Growing up on the dangerous streets of urban Orangeburg, S.C., Shelton Benjamin felt pressure to join gangs. He lived in an area known for drug trafficking and weapons use, hung out with drug dealers and even found himself in the crossfire of several gunfights. To say that life was rough is an understatement, and Shelton admits that he could have easily slipped through the cracks and fallen into the traps of his hometown.

But rather than ending up on the wrong side of the tracks, he exceeded everyone’s expectations; instead of getting caught up in the drugs and violence, Shelton got his life on track. An exceptional athlete, Shelton won two South Carolina state high school heavyweight wrestling championships. He was accepted to the University of Minnesota, continuing his career as a stand-out amateur wrestler and eventually becoming a WWE Superstar. And after all he went through early on in life, it’s no wonder that Benjamin is so self-confident in the squared circle.

Achieving the goal of becoming a WWE Superstar was a life-long dream for Benjamin – a longtime member of the WWE Universe. Ever since he was young, Shelton was awed by the athleticism he saw in the ring each week on television. In fact, he even remembers the match that first caught his eye – Magnum T.A. vs. Wahoo McDaniel for the United States Championship in 1985.

Not only a great athlete, Benjamin also excels at video games, at one point winning the annual WrestleMania fan fest championship tournament three years in a row. For a guy who could excel at pretty much any sport he tried, why did Shelton Benjamin choose to join WWE?

“Honestly, I can’t think of anything else I’d rather do.”

At two different points in his WWE career, Benjamin enjoyed some notoriety as one-half of the self-proclaimed Worlds Greatest Tag Team with Charlie Haas.

In November 2007, Benjamin ventured to the Land of Extreme when the former Raw Superstar became an ECW Superstar. He tagged himself the "Gold Standard" of ECW, in his efforts to become the next ECW Champion.

But, his ECW Championship quest took a sudden turn courtesy of the 2008 Supplemental Draft, which brought him into the SmackDown mix.

At The Great American Bash in 2008, Benjamin finally donned gold again when he defeated Matt Hardy for the United States Championship. But, after overcoming a 20-week losing streak, Montel Vontavious Porter stripped Benjamin of his gold during SmackDown's 500th episode on March 20, 2009.

In the hunt for gold again, Benjamin saw tag action with his old partner, Charlie Haas. Then, as a part of Donald Trump's blockbuster trade, Benjamin returned to ECW. What is next for The Gold Standard?

Source: WWE.com