Story: When Brock Lesnar negotiated a contract with WWE in 2000, he wanted his good friend and wrestling partner Shelton Benjamin to sign with him. The head of talent relations at the time was WWE announcer Jim Ross, who apparently had no problem doing that. Both guys were signed and worked together in Ohio Valley Wrestling as a tag team named the Minnesota Stretching Crew. Here's what Ross wrote about Lesnar and Benjamin in an article on FoxSports.com about Lesnar's career: "The only catch was that we needed to also recruit and offer Brock's Minnesota teammate, Shelton Benjamin, as well. Benjamin was an amazing athlete, and signing the South Carolina native was a blessing as he had a solid WWE career, arguably underutilized in the opinion of some. Plus, he made Brock's transition from the amateurs to the pros much easier. Robinson knew Brock could be a challenging athlete to manage, so having Benjamin in the same training camp was a major positive in the development of Lesnar." It's pretty cool to know that Lesnar thought so highly of his friend to do something like that. Lesnar started on the main roster in March of 2002 while Benjamin started in December 2002. Why People Believe It: They were close friends, so it makes sense that Lesnar would vouch for his buddy and insist that he would only sign if Benjamin got signed too. Should We Believe It: Yes we should. Ross was the head of Talent Relations when Lesnar was signed, so if anybody is going to know about the signing process it's him. Benjamin was a very good wrestler for WWE that had a great career. Not a lot of guys would have the leverage to do what Lesnar did, but he knew WWE wanted him bad and he felt like his buddy should be signed too.
John wrote at WhatCulture from December 2013 to December 2015. It was fun, but it's over for now. Follow him on Twitter @johnreport. You can also send an email to mrjohncanton@gmail.com with any questions or comments as well.
