WWE: Shelton Benjamin Proved Again He Deserves A Spot

On WWE Raw, Shelton Benjamin made a surprise appearance to attack Seth Rollins. The resulting match proved again why Benjamin deserves a permanent spot in WWE’s mid-card.

With Dolph Ziggler missing in action, various NXT stars struggling to find consistent on-screen time, and superstars like Bobby Roode now in the tag team title picture, the WWE mid-card scene has become somewhat barren over the past few months.

WWE has been missing a lot of those superstars who hold the weekly shows together by being able to put on entertaining matches with just about anyone they need to. The company has attempted to fill that role, to some extent, with people like Baron Corbin and Elias, but the results have been mixed to say the least.

Raw and SmackDown need more superstars who can seamlessly enter and exit into a rivalry without causing storyline chaos or leaving fans wondering where their character is headed.

In short, WWE needs a guy like Shelton Benjamin.

If WWE Raw was any indication too, Benjamin is still more than game to fill that role.

On Raw, Benjamin attacked Seth Rollins at the behest of Paul Heyman. It seemed to be somewhat of a scouting run for Heyman’s client, Brock Lesnar, before Rollins challenges the Universal Champion at WrestleMania.

The resulting match itself, while somewhat surprising considering how random it felt initially, turned out to be one of the highlights of Raw.

Benjamin’s performance, from his creative counter of Rollins’ dive to his Brock Lesnar impersonation, perfectly fit the segment and opponent. Heyman’s work on commentary helped flesh out the storyline at work as well, by accidentally revealing he paid Benjamin to attack the so-called ‘beastslayer’.

Overall, it was just a fun and surprisingly memorable segment that really helped push along a storyline that’s been nearly non-existent on WWE Raw up until this point.

In fact, I would even say this segment did more to advance Rollins and Lesnar’s rivalry than just another one of those ephemeral appearances from Lesnar that we’ve become all to used to.

Instead of having Lesnar bounce around while Heyman cuts a dramatic promo, this was an actual creative way to build Lesnar and Heyman’s feud with Rollins. It’s something which WWE just seems to struggle to find ways to do lately too.

Benjamin’s role in making that whole segment work should not be underestimated as well. Not many people could fill that role so flawless and have the same success.

It just goes as another reminder that WWE has under contract an incredibly talented superstar who, for whatever reason, can’t seem to find a permanent spot on the roster in spite of the many times he’s shown his value.

It’s easy to forget that Benjamin is the same wrestler who, over the past year, has not only competed for the tag team titles, but even holds a win over the current WWE Champion in singles competition:

Benjamin can faithfully fit into whatever role WWE needs him in, a trait the company needs out of a superstar right about now, so why can’t they seem to find a consistent place for him on TV?

WWE Raw should serve as the wake-up call the company needed to stop wasting a superstar as talented as Shelton Benjamin.