WWE Superstar, Shelton Benjamin is the special guest on Sean Waltman’s “X-Pac 12360” this week and talks about what happened after he found the gun in his rental car
Get it on YouTube:https://youtu.be/MZSZ4P32aY4 or download the podcast version on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/x-pac-1-2-360-afterbuzz-tv/id1150124693?mt=2&i=374822005, with highlights below:
Shelton Benjamin Talks About Two Times He’s Been Nervous : SB: The first time I wrestled Flair at a Pay Per View. Because, you know I come out first and for the first time ever Ric Flair. This is the man. Who in my opinion, has always been the man. Ric Flair has always been my world champion. So, when I finally see him coming down the ring for the first time. There’s a moment where I am just like… that kid is standing in the ring.
SW :I’m wrestling Nature Boy Ric Flair! I’ve been there. I know what’s up.
SB: Exactly. So when he’s coming down you’re watching the whole thing and then you snap out of it and you have the match. The second time that ever happened was years later it was the first time I had a singles match with Taker… that was a huge shot of adrenaline. I go to the rig and I hear, Gong! I would always sneak into the arena for Taker’s entrance’s you know if I was on the show I was going to be in the arena for Taker’s entrance and go back. But this time, I’m in the ring waiting for Taker to come and yeah…
SW: And the Taker that comes through the curtain, is a different Taker than we’re sitting there talking to in the dressing room man.
SB: Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Definitely.When that gong hit, that little kid was in the ring watching and it wasn’t until Taker had come to the ring, stepped in and just when he takes his hat off and the lights go up. That’s when I kind of snapped out it and I was like okay you got to wrestle him now.
Shelton Benjamin on Working with Young Talent: It takes a lot to always be the giver. You know? There are a lot of guys, who my job is to build stars not to be a star. Like I said, you already respect them but you get a new perspective. Especially, because I’ve been in that role where it’s like no I’m helping guys.
Shelton Benjamin on Tagging with Chad Gable: It’s funny because obviously Chad and his former partner Jason (American Alpha) would get comparisons to me and Charlie (Worlds Greatest Tag-Team) all the time. As a matter of fact, it got to an annoying point as far as my twitter feed. I’d be seeing people you know, W.G.T.T 2 and stuff.The first time I actually met them was probably a month before I came back (to WWE) and the first thing I said to them was, ‘ Are you guys as sick of us as we are of you?” (Laughs) So when they paired me and Chad, it was like huh. I really didn’t see that coming but let’s see where this goes. So we’ve been having fun making a few waves and hopefully, we can wrestle those titles away from the Uso’s at some point.
Shelton Talks About Being In OVW :SB: My experience in OVW was like…it couldn’t be any better. Danny was a great trainer, RIP was a great trainer, Cornett he knows television and things like that, for me, it was an all positive experience.
SW: I hear some people have a negative experience with Jimmy (Jim Cornett). Anything like that? Ever go off on you? Yell at you? Things like that, because he’s very passionate.
SB: Maybe one time….He kinda grilled me a little bit because they were trying to promote something on TV & I kinda wandered out of the screenshot, he grilled me, he didn’t yell at me. It wasn’t anything like that…..but as soon it was done, it was done. A lot of people have had issues with Cornett, but I’m not one of them.
Shelton Mentions How he Wished He Was A Better Talker On The Mic :I wish I was a better talker, wrestling wise I don’t care what anyone says, you can’t tell me anything when it comes to a match.That is the one thing I wish at the time I realised how important that was and develop it more.
Sheltons Taks About Money In The Bank: That was completely accidental. The first year I was the new guy, everyone else pretty established. When we finally put the match together I didn’t know how anything would go. I was actually late to the meeting because I was doing the video game tournament. So, when the tournament was over I had to go meet with all the guys.By the time I got there, they had all these ideas and it was all back to back. Edge and Chris Jericho would come up to me and say “Hey Shelton if I hold a ladder like this could you do this?” I go…..yeah. “Like you sure?” …yeah. “Can you show me?” Nailed it no problem. Edge comes up and says “Hey Shelton if you do this, can I do this?” It was them going back and forth. They (Edge & Chris Jericho) were thinking of the craziest ideas & I was just going….yeah
Shelton Talks About What Happened After He Found The Gun In His Rental Car: SB: I will say Budget has reached out to me , the car company. I spoke with a few of their reps and they have offered me certain compensations. I’m not going to say what … but you know it’s cool.
SW: Are you cool with everything? Are you satisfied with the outcome?
SB:I am, only because all things considered it could have gone way worst. And all things considered, I’m fine and a weapon is off the street.Obviously, the owner was not responsible so the owner shouldn’t have the gun.
SW: We talked about this earlier, you think someone may have been trying to ditch it?
SB: I don’t think someone was trying to ditch it because I don’t anyone who would forget, oh I put my loaded pistol in the car.
SW: You were telling me you got pulled over like a couple days before you found it.
SB: I rented on a Sunday and I dropped it off Wednesday morning. But Monday night while going to the town we were going to have the TV taping, I got pulled over for speeding. Luckily, I have great cop etiquette. I didn’t look in the glove compartment, he asked me for my information and I normally keep it on the dashboard , so I just handed it to him. And it was cool. I know how the climate is..the cop was cool. He said, where are you going the usual questions. Then he was like alright, I’ll let you off with a warning, just make sure you slow down. And that was the end of it. When I pulled the gun out ( afterwards) the first thing I thought was , what if I had thrown the information in the glovebox. That was the scary part to me because there was no way how I can explain away why there is a loaded gun in my glove compartment. No one would believe it.
