10 WWE Storylines That Were Probably Racist

8. Randy Orton vs. Shelton Benjamin

http://youtu.be/fsk5GmnQ-9A?t=4m43s A villain putting down the hero as he talks about why he€™s superior is a classic way to get heat. When the heel is a champ, it€™s common to tell the face that he doesn€™t deserve a title shot. But in 2004 (what were they drinking that year?), Randy Orton took it a couple steps too far when he was confronted by Shelton Benjamin. Benjamin had just jumped over to Raw in the draft and beat Triple H twice, setting him up nicely for a high-profile feud with the Intercontinental Champion. Orton didn€™t think Shelton deserved a title match, and let him know just why:
€œMan, Shelton, you sure are uppity. You know what, that€™s the problem with you people. Give you an inch and you take a mile. Quite frankly Shelton, I wouldn€™t soil the Intercontinental Championship by defending it against you.€
You would think that this would set Benjamin up to silence Orton and take the IC title from him, but you€™d be wrong. Orton retained at Bad Blood, never getting his comeuppance. In fact, two months later he would win his first World Heavyweight Championship over Chris Benoit. Benjamin would capture the Intercontinental Championship in October 2004, but he€™d never get to take Orton down for his insults.
Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.