4 months ago
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Shelton Benjamin is not happy with some of his work in ECW in 2009.
The company was not exactly shy about portraying certain races insensitively in the past. With previous gimmicks like Kai En Tai, Saba Simba and The Mexicools, they’re never been the most thoughtful bunch when it comes to racial sensitivity.
Shelton Benjamin himself was a part of some racist work in 2009. Twitter user @OTD_IN_WWE marked the 15th anniversary of Yoshi Tatsu‘s debut in the WWE. They posted the accompanying video, which showed Benjamin doing a derogatory impression of the Japanese star.
#OnThisDayInWWE 15 years ago on ECW:
The debut of Yoshi Tatsu
"He comes highly touted – and his name is fun to say too" – Matt Striker
And Shelton Benjamin then does a mock Japanese impersonation ? pic.twitter.com/i4ShhBoiAB
This is something WWE would never do now, and something Shelton Benjamin is absolutely ashamed of. The Gold Standard replied on Twitter, saying that this is the one thing he’d love to erase from his career.
Benjamin said he was “utterly disgusted”, and was glad his character was kicked in the head and lost the match.
“If I could erase one thing in my career this is it,” Benjamin wrote on Twitter. “I’m completely and utterly disgusted by this racist shit. I’m glad the ending was my character getting kicked in the head and losing #racismsucks“
The angle was clearly something Shelton Benjamin was not comfortable with, and I’m sure nobody blames him for the content of the promo.
Shelton Benjamin: Team Angle Split Up Too Early
Shelton Benjamin wanted Team Angle to last longer than they did in the WWE.
Benjamin, Kurt Angle and Charlie Haas were only together for about 13 months. They were a highlight of Smackdown during this time, and all brought out the best in each other.
The former WWE wrestler told the Daily Star that he thinks the group were still learning from Angle, and should have stayed with him.
“Team Angle, yeah, I definitely think it goes under the radar because we didn’t get enough press, and we broke up way too early in my opinion.” Shelton Benjamin said. “Team Angle was only together for maybe 13 months before they broke us up.”
“Me and Charlie were still green as grass and still learning. But it was actually the best time of my life. Everything was new, everything was fun, and I was just happy to be on the roster. We were having these great matches with the Guerreros, and then later with Eddie [Guerrero], Tajiri, Rey [Mysterio], and [Billy] Kidman. That time with Team Angle was probably the most fun I had; that’s the most fun era for me.”
