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WWE Celebrates 20 Years of Shelton Benjamin With Comments From His Peers

By TJR Staff • Published 27th December 2022
Shelton Benjamin

WWE has released a tribute video to mark the 20th anniversary of Shelton Benjamin’s debut in the company.

After an impressive amateur career, Shelton Benjamin burst onto the pro wrestling scene on the December 26th, 2002 edition of Monday Night Raw as part of Kurt Angle’s ‘Team Angle’ alongside Charlie Haas.

Benjamin and Haas went on to capture the WWE Tag Team Championships twice both as part of Team Angle and after they split from their mentor, The World’s Greatest Tag Team.

As a singles competitor, Benjamin captured the Intercontinental Championship on three occasions as well as achieving a 243-day reign with the United States Championship.

During a nearly seven-year hiatus from WWE, The Gold Standard reunited with Haas and the pair saw success in Ring of Honor where they won the Tag Team Titles twice. Benjamin also wrestled around the world on the independent scene as well as joining New Japan Pro Wrestling’s famed Suzuki-Gun stable.

Since returning to WWE in 2017, the star has seen most success as a member of the MVP-led Hurt Business where he and Cedric Alexander became the Raw Tag Team Champions. Since the group disbanded in early 2022, Benjamin has been teaming with R-Truth, appearing mostly on Main Event.

To mark 20 years of Shelton Benjamin, WWE has released a video featuring multiple stars paying tribute to The Gold Standard including Shawn Michaels, Kurt Angle, and Kofi Kingston. Angle gave the star “a lot of credit” for lasting two decades in the ring.

“20 years, that’s almost impossible. I didn’t make it 20 years. Shelton Benjamin did, and I give him a lot of credit for that. He is a tough dude to be able to do what he does.”

Meanwhile, Kingston saw Benjamin as an inspiration growing up.

“I used to watch Shelton when I wanted to be here. When I was growing up, Shelton Benjamin was the guy that was like, ‘Man, look at all these athletic moves, look at all these manoeuvres, man.’ I think I can do maybe some of those.”

Benjamin responded to the video to thank WWE and the fans, but also made it clear he has no intentions of stopping anytime soon.

“@WWE@WWEUniverseThank you for allowing me the opportunity to do what I love entertain and live out my childhood dream. It has been one hell of a ride. I am thankful I am grateful I am NOT Done. Even After 20 year “Ain’t no stoppin me NOW”!!”

H/T to SEScoops for the above transcription.