Mama Benjamin & Son

[#hamler]

That’s Thea Vidale or better known to you wrestling folks as Mama Benjamin. Your remember Mama Benjamin? Sure you do. Shelton Benjamin’s kayfabe mom from early January 2006 to March 2006. She was the loud, obnoxious, large, annoying but still funny stereotypical black woman yelling at Shelton Benjamin every time he lost a match. Mama’s time in the WWE began as Shelton was already in a massive losing streak, forcing his mother to chime in to help her boy out. Mama would slap and yell at Benjamin everytime he lost a match; she had to do things herself. Soon, she started interfering in his matches eventually leading to a quiet but slow heel turn. Mama Benjamin helped her boy Shelton win the Intercontinental Championship from Ric Flair when she faked Heart complications. Pretty soon, she was written off in some lame ass way I don’t even care to remember.

It is clear that Mama Benjamin’s time was short in the WWE; if you blinked, you might have missed the entire storyline. But I can’t help but love this idea. Mama Benjamin was undoubtedly original and to my knowledge, had never been done before. While the storyline was definitely short, I cannot help but feel this was one of Shelton’s best career highlights excluding Triple H. Some may say I’m overrating the storyline but she truly was beneficial to Shelton is more ways than one. There was no question Benjamin was complete shit on the mic, and with as much television time the WWE provided Shelton, he needed a manager. Mama Benjamin assisted Shelton not only because she could handle the promos and backstage skits, but brought personality wherever Shelton stepped foot. Shelton lacked a lot of qualities that were necessary to become a quality main eventer in the WWE and I believe with Momma Benjamin in Shelton’s corner throughout his time in the WWE, it would have at least gave him a chance.

In many ways, Shelton Benjamin reminds me a lot of Dolph Ziggler. By that, with work, Benjamin could have progressed and moved up the ranks very much like Dolph Ziggler did. Look at the path Dolph Ziggler has taken throughout his time as a WWE superstar. He was a nobody backstage with nothing relevant to do other than inform people of his name. No one showed any kind of attention toward him. Soon, Dolph’s winning the Intercontinental Championship and putting on some very underrated matches with the veteran Rey Mysterio. He still lacked charisma. Vickie Guerrero gets a hold of him and he’s slowly growing into one of my favorites. A year later he starts getting heat, starts developing charisma and transforms into a wonderful heel. Why couldn’t Shelton take that route? He already possesses the in-ring ability. And there’s no doubt if Mama Benjamin truly stayed around, she would’ve been equally, perhaps more over than Vickie Guerrero right now.

I just believe the storyline doesn’t get enough attention. It just happens to be one of those what ifs I think about at night. Well now, I’m forcing you to think about it too.

What did you think of the storyline?

Do you think Mama Benjamin hurt or helped Shelton Benjamin’s career? In the long run?

Would you like to see the storyline rehashed on any particular superstar today?

Have fun. Discuss this.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

What did you think of the storyline?
​

I hated it, Benjamin was a great athlete and did not need to be associated by racial stereotypes like this.

Do you think Mama Benjamin hurt or helped Shelton Benjamin’s career? In the long run?

It hurt him, obviously at that point Benjamin's star was not shining that bright but he was still a pretty big deal on RAW at the time. This whole thing turned Benjamin to someone we took seriously to a comedy act.

Having Benjamin's mama kind of made him into a joke, I know Benjamin was not too great in the mic but having his "mama" as the mouthpiece was not helping. I would prefer Heyman manage Benjamin ( and it's not like he was doing anything at the time).

Would you like to see the storyline rehashed on any particular superstar today?

No ... for reasons stated above.

Have fun. Discuss this.[/QUOTE]​

 

[strasaphere]

What did you think of the storyline?

I thought it was pretty stupid to start with, but it was needed, Shelton was very bad on the Mic, and getting little to no crowd reaction every-week. Even though he was a great athlete, you need a lot more than that to make it in WWE (Or be 320 pounds of pure muscle)

Do you think Mama Benjamin hurt or helped Shelton Benjamin’s career? In the long run?

I think it helped him really, as I said before, he was getting little to no crowd reaction every week, they built up Shelton slowly, having him beat lots of top guys, going over an Evolution member every-week and even having a 1 on 1 World Heavyweight championship match, everything seemed to be going great for him right? Wrong, the crowd just wasn't into it, he seemed to have no charisma, no ''Oomph'' on the ring that made you interested in why he wanted to be the best in the buisness.

I feel that bringing in this ''Momma'' storyline, made use of someone who would of otherwise faded quietly into the shadows and released, which is a shame for someone as talented as Benjamin.

The story now had some comedic factor to it, what with Big Vis now hitting on Shelton's Mom, the fued between Vis and Shelton over it, and the rushed Intercontinental title win, hilarity ensued.

Would you like to see the storyline rehashed on any particular superstar today?


Two words, Brodus Clay, Someone call his momma!

But on a serious note, if Brodus does start to get stale, and they don't want to revert him to Monster Heel, this could work.

 

[#hamler]

This whole thing turned Benjamin to someone we took seriously to a comedy act.

Shelton won the Intercontinental Championship from Ric Flair during this storyline; I took that very seriously. Comedy acts have been very successful throughout wrestling's history. Goldust is perhaps one of the best Intercontinental Champions of all time yet, he was there purely to make you laugh. I don't think it was a joke, that isn't what I got out of the storyline. WWE often used Shelton on television but he went no where. He wrestled a match, and then left the building. It was incredibly hard to build a long drawn out feud around Shelton because of how bad he was on the microphone. His Mama helped that. Shelton also lacked personality and Mama forced that out of him. The pros definitely outweigh the negatives here.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

Winning an intercontinental championship can still make you a comedy act if that's how creative uses you. Some examples include Santino or The Godfather ... IC Champs no one took seriously.

 

[WunNightStan619]

when i read the title of this thread i died laughing. Mama Benjamin was a hilarious role n i wish they would have done it longer. To be honest i dont think it help or hurt shelton at all. She was only around for like 15mins. But i did like this story n would have liked to see more out of it...maybe even see it recycled today

 

[H33LTurn]

This was one of the funniest storylines I have ever witnessed and I still randomly remember it while watching RAW. It certainly didnt hurt Shelton's career, in fact it made him relevant at a time where there really wasnt much available for him. I wouldnt want to see anyone given this gimmick to work with because its too fresh in peoples mind and could potentially make the superstar weaker.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

I thought the concept was good but the execution was poor. Vidale never seemed that comfortable and her and Benjamin didn't really seem to have much chemistry. It got sad and stale very fast. However, I will say that if it was actually going somewhere I wanted to see where it was going.

I definitely think it hurt Benjamin's career, it exposed to a greater extent the lack of faith WWE had in Benjamin on his own and when the angle failed it left the fans waiting for Benjamin's career to come to a close. Once this happens fans lose emotional investment which is never a good thing when your goal is to get a reaction out of people.

If they were to rehash this type of storyline I would want WWE to bring in a mother that is able to get a little bit more physical and earn the wrestler some more wins. Vidale was a comedian, not an athlete and I don't remember her providing anything on a physical level.

 

[Cats Pajamas]

I hated this storyline when I saw it. Benjamin wasn't a WWE Champion by any means, but when I saw this I thought they were pretty much writing him off. Mama Benjamin was actually pretty successful in her role, but I was never a fan of Shelton as a mama's boy.

In the long shot, I don't know as it hurt Benjamin as it was sooooo short lived and by that point Benjamin's on promo skills proved to be twice the enemy of him then a comedic angle could have been. He didn't have what is commonly referred to as "it", and I didn't have that feeling that they were too interested in investing much more into his career. His promo skills were devastatingly disappointing. Short term, despite his IC reign, I think it actually hurt him. Immediately after Mama was gone, Benjamin was just a mama's boy without his mama. Somebody should have called his mama.

If I was to see it again, which I wouldn't mind because I appreciate this angle much more years after, I'd pick Jinder Mahal. I see this guy thrashing waste deep in a kiddy pool, just going nowhere! But I always liked that episode of The Simpsons where Apu's mother came to visit and "cash in" on the arranged marriage she had set for Apu only to become ashamed of Apu when he mislead her into believing he was already married to Marge. I could see Mr and Mrs Mahal in the audience becoming despondant over the shame that Jinder Jr is bringing to the "Mahal Textile Co".

 

[DirtyD79]

What did you think of the storyline?

I thought it was stupid as hell. She was basically every racist "Mammy" stereotype in existance.

Do you think Mama Benjamin hurt or helped Shelton Benjamin’s career? In the long run?

I don't think it hurt him much although it sure didn't help him any either. She was the one who got over, not him.

Would you like to see the storyline rehashed on any particular superstar today?

No, No, No, and HELL NO!

 

[EastCoastFan]

I hated the whole Momma Benjamin angle. I'll admit that Shelton's biggest weakness was his lack of promo skills, but giving him his "Momma" for a manager just made him look stupid. Shelton needed a manager, but "Momma" was not the right choice for him. He may have won the IC title, but people couldn't take him seriously with Momma Benjamin by his side.

 

[Peoples_Champ]

What did you think of the storyline?

Do you think Mama Benjamin hurt or helped Shelton Benjamin’s career? In the long run?

Would you like to see the storyline rehashed on any particular superstar today?

Any time you can get heat, its a plus. I thought the storyline was great, but it was like with all other Benjamin storylines - there was no thought process in how to develop it. Sure there were racial overtones, but lets face it, this is professional wrestling - not exactly the most politically correct forum there is (btw, a black man with dyed blonde hair is not the shining example of Dr. Martin Luther King, but I digress).

The storyline made Benjamin slightly relevant, and gave his character a new dimension - all good things. The problem was that there was no pay-off to this storyline. I think it helped him overall, but very very slightly.

A similar storyline would be interesting, but depends on the character. Someone like Jinder Mahal, who someone else mentioned, would be interesting. Mahal has gone on and on about his family's wealth, it would be great to see someone like Tiger Jeet Singh come out, say that Mahal has disappointed him and kick his ass. Or hell, have DiBiase Sr. come out to slap around DiBiase Jr. if there's a heel turn (or the other way around to start a heel turn!).

When we see wrestlers, we don't think about their parents or families. Involving that dimension, like Bret did masterfully in his feud with Owen, really adds some depth to the character and can really help either get heat or get the character over.

 

[The Brain]

I didn’t mind the angle. There was some humor in it but I didn’t like it for Benjamin. Ever since the draft in 2004 I was waiting for Benjamin to break out. He seemed to do this by beating Triple H shortly after joining Raw. An injury sidelined him in the summer but an IC title win over Chris Jericho toward the end of the year seemed to put him back on track. Benjamin did well until losing the title in mid 2005. After that he fell fast. I was hoping it was another temporary setback but he had a hard time getting back on track again. To me the Mama angle signified that WWE had given up on Benjamin as a major player. Comedy angles are usually reserved for guys lower on the card instead of main eventers. I wasn’t quite ready to give up on Benjamin yet but I knew the writing was on the wall for him with that angle. Sure he lasted about another three years or so but he never reached the level he was at before the Mama angle.

 

[ECW Dan Selby]

Shelton won the Intercontinental Championship from Ric Flair during this storyline; I took that very seriously. Comedy acts have been very successful throughout wrestling's history. Goldust is perhaps one of the best Intercontinental Champions of all time yet, he was there purely to make you laugh. I don't think it was a joke, that isn't what I got out of the storyline. The pros definitely outweigh the negatives here.

Goldust was 'purely there to make you laugh'?

Did you ever used to watch Goldust back in 1996? He wasn't a comedy character.

And although you may have taken Shelton's IC title win seriously, I think myself and many others didn't because we were too busy being bemused by the fact he had a ridiculous manager that made him look like an utter goof.

When we see wrestlers, we don't think about their parents or families. Involving that dimension, like Bret did masterfully in his feud with Owen, really adds some depth to the character and can really help either get heat or get the character over.

haha I can't believe i've seen this angle compared with Shelton Benjamin's moma...

 

[MWRedskins]

i liked it, no it wasnt the best storyline and sure there was some sterotypes, but i found it quite funny. She was an over-bearing mother who made sure her son would listen to him, in his first match with her at ringside, she was shouting at him and it was kinda funny, including the line where she said, "dont make me get my belt! dont make me get my belt!" as for should they use it again, uh, i dont know on that one.

 

[ABMorales787]

It was a tossaway storyline to turn Benjamin heel and get title off Ric Flair. If anything, it was unique. Not that funny though when it started with Viscera hitting on her. Hell, I didn't find it funny at all.

 

[#hamler]

Goldust was 'purely there to make you laugh'?

Did you ever used to watch Goldust back in 1996? He wasn't a comedy character.

What was he exactly? What was his gimmick? Explain to me how you or anyone for that matter could take Goldust seriously when he deliberately tried to freak his opponents out by flirtatious mind games and his very suggestive mannerisms? How could you take Goldust seriously and not Mama Benjamin? Goldust was undoubtedly one of the best Intercontinental Champions of all time and he was a complete joke. Point is, funny or not, you can still have a successful character.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I hated the storyline. It was just plain bad. I know WWE likes to use racial stereotypes (evil Russians, proud Canadians, Mexicans with lawnmowers etc), and this was just another one, with a loud large black woman and there wasnt really any need for it. It just buried Benjamin, who had so much potential to do great things in WWE. I know it kept him "slightly relevant", but it just overshadowed a very talented guy and made him into a joke figure.

How can you take a wrestler seriously who has his Momma with him at ringside, and is scolded by her whenever he loses. You cant. It was a death knell for Shelton's career, and it is a shame that this is one of the things he will be remembered for.

I hope WWE realise just how crappy this angle was and refrain from using it on anyone else. Drew McIntyre is on the losing streak at the moment. I hope to God we don't a sterotypical Scottish woman coming in as his "Momma".

 

[FlairFan2003]

I really liked the Momma Benjamin angle. 1st, Benjamin, despite his athleticism, was not over at all with avg wrestling fans. He was inconsistent in the ring as far as selling his opponents and he put you to sleep on the mic. The whole Momma Benjamin angle actually made Shelton something to watch, before when boring Shelton came on I knew it was time to go to the bathroom.

That said, if WWE really wanted to build Shelton they should have had him in a legit long term program with Flair who was fairly over as IC champ. A full scale program ending with Benjamin as IC champ would have done wonders for getting him over and accepted by fans.

That said, when they ended the Momma Benjamin angle (Flair actually beat her up in her wheel chair, took her oxygen away, and used it to beat up Shelton) WWE re christened a new, ladies man, heel character for Benjamin that was more cool than the Momma's Boy gimmick and had some potential, but it too was soon spirarling downward, like Shelton's career.
Regardless of wether WWE didnt like him or he simply couldnt hack it at the top level, the Momma Benjamin angle did suceed in getting fans to actually pay attention to Shelton. For that reason I liked it