Who is better in ring: John Morrison or Shelton Benjamin

[Disturbed]

I thought this would be a good one to debate. Obviously, John Morrison has had a better career, so don't say that is why he is the better in ring wrestler. Shelton was very good but got held back because of his lack of mic skills. So here is another addition to my better in ring series. Remember it has nothing to do with mic skill here.

List of accomplishments from wikipedia.

Pro Wrestling Illustrated
PWI Most Improved Wrestler of the Year (2009)
PWI Tag Team of the Year (2005) with Joey Mercury[126]
PWI ranked him #27 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the year in the PWI 500 in 2010[127]
World Wrestling Entertainment
ECW World Championship (1 time)[128]
World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with The Miz[68]
WWE Intercontinental Championship (3 times)[76][129][130]
WWE Tag Team Championship (4 times) – with Joey Mercury (3) and The Miz (1)[21][23][24][61]
Slammy Award for Tag Team of the Year (2008) – with The Miz[67]
Slammy Award for Best WWE.com Exclusive (2008) – with The Miz[67]
WWE Tough Enough III with Matt Cappotelli[11]
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Tag Team of the Year (2008) with The Miz

List of accomplishments from wikipedia

Pro Wrestling Illustrated
PWI Tag Team of the Year (2003) with Charlie Haas[76]
PWI ranked him #9 of the 500 best singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2005[
World Wrestling Entertainment
WWE Intercontinental Championship (3 times)[78]
WWE Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Charlie Haas[79]
WWE United States Championship (1 time)[43


I only listed accomplishments from WWE and PWI because WWE was the company they were both in. Remember this is only about in ring skills.

Like Hamler used to say in his threads, please don't fill this thread up with spam. I think this can start a good debate, so please backup your argument.

 

[Find'er Woo'er Ryder]

Both of them are great athletes and deserve a ton of credit. But the better in-ring competitor would have to be Shelton Benjamin. The guy can pool off some outstanding moves: the somersault plancha, a massive samoan drop, springboard forearm, military press gutbuster which requires alot up upperbody strenght, superkick, pay dirt, and a 450 degree splash. I thought he was going to go to the main-event during his fued with HHH, which he got three wins over him; pinfall, count-out, and DQ. It's a shame he never won the big one in his time with WWE. I for one really hope he goes back and actually wins the WWE championship or the World Heavyweight Championship. Both titles would look great around the waist of the gold standard.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Shelton Benjamin is completely overrated in my opinion. I never saw him do anything inside the ring that Morrison himself isn't capable of doing but that's only part of the story. There's more to a match than just the wrestling action. There's the ability to tell a story and keep people interested in watching that story play out during the wrestling match and Morrison is all over Benjamin in that respect.

Athletic ability is a wonderful thing, everyone agrees on that, but what do you do when it's not enough? All the athletic ability in the world doesn't mean a damn thing if you're not able to get fans to care and that was always Benjamin's problem whether it was in the ring or on the mic. Sure, he'd get a response from the crowd when he did his traditional suicide dive off the top of the 20 foot ladder during MITB at WM or during similar highspots in some matches. His athleticism was always respected and appreciated by the fans.

However, Benjamin has no personality and personality can count for a lot even during the actual wrestling matches. For the past 6 months, Morrison has shown a lot of passion inside the ring and a lot of heart. He's taken some damn good beatings in some high profile matches only to come back and win those matches most of the time. If he doesn't, the effort that he put in during the match made him look like a star. Benjamin feuded with the likes of Chris Jericho, Triple H & RVD in the past, scored victories over those huge names and was never really able to get over. There were times he had runs with the IC & US titles lasting up to 8 months or longer and still nothing.

We can argue about who has the better moves or the flashiest offense until the cows come home and not come close to a real solidified consensus. Even though we're still talking about their work inside the ring, JoMo has been able to make fans interested to make them care. He's not just another name on the roster and Benjamin was even when he was getting pushed or had substantial runs with major titles.

 

[Calderownz]

Obviously both are incredibly talented. However, I think Shelton is miles away the better of the two.

If you're talking about pure athleticism, it's not even close. So, I won't get into the fact that Benjamin was a well-established collegiate athlete.

In terms of in the ring, he was a "cleaner" worker. His moves hit more. He had the ability to do the same sorts of things that Morrison has done, except he did them with a bit more natural finesse. Also, he didn't have to go to the top rope to get that done, either.

He was also a better storyteller in my personal opinion. His quick match with Shawn Michaels is a prime example of that. Also, his brief feud with Triple H was very well done and both did some great work.

I'd have to tip my hat in favor of Benjamin, and I like both wrestlers.

 

[mrbrownstone]

John Morison for me, I really never got all the love for Benjamin, sure he was a good wrestler but he wasn't amazing also his best matches were against guys like HBK and HHH a.k.a two guys proven to be able to have a great match with anyone, I would like to see if Benjamin himself could play that role.

Anyway thats off topic, for me John Morrison is better in the ring and heres why. Mainly he shows more personality in the squared circle, in terms of athletic ability they are fairly equal although I would also give that to Morrison although only just, but in terms of personality it is Morrison by some way. He actually is able to tell a story in the ring and invest people in the match, he is far more than just flashy move after flashy move. That ability to get me invested in his matches is why i voted for Morrison.

 

[Tech N9ne]

I think they are both really REALLY good in the ring.

I myself think Morrison is the better of the 2. Though Benjamin was as athletic as anyone has ever been in the ring. I prefer Morrison's style a bit more. Though a lot of people would say they have the same style. I would disagree. I think even though Shelton has a tendency to fly around the ring, his overall style was much more of a mat wrestler.

I like the kicks Morrison uses. He seems to take flight much more than Shelton ever did. Morrison makes some of the hardest moves look easy. I have seen Shelton pull off some amazing moves, especially at Wrestlemania.

But, I think the combination of Morrison on Sunday at The Royal Rumble and also Monday on RAW, trumps anything Shelton has ever done. Morrison's athletic ability was on full display and shined more than anyone in either Rumble.

I never could see Shelton as a World Champion, but I can definitely see Morrison taking one of the World Titles THIS year!

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I really enjoy seeing both of these guys in the ring. Both are incredibly athletic and can be extremely spectacular. However, Shelton has alot more mat-based offence than Morrison, while JoMo goes for a slightly different approach, and can use his more natural charisma to make the fans care about him more during a match.

I would have to lean slightly to Morrison on this one. While I think Benjamin certainly underachieved in his WWE run, I think Morrison has more of a chance of breaking into the main event bracket and eventually winning the World Title. He can tell a story better in the ring than Benjamin can, and I see bright things for JoMo in the next year or so.

 

[Mr. Artistic guy]

There's more to a match than just the wrestling action. There's the ability to tell a story and keep people interested in watching that story play out during the wrestling match and Morrison is all over Benjamin in that respect.

I think this is important and something I definately agree with, Morrison is very good at telling a story in a match, it's one of the reasons he is so highly regarded as an in-ring athlete. Because he botches his fair share of moves, he also hits just as many flush but he is great at playing his role in a match and really selling the story. His matches with Sheamus were great because Sheamus could beat down on the guy for the most part the way he does best and Morrison could play the underdog imacculately so a win would make him look really tenacious and dogged.

Overall, I'd say it depends what your looking for. Shelton can hit spots with absolute precision and is a better technical guy, he tends to botch less. Morrison on the other hand is a better flyer, his training in parkour as much as it is overused by the announce table, really does allow him to do amazing things like the royal rumble spot. He has untapped ability for unique spots that nobody else would be able to achieve. It's hard to pick a winner for me, I'd be leaning towards saying Shelton is actually a better wrestler but Morrison's matches are more entertaining because of what he can do.

 

[WindyCityWreckingCrew]

Benjamin is probably the better 'pure' wrestler of the two. Not to say that Morrison isn't skilled; John Morrison's more of a showman and quite possibly lives inside of the Matrix.

I think either one in the ring could work wonders. If I was a booker:

I'd have Shelton in a match that I wanted to use to get someone over, and I'd have Morrison for the ooh's and aah's, and to sell some merch.

 

[JGlass]

It's Morrison for me.

Benjamin never really did anything all that impressive besides deliver a nice suplex, and let's face it, nearly anyone can deliver a nice suplex. He's extremely athletic and he could use that to do some cool shit, but Benjamin's cool spots never came anywhere close to the awesomeness of JoMo's spots.

People say Benjamin is a better "pure" wrestler, but I can't remember ever seeing him display the stuff that made Kurt Angle famous. I'm not very familiar with his time as part of The World's Greatest Tag Team, but he never impressed me with fascinating counters and transitioning holds like Kurt Angle, or even Shawn Michaels could do.

JoMo, on the other hand, doesn't claim to be something he isn't. He'll do the typical high flier in-ring stuff; he uses lots of kicks, jumping moves, his grapples are fairly simple and don't require him to use his strength, and they're generally used to set up his high flying offense. Furthermore, John Morrison can pull off shit that only John Morrison can do. I don't think there's another pro-wrestler in the world who could have pulled off that spot in the Royal Rumble.

 

[GameOn]

The are both amazing athletes,but I like John Morrison more.

There styles are quite the same,but in my opinion,Morrison is the better athlete.His moves are great and he certainly should be champion.

 

[scottyshowman82]

I am a huge Shelton Benjamin mark. And his match with Shawn Michaels on Raw a couple years back is still among my personal top 10. But geez louise John Morrison has been doing some out of this world things lately that have put him over the top. Although I'm a huge Shelton fan I would go with Morrison to outshine Shelton on a big stage setting and that's saying a lot.

 

[Sparky]

Lulz. So we have somebody that is entertaining, if not only recently against one of the most over rated wrestlers in history? Morrison wins this hands down. Yeah, Shelton might of been ok with some spots in ladder matches but so is Morrison. the only difference is Morrison can pull off a damn good wrestling match without having to do high risk maneuvers.

 

[Notorious KJE]

Shelton Benjamin is easily the better wrestler, I like John Morrison but Shelton is better move for move. Morrison is a tremendous athlete, but Benjamin is one of the best pure all around wrestlers in the world. I honestly think he was misused because he's black just as they've misused a lot of their black wrestlers not named The Rock or Booker T, and even Booker was largely misused for most of his WWE tenure.

I like John Morrison, but he's more of a spot machine than a wrestler. People say that Shelton lacked mic skills, but he never got all that much time to shine on the mic, and from what I've heard from both men I'd say Shelton is better on the mic than Morrison. Athletically I'd say they're about even, but Shelton is easily the better mat wrestler. Morrison can't do as much when he's on the ground.

 

[Jason Scene]

John Morrison's showings at the Royal Rumble and the "RAW Rumble", were incredible, but they werent wrestling manuevers. Inside the ring, John can do some amazing things. I prefer his Pele Kick to AJ's and I also think that Starship Pain is one of the best moves in WWE history.

But Shelton Benjamin was in my opinion, much better in-ring. He could jump from the mat to the top turnbuckle, his speed was incredible too. He was always a great in-ring competitor and, as many will reiterate, one of the most athetic wrestlers in WWE history.

I don't think his WWE run was thrown away because he was black though. I don't think that at all. Shelton had very little charisma, even in his Ring of Honor promos he hasn't said anything different from what other wrestlers would say ten - twenty minutes prior.

But I do still think Shelton > Morrison on in-ring talent.

 

[freaky107]

For me personally, I prefer Shelton's style of wrestling. Morrison can so some incredible stuff, I give him that, but being a good wrestler isn't about how many dives you can do or how many twists you can put into a flip.

Shelton showed that he is very well rounded; he is a great high flyer, has tremendous mat skills and, against smaller opponents, sometimes even takes the role of what is almost a powerhouse, but still incorporating his high-adrenaline athletic style.

I also think it's incredibly un-fair for him to be labeled as a spot monkey. Sure, in most people's minds he will be the guy who has the highlight moment in MiTB, but he is often overlooked as an all-round wrestler.

Morrison, on the other hand, although a great performer in his own right, in my opinion isnt as well rounded as Shelton. Morrison seems to be all flash to me, and I prefer a slightly more technical or well-rounded style. However, I do understand that this guy is extremely talented, and I see good things for him in the near future.

In conclusion, although Morrison might have the more shocking and dynamic array of moves, Shelton can do most things Morrison can do and more, and is more adept in mat and technical wrestling than he is, so my vote goes to Shelton.