During the 2000s, there has not been a single wrestler as criminally underrated as Shelton Benjamin. As Brock Lesnars teammate at the University of Minnesota, Benjamin was a natural athlete just like Brock, but when both were signed to WWE, it was Benjamin who did most of the work during the early years. When they teamed together as the Minnesota Stretching Crew, Benjamin did most of the hard work, while Lesnar would come in and dominate at the end. That is only a sample of how underrated Benjamin was. Whether teaming with Charlie Haas as Team Angle/the World Greatest Tag Team or working singles matches with Chris Jericho or Shawn Michaels, Benjamin proved that he was a naturally outstanding athlete. In multi-person matches, he was usually the highlight of the match, especially his performances in the Money in the Bank Ladder matches. Theres a reason that the Wrestling Observer Newsletter named Shelton Benjamin the Most Underrated Wrestler three years in a row: no matter how many times Shelton Benjamin wowed audiences, observers, and his fellow wrestlers, he never got to the World title level. It especially didnt help when an insult at a WWE legend led to him getting saddled with that terrible Mammas Boy gimmick. If there was ever a reason to believe in a glass ceiling exist in WWE, look no further than the career of Shelton Benjamin.
Alexander Podgorski is a writer for WhatCulture that has been a fan of professional wrestling since he was 8 years old. He loves all kinds of wrestling, from WWE and sports entertainment, to puroresu in Japan.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Queen's University in Political Studies and French, and a Master's Degree in Public Administration. He speaks English, French, Polish, a bit of German, and knows some odd words and phrases in half a dozen other languages.
