WWE Superstar Shelton Benjamin recently appeared as a guest on Edge and Christian's podcast, E&C's Pod Of Awesomeness for an in-depth interview. Below are some of the highlights.
On his recent WWE return and always knowing he would be back even when he was initially released: "Oh, it's awesome [to be back with WWE]. It's one of those things where I'd have nights where I'd dream that I was back [in WWE] and wake up like, 'nope, still on the indies.' But it was always something that I felt I would be back. It wasn't even something I questioned whether or not I would be back. It was the when and seven years is long enough.
"Long-term, I always felt like I was going to come back. I love to give these guys crap, but in my head, I go, 'look, they hired Cryme Tyme twice. If they don't hire me back at some point, there is really something going on there.' So with that in mind, I was fairly confident that I'd be back."
On the reaction fans gave him during his WWE return: "Oh, man. Even though I heard from the back… we were live when we did the little backstage thing and I heard that response and I was blown away. Like, I was so [touched]. I mean, you've got to contain it a little. At the same time, I was a kid in a candy store, 'they love me - they really love me!' The ovation I got when I did come back, it was very emotional for me. It was great. That's all I can put it - it was great."
On teaming with Chad Gable: "I'm actually pretty excited about it because, obviously, I wasn't sure what we were going to do as far as my return goes. And I think, obviously, I have Twitter, and the internet, and everything else, and for the last few years, I would always get all the time how [Jason] Jordan and Gable remind people of me and Charlie, so of course, I'm like, 'but they aren't me and Charlie,' right? I had no idea I would be teaming with him. It's one of those things. It's really a good way to bring me back in. I think it'll be fun to get to know him, and to learn to play off of him, figure out our strengths and weaknesses because we're actually two different power wrestlers from different eras. I'm actually excited like everyone else to see what we can do."
On his WrestleMania goals: "Provided we're still a tag team [by] then, I'm thinking go in the champs, come out the champs. That's my attitude as far as WrestleMania goes, but, obviously, we don't know. We don't know the future yet, at least I don't. So any other thing, I would love to be in some sort of title hunt or some kind of title defense. And like I said, I'm aiming for the stars here. My attitude is I don't have time to play around. I don't have years to waste. I don't have years to experiment. I want it and I want it now."
Check out the complete episode of E&C's Pod Of Awesomeness featuring the Shelton Benjamin interview at Art19.com.
