Before he was calling out Seth Rollins ahead of the Royal Rumble or setting the new record for the longest Intercontinental Championship reign in history, Gunther was impressing the absolute heck out of Shelton Benjamin, a technical specialist who worked alongside the “Ring General” in WWE for the first two years of his main roster run.
Discussing his affinity for the leader of Imperium, which came from simply being a fan, as they never worked a match together on RAW, SmackDown, NXT, or on the indies, Benjamin let Kurt Angle know on his namesake podcast that Gunther reminds him of one of the greatest superstars of the modern WWE era: Randy Orton.
“We were on different shows, so I never really got to work with him. I hung around with him, we met and chatted, and he seems like a really cool guy. He kind of reminds me of Randy [Randy Orton], to be honest. Just in his demeanor, his movements and even his build, to some degree,” Shelton Benjamin told Chris Van Vliet via Fightful.
“The first time I saw Gunther, he was like a hundred pounds heavier, and I didn’t see the appeal, but I haven’t seen the appeal in a lot of people who turned out to be phenomenal. When he finally made it to WWE and started trimming down, you start to realize, this guy is leveling up so he can belong here. What they’ve done with him, what he’s managed to do, his look is straight out of a comic book. He looks the part. I don’t know him well enough to comment on his personality, but he’s always been nice enough and kind and I think he’s doing a phenomenal job. Yeah, I do feel like I need to go end that title reign, but that’s a different story [Laughs]. What he’s doing is great, but of the 2010s, I’m still the man. You can’t take the from me. I’m the longest reigning Intercontinental Champion of the 2010s. Live with it, hate it, be mad, there is only one thing you can do and that’s deal with it.”
On a surface level, Orton and Gunther aren't the cleanest comparisons, as they handle their business in a pretty different way in the ring and outside of it, but in terms of sheer dominance and commitment to excellence, it's actually not hard to see where Benjamin is coming from. If Gunther can follow in Orton's footsteps, albeit through the lens of a traditional foreign heel instead of a legacy Superstar, he may also see his career finish out with an incredible list of accolades worthy of a spot in the Hall of Fame.
Shelton Benjamin talks about his WWE Hall of Fame chances.
Speaking of the Hall of Fame, as you may or may not know, Shelton Benjamin has a standing reservation in the hall in the WWE, according to Shawn Michaels, who has a good bit of sway in the company, considering his status as the creative lead of NXT and his friendship with Paul “Triple H” Levesque.
Asked about HBK's words and his own HOF aspirations in conversation with Chris Van Vliet on Insight, Benjamin discussed who he would like to have induct him into the all-time annals of WWE history and why the decision may be tougher than it appears on paper.
“I’ve thought about it. I’ve sat and thought about it a couple of times, me and a couple of the guys when that originally came up, me and some other guys kind of brainstormed. Like, on the list, Kurt, sure. Brock … I don’t know, Brock might F-5 me; you can’t trust him with a handshake. Gerald Brisco … like I said, I go deep with it. Even MVP,” Shelton Benjamin told Chris Van Vliet via TJR.
“People that are close to me, that have been with me for forever — those types of guys, I really would consider for that. I will say, if I was to make a decision today, it would probably be Kurt.
“I would love for it to be Kurt. He paved the way for guys like myself, Brock, Gable, and … yeah. And again, he used his name to introduce me to the world. It would be, for me — it would be an honor if it were him.”
Excluding Lesnar, who would be an interesting inductor even if he isn't incredibly well-known for his talking, Angle really feels like the person to give Benjamin the rub when his name is eventually called, as joining Team Angle was a big part of his early success in the business and helped to set the groundwork for a long and illustrious career that may soon continue when he opts to pick up his indie bookings once more.
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