Shelton Benjamin says he is surprised at how well his AEW run is going thus far.
Benjamin was Chris Jericho’s guest for the latest episode of Talk is Jericho and said he wasn’t sure how AEW’s fanbase would respond to him when he signed with the company. However, Benjamin says that his time in AEW thus far has led to him having a “bit of a career resurgence.
Benjamin said:
“I’m having a blast. I’m having, I feel like, a bit of a career resurgence. I wasn’t really expecting it to go as well as it is. I’m constantly being surprised. First of all, by the fans of AEW because with all the, to me, unnecessary tribalism in professional wrestling, I never knew how I was going to be viewed, especially with most of my history being WWE.”
“Sometimes some people just don’t like that. There are some people that, I’m pretty sure, are never going to like me no matter what I do, and they are always going to see that guy who, in my opinion, WWE misused a lot.”
Benjamin continued to praise the wrestlers he’s had a chance to work with thus far in AEW.
“Everybody I’ve worked with has been so incredibly cooperative, amazing, helpful. The talent speaks for itself. So, I’m really enjoying my time here right now,” Benjamin continued.
Benjamin also noted during the interview that even though all three members of The Hurt Syndicate happen to be Black, the stable’s doors are open to anyone.
“I’d like to point out that, clearly, anyone looking at us, yes, we’re three Black men,” Benjamin said. “We were businessmen who just happened to be Black.”
“We are not an all-Black group,” he continued. “We’re just a group that just happens to be all Black. Our doors are open to anyone. It’s the Hurt Business. You can’t have a business unless everyone’s included.”
Benjamin continued to describe what led to The Hurt Business leaving WWE and ending up as The Hurt Syndicate in AEW.
“For whatever reason, (Vince McMahon) decided that the money was with Bobby and (MVP) as his manager, and he was just going to be done with The Hurt Business. And we’ve never got a straight answer as to why.”
“In my opinion, The Hurt Business and Roman Reigns carried the WWE during the pandemic era, and I felt a bit betrayed because I come here every week, I’ve never complained, I risk my life just like everybody else, and when other people wanted to stay home, you never had to question whether or not I’d come to work.”
“For (Vince) to just immediately turn around and just kill it, I was like, ‘What the f–k man?’ His comment to me was, ‘We’ve gone as far as we can with The Hurt Business.’ And The Hurt Business was around eight months before he pulled the plug. When he said that, it was almost like you want to cry inside because nothing I can do for this person seems to help. Nothing’s good enough. I was really just insulted, and I knew then, like, ‘I don’t really have a future here.’ At this point, this is just a job where I’m just collecting a check. I want to care.”
“After that, I was pretty much just showing up to work, collecting a check.”
Benjamin is coming off a 6-point performance in the Continental Classic, which included a loss in his long-awaited first-ever singles match against Kazuchika Okada. Along with his Hurt Syndicate teammate Bobby Lashley, Benjamin is scheduled to challenge Private Party for the AEW World Tag Team Championships on tonight’s episode of Dynamite.
Benjamin’s full appearance on Talk is Jericho is available below:
