While discussing Dolph Ziggler, Kevin Sullivan also touched on the release of Shelton Benjamin. According to Jim Cornette—who oversaw the OVW class of 2002—mentioned Benjamin as the pure athlete of the group which included Cena, Batista, Lesnar, and Orton. As a matter of fact, Cornette made sure to discuss him as he’s usually a superstar who is mentioned when discussing the class.
Kevin Sullivan Touches On WWE Releasing Shelton Benjamin
Benjamin arrived in the WWE system in 2000 and was paired with college roommate Brock Lesnar as the Minnesota Stretching Crew in OVW. While he has shown over the years that he is a capable singles wrestler, the charisma element was missing there and most of his career success has come as a tag team competitor.
However, that doesn’t dent that he was always a team player and loyal to WWE. As Kevin Sullivan pointed out on his podcast:
“Then Shelton Benjamin, who’s a great friend of mine, he trained amateur with Brock’s coach. He did anything they wanted, ‘The Gold Standard,’ let go, come back, The Hurt [Business] and you let him go?”
“The Gold Standard” was definitely an odd period for Shelton Benjamin that possibly could’ve worked if he had a mouthpiece and he handled the action. It was just Shelton with dyed hair and wearing gold. He didn’t change anything about himself outside of talking on the mic more. If anything, it seemed like a sink-swim gimmick where Benjamin managed to tread water for a long time.
To Sullivan’s point, ultimately it doesn’t matter how long a wrestler has been a company guy if the company feels that a worker is expendable. Personally, I’d take that into account and see if there was somewhere they could be plugged in within the WWE system—which there are, the system is a well-oiled machine.
This is the case for both Dolph Ziggler and Shelton Benjamin. Both are still good in the ring and can go but WWE is focused on a new generation of stars. They’re probably looking to cut down on the number of stars from previous generations who are up there in age. While Benjamin was never super injury-prone, he’s almost 50 and a superstar from the Ruthless Aggression era.
Even though the schedule is better than when Benjamin wrestled and his athleticism makes him able to hang with younger, more physical and athletic superstars, age is still an issue. In a way, Shelton Benjamin is star who came about a decade too early.
Where do you believe Shelton will end up next? There’s still in-ring value left in him and he’s no stranger to the indys or Japan. Let us know in the comments!
CHECK IT OUT: Get The Overtimer’s Hottest Stories, Breaking News and Special Features in your email, CLICK HERE!
