Born on July 9, 1975 in Orangeburg, South Carolina, Shelton Benjamin is a professional wrestler, as well as a former amateur wrestler. He is signed to World Wrestling Entertainment, working on its SmackDown brand as the reigning WWE United States Champion. He started wrestling during his 10th grade at Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School was a two-time South Carolina state high school heavyweight wrestling champion, earning the title in both 1993 and 1994. In addition, he was a Junior College National Track Champion in the 100 meter while at Lassen Junior College in California. He was then accepted to the University of Minnesota, where he became a two-time All-American heavyweight wrestler. Upon graduating, he trained with future OVW tag team partner Brock Lesnar and soon embarked on a career in professional wrestling.

Shelton Benjamin was then offered a full-time contract by WWE in September of 2002. Later that year, he joined the SmackDown brand and formed Team Angle with Charlie Haas and Kurt Angle. Their first official match together took place the next year, against Edge and Chris Benoit. In March 2004, Benjamin was drafted to the RAW brand as part of the 2004 Draft Lottery. He quickly became a fan favorite, winning a pinfall victory over Triple H. Benjamin beat him a total of three times, and even feuded with members of Triple H’s stable Evolution.

In 2006, Benjamin was reunited with his former tag team partner Charlie Haas when they celebrated Benjamin’s victory over Super Crazy. The World’s Greatest Tag Team later defeated the Highlanders, which brought about the transition of Benjamin’s character to being “The Gold Standard.” He was then announced as the newest ECW superstar, as he received more airtime and more high profile matches. His first ECW loss was in the hands of Kane, which occurred in January of 2008. Soon, Benjamin was drafted to the SmackDown brand, where he faced challenges against Matt Hardy, Santino Marella, The Undertaker and MVP.