As many of you saw during Sunday night’s WWE TLC pay-per-view event, Shelton Benjamin and Cedric Alexander defeated The New Day to win the WWE RAW Tag Team titles. Following the match, Benjamin took to his Instagram account and dedicated the win to the late Shad Gaspard.
WWE posted the following video, showing Benjamin commenting on why he dedicated the match to Shad. He said,
“Knowing that I had gone in there and dedicated this moment to Shad. When I attended his funeral I made a promise to myself that if I won a title, especially a tag team championship because I know Shad and JTG worked hard even though they never actually got a chance to wear a title. I made a point then that no matter what title it was going to be, it was going to be dedicated to Shad.
So, I wear this title, I won this title and there’s no question, which I had never dedicated a title win to anybody, and I think this was so significant, so important, just for him and for his son. Part of the reason is I want his son to know just how great a guy that his dad was. Just what a big influence and what a big impact he had on myself and the world.”
Gaspard and his son were caught in a rip current back in May. He was swept out to sea but made sure that lifeguards saved his 10-year-old son first.