Shelton Benjamin Discusses His Time Away From WWE, Unexpected Person Giving Him Advice Before Returning

September 14, 2017

Former WWE Intercontinental and Tag Team Champion Shelton Benjamin, who returned to Smackdown Live last month, sat down with WWE.com to give an exclusive on his life after WWE and his impending return to the company.

On what he did when he left WWE:

“I’ve been a full-time professional wrestler. Immediately after I left the company, I took my first vacation ever, and went to Australia for a couple weeks. After that, I did a few indies here and there. I wrestled in Puerto Rico, a few matches in Canada, a few things in England. Then I finally landed for a while in Ring of Honor, where I reunited with Charlie Haas and it was The World’s Greatest Tag Team back again. I think I worked with them for two years. It was a great time. I got to wrestle with a lot of great talents, some that are WWE talent now, like Kevin Owens and Cesaro.”

On who he talked to when wanting to return to WWE:

“I had always been waiting for the call, instead of pursuing the call. And, this is going to be very out of left field for anyone that hears this, but me coming back actually started with a conversation during WrestleMania 32 weekend that I had with Lilian Garcia. I ran into her and we were just talking. Basically, she slapped some sense into me. She said, “Put yourself in a position to succeed. Don’t be afraid to initiate.” You’re never too old to learn something new. When someone is giving you wisdom, the source can come from anywhere.”

Benjamin also discusses working in Japan, his injury before he promoted return and more on WWE.com

Josh controls most of the creative writing and ideas for the show on a weekly basis, as well as an on-air talent.
Aside from working with WrestleZone, Isenberg began his career in Broadcast Journalism interning at ESPN and worked with CBS Radio for three years. He has also had the opportunity to interview some of the best athletes and performers alive, including Andrew McCutchen, Ben Roethlisberger, Chris Jericho, Billy Gunn, Karl Anderson, Matt Hardy, Steven Strasburg and others.
Currently, Josh Isenberg works for Major League Baseball in their Advanced Media Productions. He grew up in Pittsburgh and went to Point Park University, which is where Chair Shot Reality is filmed each week.
His life outside of his obsession with wrestling include being a savant for Seinfeld, NFL, NBA, MLB and many television shows. He also has an undying love for musicals, which includes many shows he was a part of in high school. Some of his favorite wrestling moments can be linked to such superstars as Edge, The Rock, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels and The Great Khali.

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