Bobby Lashley was born in Kansas in 1976 and has been a three time amateur national champion. He joined the Army and began training for the Olympics in 2003.  A knee injury sidelined him so he decided to go into professional wrestling. In 2004, he was signed to a developmental contract with the WWE and assigned to Ohio Valley Wrestling. In mid-2005, he began appearing in dark matches for both Raw and Smackdown and made his television debut on Smackdown in September 2005, defeating Simon Dean.

Early on, Lashley feuded with JBL and Finlay before competing in the Money in the Bank match at WrestleMania 22, a match won by Rob Van Dam. He advanced all the way to the finals of the King of the Ring tournament but lost to Booker T after interference from Finlay. During his feud with Booker T, Lashley won the United States Championship from JBL, which he lost to Finlay two months later. He received his first World Heavyweight Championship match against Booker T which, in turn, turned into a fatal four way which Booker won.

In November 2006, Lashley moved to the ECW brand and immediately put his name in the Extreme Elimination Chamber for the ECW Title in December to Dismember. He won the match and the ECW Championship. He defended the title against everyone in ECW and always came out on top. In early 2007, Donald Trump selected Lashley to represent him in the "Battle of the Billionaires" match against Umaga who was selected by Vince McMahon. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin was selected as special referee of the match which was also a Hair vs. Hair match. Lashley won the match which resulted in McMahon getting his head shaved. Lashley then began a major feud with Vince and Shane McMahon and Umaga. Vince even pinned Lashley to win the ECW Championship from him but Lashley beat McMahon in a Street Fight at One Night Stand to win back the ECW Title. 

Lashley was drafted to Raw and the ECW Title was taken from him due to switching brands. Lashley competed for the WWE Championship against John Cena but came up short in his attempt. In July 2007, Lashley wrestled his last match in the WWE getting "injured" at the hands of Mr. Kennedy. This was time for Lashley to recover from legitimate injuries he suffered over the previous months. In Febuary 2008, he was released from the WWE.

After leaving the WWE, he wrestled one match in the AAA promotion in Mexico but focused on training for a Mixed Martial Arts career. In April 2009, Lashley made his return to professional wrestling when he appeared at the TNA Lockdown Pay Per View. In July, he announced that he had signed with TNA and made his Impact debut to help Mick Foley fight off the Main Event Mafia. He began a feud with Samoa Joe where Lashley cost Joe the X Division title. This led to a submission match between the two at Bound for Glory which Lashley won. Scott Steiner ended Lashley's winning streak in a Falls Count Anywhere match but he beat him in a Last Man Standing to gain some revenge.

On Thanksgiving night, Lashley won a one night tournament to gain a TNA World Title match at some point in the future. On the first Impact of 2010, Lashley and his wife asked for their release from TNA to focus on MMA. Bobby was not released and he has been jumping wrestlers until they meet with Hulk Hogan.