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A veteran WWE Superstar is opening up on a controversial storyline in which officials booked him. The new revelations will surprise most in the industry.
Shelton Benjamin's original WWE run went from January 10, 2000, through April 22, 2010. He found singles success and had a strong faction run, teaming with Charlie Haas as The World's Greatest Tag Team - a part of Team Angle with Kurt Angle. He worked for Japanese promotions, ROH, and others before returning to WWE in August 2017.
WWE paired The Gold Standard with Chad Gable. The babyface tag team was pushed towards the SmackDown Tag Team Championship but failed to win gold. They were disbanded when Gable was sent to RAW in the Superstar Shake-up.
Benjamin recently appeared on The Kurt Angle Show and said he was not happy with being thrown into the tag team. Gable, the current Alpha Academy leader was coming out of his team with Jason Jordan. Benjamin told Angle he felt WWE wanted him to fill Jordan's spot, but they had no concrete plans. He also praised Gable.
"The [return] was a bit of an adjustment period, but they put me with [Chad] Gable first in a tag team. I’ll be honest, I was not happy about that. I just felt like they are just trying to replace [Jason] Jordan. They were trying to replace Jordan with someone similar and I didn’t like that. I also felt like I had enough name value that I didn’t need a partner… I just don’t feel like they really had any plans. I think it was more of a, okay, we need to give Chad a partner. Oh, so let’s stick him with — Shelton’s coming back, they’re both amateur wrestlers, they’re both from Minnesota," he said. [H/T POST Wrestling]
Benjamin continued:
"I don’t think it worked and not to say we didn’t try because Gable’s phenomenal. Jesus Christ, he’s phenomenal. I really wish they would do more with him. The knock is always gonna be his size but I’m like, who cares? That kid is phenomenal. I don’t think I was the right partner for him. But, at the same time, I think he’s phenomenal, I think he’s underutilized, underappreciated. So he has a lot in common with me [laughed]," he said.
Benjamin was released on September 21 of last year. He was let go by Triple H and Co. after he and Stephanie McMahon took over duties from Vince McMahon. This ended Benjamin's second six-year tenure with the company.
Shelton Benjamin on WWE splitting up WGTT
The World's Greatest Tag Team featured Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas, who were a part of Team Angle with Kurt Angle. They held the WWE Tag Team Championship twice, and later held the ROH World Tag Team Championship on two occasions.
WGTT originally dominated WWE from October 22, 2002, through mid-2009. Speaking on The Kurt Angle Show, Benjamin recently talked about how he was not ready to be a singles talent at that time.
The Gold Standard acknowledged that he was talented, but confessed to being lazy until he and The Outlaw crossed paths.
"I’ll be honest, I don’t think I was ready [for a singles run after the split]… So, I was a much better wrestler tagging with Charlie [Haas] because I was so gifted, as far as athleticism. I could do anything. So me and Charlie, we’d sit and talk and we talked about how we wanted to hide our weaknesses and showcase our strengths in each other. ... We gelled so well. We looked out for each other," he said. [H/T to POST Wrestling]
Benjamin praised Haas for helping to boost his athleticism in a tremendous way. He confirmed that both did not want to split up as they felt like the tag team had another year or two in WWE.
WGTT's last match was a win over The Wolves at OVW Brews & Bruises in November 2015. Their last WWE match saw them team with Ricky Ortiz for a six-man loss to Cryme Tyme and R-Truth in June 2009.
What are your favorite Shelton Benjamin memories from WWE? Did you like the Benjamin and Chad Gable tag team? Sound off in the comments section below!
