Interview: Shelton Benjamin on Calling Matches In the Ring, Crowd Reactions, & Match Trust

ESPN held a recent interview with Shelton Benjamin and some of the topics discussed included learning from the Guerreros on how to call in-ring moves, his thoughts on wrestlers not adjusting their matches based on crowd reactions, and who he trusts the most to call in-ring moves during his matches.

On the topic of learning how to call in-ring moves during matches, Benjamin stated Eddie and Chavo Guerrero were very helpful teaching him and Charlie Haas how to call moves on the fly after their initial struggles together during matches.

“For the first eight months, we [Benjamin and Charlie Haas] were working with Eddie and Chavo Guerrero, and they would hide from us during the live events. They didn’t want to call matches because that was old school, and that was how they came up. Eventually they got fed up with us and we had one of those ‘coming to Jesus’ meetings. We told them they didn’t need to tell us spot-for-spot, but we just don’t know the things you’re trying to do. Eddie, who was always the captain of the ship said, ‘You guys are right, and I need to be a better captain.’ He started teaching us the spots. So the next six months we never planned anything. We just showed up and had a great time in the ring. The rest of the art is just being familiar with who you’re in the ring with.”

On the topic of wrestlers not adjusting their match work based on crowd reactions, Benjamin stated it is due to some wrestlers relying too much on pre-planning for their matches.

“Guys are so reliant on planning a match, to go out and do their plan, regardless of crowd response. Sometimes you gotta go out and call audibles. You need to say ‘this ain’t working’ and change it up. … Christian was trying to turn the fans on him during a promo, but they cheered him even louder. We decided that he was the babyface and I became the heel. Right on the fly, we switched the match.”

On the topic of who he trusts the most in WWE to call moves on the fly during his matches, Benjamin stated Randy Orton, John Cena, AJ Styles, Brock Lesnar, and Shinsuke Nakamura as his choices.

“There are only a few people in WWE that I would trust having a good match with to just call it in the ring: Randy Orton, John Cena, AJ Styles, Brock Lesnar and Shinsuke Nakamura.”