7 living legends that we may bid farewell to in 2019

#5 Shelton Benjamin

One of the most under-utilized stars of all-time.

If you can truly call yourself a "close friend" to Brock Lesnar, you have got to be a pretty tough individual, or just completely insane. When it comes to Shelton Benjamin, very few have been able to get as close to The Beast Incarnate as he has. In fact, Lesnar and Benjamin once lived together back when Lesnar was not quite as financially sound as he is today.

Lesnar asked Benjamin for a place to stay and of course, his buddy obliged and Lesnar then moved into Benjamin's home and took up residence in his basement. Since then, the two have apparently remained very close friends.

Like Lesnar, Shelton Benjamin was also an accomplished amateur wrestler, with success on the collegiate level as well. In fact, both of these WWE Superstars attended college at The University of Minnesota, where both competed in wrestling. It's also worth mentioning that Benjamin being a couple of years older than Brock, he was once Brock's assistant wrestling coach.

In the year 2000, Shelton Benjamin embarked on a new journey, one that included signing his first WWE contract. Shelton was first assigned to WWE's then-developmental brand, Ohio Valley Wrestling(OVW).

In continuing with the theme, you may not be surprised to learn that both Brock and Benjamin signed around the same time and when they reported to OVW, they joined forces and formed a tag team, which was known then as "The Minnesota Stretching Crew."

Shelton has quietly had a successful run as a professional wrestler. With multiple reigns as a tag team champion, as well as being a 3-time Intercontinental Champion, Shelton has accumulated his fair share of hardware along the way.

However, now at 43-years young, the company is continuously getting younger and it appears they are having a difficult time finding a creative direction for the 18-year veteran. Like several others on this list, Benjamin would also make a tremendous coach for the NXT team, if that's something he would be interested in. Very few would be as qualified for the job as Benjamin is.