By Richard Gardner, Torch specialist

WWE undertook its traditional spring-cleaning this week, releasing seven wrestlers in total. The cull of the likes of Funaki, Jimmy Yang, Slam Master J, Mike Knox, and Katie Burchill comes as no surprise. The four of them have been treading water for months due to a lack of attention from the creative team. Mickie James's departure is disappointing, but not unexpected when you consider the mean-spirited nature of some of the angles she's been involved in this year. But I believe the biggest surprise was the release of Shelton Benjamin.

Charlie Haas gave an interview recently where he spoke of his desire for Benjamin to leave WWE and join him in TNA. Christopher Daniels might disagree with the benefits of heading to Orlando at this current time, but it appears that Haas's could come true. That WWE would essentially hand Benjamin to TNA illustrates they aren't concerned with TNA, if you believe Benjamin is a potential big "get" for TNA.

Benjamin has a string of excellent matches to his name; a body of work that would be enviable to the majority of the WWE roster. Benjamin usually delivered when put in a position succeed in the ring, and his performances in the Money in the Bank ladder match were a highlight of many WrestleManias. Clearly one of the most talented athletes on the roster, it was his lack of ability on the microphone that hindered him from rising above the mid-card.

Anyone who watched Vladimir Koslov's pathetic brawl with The Great Khali on Monday night must be baffled by the fact that those two are still employed and Shelton Benjamin has been released. Succeeding in WWE is typically based on many more factors than being able to put on a decent match, but surely that should be the minimum requirement. Nevertheless, Benjamin struggled not only to make his mark on the microphone, but to find a character that he was comfortable portraying.

He seemed at ease teaming with Charlie Haas, but did not seem to have the charisma to develop an identity as a singles wrestler. He was neither a natural face or heel, and his recent character seemed to take the term "Gold Standard" a little bit too literally, as he would cut forced promos that often had more emphasis on precious metal than his own abilities in the ring.

But despite struggling to carve out a niche for himself, Benjamin remained a reliable performer who was capable of delivering good-to-great matches. Getting to the main event may have been beyond him, but he was more than capable of being a dependable mid-card performer for many years to come. It is possible that Charlie Haas's comments may have pre-empted Benjamin's release, as WWE may not have wanted to suffer the embarrassment of one of their wrestlers turning down a contract to go to TNA. But the decision to release Benjamin is a surprise nonetheless.

Shelton Benjamin was never going to headline Pay-Per-Views, and maybe he hadn't progressed as a character as much as he should have done. But the fact that there is no room for Shelton Benjamin in WWE, when so many less-talented wrestlers remain, is a sad commentary on this round of releases.

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