Has WWE Released Shelton Benjamin?

Is the Gold Standard the latest name to be handed his WWE release?

by Andrew Pollard
Shelton Benjamin
WWE.com

With WWE having made a scary habit of releasing wrestlers left, right and centre across the past two years, the latest name rumoured to have been let go by Vince McMahon's sports entertainment giant is Shelton Benjamin.

Rumblings and rumours in recent days claimed that the former Intercontinental Champion had been quietly released by WWE, but Benjamin himself has taken to Twitter to confirm that, no, those stories of his release are false. In fact, he jokingly blamed close friend Mia Yim for being the source of such rumours.

Having first signed with WWE in 2000, Shelton's initial run with the promotion lasted through until 2010. During that time, the Gold Standard amassed two reigns as a Tag Team Champion alongside Charlie Haas, one run as United States Champion, and held the aforementioned IC Title on three occasions.

After departing WWE in 2010, Benjamin spent notable time in Ring of Honor, New Japan Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling NOAH before returning to McMahon's organisation in 2017. There, he would soon be paired with Chad Gable, but the veteran found himself floundering once that tandem was split up.

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Things took an upturn for Shelton in 2020 when he would become a part of the Hurt Business with Cedric Alexander, MVP and Bobby Lashley. While WWE seems hot and cold on whether that faction is back together or still split up these days, the team of Benjamin and Alexander still have a semi-regular presence on the Raw brand.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.