Unknown
06-16-2004, 05:43 PM
Shelton Benjamin arguably is one of the best breakout stars of the WWE today. He has tremendous in ring talent, adequate mic skills, and is no stranger to gold in the WWE. The sad fact of the matter is that Shelton Benjamin is not over. It’s so hard to believe that he isn’t given his talent and current feud with Randy Orton…sad but true.
Shelton Benjamin first came to the WWE and wrestled on Heat. Since seeing him on Heat, I knew that he would be big. I always asked myself what was this guy doing on Heat? Soon enough, he made it to the big stage as one half of Team Angle along with Charlie Haas. This duo was probably the best tag team the WWE had seen in years. It was obvious though that Shelton had a little more of that it factor than Charlie Haas had. This team had some MOTY candidates with the likes of Los Guerrero’s, Eddie and Tajiri, and Billy Kidman and Rey Mysterio. With such little time in the company, Shelton had established himself as on of the greatest talents on his show. Then the draft came. Shelton and Haas were split up. Shelton was put on the Raw brand. It looked as if he was in line for a huge push and he was.
Shelton Benjamin had clean wins under his belt over the likes of HHH on more than one occasion, Ric Flair, and even the Intercontinental Champion Randy Orton. Benjamin was a rising star on the Raw brand. Shelton and Randy Orton right now have one of the best feuds in years going for the IC title. These two men bring back the glory days of the belt with matches like HBK/Razor Ramon and are putting the belt back in the spotlight once again making it seem as important as the World Heavyweight title. With all of this, Shelton Benjamin has enough stock to be traded on the New York Stock Exchange but despite all of this work put into him, the man isn’t over.
Shelton Benjamin comes out on Raw to silence. I myself wonder if people are stupid. Yeah some are…but it’s easily understandable why he doesn’t get a huge face reaction. With all of the building he has received, the WWE has spent little to no time on his character. For one, I can count on my one hand how many times they’ve let him get on the mic. The man has mic talent so let him use it to get his character over. Another thing is his entrance. Boy when he skips down the ramp he looks like Maven and a comparison to Maven is never a compliment. His entrance is way too cheesy. This is probably the thing that is hurting him the most. It’s time for a new entrance complete with new music to fit his character and get the crowd hyped for him and some new entrance moves rather than skipping down the ramp. Another thing that’s hurting him is the lack of single’s matches the WWE has booked him in outside of fighting Evolution to establish his character. Speaking of matches, boy does he need a new finisher or what? That slam looks like more of a mid match move than a finisher. I could easily see him using a move like the Styles Clash (Crash’s old finisher for non-TNA fans). Simple but it looks much more effective. Lastly, his absences from Raw. Where the hell was he Monday night? There is no excuse for them not having him on Raw especially since they are trying to groom him to take the IC title from Randy Orton. They did the same thing two months back also when he had a lot of momentum going his way. When you’re trying to establish a new star you can’t miss an opportunity to try and get him over even if he’s on screen for two minutes. A simple backstage interview could have done it for Monday simply him saying that he’s going to get the IC title if it’s the last thing he does. They can’t afford to leave him off of TV.
Shelton Benjamin isn’t over because of the little time spent building his character. He has received an excellent push but without a strong character to carry the push he might as well be on Heat right now because he won’t get over. Fear not, maybe the WWE is going back to the drawing board right now in hopes of a new character for him. Shelton Benjamin can be an excellent WWE Champion in the future as long as the WWE gives him a good character now. It would be a huge mistake to give him an IC title run without a strong character for him because he won’t gain anything from it nor will the IC title. Character development is why he isn’t over and hopefully that will be fixed in the near future.
Shelton Benjamin first came to the WWE and wrestled on Heat. Since seeing him on Heat, I knew that he would be big. I always asked myself what was this guy doing on Heat? Soon enough, he made it to the big stage as one half of Team Angle along with Charlie Haas. This duo was probably the best tag team the WWE had seen in years. It was obvious though that Shelton had a little more of that it factor than Charlie Haas had. This team had some MOTY candidates with the likes of Los Guerrero’s, Eddie and Tajiri, and Billy Kidman and Rey Mysterio. With such little time in the company, Shelton had established himself as on of the greatest talents on his show. Then the draft came. Shelton and Haas were split up. Shelton was put on the Raw brand. It looked as if he was in line for a huge push and he was.
Shelton Benjamin had clean wins under his belt over the likes of HHH on more than one occasion, Ric Flair, and even the Intercontinental Champion Randy Orton. Benjamin was a rising star on the Raw brand. Shelton and Randy Orton right now have one of the best feuds in years going for the IC title. These two men bring back the glory days of the belt with matches like HBK/Razor Ramon and are putting the belt back in the spotlight once again making it seem as important as the World Heavyweight title. With all of this, Shelton Benjamin has enough stock to be traded on the New York Stock Exchange but despite all of this work put into him, the man isn’t over.
Shelton Benjamin comes out on Raw to silence. I myself wonder if people are stupid. Yeah some are…but it’s easily understandable why he doesn’t get a huge face reaction. With all of the building he has received, the WWE has spent little to no time on his character. For one, I can count on my one hand how many times they’ve let him get on the mic. The man has mic talent so let him use it to get his character over. Another thing is his entrance. Boy when he skips down the ramp he looks like Maven and a comparison to Maven is never a compliment. His entrance is way too cheesy. This is probably the thing that is hurting him the most. It’s time for a new entrance complete with new music to fit his character and get the crowd hyped for him and some new entrance moves rather than skipping down the ramp. Another thing that’s hurting him is the lack of single’s matches the WWE has booked him in outside of fighting Evolution to establish his character. Speaking of matches, boy does he need a new finisher or what? That slam looks like more of a mid match move than a finisher. I could easily see him using a move like the Styles Clash (Crash’s old finisher for non-TNA fans). Simple but it looks much more effective. Lastly, his absences from Raw. Where the hell was he Monday night? There is no excuse for them not having him on Raw especially since they are trying to groom him to take the IC title from Randy Orton. They did the same thing two months back also when he had a lot of momentum going his way. When you’re trying to establish a new star you can’t miss an opportunity to try and get him over even if he’s on screen for two minutes. A simple backstage interview could have done it for Monday simply him saying that he’s going to get the IC title if it’s the last thing he does. They can’t afford to leave him off of TV.
Shelton Benjamin isn’t over because of the little time spent building his character. He has received an excellent push but without a strong character to carry the push he might as well be on Heat right now because he won’t get over. Fear not, maybe the WWE is going back to the drawing board right now in hopes of a new character for him. Shelton Benjamin can be an excellent WWE Champion in the future as long as the WWE gives him a good character now. It would be a huge mistake to give him an IC title run without a strong character for him because he won’t gain anything from it nor will the IC title. Character development is why he isn’t over and hopefully that will be fixed in the near future.