Matt Hardy believes Shelton Benjamin would’ve thrived as a singles star in today’s age.
Hardy recently discussed The Hardy Boyz feud with The World’s Greatest Tag Team on an episode of his podcast, “The Extreme Life Of Matt Hardy.”
During the show, Hardy praised the ability of Benjamin, and speculated as to why he never took off as a singles competitor.
He noted that, had Benjamin came up in today’s day and age, he believes the former Tag Team Champion would have seen things turn out a lot different for himself.
“I don’t know. I think if you had Shelton Benjamin, a young Shelton Benjamin, come along today, it would change a lot,” Matt Hardy said.
“I think because back then it was still they were looking for larger-than-life personalities, people that really like bonded with the crowd, and I feel like they didn’t see that as much in Shelton as they would have liked to. They knew from an athletic perspective; he was just unbelievable.
“He was unreal, but I feel like in this day and age, if you have someone who’s an amazing athlete and produces these great quality matches day in and day out and does it every single time he hit the ring, then they get over in a different way because the fan base has kind of changed for their respective in-ring content as well.
“So I think if Shelton came along today, I think it would be changed. I think he would definitely be programmed a lot higher than it was back then.”
Benjamin entered professional wrestling as a very accomplished amateur wrestler, displaying a tremendous amount of athleticism and poise. Throughout his years in the business, he’s been highly decorated as a tag team competitor, winning the ROH World Tag Team Titles twice with Charlie Haas, as well as three runs with the WWE Tag Team Titles.
As a singles competitor, Benjamin secured the WWE Intercontinental Title three times, as well as one run with the United States Title. At 47-years-old, Benjamin still competes for WWE on Monday Night RAW.
Quotes via WrestleZone
