Shelton Benjamin: Difference between revisions
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Benjamin would go on to feud with [[Carly Colon|Carlito]] and others for his Intercontinental Championship before losing the title to [[John Hennigan|Johnny Nitro]] in a [[Professional wrestling match types#Basic non-elimination matches|triple threat match]] also involving Carlito at [[WWE Vengeance#2006|''Vengeance 2006'']]. After the loss Benjamin would remain in the hunt for the championship competing in many #1 contender matches for the title. |
Benjamin would go on to feud with [[Carly Colon|Carlito]] and others for his Intercontinental Championship before losing the title to [[John Hennigan|Johnny Nitro]] in a [[Professional wrestling match types#Basic non-elimination matches|triple threat match]] also involving Carlito at [[WWE Vengeance#2006|''Vengeance 2006'']]. After the loss Benjamin would remain in the hunt for the championship competing in many #1 contender matches for the title. |
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On [[Monday Night Raw]], Benjamin competed in 4 man match for [[Jeff Hardy]]'s intercontinental championship. Benjamin shocked the audience and announcers by pulling off a lot of incredible high-flying moves. [[Jeff Hardy]] came out on top, however Shelton Benjamin was not the one pinned. |
On [[Monday Night Raw]], Benjamin competed in a 4 man match for [[Jeff Hardy]]'s intercontinental championship. Benjamin shocked the audience and announcers by pulling off a lot of incredible high-flying moves. [[Jeff Hardy]] came out on top, however Shelton Benjamin was not the one pinned. |
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==In wrestling== |
==In wrestling== |
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Revision as of 08:12, 19 October 2006
| Shelton Benjamin | |
|---|---|
| File:Sheltonbenjamin2.jpg | |
| Born | July 9, 1975 Orangeburg, South Carolina |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Shelton Benjamin |
| Billed height | 6 ft 2 in (188 cm) |
| Billed weight | 248 lb (112.7 kg) |
| Trained by | Ohio Valley Wrestling |
| Debut | 2000 |
Shelton Albert Benjamin (born July 9, 1975) is an American professional wrestler and former amateur wrestler now working for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)'s RAW brand. Shelton Benjamin is touted as being "the best pure athlete" on the RAW roster by Jim Ross.
Career
Benjamin attended Orangesburg-Wilkinson High School in Orangeburg, South Carolina, and was a letterman in football, wrestling, and track&field. In wrestling, he finished his career with a 122-10 win-loss record, and was a two-time South Carolina State Heavyweight wrestling champion. Shelton Benjamin had a 36-6 win-loss record while attending the University of Minnesota. Benjamin was Brock Lesnar's tag team partner (also a wrestling teammate and roommate at The University of Minnesota) in Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW). Together they were known as The Minnesota Stretching Crew and held the OVW Tag Team Title on three occasions. He and Lesnar appeared in WWE magazines while still in OVW.
After Lesnar was called up to World Wrestling Entertainment, Benjamin formed a tag team with Redd Dogg Begnaud to again hold the OVW Tag Team Title. Shelton did compete on some episodes of WWE HEAT, scoring some upset wins against established WWE Superstars, before becoming an official member of the roster. He was offered his contract by Tom Pritchard in early September in 2002. Shelton Benjamin wore a green no hole mask on these episodes of HEAT.
SmackDown!
He joined WWE's SmackDown! brand as a heel along with Charlie Haas in 2002 to form Team Angle, with Olympic gold-medallist wrestler Kurt Angle as their mentor. However they quickly turned on their mentor Kurt Angle.
Their first official match in WWE together was on the January 2, 2003 edition of SmackDown! against Edge and Chris Benoit in a feud that continued until No Way Out 2003.
The duo managed to win their first WWE Tag Team Championship just a month into their debut by defeating the then WWE Tag Team Champions, Los Guerreros (Eddie and Chavo) on February 6, 2003. The two men then went on to compete in their first WrestleMania which was WrestleMania XIX. A month later where they would retain the WWE Tag Team Championship in a match involving the team of Rhyno and Benoit, and Los Guerreros. Team Angle would win the match after pinning Chavo Guerrero. Team Angle would later lose the title to Eddie Guerrero and new partner Tajiri, who was a substitute for the injured Chavo Guerrero during the Judgment Day pay-per-view in 2003 only to win the title back a couple of weeks later on SmackDown!.
The pair would split away from Angle before soon referring to themselves as The World's Greatest Tag Team. The team would continue to dominate the SmackDown! tag division holding the title until Los Guerreros returned and took them away. Benjamin would suffer a knee injury that would take him out for a couple weeks but the pair would soon compete together again even, taking part in WrestleMania XX. Benjamin would then be drafted to RAW and his career would begin to take off.
RAW
Upon arriving on RAW, Benjamin quickly became a face singles star by picking up an upset pinfall victory on one of WWE's main event superstars, Triple H. Benjamin continued being pushed as an up-and-coming star, picking up two more victories over Triple H making Shelton Benjamin one of only four people (the others being Chris Benoit, Batista, and Shawn Michaels) to beat Triple H three times in a row, beating him by pinfall, countout and disqualification, respectively.
As an up-and-coming singles star, Benjamin would feud with the other members of Triple H's stable Evolution which saw Benjamin defeat Ric Flair during Backlash 2004 and face Randy Orton in a WWE Intercontinental Championship match at Bad Blood 2004.
During a match with Lance Cade, Benjamin would punch Cade's kneebrace breaking his hand in the process which briefly put Benjamin out of action. Benjamin returned in the fall of 2004, and would be chosen by the fans to compete for the Intercontinental Championship in a match against then-champion Chris Jericho at Taboo Tuesday. Benjamin won the match, winning his first singles title in the company and the 100th holder of the title.
During his reign as the Intercontinental Champion, Benjamin defeated challengers such as Christian at Survivor Series 2004, Maven which he did twice at New Years Revolution 2005 becoming the first person defend and retain the title twice in the same night against the same opponent, and Chris Jericho at Backlash 2005. Benjamin would finally lose the title to Carlito on June 20, 2005.
During this time, Benjamin also participated in several matches that would see him be credited by many for "stealing the show." One of these matches was the very first "Money In The Bank" Ladder Match at WrestleMania 21, another was a match on RAW against Shawn Michaels in the 'Gold Rush' tournament where the winner would receive a shot at the World Heavyweight Championship. The finish of this match saw Michaels' Sweet Chin Music Benjamin while he was in mid-air springboarding towards Michaels off the top rope. Michaels would later say that Benjamin was the greatest young superstar he had seen in the last 20 years.
After that, Benjamin's career went into a bit of a slump. For months afterwards, Benjamin was wrestling mainly on RAWs sister show HEAT. He was found jobbing to wrestlers on RAW Such as Carlito, Chris Masters, Snitsky and Rob Conway. Many WWE fans thought this was unfair, due to the quality of Benjamin's athleticism and wrestling skills. While Benjamin was performing on HEAT, he engaged in a brief feud with Chavo Guerrero (under the Kerwin White gimmick) and his caddy Nick Nemeth, mainly losing to them. Matt Striker came to his aid in one of their matches, but turned on Benjamin soon after in a tag match between the four.
On the December 5, 2005 edition of RAW, Benjamin was encouraged by Shawn Michaels to show "more attitude" during their tag match together later in the night. Benjamin hinted at a heel turn by carelessly losing the match for himself and his partner Michaels.
Benjamin's carelessness cost him two more important matches over the next several weeks, which led to Benjamin's noisy, scolding, and domineering "Momma" (played by comedian/actress Thea Vidale) coming to RAW to confront Benjamin about his losing streak. Momma would slap and yell at Benjamin anytime he lost a match, and before long she would assist Benjamin in his matches, often cheating on his behalf. For example, she would hit Viscera with a brick hidden in her handbag, and stabbing Val Venis' "bottom" with one of her hairpins. Though Momma got Benjamin off his losing streak she would slowly turn him heel.
As soon as Benjamin turned heel he gained more confidence which won him Intercontinental Championship gold once again. Benjamin would later feud with then-Intercontinental Champion Ric Flair, who would refer to Benjamin as a "Momma's Boy", a nickname Benjamin would not be fond of. On the February 20, 2006 edition of RAW, Shelton Benjamin, with Momma at ringside, defeated Ric Flair to regain the Intercontinental Championship, after Momma faked a heart problem, causing enough of a distraction to allow Benjamin to cheat and win the title.
Benjamin, along with Momma, would continue to feud with Ric Flair. Shelton's Momma was later written out of the script, with Benjamin stating that she was undergoing heart surgery in the hospital, and that he held Flair responsible. This was partially true, as the actress who played Momma Benjamin, Thea Vidale, was suffering from health problems that was preventing her from being more active at ringside. With the Momma Benjamin angle scrapped, Shelton's character would become more of a cocky character reminiscent of The Rock. Jim Ross has also compared this new cocky persona to that of Terrell Owens.
Shelton Benjamin would later compete in the second Money in the Bank ladder match during WrestleMania 22, where, once again, he was credited with stealing the show. Benjamin would later feud with the winner of that match, Rob Van Dam, in an attempt to take RVD's Money in the Bank contract. During this time, Benjamin would emphasize his heel turn by wearing shades, jewelry, and occasional colored shirts while entering the ring. At one point, Benjamin would be defeated by his former tag team partner, the returning, Charlie Haas during an episode of RAW. A stipulation added to this loss meant that Benjamin would have to defend the Intercontinental title in the same match as his shot at RVD's contract, meaning at Backlash 2006 it would be a "Winner Takes All" match. Rob Van Dam would come out on top during the Backlash match to take Benjamin's Intercontinental title.
However, it wouldn't be long before Benjamin regained the title from Rob Van Dam. Which happened in a unique Texas tornado tag match, pitting Benjamin, Triple H and Chris Masters against Van Dam and then-WWE Champion John Cena. Both the WWE and Intercontinental championships could be won by whoever pinned the appropriate champion. After Triple H pedigreed Van Dam, he turned his attentions to John Cena and went for the pin on the WWE champion. However, Benjamin got to Van Dam first, picking up the pin and the Intercontinental Championship. This would be Benjamin's third Intercontinental Championship reign, all of which were in under two years.
Benjamin would go on to feud with Carlito and others for his Intercontinental Championship before losing the title to Johnny Nitro in a triple threat match also involving Carlito at Vengeance 2006. After the loss Benjamin would remain in the hunt for the championship competing in many #1 contender matches for the title.
On Monday Night Raw, Benjamin competed in a 4 man match for Jeff Hardy's intercontinental championship. Benjamin shocked the audience and announcers by pulling off a lot of incredible high-flying moves. Jeff Hardy came out on top, however Shelton Benjamin was not the one pinned.
In wrestling
- Finishing and signature moves
- T-Bone / Exploder Powerslam (Exploder suplex lift into a powerslam pin)
- Dragon Whip / Shell Shocker / Money Clip (Dragon whip)
- 450° splash - in OVW
- Falling gutwrench powerbomb
- Superkick
- Stinger splash
- Samoan drop
- German suplex
- Northern Lights suplex
- Flying clothesline
- Inverted facelock backbreaker
- Springboard Blockbuster
- Top rope springboard bulldog
- Falling neckbreaker, as a counter to a vertical suplex where Benjamin lands on his feet first
- Managers
- Nicknames
- Mr. Benjamin
- Momma's Boy
Championships and accomplishments
- Black Athlete Sports Network
- 2005 African-American Wrestler of the Year
- 4-time OVW Southern Tag Team Championship - with Brock Lesnar (3) and Redd Dogg (1)
- PWI Tag Team of the Year Award, with Charlie Haas (2003)
- PWI Top 500 wrestlers: ranked 9th (2005)
- 3-time WWE Intercontinental Championship
- 2-time WWE Tag Team Champion - with Charlie Haas
- 2005 Most Underrated Wrestler
Trivia
- His favorite wrestlers growing up were Sting, Steiner Brothers, and Undertaker.
- Benjamin is a fan of video games. THQ holds an annual charity gaming tournament involving WWE Superstars, and Shelton has won the contest four years in a row (2003-2006).
- Shelton Benjamin was best man at the wedding of Charlie Haas and Jackie Gayda.
- Shelton Benjamin has worn a yellow ribbon on the back of his kickpad in support of the troops.