A longtime WWE star may end up in AEW as the promotion looks to bring in new talent.
The talks
Shelton Benjamin’s first run with WWE started in 2000, where he found a lot of success as a former Tag Team, US, and Intercontinental Champion. He was released in 2010 before returning in 2017, where he was part of The Hurt Business with MVP Cedric Alexander and Bobby Lashley, but was released again last September.
Over the weekend it was reported AEW and Benjamin have recently had conversations and discussed the possibility of him appearing for the company. It’s not clear just yet whether pen has been put to paper. They’ve also discussed possible appearances as far back as a month ago.
While speaking with Jamal Niaz for the Monopoly Events YouTube channel, Benjamin was asked about potentially wrestling Will Ospreay and Kazuchika Okada and a move to AEW.
Move
“I think it could be a lot of fun, so those names are at the top of my list, but obviously, I enjoy what I do, I love what I do, and I can pretty much mesh with anybody. So, it’s just a matter of what they think, but, as far as AEW goes, that door’s open — my door is open. I haven’t eliminated any possibilities as of yet.”
A follow-up question was whether he could appear AEW All In at Wembley Stadium.
“could be [All In appearance]. Again, the ball’s really in their court. But like you said, it’s pro wrestling so you never know what’s gonna happen.”
OVW
Benjamin also discussed the famous OVW class from 2002 with John Cena, Randy Orton, Batista, Brock Lesnar, and others.
“Yeah, myself, Cena, Orton, Batista Lesnar, Victoria, Eugene, Rob Conway, Jazz, Nydia, Mark Henry, Big Show. There were a lot of us, and I think what made the class special was, again, we were all new, different from Big Show, and like Mark Henry, no one had ever really been on the road. So we all made it a point to help each other like we wanted to be overqualified. Because WWE had options as far as where they could pull the talents they could pull from. And we all worked together to make sure that everyone was overqualified when they got up there. So WWE, keep coming back to our pool. And it did. And like I said, I believe we have the greatest class of all time.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article, please credit the Monopoly Events YouTube channel with an h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
