Shelton Benjamin was just doing what he does best.
During a live segment for the WWE Tough Enough crew. Daniel Puder, who had a background of MMA training and fighting would step in the ring with Kurt Angle where he almost broke the arm of the Olympic Gold Medalist. Right then and there, Puder knew his momentum with the WWE would be cut short, but it did not stop there.
In a recent interview, the former WWE Intercontinental Champion, Shelton Benjamin recalled the time he got in the ring with Puder for a taping for SmackDown and ragdolled the Tough Enough participant all over the ring.
“Wrestling fans know Daniel Puder. He had the infamous armlock on Kurt. He got the armlock on Kurt and they had to pin him real quick. Shortly after that, me and Charlie Haas were shooting around in the ring. This is something I used to do all the time. At one point, Daniel Puder got in there, this is after the infamous Kurt situation. What happened with me and Charlie, Charlie faked that he took me down. To people that know amatuer wrestling, they know it was neutral. The guys who don’t know, it might have looked like he took me down. Smart people know. Charlie gets this fake takedown and jumps out the ring. He jumps out the ring and refuses to get back in. I’m steaming, ‘Get back here, Charlie.’ I’m mad. Charlie knows, and I know, it wasn’t a takedown, but everyone else thinks it is. Perception is reality in the pro wrestling business. ‘You better get back in here Charlie.’ He wouldn’t get back in.
“Puder gets in. When he gets in, my first thought was, a lot of people were intimidated by Puder because he almost tapped out Kurt. I’m fresh off Team Angle, ‘I want to know what you can do anyway.’ He gets in there, and I start ragdolling him. Boom, boom, boom. At one point, I threw him so hard, when he hit the mat, it sounded like a bomb went off. Vince turns out, ‘That’s enough of that. That’s enough of that shoot shit. Learn to work, damnit.’ That was the only time he yelled at us. I don’t know what their plans were with Puder, I just know because of the situation with Kurt, his reputation had ballooned, and I pretty much popped that balloon. When I say I was ragdolling him, I’m saying there was zero he could do with me. We were shoot wrestling. Zero. Complete shutdown.” Benjamin said to Gabby LaSpisa on Gabby AF.
Benjamin is now known as the Standard of Excellence where he competes for All Elite Wrestling under the management of MVP. Benjamin currently holds wins over Lio Rush and Sammy Guevara but will go head-to-head with Swerve Strickland on the Halloween Eve Edition of AEW Dynamite.
H/t to Fightful for the transcription.
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