Shelton Benjamin

Career

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 Titles on three occasions. After Lesnar was called up to WWE, Benjamin formed a tag team with Redd Dogg Begnaud (later known as Rodney Mack in WWE) to again hold the OVW Tag Team Titles.

Related Topics:
Brock Lesnar - Tag team - Wrestling - University of Minnesota - Ohio Valley Wrestling - Redd Dogg Begnaud

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He joined WWE as a heel along with Charlie Haas in 2003 to form Team Angle, with former Olympic gold-medallist wrestler and former WWE Champion Kurt Angle as their mentor. After splitting with Angle, the two referred to themselves as The World's Greatest Tag Team until they were separated when Benjamin was moved from the company's SmackDown! show to WWE RAW.

Related Topics:
Heel - Charlie Haas - 2003 - Olympic - WWE Champion - Kurt Angle - Mentor - The World's Greatest Tag Team - SmackDown!

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Upon arriving on RAW, he was immediately confronted by the show's top heel, Triple H. Triple H accused him of laughing when he was transferred to SmackDown! via the Draft Lottery (a subsequent trade sent Triple H back to RAW the following day). Triple H attacked Benjamin backstage, which led to a match in which Benjamin scored a tremendous upset by pinning the former World Heavyweight Champion. Two more victories followed, and Benjamin quickly became a face singles star.

Related Topics:
Triple H - World Heavyweight Champion - Face

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Benjamin defeated Ric Flair at Backlash 2004, and continued being pushed as an up-and-coming star. An injury briefly put Benjamin out of action, but he came back in the fall of 2004, shortly before the Taboo Tuesday pay-per-view. He was voted in over fourteen other superstars to get an WWE Intercontinental Championship shot against Chris Jericho and succeeded in defeating him for the belt on, holding it for eight months.

Related Topics:
Ric Flair - Backlash - 2004 - Pushed - Taboo Tuesday - Pay-per-view - WWE Intercontinental Championship - Chris Jericho

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On November 22, 2004 Benjamin appeared in a comedy vignette with Trish Stratus and Vince McMahon which parodied a controversial Monday Night Football incident on November 15 featuring Desperate Housewives actress Nicolette Sheridan flashing wide receiver Terrell Owens. After Benjamin rejected Stratus' advances, McMahon appeared and asked Benjamin if he was aware that he was an African American, as "everybody knows, African Americans are attracted to Canadian white women with broken noses."

Related Topics:
November 22 - Trish Stratus - Vince McMahon - Monday Night Football - November 15 - Desperate Housewives - Nicolette Sheridan - Wide receiver - Terrell Owens - African American

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During his reign as the Intercontinental Champion, Benjamin had been impressive, defeating challengers such as Christian and Maven, even successfully retaining the title at Backlash in a return match with Chris Jericho. With this victory over Jericho, Benjamin beat Randy Orton's record for the longest reign as Intercontinental Champion. Benjamin would lose his title to Carlito on June 20, 2005, when Carlito held the ropes to get the pinfall.

Related Topics:
Christian - Maven - Backlash - Chris Jericho - Randy Orton - Carlito - June 20 - 2005

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Benjamin entered a fued with Kerwin White afterwards after flopping in the midcard for a while. At Unforgiven 2005, Shelton beat Kerwin after a T-Bone Powerslam.

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