Shelton Benjamin reveals real reason why he signed with AEW after leaving WWE

Shelton Benjamin left the WWE last year. Several months later, he signed with AEW. He has now revealed why.

Shelton Benjamin's second run with WWE started on a promising note when he was involved in The Hurt Business storyline. However, after the group disbanded, Shelton's career took a downturn. After several months of poor booking, Benjamin finally left the company last year.

Since then, there has been plenty of speculation about Shelton's in-ring career. He laid all those speculation to rest when he made his highly-anticipated debut on the fifth-anniversary show of AEW Dynamite.

During a recent interview with GabbyAF, Shelton said that after he left WWE, he received offers from MLW. He also contemplated acting and real estate; even TNA looked like a viable option. However, he chose to sign with AEW because they have the biggest audience outside of WWE:

“I did have a few offers. MLW was very interested. I was doing a lot of international things and exploring other options, in and out of pro wrestling. Acting is one of them. Even things like real estate and things not related to wrestling. It basically boiled down to, I like to put myself in the best possible position to succeed. When the door closed at WWE, I really thought long and hard about where I wanted to go. IMPACT was a very tempting place to go. What it boils down to is, I want the biggest possible audience. Outside of WWE, there is nowhere bigger than AEW. I don’t have as much time as lot of guys, as far as in-ring. Not that I’m going to retire anytime soon, but for the time I have left, I want to reach the biggest possible audience. What better place than AEW? There is no better place.” [H/T Ringside News]

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Booker T is excited to see Shelton Benjamin face off against Swerve Strickland

Ever since MVP and Shelton Benjamin got to AEW, they have had run-ins with Swerve Strickland and Prince Nana. MVP even tried to offer his managerial services to Swerve at WrestleDream but was turned down. Now, Shelton Benjamin will have to face off against Swerve two weeks from now on a special Friday Night episode of Dynamite.

Speaking on his Hall of Fame podcast, Booker T expressed excitement to see the industry veterans go at it in the ring:

"I'm kind of looking forward to that. I want to see exactly how that thing plays out, what that kind of match looks like. It's kind of crazy, Shelton's got over twenty years [in the business]. Swerve, he's been in the game quite some time as well. I don't think he's got twenty [years] in, but he might be getting close, maybe twelve-to-fifteen. That should be a very interesting match, it's definitely going to tell a tale. I want to see how much gas Shelton's still got in the tank, that's what I want to see. So, I'm looking forward to that match," Booker T said. [From 1:05:33 to 1:06:11]

It will be interesting to see if Swerve Strickland will be able to defeat Shelton Benjamin during their encounter.