After finding success as a young amateur wrestler, Shelton Benjamin accepted an offer to join the WWE system in 2000, spending a couple of years in developmental before joining the main roster at the end of 2002. In Benjamin’s early days, he was in a tag team with Charlie Haas, and the two of them spent a lot of time wrestling Eddie Guerrero. Speaking on “Marking Out with MVP,” Benjamin reflected on his friendship with the late WWE Hall of Famer.

“Eddie Guerrero taught me and Charlie how to work,” Benjamin said. “There’s a difference between being a good wrestler and a good worker. A good wrestler can do moves and things like that. A good worker can make you believe in anything they’re doing.”

Benjamin recalled wrestling Guerrero at a live event, when the late performer spotted a wrench outside the ring and made the decision to work it into their match. Without any prior planning, the wrestlers made the prop a key part of their performance, and Benjamin believes that night serves as one example of Guerrero’s genius.

The wrestler also recalled himself and Haas having a hard time tracking down Eddie and his nephew and tag partner, Chavo, before their matches. Benjamin and Haas had just come out of developmental and wanted to plan the details of their matches, but Eddie and Chavo preferred improvisation.

After spending some time working together, the four men had a conversation backstage where Eddie accused Benjamin and Haas of bringing down their matches. Benjamin asked Guerrero to teach them instead of getting angry, causing Guerrero to realize he needed to be a better leader, and their relationship improved from there.

“All the ‘lie, cheat, and steal’ stuff – he was developing it when he was tagging against me and Charlie, so those were the spots we were blowing,” Benjamin continued. “Once we knew what it was, it got to the point where [after] a few weeks of kind of learning how to work it, and then the next eight months, we never talked; we just went to the ring and worked. It was magic.”

Over the next several years, the two developed a strong bond, with Guerrero once giving Benjamin “permission” to pull him out of his depressive episodes when he was struggling not to use drugs or drink.