5 Ruthless Aggression Era Superstars that should have been WWE Champion

Shelton Benjamin

Credit: WWE.com

There are just some things about wrestling that you’ll just never forget. One of those things is the Raw from March 29, 2004. This was the night that Shelton Benjamin debuted on Raw after being drafted to the brand the previous week.

We all knew that Shelton had talent and athleticism from his days with Charlie Haas as the World’s Greatest Tag Team. But this night was completely unexpected. at least to me. Shelton would take on Triple H in the main event that night and after some interference by some guy named Benoit, Shelton got a huge win. The match was great.

From there, Shelton just kept on having great matches left and right. And his athleticism just kept producing more and more highlights every single week. He would soon go on to hold the Intercontinental and United States championships multiple times. He even had one of the best matches in Raw history during this time.

Seriously watch this again. It’s that good.

Benjamin even had a great heel run when he died his hair blonde and became “The Gold Standard.” It was during this time that he bucked the idea that his promo skills were non existent. He also continued to do crazy things during this time too. See any of his Money in the Bank appearances.

So went wrong? That’s anyone’s guess. Anytime Shelton’s name comes up now when comes to why he never won the big one, the answer is almost always “I don’t know.” In my opinion, the answer is that the WWE simply botched this one.

It all started when they hired an actress to play his mom on TV. It got to the point where all the heat was on the mom and Shelton began to play second fiddle. Then the WWE decided to take him off Raw. Which was fine. Smackdown presented a much better opportunity to be a main eventer. But then they buried him on ECW and made him amid carder there.   For some odd reason, things just never worked out.

Next: Charlotte Flair Is Reclaiming The Spotlight

Shelton would leave the WWE in 2010 and wrestle in Ring Of Honor and New Japan until the WWE finally brought him back in 2017. At this point, it seems like it may be too late for Shelton. He’s 42, doesn’t have the same crazy athleticism that he used to and he’s now stuck with Chad Gable in the tag team division.

Then again, AJ Styles is the current WWE Champion. And he’s also in his 40’s. So never say never I guess.