FORMER WWE INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPION SIGNS TO RETURN TO WWE

Former WWE Intercontinental and Tag Team champion Shelton Benjamin has signed a deal to officially return to WWE, PWInsider.com has learned.

WWE planned to sign Benjamin last summer as part of their brand split and even ran videos promoting his return to the company, only to learn the 42-year old had a torn rotator cuff during the standard pre-signing medical testing. Benjamin underwent surgery to repair the injury while WWE quietly stopped running the videos.

Benjamin was signed to a developmental deal in 2000 and was brought to the main roster as one half of World's Greatest Tag Team with Charlie Haas. He was brought to the Raw brand as a singles star in 2004 and even scored several wins over Triple H. Benjamin would go on to work on both the Smackdown and ECW brands before being released in 2010.

Possessing great timing and finesse as an in-ring performer, Benjamin had very good to great matches but never came off comfortable when WWE would try to build a gimmick around him, including an ill-fated gimmick when comedian Thea Vidale was hired to portray "Mama Benjamin", an idea that was dropped after just three months.

Following his WWE release, Benjamin reprised his tag team with Haas in Ring of Honor and worked for New Japan, among other promotions.

There is no word when Benjamin will return to TV or what brand he will be assigned to as of this writing, but one WWE source stated it would be "soon."

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