Shelton Benjamin

[JHawk 0]

You can't say Benjamin hasn't been grossly misused.

 

He went from having the longest IC Title reign in seven years to jobbing to Carlito. OK, no biggie. But from there, they didn't even blow off the Carlito feud. They had Carlito lose by countout, then DQ, then when Benjamin asks for the no DQ blowoff...

 

He's feuding with Snitsky and Masters.

 

Who the fuck thought that one up? That's out of the Dusty Rhodes playbook.

 

Hell, he's just now getting airtime on Raw again, and they're making him look like an idiot.

[Placebo Effect 0]

I hope they job Shelton to Tomko, Snitsky, Viscera, and Murdoch every week for the next fifteen years just so I can keep hearing smarks bitch about someone who is too small and lacking in charisma to be a main eventer.

[gWIL 0]

Tazz. He comes out at the Rumble and chokes out the undefeated, Kurt Angle. Down to nothing. Over as hell, good wrestler, could have been WWF Champion by the end of the year and seen as legit. Instead he fueded with Jerry Lawler. Hell, they could still push him.

[chaosrage 0]

Shelton Benjamin had a number of good to great matches but I never thought of him as the second coming or anything. Usually, his Heat and Raw matches were just as bad as anyone else's. Unlike Regal or Christian, he cuts bad promos and that's his main downside and is one of the only things I can see the bookers defending their decisions with.

 

Seriously. He is misused. But misused wrestler of the decade? That's a fucking joke. He's an okay wrestler, but let's not get carried away here. He can't do an interview to save his life and hasn't shown himself to have a character or a personality that fans can really get behind. IMO he should be lucky he got a 8 month IC reign and gets a spot on RAW each week. Jerry Lynn was a great wrestler with not much personality and he didn't exactly have a sucessful run in the WWE. Why didn't he get a 8 month IC reign? (Must be because he was white)

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

You know having the IC title is a bad thing at this point, right? Benjamin was looking for world title shots when he was IC champion, that should be an indicator of how the IC belt is looked at in the WWE world. It's nothing more than a placeholder, and in most cases, it's something to hold a wrestler back.

 

Shelton has charisma, he can cut a money promo, and he can get the fans into his matches. The WWE just hasn't been using him in a way where he can show it on a regular basis.

[JHawk 0]

I can't figure out how people can say Shelton doesn't have charisma.

 

This is a guy who, when he was a member of Team Angle, would get on the turnbuckle during his entrance, and when people booed him, he'd look around saying "What the hell" like he couldn't believe the fans would boo him. Little shit like that is forgotten in this day and age, and little shit like that is why Shelton should be a star.

 

But they only let him cut cookie-cutter scripted promos, so obviously he can't be a star. Idiots.

[Papacita 0]

He showed a lot of charisma in that APA parody promo he and Charlie did prior to No Way Out last year.

Edited December 18, 2005 by Papacita

[The Niggardly King 0]

Remember that time on Velocity when Shelton said he was going to whip out his blacksnake? Man...those were good times.

[Guest Leelee]

Shelton had chances to do promos. And everyone has to handle scripted promos. He's just awful at them. Even in the one promo with Jericho which people thought was good... he sounded so unnatural. He has horrible delivery.

 

I agree that he should be pushed to, at least, the upper midcard level because of his charisma in the ring, match quality, and the rare ability to actually make you care about his matches while not having a storyline around him... but, let's recognize that he does have weaknesses.

[The Czech Republic 0]

His delivery really isn't that good.

 

I'm telling you. Make him a Cocky Black Wide Receiver, in wrestler form. It's money. WHY DOES NOBODY ELSE GRASP THIS.

[Guest Leelee]

That's basically what Shelton was during his short-lived heel run. Except for talking like one. Which, he can't do.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

You don't have Steve Austin talk like the Rock. You don't have the Rock talk like Hulk Hogan. You don't have Hulk Hogan talk like Ric Flair. You don't have Ric Flair talk like Jim Cornette. You don't have Jim Cornette talk like Paul Heyman. You don't have Paul Heyman talk like Arn Anderson.

 

These are all great promo men, who cut promos their way and not like anyone else. The Rock cutting a Steve Austin style promo would suck. Jim Cornette talking like Paul Heyman would suck. Is Shelton in any of these guys' leagues? No. But even the best, given the wrong material and the wrong character, will end up sounding like shit.

[Carnival 0]

His delivery really isn't that good.

 

I'm telling you. Make him a Cocky Black Wide Receiver, in wrestler form. It's money. WHY DOES NOBODY ELSE GRASP THIS.

I agree with all of this.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

I will give WWE writers credit, because Benjamins promo last week ended with him going bad ass with the deep voice. They need to think of a dozen one-liners that would sound good with his voice and just have him say them on tv. But that's where the credit begins and ends, because the majority of that promo had SB talking like a whiny bitch.

Edited December 18, 2005 by RavishingRickRudo

[Guest Heel Turn]

Shelton has never gotten what he deserves.

 

HIS RELEASE!

 

HEEL TURN!!

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Chave?

[hyperchord24 0]

Tazz. He comes out at the Rumble and chokes out the undefeated, Kurt Angle. Down to nothing. Over as hell, good wrestler, could have been WWF Champion by the end of the year and seen as legit. Instead he fueded with Jerry Lawler. Hell, they could still push him.

I was wondering the same thing, but I found out he retired due to nagging neck injuries.

[CanadianChick 0]

I'm going with RVD at this point.

 

He first comes in, and is over as all hell. He got to do fun matches with Jeff Hardy, so now he's more over. Vince sees this, and puts him in segments with Austin, whom he had off the chart chemistry with, by the way. He out pops their top face at the time with an American boy gimmick after 9/11. He has a nice little feud with Taker, and while he lost, he didn't look bad to be honest, and they had some fun matches with each other.

 

Then it all went downhill from there.

 

He does a mini program with Jericho, but despite getting good reactions, that's short lived. Erm, alright. No big deal. Then he enters the Royal Rumble at a late number and gets a monster pop without having to go through a epic 5 minute entrance (Ahem, Mr. Levesque). Alright cool, we got a late entry as another person to get behind, right? He's kicking, splashing, flipping....and then gets pedigreed. And lays there for a good minute, playing dead. And Booker T picks him up and eliminates him without a struggle. And the crowd just SHITS all over this.

 

Now if you're Vince, maybe you're thinking "Hm, the crowd REALLY likes this guy if they were that mad about him getting eliminated so soon. Maybe we should keep him a bit strong and get some money off him." So logically, of course, RVD then feuds with Goldust and William Regal back to back, because, you know, those are money feuds and all. Hmm, well early 2002 just wasn't Rob's time. It'll get better, right?

 

Erm, not quite. Well, it was actually not bad in April. He feuded with Eddie in a real fun feud. But then in later May, he faces Taker in a main event match on Raw for the WWE title. They built this quite nicely throughout the night. Taker attacked Rob in the opening, because he's a dick and wanted to be the first one to be on the show. Rob fights back and figuratively spits in his face. Taker wants Rob, but not in a title match, and Rob is all fired up to take that belt. Main event happens, and we get a false finish that looks to be the start of a feud with Rob eventually winning the Title. This is so because, hey, did you hear the pop? He HAS to get at least a feud, right?

 

And the next week, Rob faces Eddie for the IC title in a fantastic ladder match and wins. WHAT?!?! Where the FUCK did the RVD/Taker feud go?

 

So then Rob faces Lesner to make Lesner look like a monster, I suppose. What a stupid feud THAT was. No one won, no one lost. Both guys looked like fucking retards because they wanted to keep Lesner strong, but for Rob to keep the IC title. Good job WWE!

 

Let's fast forward to September 02, where Triple H and RVD feud for the title. You know, I always wondered if it was because of the mock water spitting that RVD looked like an utter tool at the end of this feud. He loses via sledgehammer and makes NO attempt to get vengence. NO ATTEMPT. He pretty well just shrugged his shoulders and said "fuck it, I'll just face Ric Flair because I'm obviously not on HHH's level."

 

November '02, he's just one of 4 losers in the Elimination Chamber. Oh, and he's the first one eliminated. You'd think that Vince would have learned from RR '02 that the fans would have shit all over that, but he obviously didn't.

 

He gets left off the December PPV because of a ring accident. He looks like a fucking moron in the '03 Royal Rumble by letting Kane eliminate him, but that's not a huge deal. He tags with Kane for fucking ever. Kane finally turns on him, and instead of a huge feud, RVD is pretty well replaced by Shane fucking McMahon. He looks like an idiot. He swims in midcard with Christian and Jericho, two other guys who are misused, and randomly tags with Booker T.

 

He gets traded to Smackdown, and does dickall when Smackdown really could have used a over face. He then randomly tags with Rey. Then he gets injured.

 

AND HE'S STILL OVER!

[Angle-plex 0]

RVD got himself over to levels where people were booing everyone he faced based off just his in-ring work and he's been more fucked over than anyone since 2000. That being said, I'm not going to cry a river over a guy that's had one good singles match in his career while someone who didn't need "interview time" has been stuck in the tag division for three years.

[Guest Trecko]

I hope they job Shelton to Tomko, Snitsky, Viscera, and Murdoch every week for the next fifteen years just so I can keep hearing smarks bitch about someone who is too small and lacking in charisma to be a main eventer.

 

lol, I was gonna leave this thread alone until I saw this. Absolutely hilarious.

 

*applauds this man*

[snuffbox 0]

I agree with RVD.

 

CanadianChick...and the crowd was really into the HBK-RVD mini progrm for the title too, and that was Hunted down in cold blood.

[geniusMoment 0]

1. RVD--is over with the crowd, can cut a good promo if you give him something to believe in (See ONS or Barely Legal)

2. Lance Storm/Dawn Marie--they should have came in as a pair, with Dawn playing her ditzy role to lance's straightman approach. They had undeniable charisma together, and could have gotten over

3. Eric Bischoff--not a wrestler, but has been horribly used. Should have came in as a strong anti-vince foe, instead was made to look foolish time and again. Could have single handedly made the brand split relevant with proper booking.

4. DDP--should have came in as a leader of WCW, not a comedy rapist. Could have been a credible leader of the WCW faction.

5. Taz--this pick is made assuming WWE did not know he was planning on leaving active wrestling due to his neck. He came in with one of the best build ups in recent memory. Had a great debut, unfortunately that was the highlight of his WWE/WWF career. After his initial debut I would have had him cut the type of promos that made him famous for weeks before debuting in the ring on raw. Seeing taz in a dark room, with that towel over his head, ripping apart everyone. He would have been over huge.

[Hoff 0]

I'm gonna have to go with Bastion Booger.

 

Okay, serious pick: Funaki. Not for #1, but he's gotta be on the list! He's over, his facial expressions are great, and when was the last time you saw a *bad* Funaki match? I don't want him near the ME scene -- he's not credible, and he's not that good -- but he could have played a WAY bigger role in the cruiser division than he did.

 

I will admit to being a slight Funaki mark.

[Silence 0]

The bWo (with Stevie) won a match on Velocity right before the Great American Bash, to answer someone's question.

 

How about when's the last time Stevie beat a wrestler that wasn't a jobber, though?

[Bruce Blank 0]

PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF I roll my eyes in your general direction for your examples of "misuse" *rolls eyes*

 

they all pale and fade to nothing compared to the tale of Terry "Red Rooster" Taylor

 

now THAT'S mis-use

 

nothing since has even come close - just cause "Poor Shelton" seems to be the "SmartMark" thing to say right now.

[Guest Jack Potts]

After Shelton's promo on last week's Raw, can we dial down the "Shelton can't cut a promo" rhetoric? It was MONEY. His tone, delivery and the content were pitch perfect. He had me actually believing the WWE was going to let him win. However, later in the night, in his match against Carlito, as soon as he went for the apple instead of the pin I knew it was a sign they were pulling the trigger on the "Shelton's mama" gimmick.

 

I think Vince's problem with Shelton is that he doesn't easily fit into McMahon's limited worldview. He's an educated Black man from the South, who came from an impoverished, violent place, but refused to let himself be defined by those circumstances. He doesn't dance, rap, speak with a drawl, or look like a monster, so Vince and crew are confounded about what to do with him. Because the other stereotypes aren't available to exploit, they've decided to saddle him with a "mammy" figure.

 

That said, as much as I dig Shelton, I think Tazz or Jericho might edge him out in the misused category. Jericho's undisputed championship reign was jobbed out to Stephanie McMahon's ego. Tazz could have been a brawling, pitbull of a wrestler employing a dazzling array of suplexes and mat-based wrestling to devastate larger opponents. Instead, he was repeatedly bested by a geriatric, part-time wrestler/full-time announcer. (However, it looks like Bobby Lashley is shaping up to be the scowling, suplexing monster that Tazz was never allowed to be in the WWE.)

[MillenniumMan831 0]

I've said it before but Shelton Benjamin is nothing more than this generation's Tito Santana (circa late 1989-1993) . . .

 

- Both are former I-C and Tag Champions which bring them credibility

- Both are solid to potentially great in-ring performers

- Both have good promo skills . . . not great, but pretty good

- Most of all, neither have a hope in hell of winning a consequential match

[Angle-plex 0]

IC and Tag Titles bring credibility? Maybe for Tito..

[Guest Zarock]

Shelton's benefitted greatly from the fact that he's one of about three good wrestlers on RAW (Angle and Micheals are the other two, if you're wondering), and because of that he looks a lot better then he really is. Don't get me wrong, he's a great wrestler and last week he cut a decent promo, but he's not the most misused wrestler in WWE at the moment. Look at Smackdown, they've got a load of great wrestlers that arn't being used properly. Paul Birchall, William Regal, and Brian Kendrick are all great wrestlers who can cut great promos and are being held back far worse then Shelton, yet I don't think I've heard any complaints about them. And yes, all three of those blow Benjamin out of the water (at least IMO).

[Team Angle Pusher 0]

What did Birchall do to make him better then Shelton? Shelton has proved he can get the crowd behind him with his moves. He has a huge move set. He's just a really good wrestler. Everytime I watch him he amazes me. Birchall has talent but what the fuck did he do? He did a backflip Rockbottom or some shit like that, and that was impressive, but has he wrestled with loads of pressure on him and has he wrestled longer then 20 minutes on WWE TV?

 

Shelton was the highlight of the night at WrestleMania 21.