He was called up to the WWE in 2002 and debuted on the WWE SmackDown roster on December 26, 2002. During his early career in the WWE he along with Charlie Haas formed Team Angle with Kurt Angle as their on-screen mentor. They began a feud with Chris Benoit. Benjamin won the WWE Intercontinental Championship after he defeated then-champion Chris Jericho at the 2004 Taboo Tuesday.