Shelton Benjamin
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Template:Pwstatbox Shelton Benjamin (born July 9, 1976 in Orangeburg, South Carolina) is an American professional wrestler and former amateur wrestler now working for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)'s RAW brand.
Career
Benjamin was Brock Lesnar's tag team partner (also a wrestling teammate and roommate at The University of Minnesota) in Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW). He joined WWE as a heel along with Charlie Haas in 2003 as Team Angle, with former Olympic gold-medallist wrestler and former WWE Champion Kurt Angle as their mentor. After splitting with Angle, the two referred to themselves as The World's Greatest Tag Team until they were separated when Benjamin was moved from the company's SmackDown! show to WWE RAW.
Upon arriving on RAW, he was immediately confronted by the show's top heel, Triple H. Triple H accused him of laughing when he was transferred to SmackDown! via the Draft Lottery (a subsequent trade sent Triple H back to RAW the following day). Triple H attacked Benjamin backstage, which led to a match in which Benjamin scored a tremendous upset by pinning the former World Heavyweight Champion. Two more victories followed, and Benjamin quickly became a face singles star.
Benjamin defeated Ric Flair at Backlash 2004, and continued being pushed as an up-and-coming star. An injury briefly put Benjamin out of action, but he came back in the fall of 2004, shortly before the Taboo Tuesday pay-per-view. He was voted in over fourteen other superstars to get an Intercontinental Title shot against Chris Jericho, and succeeded in defeating him for the belt on October 19, 2004, holding it for eight months.
Benjamin lost his title to Carlito on June 20, 2005, when Carlito held the ropes to get the pin, ending the longest IC title reign in ten years.
Signature/Finishing moves
- T-Bone Powerslam (Exploder Suplex)
- Benjamin Frostkick (Super Sidekick)
- Flying Lariat
- Dragon-Whip
- Stinger Splash (Corner-Running Splash)
- Top Rope Springboard Flying Clothesline
- Top Rope Springboard into a Bulldog
- Northern Lights Suplex
Championships/Accomplishments
Benjamin_ic_champ.jpg
- WWE Intercontinental Champion
- WWE Tag Team Champion (2)
- February 24 2003 - May 18 2003 (with Charlie Haas)
- July 1 2003 - September 16 2003 (with Charlie Haas)
- OVW Tag Team Champion (4)
- February 13 2001 - April 22 2001 (with Brock Lesnar)
- May 15 2001 - July 14 2001 (with Brock Lesnar, vacated due to injury)
- October 13 2001 - November 7 2001 (with Brock Lesnar)
- July 17 2002 -- (with Redd Dogg Begnaud, vacated)
- He won the 2003 Pro Wrestling Illustrated Tag Team of the Year Award with Charlie Haas.