Shelton Benjamin Discusses Friendship With Brock Lesnar, What He's Like Backstage

Shelton Benjamin and Brock Lesnar have quite a bit of shared history before their time in WWE. They both attended and wrestled at the University of Minnesota with Benjamin working with Lesnar when the former stayed on as an assistant wrestling coach post-graduation. They also lived together for a time and later came up in WWE developmental together as part of the esteemed OVW Class of 2022. 

Benjamin opened up on the "Insight" podcast about his early relationship with Lesnar. He told a story, admittedly embarrassed, of how the pair could have wrestled one another at a tournament, if not for the fact that he had been eliminated; Lesnar would go on to win. 

He also shared the first time he witnessed Brock Lesnar's Shooting Star Press, "I don't know who brought it up, and Brock just said, I can do that. So it was like, 'Get a crash pad.' We grabbed a crash pad in, Brock first time nails it. So of course, we go, 'Okay, do it again.' Rolls up, nails it, and he made it look so easy." 

Lesnar's execution of the maneuver was particularly impressive to Benjamin for the accuracy and the distance achieved. Although he tried himself, he admitted that he never could land it and was in awe of the way Lesnar found it "effortless". He described the way Lesnar behind the scenes as the "nicest guy in the world" and "cool to hang around with". 

"That might surprise people, how actually cool Brock can be if he likes you. Keywords: if he likes you. But if he doesn't like you, he's what you're seeing on TV; that's not an act, like you're not seeing a different version of Brock," he added. "Brock is not acting, Brock is not playing a role. Brock is Brock."