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What’s the story?
In a recent podcast appearance on E&C’s Pod of Awesomeness, Shelton Benjamin discussed an incident involving the Usos in which he and Charlie Haas had put the newbies through their paces in a gym in Houston, TX.
Benjamin notes that the gym session took place long before the Usos had even had their WWE tryout, before admitting in jest that they’d been fairly easy to intimidate since they “had no clue what they were getting into.”
In case you didn’t know…
The incident in question was first brought up by the Usos when, just like Benjamin, they also featured as guests on E&C’s Pod of Awesomeness.
The Samoan twins had been dragged to a local gym in Houston, where they were well and truly put through their paces by the former World’s Greatest Tag Team.
They spoke of being “killed” in the gym to the point “where you couldn’t even move,” and how they were scared to do it all again the following day.
Going in depth
The following is a transcript of Benjamin’s recent comments, courtesy of WrestlingInc.com:
"… their uncle, Umaga, brought them to Houston [Texas] and we worked out with them. This was long before The Usos even had a [WWE] tryout. That's how long that was going on. Most people think it was after they had their first tryout. No, this is before they were even signed. So yeah, they were pretty easy to intimidate them because they had no clue what they were getting into, especially with Charlie!"
There’d been something of a misconception that the gym incident had taken place when the Usos were already with the company, hence why Benjamin was keen to clear up the timeframe.
Next steps
With Benjamin returning to WWE in August 2017, the possibility of a first-ever in-ring showdown with one, or both, of the Usos is now very much a possibility.
And it’s a possibility that’s made all the more likely to become a reality, given that Benjamin and the Usos are conveniently all currently on the SmackDown brand.
Author’s take
The use of the word "incident" makes this story sound more serious than it is. In actuality, it sounds more like a case of Benjamin and Haas simply testing what the Usos were really made of.
However, it does add an interesting subtext to a potential Benjamin & Chad Gable vs. the Usos tag match—a tag match that’ll surely take place at some point down the line.
