Current AEW champion bold claim on his historical title win in WWE, "I officially overachieved my own goals"

A current AEW champion opened up about his time in WWE. He also addressed a historic title win in the company.

Shelton Benjamin first made a name for himself in WWE during his initial run from 2002 to 2010. During this time, he established himself as one of the best pure athletes in the ring and was a solid mid-carder. During his time with the company, he won the Intercontinental Championship three times. His first IC Title win took place at Taboo Tuesday in 2004 against Chris Jericho.

Benjamin discussed this historic win during a recent appearance on Maven's YouTube channel. He recalled how there were not many black singles champions when he was growing up.

"From this moment here, I am officially overachieving as a WWE Superstar, as far as my perception of where my career was going. Growing up in South Carolina, I always watched wrestling. I loved wrestling. However, there was not a lot of black singles champions, not saying there weren’t any, but I saw more championships on black tag teams than on black singles.”

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He further added that he came to WWE to win the tag titles and never thought about winning any singles titles.

“So when I joined WWE, my perception was, ‘Oh, it’d be great if I can win the Tag Team Championship there.’ I’m not thinking about World Titles. I’m not thinking about US Titles or Intercontinental Titles. So when I won this, I’m literally going, 'I’ve officially overachieved my own goals.'" [H/T Fightful]

AEW star Shelton Benjamin still has something to prove to the fans

Despite his athletic skills, Shelton Benjamin was never able to break out of the mid-card scene in WWE, which many believe was a missed opportunity. However, now in AEW, Benjamin looks like he is in the shape of his life and is still performing at an elite level.

During an exclusive interview with Bill Apter on Sportskeeda WrestleBinge, the AEW star said he wants to show people what he can do before he retires.

"Honestly, it is hard work, perseverance, a great support team, you know, and like I said, a no quit attitude. I knew I had more to give. I knew what they had seen in other universes was not the best of Shelton Benjamin. So, before I end this, I want to show the people who I really am." [From 01:48 onwards]

It will be interesting to see if Shelton Benjamin will be able to reach his full potential in AEW.

About the author

Sunil is a pro wrestling journalist, covering AEW and WWE news stories at Sportskeeda. He holds an MBA degree in Marketing, and has nearly 7 years of experience. A wrestling aficionado since childhood, Sunil used to imitate his favorite wrestlers as a young kid, and started writing professionally about the sport via Sportskeeda’s revenue-sharing opportunity.

Sunil admires former world champions AJ Styles, Will Ospreay, and Kenny Omega for their ability to consistently deliver great matches as well as entertain crowds with their mic skills.

If ever given a chance to change a storyline, Sunil would have booked Roman Reigns to end The Undertaker’s WrestleMania streak instead of Brock Lesnar. According to him, The Tribal Chief needed the victory more than Brock Lesnar, as the latter was already an established performer when he defeated ‘Taker. He would’ve also made that as Taker’s final match.

Always focused on making his work accurate and reliable, Sunil thoroughly checks his facts before writing his articles. When not writing for pro wrestling, he spends his time watching cricket.

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Edited by Jeevak Ambalgi