Shelton Benjamin Shouldn’t Have Been Stopped
Looking back on one of the most underutilized WWE Superstars ever.
Achieving greatness while being underutilized seems to contradict itself. How is one acknowledged for their greatness, but in the same breath, they’re not given the recognition they deserve? This paradox describes Shelton Benjamin.
He’s widely acknowledged as quite possibly the greatest athlete in wrestling history. If he’s not the greatest, he’s in the top five, and he sure isn’t No. 5.
Three-Sport Athlete
Since his days at Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School, Shelton Benjamin has been a standout athlete, becoming successful in not just one, but three sports. He won two South Carolina high school heavyweight wrestling championships. Then, he moved onto community college, where he became a National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) track and field champion, as well as becoming an NJCAA collegiate wrestling champion.
As if winning championships in wrestling and track wasn’t enough, Benjamin went on to earn a full football scholarship at North Carolina State University before transferring to the University of Minnesota on a wrestling scholarship for his junior and senior years. Benjamin also was a two-time All-American at the University of Minnesota.
After he graduated, Benjamin was the assistant wrestling coach at Minnesota and had the opportunity to coach a relatively well-known guy named Brock Lesnar.
OVW
That relationship with Lesnar eventually led to Benjamin being signed to Ohio Valley Wrestling. Gerald Brisco came to Minnesota to scout Lesnar, but was informed by J Robinson, the head coach of the Minnesota wrestling team, that there was another guy to look at.
Brisco eventually talked to that guy, who just happened to be Shelton Benjamin, and as Briscoe told Mike Mooneyham, it didn’t take him long to figure out that Benjamin was special. “Five minutes with Shelton convinced me that everything J told me about him was true,” Brisco said. “Tremendous personality, charisma, tremendous athlete, and a really good person. We signed him.”
Benjamin was a part of a special class of wrestlers when he got to OVW, performers like John Cena, Randy Orton, Batista, his Minnesota Stretching Crew tag team partner Lesnar and his future tag team partner Charlie Haas. The Attitude Era was over, and WWE had to figure out what was next. A new crop of stars was needed to bolster the main roster: Lesnar, Cena, Orton and Batista were all called up around this time.
Lesnar was a superstar on his first night on Raw, while Cena, Batista and Orton struggled. Meanwhile, Benjamin and Haas were still waiting for their opportunity, which came on December 26, 2002.
Team Angle
Paul Heyman introduced Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas to a worldwide audience as Team Angle, two decorated amateur wrestlers to support Kurt Angle and ensure that he remain WWE Champion. That’s a major role to be thrust into, but Benjamin and Haas thrived. Team Angle exuded legitimacy unlike any other stable since the Varsity Club in the 1980s. They also rocked some of the most glorious warm-up suits in existence.
Within a month of their debut, Benjamin and Haas were SmackDown Tag Team Champions. Team Angle had a dominant three-month run heading into WrestleMania XIX, where Benjamin and Haas retained the gold and Angle headlined in a losing effort to Lesnar. Unfortunately, their leader suffered a neck injury that required surgery, putting him on the shelf for a couple months.
Benjamin and Hass stepped up in Angle’s absence. They put on great performances night after night, including a fantastic ladder match at Judgment Day 2003 against Eddie Guerrero and Tajiri. When Angle returned, the birds were ready to fly out the nest, so the decision was made to split up Team Angle.
Benjamin and Haas then became The World’s Greatest Tag Team. However, SmackDown’s tag division was shallow, and there weren’t many teams on their level. Everything that could have been done as a team they did, and they would only be in a holding pattern if they remained together. The potential for singles stardom was too high to waste, especially in the case of Benjamin.
Singles Stardom
The 2004 WWE Draft rolled around, and Shelton Benjamin was drafted to Raw while Hass remained on SmackDown. For the first time in his career, Benjamin was on his own. No Lesnar. No Angle. No Haas. His fate was in his own hands now, and he made the most of his opportunity.
He quickly entered into a brief feud with Triple H, during The Game’s “reign of terror” on Raw. Triple H, wielding backstage power due to his real-life marriage with Stephanie McMahon, had beaten Kane, RVD, Booker T and Goldberg during their hottest periods in the company. Getting a win against Triple H during this time was nearly impossible, especially for a young, unproven grappler like Benjamin.
Yet, the impossible happened. Benjamin beat Triple H, not one, not two, but three different times. He followed up by feuding with the rest of Evolution, having matches with Ric Flair and Orton on separate pay-per-views.
There was something special about Shelton Benjamin. His otherworldly athleticism, innate likability and instant credibility made him easy to root for. His talents also made up for whatever deficiencies he had on the mic. A young, black wrestler that didn’t have a stereotypical gimmick, Benjamin was breaking the mold. He didn’t have to wait a decade to get a big push (Mark Henry) and was portrayed as the future of WWE. Beating Triple H was a signal to the audience that this guy is special, so keep an eye on him. Like his theme song said, there was no stopping him now.
His upward trajectory continued as he defeated Chris Jericho at Taboo Tuesday for the Intercontinental Championship in a great match that was called entirely in the ring by those two. Benjamin would go on to have a great reign as champion, carrying the title into the first Money in the Bank at WrestleMania 21.
Mr. Money in the Bank
Few people have ever had as electric a performance as Shelton Benjamin in that Money in the Bank match. The innovative spots that he came up with are still heavily replayed to this day. He set the energetic tone for future Money in the Bank matches and inspired the ladder match animations in every subsequent WWE game.
He followed up his MITB performance with a classic match against Shawn Michaels that resulted in one of the most memorable spots of all time. Benjamin springboarded off the top rope, into the center of the ring, and directly into a sweet chin music by HBK. There was even a meeting between Benjamin and his former Team Angle leader to bring his career full circle.
He should have kept ascending, eventually finding himself in the World Heavyweight/WWE Championship picture, but the opposite happened.
The Glass Ceiling
After losing to Carlito, ending the longest Intercontinental Title reign of the decade at 244 days, Shelton Benjamin was placed in a storyline where he was on a losing streak.
As a result, his buzz faded. The reactions got quieter and his star dimmed. We learned that the losing streak storyline was simply a vehicle to introduce a new character: Shelton Benjamin’s “Momma.”
The character was played by actress Thea Vidale and was portrayed as a stereotypical, almost “Mammy” like caricature of a black woman. Benjamin’s “Momma” helped him get back on the winning track, regaining the IC title after a heel turn. However, all the main event momentum that he had built up from 2004 to half of 2005 was essentially lost. The knock on Benjamin was that he wasn’t great on the mic, so that was the reason why he couldn’t ascend to main event status. However, he was still over as a babyface, and it wasn’t until he was placed in a storyline where he was on a losing streak that the fans started to view him as having a glass ceiling. WWE’s solution to give him help on the mic came “too little, too late” in the words of Jojo, and WWE chose the wrong person to manage him.
Despite being a national champion track star, Benjamin couldn’t make it over all the hurdles WWE placed in front of him.
Life After Glass Ceiling
It became clear that WWE only viewed Shelton Benjamin at a certain level, and once fans catch wind of that, it’s hard to come back from.
Of course, he continued to show he’s one of the greatest athletes to ever step foot in a WWE ring, dazzling in more ladder matches, including an underrated classic that he had over the ECW Championship against Christian at TLC 2010. Closing out the decade, The World’s Greatest Tag Team briefly reunited, Benjamin became the gold standard and he even inspired a 12-year-old Kyle Kuzma. Through it all, he just could never break that glass ceiling.
Benjamin left WWE in 2010. He had good runs in Ring Of Honor, New Japan Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling NOAH before finally returning to WWE in 2018. He’s had moderate success since then, winning the Tag Team Championship once again with new partner Chad Gable. Still, as has become the theme of his WWE tenure, he remains underutilized.
As he’s done throughout his career, though, Shelton Benjamin has made the most of his opportunities. On the October 21, 2019 edition of Raw, he interrupted an injured Rey Mysterio and perhaps the best promo of his career, calling back to his friendship with Lesnar and playing the bully role perfectly. It leaves one to wonder if there was some untapped potential with Benjamin on the mic.
Give Him His Flowers
His career resembles that of former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb in the sense that both were great athletes that achieved considerable amounts of success, but couldn’t break through the glass ceiling. Benjamin never being quite able to break through into the main event scene and Donovan McNabb never being able to win a Super Bowl, despite being on the cusp several times. Both athletes are acknowledged as great, but always with the caveat of “what if” attached to their legacies.
It’s fun to examine “what ifs,” but it’s also important to acknowledge people that have achieved great things while they’re here to appreciate it. So, after this 20-year odyssey of innovation and creating unforgettable moments, it’s time to give Shelton Benjamin his flowers.
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