Shelton James Benjamin is an American professional wrestler signed with WWE. He is best known for his work with WWE and other independent promotions. He is a former Intercontinental, United States, and RAW Tag Team Champion.
In 2000, he signed with the company and began working with OVW. He won the OVW Tag Team Championship on three occasions with Brock Lesnar. In 2002, they moved him to SmackDown, where he formed The World's Greatest Tag Team with Charlie Haas and joined Team Angle. The team won the WWE Tag Team Championship on two occasions. In 2004, they moved him to RAW, where he quickly rose to prominence.
At Taboo Tuesday, he won the Intercontinental Championship from Chris Jericho. In 2005, he lost the title to Carlito. In 2006, Benjamin turned heel and got a new manager. He defeated Ric Flair to win his second Intercontinental Championship. In May, he won his third Intercontinental Championship by defeating RVD. In December, he reunited with Charlie Haas but failed to win the gold.
In 2007, he received a new gimmick as The Gold Standard and began working in ECW. In 2008, they drafted him to SmackDown, where he defeated Matt Hardy to win the United States Championship. At SmackDown 500, he lost the title to MVP. Benjamin spent the remaining years taking part in Money in the Bank ladder matches before leaving the company.
After being released from WWE, Benjamin began working for several top independent promotions, such as NJPW, NOAH, and ROH. In ROH, he reunited with Charlie Haas to reform The World's Greatest Tag Team. The duo won the ROH World Tag Team Championship on two occasions.
In 2017, Benjamin returned to the company and began teaming up with Chad Gable. The duo stayed together for a year but failed to win the SmackDown Tag Team Championship. In 2018, Benjamin was involved in a storyline with Randy Orton and Jeff Hardy. Benjamin spent the next two years in battle royales and royal rumble matches.
In 2020, he joined The Hurt Business. Benjamin won the 24/7 Championship and began teaming up with Cedric Alexander. In December, they won the RAW Tag Team Championship from The New Day. In 2021, they lost the titles back to The New Day. In March, Benjamin and Alexander were attacked by Bobby Lashley and they were removed from the group.
After the stable disbanded, Benjamin and Alexander remained as a tag team and spent their time in the tag team division. The stable reunited on several occasions, but never stayed together as long as they did in their first run. Benjamin was last seen on RAW.
