Shelton Benjamin has looked back on his memorable first meeting with Bobby Lashley, which saw him find out first-hand how good The Almighty was.
Prior to signing with developmental system OVW and later joining the WWE roster, Benjamin was an accomplished amateur wrestler. Achieving All-American status twice and placing third in the 1998 NCAA Division I Championships, Benjamin caught the attention of pro wrestling talent scouts and was the latest amateur wrestler to make the transition to the squared circle.
While preparing for a return to WWE in 2004 after suffering a hand injury, Benjamin was made aware of another wrestler in OVW who had found success in the amateur wrestling world.
“Bobby Lashley Was Super Impressive”: Shelton Benjamin
Speaking with Kenny McIntosh for Issue 54 of Inside The Ropes Magazine, Benjamin recalled the first time he met Lashley in OVW and how The Almighty already had a reputation:
“Yeah, my first meeting with Bobby was in OVW. I had just come off a broken hand injury. I went down to OVW to get a little ring rust off and this was when Bobby was still training. He hadn’t debuted yet. Just because of his reputation, and me being an amateur wrestler, I was told there was this tough kid named Bobby who has a wrestling background. So I was curious as to how good he was or wasn’t. On quite a few occasions I wrestled other guys with amateur wrestling backgrounds— Brock, Cedric Alexander, Jack Swagger—so it was pretty normal for me.”
Continuing, Benjamin looked back on his first encounter with Lashley and how he was able to hold his own with the former World Champion, adding that they became good friends over the years and remain close to this day as part of The Hurt Syndicate:
“Bobby was super impressive. I think Bill DeMott cleared the ring for everyone. So we got in there, just kind of squared off. Bobby and I still laugh about it because I say he cheated, because I almost took him down twice and then he took me down once, but he kept grabbing the rope every time I almost hit him down. So we laugh about that all the time because he still says he wasn’t cheating. But that’s pretty much how our relationship started, and that friendship just grew and grew. It’s still going strong now with The Hurt Syndicate”
Also in the interview, Shelton Benjamin looked back on his favourite WWE storyline.
The full interview with Shelton Benjamin is available in the latest issue of Inside The Ropes Magazine, which can be purchased here.
If you use any quotes from this article please credit ITR Wrestling.