Was there a correct time for Shelton Benjamin to be world champion?
Vložit
- čas přidán 4. 04. 2023
- I decided to watch back most of Shelton Benjamins career in an effort to find out if there was a correct time for this man to be made the WWE champion. This is something that is often discussed on internet message boards so I believed it was time for The Hawk to do some investigating. Could and should this man have been world champion. Let’s find out because I was unsure. We look at his initial push I. 2003 when he feuded with Triple H and Evolution. His time with his “Mumma” and his time as The Gold Standard.
Make The Hawk talk: www.patreon.com/user?u=27112575 - Komedie
I’m working on a very big video, something a bit different so apologies on the length of this one! Never know if people want shorter or longer videos anyway!
Marky Can You Do A Video ON VAN HAMMER'S ENTIRE WCW CAREER PLEASE, Also Can You do A Video ON THE ENTIRE WCW WOMEN'S DIVISON.
@@geeshep4836 will add to my list but no promises. The womens one is more likely as it follows on from the Wcw hardcore one I made!
Los Guerreros for ring of the hawk!
Can you do a video on Jershow on Roh? And The Big Show in Ecw?
i think around 20 mins is sweet spot
In a world where Jack Swagger got a world title run Shelton absolutely deserved it
but swagger is white. if shelton got a title push they would be calling it woke booking and crying about how oppressed and held back the white man is 😆
Swagger Ziggler ADR and plenty more should have never got the title either tbh
@@Mr92094Ziggler deserved it
@@YeTism Ziggler got hurt when he actually won the title.
Ezekiel Jackson was the last ECW champion Shelton was way more talented 🤨
Crazy to think that Shelton debuted in WWE the same year as Brock Lesnar, John Cena, Randy Orton, Batista and Rey Mysterio!
Yeah but rey rey had been wrestling for like 8 years already at that point. He was a veteran. Everyone else was pretty new
@@anjetto1 those other guys were already about 4 years in themselves with ovw no its not wcw tv but still
With the exception of Rey myestrio, they all came from OVW
@LuciusYano yeah but one of these things is not like the other. They'd all go on to have great careers, but rey rey was already used to winning belts, being on TV, being in storyline, and the like.
Out of all the members of the OVW class of 2002, Shelton Benjamin definitely flew under the radar. It’s hard to compete with future main eventers like Brock, Cena, Orton and Batista. At least Shelton had some memorable moments such as his matches against HHH and HBK.
I dated a girl with a Shetland Sheepdog named Benjamin her little brother named him “Sheltie Benjamin” because he was the biggest black wrestler at the time. I always think about “Sheltie Benjamin” as a result.
The problem is Shelton peaked so early into his career. I'm sure some people liked the Gold Standard gimmick, but it never elevated him past what he already was. He's essentially the perfect midcarder you would want on your roster who can have a decent match with just about anybody and is a big enough name to make a newcomer look good beating him instead of a jobber.
His mic skills were good enough
So he was a Miz before The Miz?
He's been on every brand
@@pleaseshutup7053 his mic skills were horrid. That’s the reason he was never world champion.
Exactly. Love Shelton but dude has no character
Its Crazy That He Doesn't Get Mentioned In The 2002 Class Of OVW
What’s even more crazy is we never got Brock and Shelton teaming together
@@pleaseshutup7053 facts especially cause they were apparently pretty tight back then
just cause they never gave him a title run and everyone else is at the least 5+ i think. disrespect crazy
@@pleaseshutup7053 And what's crazier than that is that Brock himself wanted Shelton signed along with him. They teamed together but not on the main roster. Just in OVW. They honestly should've and instead of trying to make one star, they could've with both. He has a good look and enough size. Maybe they just didn't because they had Kurt Angle.
@@ShiningJudgment666 imagine Brock over the last 10 years instead of hogging main events and disappearing he uses his star power to elevate the tag team divison. I remember the royal rumble when Shelton and lesnar embrace them lesnar eliminates him immediately why couldn’t they work together for a few minutes. Smh
Shelton vs Shawn Michaels in the gold rush tournament is one of the best matches iv ever seen and one of the best finishes ever. Shelton is boss
HBK called the match.
Shelton is uniquely gifted in the ring
And not on the mic ...
And he did not bring his intensity over, which can help over laking mic skills, to some degree.
@@trueSconox Of course but if you talk Chris Benoit levels, not the case of Benjamin
@@josegarciacontreras5915 exactly. Plenty of stars were amazing in the ring but not in promos. Guess it's all about the dollars, and if you don't make the money the business won't crown you. Sad.
@@freakyzed8467 I mean that is why it's called enterteinamet can't have a door being a world champion even if it hits hard...
I will forever stand by my opinion that the HBK and Shelton match is one of, if not, the best match ever on Raw.
Seeing that live was insane
@@pleaseshutup7053 oh I bet it was! It was insane watching at home!
The only other two matches I could compare to that are the Cena/HBK 60-minute match and the Cena/Punk match.
@@theothesir Found the Cena fanboy
Sure was nice for Benjamin to put that up and comer HBK over
I'm surprised you didn't mention his ladder match with Christian in WWECW, that was a pretty great match
That ladder match was on survivor series 2009 I believe
@@declangaming24 TLC 2009, close
Also the tag team ladder agaisnt the hardys on 2007 was good
My favourite wrestler ever. No joke. Never ever botched a move.
Shelton was my favorite growing up. At the time I didn't care about promos or mic work, just ring work and Shelton was my favorite to watch. I'll never forget the first time I saw him run up the ladder at WrestleMania 21.
He wasn’t as charismatic as any of the his OVW costars, but he honestly might be the best in ring and technical wrestling than all of them. Makes you think what could’ve happened if Heyman picked Shelton instead of Brock out of that OVW class, but Heyman couldn’t pass up on an NCAA national champ heavyweight.
I heard from people that worked with him that he is pretty charmastic outside of the ring but he just didnt knew how to translate that to his in ring persona if you follow him in any social media he does seem like a fun dude.
I mean, they did separate Heyman and Brock during the latter first run and it showed Brock was terrible at promos, but he still had world title reigns. You can book someone that connect with the fans without needing to have the most impeccable promos, the problem is that they hardly tried with Shelton outside of of mentioning how athletic he was.
I thought he was actually pretty Charismatic imo....waaay more than Brock Lesnar was, I just think his delivery was a little dry at times especially when he returned to WWE after being away for years he wasn't the same anymore
Him getting a mouthpiece that wasn't a joke would have helped him out tremendously. I would have made him a world champion in Ring Of Honor since he would have been over like gang buster over there thanks to his WWE past and him being a natural athlete.
He had one in paul heyman
@@Micfri300 No. Kurt Angle had one in Paul Heyman. The feud with him and Brock was basically the main focus. I don't remember Paul really accompaning him and Charlie too much so that doesn't count.
@@AdrianM865 it still counts has its same bracket. Likewise with matt Morgan when he was with big show and lesnat
@@Micfri300 It doesn't.
@@AdrianM865 it does lol.
99% of wrestlers wished they had what shelton and charlie had.
Those are facts.
Agreed 100%. If there was ever a time to pull the trigger on him, it would have been 2008-2009 as the Gold Standard. I do genuinely think that he could have been a good Main Event talent around that time considering alot of stars had left the company at that point. While rare, there were people who got over based on athleticism and wrestling ability alone, Benoit being the biggest example of this. Along with a small gimmick alteration with the introduction of the Gold Standard they could also give him a legit non-comedy mouthpiece if still wasn't great on the mic.
Shelton is an incredible athlete and has legit wrestling skills. He should have been a lot more but this is another case of "what may have been"
During his fued with HHH. He was a rising star
Back when I used to think there was no stopping him.
Nowwww
I think if he was in a faction like Randy was, maybe JBL’s cabinet rather than Orlando Jordan, that might have helped a bit.
Maybe a money in the bank run couldve invested the fans in his story. That briefcase is a hype boost.
I still remember when he ran up that ladder the first time , it was crazy !!!
In a world where The Great Khali, Jack Swagger & Jinder Mahal are all former world champions, its almost criminal that Shelton Benjamin was never given a run with one of the main titles. The fact that he was never even given the ECW strap speaks volumes. I pretty much agree with your analysis here. The Gold Standard era was his best run. That gave him a look, a persona & if there was ever a moment to give him the ball & let him run with it, that was it. He should've won MITB 2010 & been given the push that Swagger got. Give him the briefcase then build him up as a credible challenger just like you did with Edge. And please can we stop with the "he doesn't have good mic skills" narrative? His athletic ability & in-ring skills more than make up for any shortcomings he might have in that area. That's always been a lame excuse for his lack of push. When it's all said & done, Shelton is gonna go down as possibly the most disrespected, undervalued & underappreciated star in professional wrestling history. He deserved (deserves) so much more than what he's been given.
Bingo!!
Well all those guys you mentioned where of a white persuasion 😂
Shelton was done wrong snd like you said he was disrespected
@@758kixx great Khali and jinder are white??
If he came around 10 years later he'd definitely have been world champion he was just in the wrong era, its impressive what he could do in the ring cause he's not a small guy
Hell Yes Shelton Benjamin should been a WWE Champion
He's one of my favorite wrestlers ngl.
Your summaries are so spot on.
If Shelton stayed in the WWE after Edge retired, I could've seen him as World Heavyweight Champion because at that point, the title felt like an afterthought.
2011 really was his best bet, as he could've fit in the mix with Del Rio, Orton, Sheamus, Bryan & Christian (tho not when Henry or Big Show was there)
The sweet chin to Shelton from HBK was one of my favorite spots. Had he been in the Heyman Led Smackdown crew we could have seen the title on him I think.
Another huge issue was booking. Besides Cena, Orton, Batista and (partially) CM Punk, WWE didn't know or didn't care how to create new stars.
Hell, Sonny Siaki only participated in 3 dark matches while Monty Brown only got a short run in ECW.
Definitely needed to see this video 🖤🖤🖤🖤
I would have probably given at least a run with the big gold belt. You can't just make him beat triple H three times DURING his reign of terror without at least having him be a world champ for a short period. Maybe help him with his promo work and you got a perfect Specimen.
It would have helped if they really pushed his NCAA accolades. They did that so much with Brock, it would have helped legitimize his character more.
Sadly, I see gable going that route
Yeah he really was overshadowed by Brock if you think about it. The thing is, Shelton is A LOT better in ring than Brock. Brock is just a bigger name
Gable has more charisma in his little finger than Benjamin combined.
Love Shelton Benjamin from team Angle to Worlds Greatest tag team to the Gold Standard.He has won pretty much every title in the WWE but a world title.Its a shame he didn't get even a World Title shot ever!! What killed him was the whole momma boys gimmick that killed him and he hasn't recovered since in my opinion.Very Very underrated
not completely true since he was in the WWE Title Scramble match in 2008 along with that match where John Cena & RVD had to defend their titles in the same match which is technically a World Title match. He also got a few ECW Title shots but people dont seem to count that
@@Venemofthe888 ok one on one title match lol That tells you how much people actually would remember that and ECW yeah nobody is counting that
As his nickname was the gold standard, the big gold belt would of been fitting and fun, maybe winning the MITB in one of the manias
Shelton was one of those guys where they went "What more do you want? We gave him something!" as if a random accomplishment is all that makes a guy's career.
Please do a video on Scott Steiner's wcw title run in 2000
I second this!
It's a shame he never got over. His in-ring work was such a pleasure over the years.
he did get over
He definitely should have a run with both top titles. They didn’t pull trigger and we all know why during his initial Raw run.
Because he couldn't cut a promo to save his life?
Really putting things into perspective
Shelton Benjamin is similar to Ziggler in the sense that they have similar skillset (although I think Bejamin is a better worker and Ziggler a better promo). If Shelton had been this fresh face 5 or 6 years later, I think he could have been a champion over guys like Swagger or Del Rio. Also, for him to work as a champion, he should have been booked as a heel (similar to his Gold Standard days) and maybe have a manager
Not everyone should be World champion. Some are just perfect for upper midcard and Shelton would fit there. I'd argue he deserved a bit more attention there but as pointed out, his promo skills were off but could not buy him as main event World champion level.
I respectably disagree. Look at Triple H was cool, but he was definitely not 5 constant championship reign with a roster of that era worthy. And if someone like Khali is able to hold the title at least once, then shelton for sure should have
@@getrektfurious8449 Khali only had it because he was an attraction
@@jayharv285 & that’s why Omos deserves to be champion lol
@@MASTER3371 Omos definitely isn't an attraction compared to Khali
@@jayharv285 you're right, Omos isn't an attraction, he's a megastar high work rate wrestling machine with the charisma of The Rock
Because he never beat Kurt Angle, he was always viewed as 'second tier'. Basic character development - have a mentor become a friend, have a friend become a rival, defeat that rival, become elevated. I often wonder if WWE writers are Underpants Gnomes.
😆👍
He is an incredibly talented midcarder.
Weird as it may sound, I think if Shelton got the storyline spots Eugene got it would have put him over into the main event.
He obviously wouldn't have had Eugene's gimmick, but if he'd kept at it as an enthusiastic, athletic, positive guy and went on to be "mentored" by Regal, who would be using him to weasel into Evolution or something but have a change of heart when Triple H violently beat Shelton down as payback for the losses, then feud with his old mentor Kurt Angle as he goes off the deep end, it would have cemented Shelton on the level of an RVD/Booker T/Chris Jericho kind of wrestler who was permanently established in the upper midcard and could slot into main event feuds as needed.
Exactly his promo skills may not be great but that has never stopped others like Brock, Jeff Hardy and etc
For me he was a highlight of the ruthless aggression era. Exciting to watch in the ring. Great tag team wrestler. Highlight wheel in those MTB or IC ladder matches. His Raw matches with Shawn Michaels is probably My favorite raw match. Even though WWE has dropped the ball on his second run. He is still good in the ring and the younger supertars can learn a lot from him.
From what I remember they where going to push him but he didn't want it. This is old knowledge and I never checked back up on it in years.
his promos were always hard to watch . the gold standard version i thought was pretty solid tho, actually gave him a little personality at least .
I think now he’s comfortable asf just not young enough
I would make him one now. His early run was too much on the mid card level.
I think you nailed this one. I love Shelton but WWE defiantly gave his first solo push a time limit but like you said the top of the card was stacked.
I think acting classes would've done him a world of good, in addition to a competent mouthpiece to cover for him in the meantime. But for WWE to foot the bill for that, they would've had to have plans for him to begin with, which they clearly didn't. Maybe if he had gone to MMA instead of wrestling overseas he could've been a very big deal when he returned. At the very least that would've separated him from 80% of the roster these days, who are basically smaller Sheltons: amazing wrestlers who can't talk to save their lives. But still, if WWE actually invested anything in him, he really could have been the Gold Standard. Now that he's nearing 50 it's a bit too late for that, but I feel like they could give him at least one championship run, let him close out his career on a high note. I don't see that happening with the belts still unified, but there's still time.
Would love to see a video on Haas’ WWE runs. Super underrated and always missused.
The Great Khali was champion once. Shelton could have been, with the right push and a mouthpiece manager.
As things were, no fantasy scenarios, 2004 soon after he went to Raw was the time. I can’t think of any time after that would’ve worked with Cena coming over from Smackdown.
I'd have been tempted to say 2006 with him winning the Royal Rumble and beating Edge at Wrestlemania personally (this would have required that losing streak to not have happened). I'm mainly thinking this would be the best time because I read that Cena supposedly wanted to turn heel following losing the title to Edge so I'm thinking Edge not dropping it back to Cena at the '06 RR would be a good springboard for this if it happened, and a heel Cena vs. face Shelton feud would have potentially been good following the Edge/Shelton feud. Mind you, I think Cena was still selling a lot of merchandise despite a lot of fans loudly booing him so maybe the heel turn would have been a bad idea overall.
Turning on kurt angle to fight for the wwe championship would have been the best thing
@@Micfri300 that does sound really good. Those matches would’ve been incredible.
I honestly don't remember much of Shelton from my time as a wrestling fan in the mid 2000s he was always just a face in the crowd when there were far more charismatic and interesting characters.
Normally random unknown actors showing up to be wrestling characters don't work. But Thea Vidale was fantastic and I loved it. She was Michael Blackson's mom in that Master P movie Repos
I think laid back promos could work, with a mouth piece doing the more energetic part of the talking, or with something interesting to say. Look at RVD in ECW: he was laid back and confident, often stating matter of factly that he was better than anyone else, while Bill Alfonso screamed, shouted and whistled.
Shelton was amazing in the ring but the only thing he was missing was a solid character if he had that shelton would of been a all time great for sure the talent was there.
Damn marky you sound a bit sick today get well soon marky
Shelton Benjamin not being a world champion is a sin against wrestling especially with some of the wrestlers they had
Always my favorite wrestler we need classic Shelton in WWE 2K23
Markyd great work as usual. Please do a video on the entire run for 'the narcissist ' lex luger!!!
A lot of people in WWE should have been world champion. Unfortunately, just because he was over with the fans doesn't mean Shelton Benjamin is one of them.
Being over with the fans is precisely why you should be a world champion
@@pleaseshutup7053 a lot of people get over all the time in different way for different reasons. That doesn't mean they should all be world champion. R-Truth, Sami Zayn, and Dean Ambrose were all over back in 2015 but they did not all deserve to be WWE Champion. Truth was a comedy act, Zayn was a former NXT Champion, and Ambrose was fighting The Authority. All of them were beloved by the WWE universe but only one of them at the time should have won the WWE Championship.
@@RomaroBrandon all 3 deserved the title. R truth because he showed that he can switch easily from being a comedy act to a heel. Zayn because he’s over with the crowd, Dean because he was over too.
@@d.52555 wrong R-Truth was a face at least 3 years prior to that point doing comedy acts in the midcard division and nobody cared. He wasn't really over until 2015 when he and Ambrose kept trying to steal the IC title. Sami Zayn was over in NXT but only had one match on Raw in 2015 where he got injured. Dean Ambrose absolutely did and not just because he was over but also because of the storyline. Seth Rollins betrayed him, prevented him from becoming Mr. MITB, robbed Roman Reigns from becoming WWE World Heavyweight Champion at WrestleMania, and used members of The Authority to make his life miserable.
@@RomaroBrandon he wasn’t over when he was having his heel run with the Miz and feuding with cena?
I've done my rotator cuff as well.... that's a shame for his career, it was pretty long recovery after the surgery to get full motion.
I been waiting on this! Yes! He did! Man best triple h 3 times! Cmon now!
Definitely one of the best to never get the big one I think. But your right he was missing important things 😭
Shelton Benjamin doesn't age!!😂
Black don’t crack is a phrase for a reason.
Sometimes winning a title can be a curse.
The chase is more fun than the win.
Shelton Benjamin is triple h's kryptonite
There wouldn't be a reign of terror if he kept wrestling Shelton.
Johnny Nitro back there looking like Raven when he started 😂
I miss the days of raw when they had a champion would actually wrestle sometimes
Hawk would you consider doing a future ROH or was it good for nikkita lyons nxt? I'm curious to see what you think about her
Shelton was my 2nd favorite new wrestler, back then, to Rob Conway lol He had good matches and amazing athleticism.
I feel that they should have done a storyline with Shelton & Snitskey when he won the IC title, then lose it to Carlito. Later on, after the momma comedy skits, he wins the MITB briefcase in WM26, then win the World title on Smackdown in the Gold Standard gimmick. 6 years in the making
If they made the Miz, Jeff Hardy, Khali, etc a champion, they could have definitely made a champion of Shelton...
Unreal talent
He was the perfect upper mid-carder, but that was it. With better booking, he could have been a decent gatekeeper for the main event, and that's ok not everybody can or should be a main event.
the title is perfect
Liked the topic you covered, but what's with the volume of your voice? I'm just used to hearing your loud voice whenever you talk about Wes Brisco or Chavo Guerrero Jr.
For a little while in the mid 2000s Shelton Benjamin seemed to be getting a main event push and then he wasn't anymore.
They gave guys like The Great Khali, the Miz and Jack Swagger the world title, there is no reason why Gold Standard Shelton Benjamin shouldn’t have been World Champion, that gimmick masked a lot of his weaknesses and was legit enough to be in the main event
if he would of won the world title then he would of done what so many legends could never do win the grandslam
Surprised he wasn’t a bigger star in RoH or New Japan.
Would say that he would have made a decent transitional champion as World Heavyweight Champion on Smackdown back in the day at some point. Maybe a two week to a month run, nothin crazy. Nothing against Swagger but come on, if he got a run…Benjamin would have been alright for a little while.
Another classic Marky
The fact they put the belt on Jack Swagger,Great Khali, Dolph Ziggler, and Jinder Mahal and not Shelton Benjamin nuff said. when it comes to they're standards on who should be champion.
Swagger was too soon, Khali was a monster attraction so him being world champion made some sense, Ziggler had all the tools as he could wrestle and talk well enough, and Jinder was just for a specific market.
Nice!!!
I feel like he'd have had a better chance in the modern era if they'd given him his "ain't no stopping me" song back, even just the intro might have been enough to get people cheering
Absolutely he should have been champion
Shelton Benjamin is my favorite wrestler all time
2008 he easily could've had a run with the big gold if it was on smackdown. The Gold Standard gimmick with the big gold wouldve worked. Unfortunately the wwe title was on smackdown at that time and i just dont see Vince trusting Shelton with that title especially at that time when Triple H and Cena and Orton were the WWE title golden boys.
m.i.t.b wrestlemania 21 should have won there and cashed his shot later in the year
In the ring he was great on the mic he should of had a manager to do the talking for him
Question, what is the background music called?
I'm one of the ones who strongly feel Benjamin should have been champion. And you missed out one of the pivotal matches in me having that opinion: the battle royal for a title shot that was won by Kane. All those people in the ring, and the crowd wanted Benjamin to win it. And Benjamin was excellent in the match, he had the crowd in the palm of his hand. It should have been done. If it doesn't work, it was a worthy effort and I think the fans would appreciate that. If it does, you add another main event star to the roster, and one that would have been viable for like 15+ more years.
Dude is still one of my personal favorites. T-bone slam always looked high impact, he had RVD/Montez Ford-level hops. I wanna ignorantly say he was the original mainstream “spot guy” between that HBK match and all his MITB appearances. Playing as him on SVR07 was always fun. In hindsight, he was really just perfect “enhancement talent,” but still an S tier midcarder. Idk dude was a freak athlete to me in the way folks talk about Lesnar, Ricochet, etc.
I feel like he could have been one of the guys if they gave him the spot to have an all time classic with 20 - 25 mins on ppv vs kurt or a rematch with hbk.
I think shelton should have been pushed to the moon after that hbk match. He was so gifted in the ring and I think could have gotten over the hump if they gave him a prove it ppv match.
If I'm rebooking summer 05 I give shelton the win over kurt for his medals and then give them 25 mins at summerslam where kurt wins but shelton looks like a million bucks.
I think he should have at least been a transitional champion. Win the title in a tournament and hold it for a month , and then drop it to HHH.
Please do sabu in WWE 1997-2007 he did fight flash funk on RAW then returned at one night stand 2005 however had a match vs rey mysterio ECW one night stand 2006 he didn't do many promos but he was a good high flyer
Injured himself by punching a brick. Hmmm... I wonder if this is also a similar story behind all of those times The Hawk says he was "attacked" by a brick. The puzzle pieces are all coming together, and I don't start with the edge pieces like some kinda bird of feather. 💣🔥