Shelton Benjamin reveals how former WWE CEO Vince McMahon gave him a six-figure raise without asking.
This dates back to 2020 during the Men’s Royal Rumble match, which saw Brock Lesnar enter the match in the number one spot. He dominated the match, eliminating a record 13 competitors before being eliminated by the winner Drew McIntyre.
During Lesnar’s domination, as he eliminated opponent after opponent, he had a interaction with his friend Shelton Benjamin. The two shook hands, hugged, and high-fived in the ring. They then waited for next competitor to enter. However, Lesnar hit Benjamin with a German Suplex and clotheslined him over the top rope.
However, this memorable moment was loved by the former boss, Vince McMahon, who decided to give Shelton Benjamin a six-figure raise following the spot. Benjamin recently spoke with Maven Huffman on his YouTube channel about how the spot came together and McMahon gave him a raise.
“They originally wanted us to just go at it and he [Lesnar] decided he don’t want to do that. He said ‘let’s do THIS [the betrayal].’ This whole thing was his idea and I wasn’t really on board with it only because I’m like ‘well this makes me look stupid,’ so I was just kind of like ‘you know what, he’s got 30 other guys he’s got to worry about, just give him the breather.’ Now what I didn’t expect was fans to really like it. I just always wish they would have just let us do something. We could have had so much fun.”
“Here’s the silver lining on all this. I had just signed a new contract with WWE. Vince, I guess had kind of went back and re-watched it maybe a week or so later. He went and re-watched the Rumble because of this spot. He enjoyed it so much he immediately had talent relations call me in and they gave me a six-figure raise.”
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