WWE Superstar Shelton Benjamin was recently interviewed by ESPN to talk about several professional wrestling topics. Benjamin discussed learning to call matches in the ring from Eddie Guerrero and Chavo Guerrero, wrestlers not adjusting their match to the crowd’s reaction and who he trusts to call matches in the ring. Here are the highlights:
Learning to call matches in the ring from Eddie Guerrero and Chavo Guerrero:
“For the first eight months, we [Benjamin and Charlie Haas] were working with Eddie and Chavo Guerrero, and they would hide from us during the live events. They didn’t want to call matches because that was old school, and that was how they came up.
“Eventually they got fed up with us and we had one of those ‘coming to Jesus’ meetings. We told them they didn’t need to tell us spot-for-spot, but we just don’t know the things you’re trying to do. Eddie, who was always the captain of the ship said, ‘You guys are right, and I need to be a better captain.’
“He started teaching us the spots. So the next six months we never planned anything. We just showed up and had a great time in the ring. The rest of the art is just being familiar with who you’re in the ring with.”
Wrestlers not adjusting their matches to crowd reaction:
“Guys are so reliant on planning a match, to go out and do their plan, regardless of crowd response. Sometimes you gotta go out and call audibles. You need to say ‘this ain’t working’ and change it up. …
“Christian was trying to turn the fans on him during a promo, but they cheered him even louder. We decided that he was the babyface and I became the heel. Right on the fly, we switched the match.”
Who he trusts to call matches in the ring today:
“There are only a few people in WWE that I would trust having a good match with to just call it in the ring: Randy Orton, John Cena, AJ Styles, Brock Lesnar and Shinsuke Nakamura.”
