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What's the story?
Just moments after performing at WrestleMania in the Andre The Giant Battle Royal, Shelton Benjamin has revealed that his father passed away only yesterday.
In case you didn't know...
Benjamin began his professional wrestling career in WWE's developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling, purchased yesterday by Al Snow, in 2000 and would remain with the WWE until his release in 2010.
After being announced to return then sidelined by injury, Benjamin would return in August of 2017 to replace Jason Jordan as Chad Gable's tag team partner.
The heart of the matter
Just moments after his appearance on 'The Grandest Stage of Them All', Shelton Benjamin took to Instagram to reveal the sad news that his father passed away yesterday.
Benjamin dedicated his WrestleMania performance to his dad, in the heartbreaking post on Instagram, praising his dad for "not being a big guy" but, teaching him all about inner strength.
The former Intercontinental Champion competed in the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal and dedicated the match to his dad.
What's next?
Shelton Benjamin and Chad Gable are on the SmackDown Live brand and, while they haven't quite managed to get their hands on gold yet, they've had some very strong showings, including on this week's SmackDown in the main event against Shinsuke Nakamura and AJ Styles.
The pair were left out of the multi-team Tag Team Championship Match tonight but, did perform in the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal.
We'll see where they go from here on Tuesday!
Author's take
Well, this is heartbreaking, but huge props to Shelton Benjamin for showing that inner strength he praised his dad for having, and going out on 'The Grandest Stage of Them All' and performing one day after losing his father.
I and the team and Sportskeeda extend our heartfelt condolences to Shelton Benjamin and his family at this time.
