Shelton was not onboard with the original idea.
There was a point during Shelton Benjamin’s first go-round with WWE when he was on a losing streak. His on-screen mother, portrayed by actress/comedian Thea Vidale, debuted on WWE television and would get involved in matches to assist him. Benjamin became Intercontinental Champion for a second time during that run.
He further reflected on it as he was chatting with Chris Van Vliet. He recalls Vince McMahon suggesting the idea of using his real mother for the role, but Benjamin was against that. He said he was not exposing his mom to that locker room and if someone said something to her that he did not like, he would’ve had a short career.
I had a meeting with Vince (McMahon) and I was just like, ‘Okay, right now I’m not doing anything. I want to contribute.’ And I had an idea and first — and I don’t know where he came up with the mama thing. So when he first approached me about it, he basically said, ‘How would you feel about having your real mama on the road?’ And I said, ‘Absolutely not. There’s no way I’m going to expose my mother to this locker room.’ Because as nice as a guy I am, I love everybody on the roster. But if one person were to say something (I didn’t like) to my real mom, I would have had a really short career.
The topic came up of Shelton being underrated. He feels he’s an extremely good pro wrestler, but could’ve been a better WWE superstar.
Um, yes (I’m underrated). From an in-ring — actually, take this back. I feel like I am an extremely good pro wrestler. But that being said, at times, I do feel like I could have been a better WWE superstar.
The 48-year-old Benjamin last wrestled on June 19th which was a tag match on Monday Night Raw. He teamed with Cedric Alexander in a losing effort against Indus Sher (Veer & Sanga).
