Post by Snitsky on May 18, 2009 10:51:00 GMT -5
Shelton Benjamin gets paid to pretend that he's breaking people in half. If you would like to come and watch, he'll be more than happy to oblige you Tuesday at U.S. Bank Arena.
Benjamin - aka "the Gold Standard" - and several of his fellow World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Superstars are returning to Cincinnati for tapings of the popular SmackDown and ECW TV programs. A native of Orangeburg, S.C., Benjamin enjoyed a successful amateur wrestling career at the University of Minnesota (where he was a teammate of current Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight title-holder Brock Lesnar) before entering the pro ranks. Now a WWE Superstar with several title runs to his credit, Benjamin is looking forward to reclaiming championship gold befitting of his nickname.
He talked recently about life inside and outside the squared circle.
Question: What do you enjoy most and least about being a professional wrestler?
Answer: The least is easy - the physical toll it takes on your body and the time you're away from your family. Those are the number one and two things that most of us experience. But the great thing is, I get to travel the world.
I've performed in Afghanistan, South Africa, Australia, Japan, Korea, Singapore, South America, Canada and a few other places - Italy. It's really hard for me to think of places I haven't been.
Q: Pro wrestling has received a lot of media attention in recent years, and the public has become more aware of things that were once industry secrets. How has that changed what you do? Do you get mad when people talk about your profession negatively?
A: I think a lot of people, despite the fact what we do has been brought to the forefront - I mean, we are entertainers - the only problem I see is it makes it hard for people to group us. I think a lot of people, when they think of pro wrestling, still think of the '80s and earlier, and within the last 20 years, pro wrestling has completely transformed, especially with all the behind the scenes being exposed
I think a lot people look at pro wrestling as what it used to be and not what it is. In years to come, people will have a better understanding of what we do now, and we'll be judged by our standards today later on. It's one of those things that pro wrestling's been around for so long, it's not going to be an easy transition.
To me, pro wrestlers are the toughest athletes, period. And I say this very proudly, and I say this because unlike any other sport or entertainment profession, we don't have an off-season. If you're in sports, you have an off-season. If you're in television, you have a certain number of weeks where you shoot your show and then you're off to another project or whatever. For us, there is no break in the action.
Secondly, we are the only people that I'm aware of that go on no matter what. There are tons of times - people don't even recognize it - that we get hurt in the ring, but we're such professionals and most of us have such pride in what we do that even when we're hurt, we still go on.
I'm not saying or suggesting anyone do that, but that's what it means to be a pro wrestler. It's like the mail: Rain, sleet or snow, the show must go on.
Q: How far do you see African-American wrestlers having come in the industry and where do you feel you fit into that history?
A: Honestly, as far as being African-American goes, I think we're to a point now where I think of myself not as an African-American superstar; I think of myself as a superstar who just happens to be African-American. While I recognize African-Americans have come a long way and I think I'm a testament to that because I see myself in that light, it's because of all the hard work of previous African-American superstars.
I don't compare myself with only African-Americans ... I do not grade myself on a color scheme.
Q: What would you like for your legacy in and out of the ring to be?
A: In the ring, obviously, I want to be known as one of the best of all time. If they ever do a top 50 pro wrestlers of all-time, I'd like to be in at least the top 10. That's a pretty bold statement, and there's an endless list of people to knock off that I give much respect to, mostly guys I'm a fan of myself.
I want to be one of those guys that always gave the people more than they expected, wherever I fall in the pecking order.
Q: What's something about Shelton Benjamin we would never know unless you told us?
A: I'm a cat lover. I have two cats as opposed to dogs. My cats' names are Tigger and Casper.
Q: As much as people come to watch you and your fellow male superstars battle in the ring, many fans also enjoy the work of your WWE Divas counterparts ... Who is your favorite WWE Diva?
A: Layla (laughs). I like the way she dances, OK?
news.cincinnati.com/article/20090518/ENT/905180324/Benjamin+has+high+standards
Benjamin - aka "the Gold Standard" - and several of his fellow World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Superstars are returning to Cincinnati for tapings of the popular SmackDown and ECW TV programs. A native of Orangeburg, S.C., Benjamin enjoyed a successful amateur wrestling career at the University of Minnesota (where he was a teammate of current Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight title-holder Brock Lesnar) before entering the pro ranks. Now a WWE Superstar with several title runs to his credit, Benjamin is looking forward to reclaiming championship gold befitting of his nickname.
He talked recently about life inside and outside the squared circle.
Question: What do you enjoy most and least about being a professional wrestler?
Answer: The least is easy - the physical toll it takes on your body and the time you're away from your family. Those are the number one and two things that most of us experience. But the great thing is, I get to travel the world.
I've performed in Afghanistan, South Africa, Australia, Japan, Korea, Singapore, South America, Canada and a few other places - Italy. It's really hard for me to think of places I haven't been.
Q: Pro wrestling has received a lot of media attention in recent years, and the public has become more aware of things that were once industry secrets. How has that changed what you do? Do you get mad when people talk about your profession negatively?
A: I think a lot of people, despite the fact what we do has been brought to the forefront - I mean, we are entertainers - the only problem I see is it makes it hard for people to group us. I think a lot of people, when they think of pro wrestling, still think of the '80s and earlier, and within the last 20 years, pro wrestling has completely transformed, especially with all the behind the scenes being exposed
I think a lot people look at pro wrestling as what it used to be and not what it is. In years to come, people will have a better understanding of what we do now, and we'll be judged by our standards today later on. It's one of those things that pro wrestling's been around for so long, it's not going to be an easy transition.
To me, pro wrestlers are the toughest athletes, period. And I say this very proudly, and I say this because unlike any other sport or entertainment profession, we don't have an off-season. If you're in sports, you have an off-season. If you're in television, you have a certain number of weeks where you shoot your show and then you're off to another project or whatever. For us, there is no break in the action.
Secondly, we are the only people that I'm aware of that go on no matter what. There are tons of times - people don't even recognize it - that we get hurt in the ring, but we're such professionals and most of us have such pride in what we do that even when we're hurt, we still go on.
I'm not saying or suggesting anyone do that, but that's what it means to be a pro wrestler. It's like the mail: Rain, sleet or snow, the show must go on.
Q: How far do you see African-American wrestlers having come in the industry and where do you feel you fit into that history?
A: Honestly, as far as being African-American goes, I think we're to a point now where I think of myself not as an African-American superstar; I think of myself as a superstar who just happens to be African-American. While I recognize African-Americans have come a long way and I think I'm a testament to that because I see myself in that light, it's because of all the hard work of previous African-American superstars.
I don't compare myself with only African-Americans ... I do not grade myself on a color scheme.
Q: What would you like for your legacy in and out of the ring to be?
A: In the ring, obviously, I want to be known as one of the best of all time. If they ever do a top 50 pro wrestlers of all-time, I'd like to be in at least the top 10. That's a pretty bold statement, and there's an endless list of people to knock off that I give much respect to, mostly guys I'm a fan of myself.
I want to be one of those guys that always gave the people more than they expected, wherever I fall in the pecking order.
Q: What's something about Shelton Benjamin we would never know unless you told us?
A: I'm a cat lover. I have two cats as opposed to dogs. My cats' names are Tigger and Casper.
Q: As much as people come to watch you and your fellow male superstars battle in the ring, many fans also enjoy the work of your WWE Divas counterparts ... Who is your favorite WWE Diva?
A: Layla (laughs). I like the way she dances, OK?
news.cincinnati.com/article/20090518/ENT/905180324/Benjamin+has+high+standards
Movie Set.com has issued an video of WWE superstar Batista aka Big Ronnie talking about his very first movie, ‘Wrong Side of Town’
blog.movieset.com/2009/05/16/wwes-batista-talks-about-wrong-side-of-town-plus-new-stills-from-the-set/
the above link also has pics of a fight scene between Batista and RVD
Credit: Wrestling Exposed
In a recent WWE weekly internal memo regarding television ratings, the company noted that Superstars had more viewers last week than UFC Unleashed on Spike TV going head-to-head reports The Wrestling Observer Newsletter. There are really two ways to look at this. The first is that bragging that a show like Superstars featuring new tapings with current stars going up against an episode of UFC Unleashed that generally features much older fights from years ago isn't much of a comparison. The second way to look at this though is that Spike as a network usually does more than triple the viewership of WGN America in prime time as Spike is available in 98 million homes and WGN America is only available in 71 million homes.
In a recent WWE weekly internal memo regarding television ratings, the company noted that Superstars had more viewers last week than UFC Unleashed on Spike TV going head-to-head reports The Wrestling Observer Newsletter. There are really two ways to look at this. The first is that bragging that a show like Superstars featuring new tapings with current stars going up against an episode of UFC Unleashed that generally features much older fights from years ago isn't much of a comparison. The second way to look at this though is that Spike as a network usually does more than triple the viewership of WGN America in prime time as Spike is available in 98 million homes and WGN America is only available in 71 million homes.
WWE will officially release WrestleMania VVX on dvd tomorrow, May 19th. The dvd will be available in standard and in Blu-Ray. Here are the following details included in both dvds:
*Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker
*WWE champion Triple H vs. Randy Orton
*WWE World champion Edge vs. John Cena vs. Big Show
*Miss Wrestlemania Battle Royal
*Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy - Extreme Rules
*Money in the Bank Ladder Match
*WWE Intercontinental champion JBL vs. Rey Mysterio
*Chris Jericho vs. Jimmy Snuka, Roddy Piper and Ricky Steamboat (with Ric Flair)
Extras on the Wrestlemania DVD will feature:
*The complete 2009 WWE Hall of Fame ceremony inducting Steve Austin, The Von Erichs, The Funks, Koko B. Ware, Howard Finkel, Bill Watts and Ricky Steamboat.
*Carlito & Primo vs. The Miz & John Morrison in a Lumberjack match to unify the WWE Tag Team and WWE World Tag Team championships.
*Video highlight packages of Wrestlemania 1 through Wrestlemania XXIV (the video packages that aired on WWE programming in the weeks leading to Mania XXV)
*Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker
*WWE champion Triple H vs. Randy Orton
*WWE World champion Edge vs. John Cena vs. Big Show
*Miss Wrestlemania Battle Royal
*Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy - Extreme Rules
*Money in the Bank Ladder Match
*WWE Intercontinental champion JBL vs. Rey Mysterio
*Chris Jericho vs. Jimmy Snuka, Roddy Piper and Ricky Steamboat (with Ric Flair)
Extras on the Wrestlemania DVD will feature:
*The complete 2009 WWE Hall of Fame ceremony inducting Steve Austin, The Von Erichs, The Funks, Koko B. Ware, Howard Finkel, Bill Watts and Ricky Steamboat.
*Carlito & Primo vs. The Miz & John Morrison in a Lumberjack match to unify the WWE Tag Team and WWE World Tag Team championships.
*Video highlight packages of Wrestlemania 1 through Wrestlemania XXIV (the video packages that aired on WWE programming in the weeks leading to Mania XXV)
