Shelton Benjamin’s shocking win over Triple H in 2004 was part of WWE’s efforts to push a black athlete up the card, the ex-Superstar has revealed.
After being drafted to RAW that year, ending his tag team with Charlie Haas in the process, Benjamin defeated “The Game” on the March 29, episode of RAW.
On a recent edition of “The Kurt Angle Show” podcast, Benjamin recalled his surprise victory over Triple H and WWE’s plans for him at the time. He said,
“Basically to fast-track me. I don’t think, I don’t know because I didn’t ask questions, I just did what was asked of me. I do know the term ‘fast track’ was used when they were saying I was going to have the match with Hunter. I think, at the time, they wanted to create a Black star.
“Today, there is tons of every color of the rainbow in WWE. At the time, there was not. There was me, Mark Henry, Ron Simmons, Truth was still in TNA. There weren’t a lot, and I was the new guy, and they wanted to create a Black superstar. That much, I do know. As far as where the program was going to go, I never knew because it went for a couple of weeks and then I got moved to (working with Ric).
“I thought my first pay-per-view match was going to be with Hunter, but it ended up being with Ric.”
Benjamin would defeat Ric Flair at the Backlash 2004 pay-per-view event. He would end the year as the Intercontinental Champion after dethroning Chris Jericho.
