When Shelton Benjamin Knew His WWE Career Was Over
Shelton Benjamin has pinpointed the exact moment he knew his WWE career was over.
After returning to WWE in 2017, Shelton Benjamin initially teamed with Chad Gable before meandering through the lower-mid-card as a singles star.
However, his fortunes changed in mid-2020 when he joined forces with MVP and Bobby Lashley as part of the Hurt Business. The subsequent run which became a huge part of Monday Night Raw during the COVID-19 pandemic saw Benjamin win tag team gold and enjoy his most prominent position in years.
But less than a year later the group was unceremoniously broken up — a decision Bobby Lashley described as a “spit in the face.”
Shelton Benjamin Reflects On Disappointing Vince McMahon Meeting
During an appearance on Talk Is Jericho, Benjamin recalled being told the Hurt Business was coming to an end. He went on to reveal that after being given the news he went to see Vince McMahon but left feeling betrayed, knowing his career with the company was all but over.
“Things were going extremely well over in WWE — and I like to say this because people say WWE. Not WWE, Vince, for whatever reason, he decided that the money was with Bobby and MVP as his manager and he was just done with it, the Hurt Business. We never gotten a straight answer as to why.
When I initially got the news, I went to Vince and was like — I’d been there for a few years with nothing happened and I was like, ‘I finally have something that we can actually work with and elevate me that benefits the company, especially during the pandemic era because in my opinion, the Hurt Business and Roman Reigns carried WWE during the pandemic era. I felt a bit betrayed because I come here every week, I never complain, I risk my life just like everybody else.
When other people wanted to stay home, you never had to question whether or not I’d come to work. So, for us to bear that burden — and mind you, obviously we’re not the only ones. We’re not the only people, but the fact that we were always willing and we were actually producing, for you to just immediately turn around and just kill it, what the f*ck man?’
His comment to me was, ‘We’ve gone as far as we can with the Hurt Business.’ The Hurt Business was around for eight months before he pulled the plug. When he said that, it was almost like you want to cry inside because nothing I can do for this person seems to help. Nothing’s good enough. I knew then, I don’t really have a future here.
At this point, this is just a job where I’m just collecting a check. I want to care, I’ve never been a guy who wants to just sit on the bench and ride the wave that everyone else has created. I want to lead the charge, be the momentum behind the machine. I was like, ‘He’s just never gonna let that happen.’”
On the January 22nd edition of Dynamite, Shelton Benjamin will get his first shot at AEW gold when he teams with Bobby Lashley to challenge Private Party for the World Tag Team Titles. Benjamin’s last title win came back in December 2020 when he and Cedric Alexander won the Raw Tag Team Titles. The duo held titles until the following March.
H/t to Fightful