After seven years away from WWE, Shelton Benjamin returned to the promotion in 2017. He was originally scheduled to return in 2016, but an injury kept sidelined until March 2017.
Benjamin was paired with Chad Gable upon his return.
“When I went back to WWE, I had bigger expectations. One, in my head, I always felt like if you had ever done anything worth memory in WWE, there’s always a chance you’ve gotta go back. So in my head, I always felt like I was going to go back. I didn’t know it was going to take six or seven years, but in my head, I always knew I was going to go back. First, I got a call from William Regal and he asked me a very odd question. I didn’t quite see the writing on the wall at the time when he asked me because he asked me, he basically said that he’d been asked to contact me and ask me if I were brought back, am I willing to help other talent get over or do I want more. I remember going, well, of course I’m gonna want more, that had been what I was doing before I left, helping other talent get over at the cost of my own career. I didn’t get it," Benjamin recalled to Chris Jericho on Talk Is Jericho.
Benjamin continued, “A few months later, I spoke with Mark Carrano. He said, ‘We’re gonna bring you back.’ He made an offer but I felt like that offer was lowballing me but I was like, again, I’m thinking ten years before, Johnny [Ace] used to always say, ‘It doesn’t matter what the downside is as long as you’re on everything.’ I didn’t realize the business had changed now, the downside matters because no matter what I was making before, no matter what my downside was, I always made more. When they gave me [the new offer], I was like, ‘That’s low, but if I’m working, I’ll be fine.’ Then I get there and it’s like, oh no, we’re not based on touring anymore, we got TV deals and things like that, your downside is your downside. I was like, ‘Oh, you didn’t tell me that part.’ Also, I never had an agent, which again, I shot myself in the foot. It wasn’t the money and what was described to me, but I always said no matter what, I can’t change or affect anything from the outside. So, I accepted the offer and went back.”
Benjamin was released by WWE in 2023. He signed with AEW and is now one-half of the AEW Tag Team Champions with Bobby Lashley.
Elsewhere during the interview, Benjamin commented on his team with Gable. You can find his full comments by clicking here.
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