Former WWE star Shelton Benjamin was asked on The Black Rasslin’ podcast if he still watches wrestling. He stated that he isn’t doing much these days, but he is keeping up with certain things. He also praised the development of women’s wrestling.
“Honestly, not a lot. I take cliff notes here and there. But you know, 24 years, right? Over 300 Plus shows a year. Like I watch some big things sometimes. But for the most part, wrestling has been such a huge part of my life that now that when I’m home, I really don’t want to think about it…I kinda tell people all the time, like, what do you do? What do you do for a living? If you have a normal job, chances are you don’t want to talk about your normal job when you get home. I guess I’m at that point. Now. I don’t watch a lot. That doesn’t mean I don’t pay attention. I keep up. And I do watch here and there. But I don’t make wrestling a huge part of my home life. Because it’s such a huge part of my life. It overwhelms everything else. Every aspect of my life. When I go home I am lazy video game couch potato Shelton.”
He discussed the development of the wrestling industry in response to the question of who or what he is taking notes on.
“Honestly, just kind of how the business has evolved in ways that I never imagined. For example, like I’m paying attention to the Logan Paul stuff, I paid attention to the Cody Rhodes stuff. But it’s one of those like, like Logan Paul killing it. Like he’s he’s absolutely killing it. But part of me goes when I started I don’t know that he would have gotten such fanfare coming in, you know, so social media has changed the world. And I’m not from that generation. And I recognize that. So I sit back and I watch and I kind of see how social media affects a lot of what’s going on in the wrestling business. And I mean, pretty much every aspect. I pay attention to those things and how people are getting over before you even know them through social media and things like that. I had to do it the hard way. There was no Twitches and Instagram and all that, like people had to see you on TV and you had to perform well. For me, it’s kind of like ooh, some of you guys are playing on easy. Not saying it’s easy. I feel like comparatively some of you guys are playing on easy. But that being said, I also recognize how one compared to when I started, the women across the board — I’m not talking WWE. I’m talking across the board. Women, the women’s wrestling is night and day. It’s not even the same. It’s not even the same sport compared to what what it was before because, again, you know, my personal favorite Rhea. My personal favorite seeing get her ass get whipped Mia…I’ve noticed just how the skill level and what women bring to the table these days is, is crazy. It was unheard of. It was like, the women were pretty much eye candy when I first started.
“In the early 2000s it wasn’t the same and when you look at them now, they’ve really changed the game. The women are real legitimate draws for their matches, not for their looks, for their matches. And that being said, this is to all social media — you need to be talking about Bayley a whole lot more. Like don’t get me wrong, I get it everyone’s hot on The Rock and Cody finishing the story but at the same time, I even saw CM Punk say it. Bayley won the Royal Rumble and all anyone is talking about is Cody’s story. Sorry. Give Bayley her flowers. She’s one of the most underrated girls on the roster. I feel like she’s underrated and underappreciated by the company but not by the talent. I think we recognize what she is and Bayley should be world champion come April. That’s that’s my personal opinion.”
Benjamin also went on to talk about Rhea Ripley and his close friendship with her.
You can check out the complete interview below:
(h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription)
