Details on the exact moment Vince McMahon decided to break up 2-time WWE Tag Team Champions
Charlie Haas believes Shelton Benjamin’s impression of JBL prompted Vince McMahon to end their first WWE tag team run.
Benjamin and Haas, known as Team Angle and The World’s Greatest Tag Team, performed together on SmackDown between December 2002 and March 2004. Their partnership ended shortly after Benjamin showed off his charisma while impersonating JBL in a comedy segment.
Speaking on the Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast, Haas recalled how Vince McMahon moved Benjamin to RAW as a singles competitor after that moment:
“When they saw Shelton and I do the vignette of APA [JBL and Ron Simmons], Shelton does really good impersonations and did the JBL impersonation," said Haas. "Vince loves that comedy bulls*** so he was like, ‘Hey, we can make something with Shelton.’ Shelton had the charisma at the time so they decided to go with him, which was fine. I was happy for him.”
Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin are easily one of the greatest tag teams of all time.
Hence the name: The Worlds Greatest Tag Team. https://t.co/0Q6NewpKDu
Benjamin and Haas reunited on RAW in December 2006, but their second run together as a main-roster tag team only lasted 11 months.
Why Charlie Haas expected Vince McMahon to separate The World’s Greatest Tag Team
#OnThisDay in 2004: WWE No Way Out PPV. The World's Greatest Tag Team (Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas) defeated The APA. https://t.co/8iBeqNL5Ms
The World’s Greatest Tag Team won the WWE Tag Team Championship twice in 2003, holding the titles for a combined 178 days. They feuded with several duos during that time, including Los Guerreros (Eddie Guerrero and Chavo Guerrero) and Chris Benoit and Edge.
Given the lack of legitimate tag teams around in WWE at the time, Haas knew his partnership with Benjamin was likely to end:
“I also knew it was at the end of the tag team run," said Haas. "We were at the tail-end of those great tag teams: The Hardyz, Edge and Christian, The Dudleyz, The Guerreros, The New Age Outlaws. We got to work all those wrestlers, but they were different tag teams at the time.”
While Haas won the Tag Team Championship again with Rico Constantino in 2004, Benjamin captured the RAW Tag Team Championship with Cedric Alexander in 2020. Benjamin also held the Intercontinental Championship three times and the United States Championship once.
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