Matt Hardy Explains What He Wanted To See From Shelton Benjamin's AEW Debut Match

Shelton Benjamin's AEW signing was met with a lot of praise from veterans of the industry like Mark Henry, who expressed his hope to see the "Gold Standard" finally get the booking he deserves in AEW. Benjamin had his first match with the promotion last week, wherein he defeated Lio Rush in a singles match. Following the bout, Matt Hardy weighed in on the impression he got from the contest.

"I enjoyed seeing Shelton's match; my biggest criticism of it is I feel like they should've had Shelton have a more definitive win his first time out," Hardy explained on his "The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy" podcast. Despite this, Hardy maintained that Benjmain looked like he was in great shape, and that he's happy to have seen him compete on "Dynamite."

Hardy further expanded on his opinion, noting that he would even have gone so far as to book Benjamin in a five-minute match where he'd completely dominate his opponent. "I like Lio Rush, I think he's super entertaining, I dig what he does, but I don't think we needed a ... super-competitive, back-and-forth match," Hardy said. In closing, he boldly claimed that Benjamin will ultimately be a "difference maker" in AEW. Back on Henry's end, "The World's Strongest Man" also gave his take on the match, and like Hardy was impressed by the bout and further expanded on his concerns for Benjamin's future in AEW, but interestingly said that the match was all he ever wanted to see with the "Gold Standard."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.