Shelton Benjamin is a accomplished amateur wrestler who went 122-10 on high school and was a two-time South Carolina state high school heavyweight wrestling champion, earning the title in both 1993 and 1994. In college he put together a 36–6 win-loss record. Moreover, while attending the university, he was a two-time All-American heavyweight wrestler. Benjamin went 36–6 and made 12 pins in the Big Ten Championship, in which he placed sixth. Instead of trying to qualify for the 2000 Olympics, Benjamin decided instead to try and pursue a professional wrestling career. In 2000 Benjamin signed a contract with the WWE and wrestled for Ohio Valley Wrestling where he teamed with Brock Lesner, they would the tag team titles on three occasions together. In 2002 Shelton performed in house shows for the WWE. On December 26, 2002 Shelton Benjamin joined Smackdown as part of Team Angle which consisted of Benjamin, Charlie Haas and Kurt Angle. On February 6, 2003 Benjamin and Haas would win the tag team titles from Los Guerrero's. On June 12, 2003 Kurt Angle fired Benjamin and Haas from Team Angle and the team of Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas was then called 'The Worlds Greatest Tag Team', they continued to feud with Los Guerrero's and eventually the team parted ways. During the 2004 WWE draft Shelton went to the Raw brand and feuded with Triple H and much to the surprise of many beat Triple H three times in a row, once be pin,once by count out and once by disqualification. While on Raw Shelton became the Intercontinental Champion on three different occasions. On December 11, 2006 The Worlds Greatest Tag Team was reunited and they defeated the Highlanders, they feuded with Cryme Tyme mainly on Heat. On November 27, 2007 during ECW Elijah Burke introduced ECW's newest superstar Shelton Benjamin. In his ECW debut he defeated Tommy Dreamer. The gold standard, as Benjamin was sometimes known by had a long rivalry with Kofi Kingston while at ECW. During the 2008 WWE draft Shelton Benjamin was headed back to Smackdown.On July 20, 2008 at the Great American Bash, Shelton Benjamin beat Matt Hardy and became the United States Champion. The Gold Standard then went on a mission to add to his gold by making an attempt at the WWE Championship held by Triple H. Shelton competed in the WWE Championship Scramble match at Unforgiven on September 7, 2008 but was unsuccessful.
On the September 12, 2008 edition of Smackdown Shelton competed in a fatal four way match against MVP, Jeff Hardy and Brian Kendrick to see who would face Triple H for the WWE championship at No Mercy but again was unsuccessful in his attempt to go after the WWE championship.
Shelton began feuding with R-Truth. On the October 3rd edition of Smackdown Shelton Benjamin had a match with Raw's Intercontinental Champion Satino Marella but ended up losing the match because of a distraction by R-Truth. The following week Shelton and R-Truth battled on Smackdown with R-Truth winning the non-title match. Shelton Benjamin was in shock after losing the match. The two would finally come face to face for the United States title at Cyber Sunday on October 26, 2008. Shelton was able to defend his title and continue his reign as the United States Champion.
Shelton competed at Survivor Series on November 23, 2008. He was part of team Orton that fought against team Batista. Shelton was able to eliminate his rival R-Truth but was later eliminated himself, though Shelton's team ended up winning the match.
On the December 26, 2008 edition of Smackdown Shelton successfully defended his United State title against Gregory "Hurricane" Helms.
On the March 6, 2009 episode of Smackdown, Benjamin defeated Jeff Hardy via DQ from Matt Hardy interfering to earn a spot in the Money in the bank ladder match set for WrestleMania XXV.
On the March 20, 2009 episode of Smackdown, which was Smackdown's 500th episode, Benjamin lost his WWE United States Championship to MVP. Shelton held the United States Championship for 8 months. Shelton had an opportunity in his rematch against MVP for the United States title on the April 3rd edition of Smackdown but Shelton was not able to win and MVP retained the title.
On April 5th, 2009 Shelton Benjamin competed at Wrestlemania 25 in a 8 man Money in the Bank matchup. Unfortunately for Shelton he did not succeed in winning the match as CM Punk won the MITB match for the second year in a row.
Throughout May of 2009 Shelton started feuding with John Morrison. They would try and settle their feud on May 17, 2009 at Judgment Day. Though displaying some impressive moves Shelton Benjamin would lose the match against Morrison.
On June 29, 2009, he was traded back to ECW and redebuted against the debuting Yoshi Tatsu in a losing effort. On the August 4th edition of ECW, Benjamin confronted Abraham Washington and Zack Ryder on the Abraham Washington Show, which ended with Ryder and Benjamin in a brawl. Benjamin and Ryder continued to feud.
Shelton Benjamin Facts:
Birth Name: Shelton Benjamin
Birth Date: July 9, 1975
Height: 6 ft 2 in
Weight: 245 lbs
