Post by CandyKANE on Feb 7, 2003 21:27:44 GMT -5
Most of the time, it takes years for a stock portfolio to grow, but every once in a while you get lucky. Nobody knows this better than Charlie Haas, who once worked for Goldman Sachs as a trade analyst.
Today, Haas is one half of the WWE Tag Team Champions with his partner, Shelton Benjamin. While it takes most teams several months or years to develop the kind of chemistry necessary to be Tag Team Champions, Team Angle, as the duo is called, won the titles Thursday on SmackDown! after just their sixth week together on WWE programming.
Continuing with the stock-market analogy, Benjamin said, "I'm amazed at the reaction we're getting from the fans and in the locker room. It's a really good feeling to know that all of the hard work you put in is starting to pay dividends."
Both men had been in WWE's developmental program for the last few years, although they never worked for the same territory, and never wrestled with or against each other. But both had extensive tag team experience -- Haas with his younger brother Russ, who died tragically in December 2001, and Benjamin as part of the "Minnesota Stretching Crew" in Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) with none other than fellow Golden Gopher alumnus Brock Lesnar. Haas wrestled in Memphis and Cincinnati before being sent to OVW; by that time, Benjamin had already been called up to the WWE roster.
So they were merely acquaintances -- they'd met a few times and watched each other's matches a few times -- when they learned they'd be partners. But they were acquaintances that got along well.
"And that actually helps," Benjamin said, "when you like the guy you're working with."
Team Angle made its TV debut on the Dec. 26 episode of SmackDown! in Tulsa, Okla., 100 miles northeast of Haas' hometown of Edmond. (Haas called the night he debuted the greatest of his life. "What a great Christmas gift," he said.)
Neither one had any idea they'd end up tagging together until just a few weeks before their TV debut. But a brief glimpse of their backgrounds reveals that their partnership makes a lot of sense.
Their most obvious similarity is their athletic credentials. Benjamin was one of South Carolina's finest high school athletes. He starred in wrestling (state heavyweight champion his junior and senior years), track (state 100-meter champion) and football (two-time All-State selection). He then went on to Lassen Community College in Susanville, Calif.
, where he again starred in wrestling (1996 NJCAA Champion) and track (junior college 100-meter champion), before he transferred to Minnesota, where he's one Spanish course away from a degree in sports studies.
For his part, Haas was a high school state champion for his weight class in wrestling, on a team that won the state championship. He also played on the football team, on which he was a wide receiver. Then, on a full athletic scholarship at Seton Hall University, he was a four-year starter and captain of his wrestling team, and a two-time Big East Champion. An Academic All-American, he graduated with a 3.3 grade-point average, earning a degree in economics with a minor in business administration. While wrestling in independent territories, he worked for Goldman Sachs, a multinational investment-banking firm.
There's also the fact that both men are 6 foot 2 and 240 pounds. But Haas says that their most important common trait is their drive to succeed, which compensates for the fact that they haven't tagged together for that long.
"We just want it really bad," Haas said. "We just want to make it in the business."
Benjamin agreed, saying, "Charlie and I have a lot of the same goals (and) a lot of the same focuses."
Of the two, Benjamin has more experience on the WWE roster, having traveled with the company since April. Initially, he was part of the RAW brand, and he appeared five times on Sunday Night HEAT, his only loss coming at the hands of William Regal. After September's Unforgiven, he was switched to SmackDown!, but had appeared only in non-televised matches with that brand before the Tulsa show.
Haas perhaps would have been called up last spring as well, but last February he tore his anterior cruciate ligament, an injury that requires six to eight months of rehabilitation. So he joined the primary roster in the fall.
A few months later, he heard about the idea for Team Angle. Since then, Haas said, they've been working with agents like Arn Anderson, Dave "Fit" Finlay, Gerry Brisco and Terry Taylor an hour or two before each show. Since making their TV debut, they've wrestled the likes of Los Guerreros, Chris Benoit and Edge -- and, of course, they're working alongside Kurt Angle. These are some of the greatest mat technicians in WWE history; working with them and the agents, Benjamin and Haas have seen their stock rise as quickly as any team in WWE history, culminating with their championship victory on SmackDown!
"We've learned a tremendous amount in such a short period of time," Haas said.
"Basically," Benjamin said, "we've just jelled."
Today, Haas is one half of the WWE Tag Team Champions with his partner, Shelton Benjamin. While it takes most teams several months or years to develop the kind of chemistry necessary to be Tag Team Champions, Team Angle, as the duo is called, won the titles Thursday on SmackDown! after just their sixth week together on WWE programming.
Continuing with the stock-market analogy, Benjamin said, "I'm amazed at the reaction we're getting from the fans and in the locker room. It's a really good feeling to know that all of the hard work you put in is starting to pay dividends."
Both men had been in WWE's developmental program for the last few years, although they never worked for the same territory, and never wrestled with or against each other. But both had extensive tag team experience -- Haas with his younger brother Russ, who died tragically in December 2001, and Benjamin as part of the "Minnesota Stretching Crew" in Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) with none other than fellow Golden Gopher alumnus Brock Lesnar. Haas wrestled in Memphis and Cincinnati before being sent to OVW; by that time, Benjamin had already been called up to the WWE roster.
So they were merely acquaintances -- they'd met a few times and watched each other's matches a few times -- when they learned they'd be partners. But they were acquaintances that got along well.
"And that actually helps," Benjamin said, "when you like the guy you're working with."
Team Angle made its TV debut on the Dec. 26 episode of SmackDown! in Tulsa, Okla., 100 miles northeast of Haas' hometown of Edmond. (Haas called the night he debuted the greatest of his life. "What a great Christmas gift," he said.)
Neither one had any idea they'd end up tagging together until just a few weeks before their TV debut. But a brief glimpse of their backgrounds reveals that their partnership makes a lot of sense.
Their most obvious similarity is their athletic credentials. Benjamin was one of South Carolina's finest high school athletes. He starred in wrestling (state heavyweight champion his junior and senior years), track (state 100-meter champion) and football (two-time All-State selection). He then went on to Lassen Community College in Susanville, Calif.
, where he again starred in wrestling (1996 NJCAA Champion) and track (junior college 100-meter champion), before he transferred to Minnesota, where he's one Spanish course away from a degree in sports studies.
For his part, Haas was a high school state champion for his weight class in wrestling, on a team that won the state championship. He also played on the football team, on which he was a wide receiver. Then, on a full athletic scholarship at Seton Hall University, he was a four-year starter and captain of his wrestling team, and a two-time Big East Champion. An Academic All-American, he graduated with a 3.3 grade-point average, earning a degree in economics with a minor in business administration. While wrestling in independent territories, he worked for Goldman Sachs, a multinational investment-banking firm.
There's also the fact that both men are 6 foot 2 and 240 pounds. But Haas says that their most important common trait is their drive to succeed, which compensates for the fact that they haven't tagged together for that long.
"We just want it really bad," Haas said. "We just want to make it in the business."
Benjamin agreed, saying, "Charlie and I have a lot of the same goals (and) a lot of the same focuses."
Of the two, Benjamin has more experience on the WWE roster, having traveled with the company since April. Initially, he was part of the RAW brand, and he appeared five times on Sunday Night HEAT, his only loss coming at the hands of William Regal. After September's Unforgiven, he was switched to SmackDown!, but had appeared only in non-televised matches with that brand before the Tulsa show.
Haas perhaps would have been called up last spring as well, but last February he tore his anterior cruciate ligament, an injury that requires six to eight months of rehabilitation. So he joined the primary roster in the fall.
A few months later, he heard about the idea for Team Angle. Since then, Haas said, they've been working with agents like Arn Anderson, Dave "Fit" Finlay, Gerry Brisco and Terry Taylor an hour or two before each show. Since making their TV debut, they've wrestled the likes of Los Guerreros, Chris Benoit and Edge -- and, of course, they're working alongside Kurt Angle. These are some of the greatest mat technicians in WWE history; working with them and the agents, Benjamin and Haas have seen their stock rise as quickly as any team in WWE history, culminating with their championship victory on SmackDown!
"We've learned a tremendous amount in such a short period of time," Haas said.
"Basically," Benjamin said, "we've just jelled."