bill Pugliano/Getty Images
Mixed Martial Arts Career
In December 2008, Bobby competed in "There Will Be Blood," the Mixed Fighting Alliance's inaugural event, defeating Joshua Franklin in 41 seconds during the first round. He made his debut with the Maximum Fighting Championship in May 2009, and in June 2009, his MMA record was 4–0. Lashley defeated Wes Sims during the first round in his Strikeforce debut in January 2010, and after signing with the Titan Fighting Championship in February 2011, he defeated John Ott at Titan FC 17 (March 2011) and Kevin Asplund at Titan FC 25 (June 2013). In 2011, he signed a three-year contract with Shark Fights and defeated Karl Knothe at Shark Fights 21 in November 2011, making him the Shark Fights Heavyweight champion. Bobby signed with Bellator MMA in July 2014, and he defeated Josh Burns at Bellator 123 (September 2014), Karl Etherington at Bellator 130 (October 2014), Dan Charles at Bellator 138 (June 2015), James Thompson at Bellator 145 (November 2015), and Josh Appelt at Bellator 162 (October 2016). After Bellator 162, Lashley's MMA record was 15–2.
Personal Life
Bobby welcomed his first child, daughter Kira, in 2005. He was in a relationship with fellow WWE wrestler Kristal Marshall from 2007 to 2010, and they had two children together, son Myles (born 2008) and daughter Naomi (born 2011). Lashley opened a smoothie shop in 2007, and in 2009, he announced that he was launching the Lashley Network, which included "his personal site, his nutrition store, and his new online social networking website." In a press release about the Lashley Network, Bobby stated, "Right now I am climbing up the ranks in the MMA world so that I can make it to UFC and be the top guy when the time comes. The only way to do that is to keep winning and to keep my name out there whether it's through television media or through the internet. I think FightBobby.com also gives me a chance to interact with my loyal fans that stick by me. Think of it as a Facebook or Myspace for my fans."
