Robert Franklin Lashley (born July 16, 1976) is an American professional wrestler and mixed martial artist currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand.
During Lashley's initial tenure with WWE, he was a two-time ECW World Champion and one-time United States Champion. Lashley is also known for his time in Impact Wrestling, where he was a four-time Impact World Heavyweight Champion, a one-time X Division Champion, and one-time and final King of the Mountain Champion. Between WWE and Impact, Lashley has won a total of 9 championships, and headlined multiple pay-per-view events.
Robert Franklin Lashley was born the son of a United States Army drill sergeant with three older sisters; the family occasionally moved from one military base to another during his childhood. While his father was stationed at Fort Riley in Kansas, Lashley attended Fort Riley Middle School where he was introduced to amateur wrestling in seventh grade as an off-season alternative to football. He later graduated from Junction City High School, where he continued to wrestle. Lashley attended Missouri Valley College, where in 1996, 1997 and 1998, he was the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) National Wrestling Champion in the 177 lbs category and in 1999 he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in human-service agency management and recreation administration. As of 2015, Lashley had a sister still on active service in the United States Air Force and he himself followed his father into the army after college, where he continued to compete in amateur wrestling in the army's World Class Athlete Program. During three years in the Army, Lashley won a gold and silver medal in the International Military Sports Council senior freestyle wrestling event.