Pro wrestling veteran Shelton Benjamin appeared on an episode of the Kurt Angle Show, where he talked about a number of topics including how his Mama Shelton storyline.
Benjamin said, “My honest opinion was it should have been a really, really, really good story. It should have been. And it was until it just vanished. Most people don’t realize that the entire time from the first time you saw Mama to the last time you saw Mama was eight weeks. Like people think it went on for years. Like no, eight weeks quick. Yeah. So I feel like in that time while they were, you know, we were doing a mama’s boy gimmick and things like that. And kind of like, and I said this when I was on the bunk like the story wasn’t finished. Because at some point, my character had to grow up, be a man, stand up zone, get his balls back, and everything. But for the most part, the mama’s boy character was left hanging when you know Thea had to when Pete When Thea was let go, or I think she had medical issues, and then they eventually released her. But the problem with it is the store was on leave and unfinished. Now, while we were doing it, oh, I was having the time of my life. I have so much fun with that. I had so much fun with that gimmick and so much fun with that character. I was getting more TV time than I can show you than I could imagine. The fans were loving it like it was that promo we did with mystery man when he pulled his pants down. Man, that was so much fun. And be able to doll who’s you know, she’s a comic. And when they first presented when it was Vince who presented me with the idea, I think they weren’t doing anything. I was on like this long, losing streak, and you know, they, you know, when Vince suggested it to me, I was like, Hey, I’m all for whatever it can get me to utilize. And like I said, when he brought up the mama thing, I was like, Hey, this is okay. Before Mama was introduced, I actually wrote a whole skit where Vince actually comes to my house and meets Mama. We had dinner, but I think I had like nobody Perfect Essar vibes in my head. So I love it. I was going to play with all my family members except that’s what that’s what I wrote. And you know, they liked it. We obviously didn’t do it, but like I said, I had so much fun with that. And it was such good TV, and it really, on one hand, I can understand how fans think that that gimmick set me back. But on the other hand, I’m like, yeah, that it set me back because it was unfinished. You know, you create this image. And then next thing like I remember, I showed up to work, and they just said, Okay, Mama is not going to be here anymore. You’re now going to be the Terrell Owens of WWE. And I was like, what? Yeah, like, just like last week? I was cowering to my mama this week. You want me to be just right, yeah, like I did. I like this; there is no transition whatsoever. Just bam, this is what you are now, and I was dumbfounded.”
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