Pro wrestling veteran Shelton Benjamin appeared on an episode of INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet to talk about a number of topics including if his release from the WWE was a surprise.
Benjamin said, “Yes and no. Yes, because I don’t think, I know there was more for me to do there. There were more opportunities there and I’m more surprised that they chose not to take advantage of those opportunities. But I also knew that if they weren’t going to do anything then it’s just a matter of time. We got a lot of talent there, a lot of rotation, I’ve been there for a long time. I understand it’s a business. So yeah, it sucks for me but at the end of the day, it’s a business.”
On if there were any talks of being a producer:
“There was talk of me possibly becoming a trainer at some point. I don’t think that door has closed, I just haven’t pursued it yet. [You still want to wrestle?] Yes, I love training people, I love teaching, and that comes from my amateur wrestling background. But at this point I still think a little selfishly, I feel like I have a few more things that I’d like to accomplish. So while yes, I definitely am interested. I have to put aside my own ambitions to really be able to do that job correctly. And right now, at least today, I’m not ready to not think a little selfishly.”
On a possible WWE return:
“I would definitely consider it. Like I said, it’s the biggest game in town. So because I’ve worked there for so long, to answer your question, yes, I will go back if they offered me a position back and the right amount of money. Yes, of course, I will go back and I’ve said it before, you’d be a fool not to at least consider it. Because I look at pro wrestling as a business. I love it, but it’s a business. So despite everything that’s happened, despite people’s opinion on creatively how they viewed me, it’s still a business to me. I look at wrestling as a business. So I will make the best business decision, not personal decision.”
On not fighting for himself:
“No, I didn’t [fight for myself]. Because I felt like my work should speak for itself and I didn’t want to fight for myself. I knew what my strengths were I knew my weaknesses were and obviously I tried to work on them. But at the end of the day, it’s like sometimes once you’re typecasted or pigeonholed into one idea, no matter what you do they won’t let you out of that. I know I used to get so much slack for my promo work and it’s like yes, I was horrible at one time and then like I said, I improved. But while I improved, I still wasn’t as flashy. I will say I’m the anti-Cena because I believe in a wrestling match move-for-move, whatever, he can’t hold a candle to me. But when it comes to mic skills I’m at the shallow end of the gene pool. I just think what he brought to the table they valued more. Or even my look, I was in the land of giants and when you got a guy like Brock, it’s really hard to stand out when standing next to Brock and Batista. So while I always had a great physique and things like that. Again, you got these monsters around you, because it’s also visual, our audience is visual. So, I don’t want to call them shortcomings because they weren’t shortcomings. It’s just a matter of what the company valued at the time.”
On how much longer he intends to wrestle:
“I’m pretty sure I could do two [years] easy, five depending on the schedule. But I also don’t want to overstay my welcome. I’ve been doing this a long time. Again, there’s going to come a time I have to stop thinking selfishly and look at things like as far as the wrestling business goes, where am I a bigger benefit, in the ring or behind the scenes? Right now I still feel like I can be a huge contributor in the ring. Definitely can still be behind the scenes, but again, this has to be in the right place before I can do that. And that’s definitely coming. I will say that’s definitely on the horizon. But right now, I still feel like I got a little more I can give.”
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