SHELTON BENJAMIN VS. MAVEN FOR THE INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE

Background: Maven’s team won their Survivor Series elimination bout, earning them the opportunity to run RAW for a month. Maven got to helm the brand first the following night. He promptly booked himself against Triple H in the main event for the World Title. Triple H went to Maven and attempted to seduce him with a spot in Evolution. He attempted to convince the Tough Enough winner that he didn’t have the chops to stand up to him, so why try. Maven refused the offer and faced off with Hunter where he lost due to nefarious means and major interference from multiple parties. It was obvious that this soured Maven and his attitude over the following weeks would become hostile.

In the battle royale for a title shot that opened the November 22nd edition of RAW, Maven was tossed early on by Eugene Dinsmore. He was furious. After the match in the back, Maven complained to Intercontinental Champion Shelton Benjamin that this ‘retard’ had a title when he didn’t. Benjamin told him to leave Eugene alone. On the December 6th show Maven would get a singles bout with Eugene. He started out showing faux sportsmanship and ended by getting disqualified for standing on Eugene’s throat. William Regal ran in for the save and was waffled by Dinsmore’s half of the tag team titles. On RAW for December 13th, Maven teamed up with Tyson Tomko and Christian to face off with Benjamin, Dinsmore and Regal. As the match broke down into chaos, Maven scored the upset win by pinning Benjamin with a schoolboy roll up. On the past RAW, Maven sat in on commentary to brag about his win in the six man while Benjamin squared off with Sylvan Grenier. He said that he had repeatedly tried to contact Benjamin about a title shot on the pay per view and hadn’t heard back. He did before the end of the show as the bout was announced shortly thereafter.

Match Up: Both men have great speed and physical prowess. However, Benjamin is the better technical wrestler and ring general. He’s a natural while Maven has fought and scraped to get where he is from the starting blocks of Tough Enough. Simply put, whatever Maven throws at Benjamin he should be able to shrug off no sweat. The point where this frustrates Maven is where the match is over. The new Maven might seem cocky and wearing blinders, but he’s also proven to be more cunning and willing to pull out all the stops to get the win. Maven is going to take every short cut he can to win. Whether it’s his feet on the ropes or a steel chair to the back of the head that could be all the equalizer he needs.

Outcome: Heel Maven is slightly more interesting that his previous dull, bland face persona. It’s a bit too early to vault him up the roster by putting the IC title on him. A loss to Benjamin wouldn’t hurt him that badly, as Christian can attest to. He simply regroups. Yet, believe it or not, a loss by nefarious means doesn’t hurt Benjamin that much while giving Maven a major boost. This frees Benjamin up to climb the roster and possibly enter the prime main event scene. It would stand to reason that he would put on a greater run in the Royal Rumble without have the IC Title on him. Benjamin has ran in place since winning the belt and either needs to enter into a major feud or get past this stepping stone to bigger things.

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