The following was issued to us:
Shelton Benjamin recently sat down with Kenny McIntosh from Inside The Ropes and discussed his memorable WWE debut.
Exclusive: Shelton Benjamin Looks Back On His Favourite WWE Storyline: “The Most Exciting Time In My Career”
In late 2002, Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin were immediately placed in a main event storyline as they debuted on WWE SmackDown and aligned with Kurt Angle to form the faction Team Angle. Having fond memories of his early days on SmackDown, Shelton Benjamin stated it was the most exciting time of his pro wrestling career:
“The main event story. It was the best position to be in aside from the position they put Brock in. Team Angle, to me, was the most fun time of my career. I was working with Charlie Haas, and me and him were becoming best friends. I was working with Kurt Angle, who I looked up to both as an amateur wrestler and a pro wrestler. He was a World Champion, NCAA Champion. I mean, he accomplished everything I wanted to do. We were working in the main event story and we were tag champions. That’s how I started, getting to see the world. It was the most exciting time of my career. If I could go back to any era it probably would be then, because I can’t think of a time when I was happier.”
When asked what it was like working with the Olympic Gold Medalist at that time, the AEW star was very positive about his partnership with Angle:
“Honestly, it was like travelling with your older brother who was, I’m not going to say immature, but it was like three brothers travelling together. We were all having fun, being goofy. It was so easy. Despite his position, it wasn’t a situation where you felt like you were under Kurt. Kurt made you feel like a brother. He made you feel welcome. He made you feel like we were family. So it was so easy. One of the coolest things was that he was teaching us stuff and we were teaching him things.”
