Quite simply.... This is the longest piece of crap I've seen on this entire forum. And granted, there's plenty of crap on here.
And to the people going on about how WWE gave him chances and constant pushes.
Why yes, that would be me.
On March 22, 2004, Benjamin was drafted to the Raw brand.
After arriving, Benjamin quickly became a fan favorite when, in his new storyline, he won a pinfall victory over Triple H.
I wouldn't so much call it a storyline as I would a "fluke". People understood that this was Triple H's excuse for putting people over. Sure, it introduced people to Shelton Benjamin, and it should have vaulted him into the main event scene.
As part of the storyline, Benjamin then feuded with the other members of Triple H's stable Evolution. Benjamin defeated Ric Flair at Backlash and lost to Randy Orton in a WWE Intercontinental Championship match at Bad Blood.
Are you getting all of your stuff off of Wikipedia? Honestly, are you pulling all that you have on Shelton off of Wikipedia? Anyway, sure, this was the feud that they expected to push him into the main event. Hell, he was feuding with the most hated stable in the WWE, and the most hated wrestler in the WWE. And then... Then he settled for a mid card title. He went for the Intercontinental Title off, and wrestled against Randy Orton. And it's at this point that the fans realized something... Shelton had no personality.
Maybe you didn't hear that promo you just put onto this forum.... But it was extremely tedious, and Shelton had multiple mistakes in it, stuttering, and repeating himself over and over again. And that was actually one of his better promos. It was an overall bland promo, and it shows just how devoid of personality Shelton truly is.
So as you can see things were going smoothly for Mr. Benjamin and looked to be set for a mainevent push later down the line.
Um.... This was his main event push? I mean, come on, he was going against Triple H at a time when everyone hated him. This was his chance to prove what he had, and he just didn't have the sticking power of a main event wrestler. Or the charisma. Or the talent.
But During a match with Garrison Cade on Heat, Benjamin punched Cade's knee brace, legitimately breaking his hand in the process and briefly taking him out of action.
And for the most part, I'll accept that. But if Shelton had the attention of the fans like you feel he did, then when he returned from his injury, he would have returned right to the main event scene.
Then he returned and was chosen by the fans to compete for the Intercontinental Championship in a match against then-champion Chris Jericho at Taboo Tuesday where he was victorious.
So you're point is that Shelton's popular with the fans? Right... Let's take a look at all of the candidates that received votes to face Chris Jericho that night...
Batista: Was still in the grooming stages of Evolution, and a heel. In short, the WWE put him in the poll, expecting him to not have a chance in Hell to win. A heel vs. heel mid-card title match? Doesn't sound like something the fans wanted.
Coach: I don't think there's any more to say on the matter. Coach earned votes to challenge for the IC Title. That should just show you how stupid WWE fans truly are.
Rhyno: Heel VS. Heel again. And Rhyno just didn't attract fans in WWE. Like, at all.
Maven: Yeah, because that was quite the hall of fame name there. Maven, though I like his work more than Shelton, never deserved any place higher than the lower portion of the card.
Look, I could go on. Names such as Rosey, Rodney Mack, and fucking Steven Richards earned votes to challenge Chris Jericho. Shelton was the only credible face the WWE had to offer the fans to face off for a mid-card title.
During his reign as Intercontinental Champion, Benjamin retained the title against challengers such as Christian, Maven and Chris Jericho.
Benjamin later lost the title to Carlito when he debuted on Raw, ending the longest Intercontinental Championship reign of the decade.
And you know what are seriously the only things I remember about these reigns? These two moments:
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Seriously, those are all of the moments I remember from Shelton's reign. Either than that, Shelton amounted to a big fat pile of nothing. He had no charisma, and was matched with wrestlers that were far more entertaining than him. Yes, even Maven got better reactions than Shelton. Want proof?
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He was in fucking Puerto Rico, wrestling in front of wrestling starved fans, and I'd argue that was the smallest pop all night. He got carried by Maven, in terms of entertainment value. That should tell you just how "entertaining" Shelton Benjamin is.
Things were looking up for Shelton once again and looked destined to become a breakthrough star.
But then came.....
The Downfall
Benjamin's next storyline began when Shawn Michaels gave Benjamin a speech to get him "psyched" for their tag match together later in the night.
Nearing the ending of the bout, Michaels was preparing to finish the match when Benjamin tagged himself in and missed a crossbody, allowing Carlito to pin Benjamin.
And this is relevant how? Anyway, this was the beginning of his run as a heel.... Mainly because Shelton couldn't get the fans on his side as a face. Like, at all. So the WWE decided to cover that up by turning him heel. Now he can be a heel with lackluster reactions.
WWE then gave him a terrible "losing streak" storyline for the next several weeks, which led to them bringing in his "Momma" and it just ruined him.
You know why they gave him the momma gimmick? Because he couldn't get over, and had no charisma. The crowds didn't care, and thus, they had to add something to get him over. It's quite simple, actually... Very reminiscent of Billy Gunn, actually. They would put anything together to try and get him over. Shelton wasn't entertaining... So pair him with his momma, and make it funny. Makes sense to me.
And to add fuel to the fire they repackaged him giving Benjamin a new gimmick, One which involved:
wearing shades, jewelry, and occasional colored shirts while entering the ring.
Yeah, again, they needed to add anything to him to make him entertaining. Because, you know, he isn't. He has no personality, and at this point, he was relying on spots to get his matches through. Actually became pretty pathetic.
Because the fans didn't care. Because by this point, we realized Shelton sucked. His matches weren't even that good, his promos were horrendous, and he was in dire need of a gimmick just to get himself over. Oh, and did I mention that the fans didn't care?
The Gold Standard
They shipped Benjamin off to ECW, where Elijah Burke introduced Benjamin as the newest ECW superstar.
He dyed his hair and began wearing gold wrestling attire.
Yeah, because Shelton had no distinguishing features otherwise, and had nothing to separate himself from other wrestlers. We have a word for that; desperation.
On ECW, he began once again receiving more airtime and higher profile matches, defeating Tommy Dreamer in his debut.
And the sad thing is, you aren't joking when you say that. Sigh..
He was meant to be built up to become ECW champion by then-head writer of the brand Dusty Rhodes, but unfortunately he left for FCW which led Shelton to sail alone without a paddle.
Wow... Something you didn't take off of Wikipedia... I'm impressed...
Anyway, so let me get this straight... You're relying on the same man who, while booking in WCW, refused to do anything with the following wrestlers:
Steve Austin
Triple H (You should know about that. Go look it up on his Wikipedia. You seem so fond of it)
Mick Foley
And was one of the most horrendous bookers you will ever find in professional wrestling? I love Dusty, but he was one of the absolute worst bookers you will ever find. The Chamber of Horrors match, The Spin The Wheel, Make The Deal match, The Doomsday Cage... You can thank Dusty for those. And you really want to say that he was a good booking mind, and had the outstanding idea to book Shelton to the moon? Right....
After being wasted on ECW he later returned to Smackdown where he captured the U.S title, but after doing so they destroyed all of his momentum basically jobbing him in his matches except for the ones where the title was defended.
He later lost it to MVP and has done nothing ever since.
Closing Thoughts
And there you have it thats all of Sheltons piss poor single pushes in a post.
How in the blue hell do you expect him to make something out of those if the WWE kept killing off all his momentum and putting him in stupid storylines that make him look weak and irrelevant?
Look, the fact is that WWE gave him all of the chances in the world, and he blew each and every one of them. His matches are bad now, he still has no charisma, and the fans don't care. And you really want to give this man a main event push? Right....