Shelton Benjamin Recalls What Was His Career-Defining Moment In WWE

AEW star Shelton Benjamin has reflected on a pivotal point in his wrestling journey, his first singles title in WWE, and how it reshaped his view of what he could achieve in the business.

Speaking with Maven Huffman on the former WWE Tough Enough winner’s YouTube channel, Shelton Benjamin revisited his 2004 Intercontinental Championship win over Chris Jericho at the Taboo Tuesday pay-per-view, a moment he described as surpassing all his expectations.

“From this moment on, I am officially overachieving as a WWE Superstar, as far as my perception of where my career was going,” Benjamin said. “Growing up in South Carolina, I always watched wrestling, I loved wrestling. However, there were not a lot of black singles champions, not saying there weren’t any, but I saw more championships on black tag teams than on black singles.”

Benjamin, who began his WWE journey in the developmental system in 2000, didn’t initially set his sights on singles gold. His early ambition was rooted in tag team success, a milestone he reached in 2003 when he and Charlie Haas captured the WWE Tag Team Championship from Chavo and Eddie Guerrero.

“So when I joined WWE, my perception was, ‘Oh, it’d be great if I could win the Tag Team Championship there,’” he explained. “I’m not thinking about World Titles, I’m not thinking about US Titles or Intercontinental Titles. So when I won this, I’m literally going, ‘I’ve officially overachieved my own goals.’”

Benjamin went on to establish himself as one of WWE’s most athletic performers and had many memorable encounters over the years, including his May 2, 2005 Raw match with Shawn Michaels, which is regarded as one of the best Raw matches of all time.

When Did Shelton Benjamin Know His Time With WWE Was Over?

Shelton Benjamin spoke about how he knew his second run with WWE was finished in 2023. Benjamin said that he had a disappointing meeting with Vince McMahon, who told him that the company had done all they could with The Hurt Business faction and that, after eight months of them being together, he was pulling the plug. Benjamin said it was at that moment he knew that his time with WWE was coming to an end.

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