Home

WWE

Strong Support Within AEW to Secure 48-Year-Old Star’s Signing, Days After His WWE Release

Published 09/30/2023, 6:30 AM EDT

Follow Us

This September, Endeavour Group Holdings acquired WWE, marking one of the most significant mergers in sports entertainment history. WWE and UFC started functioning under one banner, TKO Group Holdings. However, the celebration was cut short as the parent organization decided to lay off many of its staff and talent.

In late September, many stars like Dolph Ziggler, Mace and Mansoor, Matt Riddle, and many more were let go due to apparent budget cuts. Meanwhile, a few days after a 48-year-old star’s release, people at AEW are reportedly working their way to secure him for their promotion.

AEW is eager to welcome….

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

The star in question here is Shelton Benjamin. He is one of the talents who had to part ways with WWE following the merger. However, according to reports, AEW was always interested in Benjamin and wanted to acquire him for a very long time.

According to Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select, AEW has been keeping an eye on Benjamin for some months now. This dates back to the time when there were rumors of his contract with WWE expiring.

Trending

Get instantly notified of the hottest WWE stories via Google! Click on Follow Us and Tap the Blue Star.

Follow Us

Since then, there have been multiple AEW talents who wanted to work with him and have been pushing for him to be signed by the Jacksonville-based promotion. Although the rumors were proven incorrect, they still had interest in him. 

The two-time Intercontinental Champion has been a part of WWE since 2000. He made a name for himself when he went against Triple H and defeated him on multiple occasions. He had defeated Chris Jericho and Ric Flair to claim his Intercontinental Championship title.

He took some time off to test the waters in ECW and NJPW. However, the 48-year-old star came back to WWE in 2017. He was under the RAW brand and had teamed up with Chad Gable. 

After a successful career, his release has left nothing but opportunities for him. Even an old tag team partner of his wants to team up once again to face off against AEW’s FTR.

‘The World’s Greatest Tag Team’ strikes again

Veteran WWE star, Charlie Haas was the tag team partner of Shelton Benjamin when both debuted at WWE. They were dubbed ‘The World’s Greatest Tag Team’ and were allies of Kurt Angle. A few months ago, Haas appeared at a virtual event. There, he expressed his desire to team up with his former stablemate one more time. 

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

He also admitted that he would love to go against AEW’s notorious tag teams, FTR and The Young Bucks. Although Haas retired in 2013 due to physical ailments, it is not unlikely that he might return.

Along with that, it is also rumored that AEW is looking for producers to add to the workforce. So there might be a possibility that fans will see the tag team duo behind the scenes working on some tag team matches at AEW. However, fans will have to wait to hear any kind of news as all the stars released from WWE are bound to a 90-day no-compete contract.

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

Would you like to see Shelton Benjamin move to AEW to curate tag team matches, or would you like to see him compete? Let us know in the comments.

Watch this story: Every WWE Superstar Who Attacked Vince McMahon

SHARE THIS ARTICLE :

Written by:

Shaikh Aerajuddin

890Articles

One take at a time

Shaikh Aerajuddin is a WWE writer at EssentiallySports. With a Masters degree in Sports Science, Aeraj always carries a keen eye for detail and understands the various nuances of pro wrestling beyond the ring. Being a pro wrestling fan from his childhood, Aeraj now uses his analytical mind to tell a story in his articles for ES.
Show More>

Edited by:

Stefan Thomas