Hiroshi Tanahashi: Shelton Benjamin Is The Model Of Being Blessed With Incredible Athletic Ability
Hiroshi Tanahashi’s high praise for Shelton Benjamin.
Hiroshi Tanahashi is considered one of his generation’s best wrestlers. These days, even as he looks at the back end of his career, Tanahashi continues to push his limits and test himself against the best talent in Japan and America.
Tanahashi has previously wrestled Shelton Benjamin, another wrestler often viewed as one of the greatest natural athletes of his generation. In his Ace’s HIGH column on the NJPW website in September 2022, Tanahashi praised Benjamin as one of the most naturally gifted athletes of his era and compared him to Kazuchika Okada.
“I’d known of Benjamin since his Team Angle days in WWE, but it really struck me wrestling him how he was actually the biggest guy of that group. So put together, especially those shoulders of his, and just an incredible pure athlete,” Tanahashi said. “Benjamin is the very model of something I’ve spoken about before- I feel so jealous of guys that have such unbelievable athletic DNA, just blessed to have incredible athletic ability, like Okada as well, but then again, it’s probably my shortcomings that made me a success. I could never fly around, but I had to focus my efforts on developing from a psychological perspective instead.”
Today, Shelton still works for WWE and is listed as a free agent on the WWE roster.
Tanahashi is currently participating in the G1 Climax 33 Tournament. Fans can check out the full standings at this link.
