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Shelton Benjamin expected more when he returned to WWE in 2017.
Benjamin had a successful WWE run in his first stint with the company. He was released in 2010, and he wrestled for Ring of Honor, New Japan Pro-Wrestling, and NOAH over the next few years. Benjamin returned to WWE in 2017 and was later released in September 2023.
Speaking on Talk Is Jericho, Shelton Benjamin reflected on returning to WWE in 2017.
“When I went back to WWE, I had bigger expectations,” he said. “One, in my head, I always felt like if you had ever done anything worth memory in WWE, there’s always a chance you’ve gotta go back. So in my head, I always felt like I was going to go back. I didn’t know it was going to take six or seven years, but in my head, I always knew I was going to go back. First, I got a call from William Regal and he asked me a very odd question.
“I didn’t quite see the writing on the wall at the time when he asked me. Because he asked me, he basically said that he’d been asked to contact me and ask me if I were brought back, am I willing to help other talent get over or do I want more. I remember going, well, of course I’m gonna want more, that had been what I was doing before I left, helping other talent get over at the cost of my own career. I didn’t get it.”
Shelton Benjamin On Accepting WWE’s Offer
Benjamin then recalled feeling like WWE low-balled him with the offer to bing him back, but he agreed to take it. He noted that he didn’t have an agent and admitted that, as a result, he shot himself in the foot in the negotiating process.
“A few months later, I spoke with Mark Carrano,” he said. “He said, ‘We’re gonna bring you back.’ He made an offer but I felt like that offer was lowballing me but I was like, again, I’m thinking ten years before, Johnny [Ace] used to always say, ‘It doesn’t matter what the downside is as long as you’re on everything.’ I didn’t realize the business had changed now, the downside matters because no matter what I was making before, no matter what my downside was, I always made more. When they gave me [the new offer], I was like, ‘That’s low, but if I’m working, I’ll be fine.’ Then I get there and it’s like, oh no, we’re not based on touring anymore, we got TV deals and things like that, your downside is your downside.
“I was like, ‘Oh, you didn’t tell me that part.’ Also, I never had an agent, which again, I shot myself in the foot. It wasn’t the money and what was described to me, but I always said no matter what, I can’t change or affect anything from the outside. So, I accepted the offer and went back.” H/t Fightful for the transcription)
Benjamin signed with AEW and debuted on the October 2, 2024, episode of AEW Dynamite. He and Bobby Lashley won the AEW World Tag Team Championship on the January 22nd episode of AEW Dynamite.
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