Chris Benoit: The Title Reign that wasn't

[Shocky]

We're coming up on the one year anniversary of the worst tragedy in the history of the Wrestling Business. This isn't a thread to talk about the deaths of the Benoit family, so please keep that out of here.

One Year ago at Night of Champions, Chris Benoit was scheduled to win the ECW championship against CM Punk. My question is, would Benoit as champion have kept the ECW title as a legit world title?

The ECW Title started off white hot on it's return. RVD had just defeated John Cena, and the WWE was doing everything they could to establish the ECW title as a legit third world title. Granted RVD fucked himself up, but the WWE did what it could to keep the momentum of that title going.

The Big Show took the title, and held it for 5 months before he retired and Lashley took the title from him. Even with a questionable unproven champion in Lashley, Vince McMahon personally interjected to make sure that the ECW title was a credible title. Hell, the main storyline going into WM23 featured the ECW champion in a match with Trump and McMahon.

So the feud ends, Lashley moves to Raw, and Chris Benoit moves to ECW. The Incident happens and we go from big time title reigns...to John Morrison. Not to shit on Morrison, but no way was he ready to be a world champion.

Since Night of Champions we've been subjected to John Morrison, CM Punk and Chavo Guerrero. None of these guys are world championship title contenders, let alone holders at this point in their career. The ECW title lost officially all of it's credibility when the ECW champion decided to show up in the Royal Rumble. Not only does the title have no credibility at this point, even with a star like Kane holding it, but the young talent fighting for this belt has crippled the IC title and US title scenes.

So my question is, would Chris Benoit have brought legitimacy to the ECW title with a long title reign? My opinion is obviously yes. ECW has gone down hill drastically the last year, because it lacks a quality veteran to teach the young guys. Punk and Morrison were thrown into a title match that both weren't ready to handle. As I said, only Kane has been a "worthy" champion to hold the title since last year, and even then, he isn't very good in the ring to teach anyone.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

The Answer is yes. Benoit wouldve given that title a rather large amount of prestige, and probably had a long reighn. ECW wouldve been the perfect place for it, becuase the vast majority of the talent is young up and coming heel talent, who couldve worked feuds with Benoit, and learned how to work at the same time (Like MVP did). The ECW title probably wouldve eventually faded into what it is now, becuase its my opinion thats what it was meant to be from the beginning, but It would carry much more prestige, and Benoit couldve elevated a LOT of guys in that time.

 

[a7xoff]

I certainly think that Benoit holding the ECW title would have continued to establish it. Taking a look at the ECW title recently... As Shocky said, it has lost nearly all credibility. I mean for crying out loud Chavo was champ and he's in the rumble. Right there that says that the ECW title is not considered a real title to the WWE. Now what would a guy like Chris Benoit have been able to do to "save" the ECW title?

I feel that Benoit would have been able to have a rather long reign, that may have only recently had ended to possibly our current champ in Kane. Benoit seemed to be the kind of guy that would be willing to work and teach the younger talent, and lets face it.... With the exception of a few, ECW is the youngest brand. Benoit would have been great at training some of these young guys on the road, and overall willing to be a teacher. As for the title reign itself...

I feel that Benoit's reign could have been a big sucess. The thing is, he probably would not have had to be face or heel to do it. Since virtually everyone in contention for the ECW title at the time was a lot younger and a lot less experienced then himself he could have kept his 4 real thing and told everyone that they are not ready, and they only would be if they could beat him. Not only would that help, but you wouldn't have had such random champs in the form of Chavo... Isn't he listed as a Smackdown! star???

As much as I think Benoit would have helped..... I still can't help but think that WWE considers ECW the new Velocity... I mean really take a look. You have it on Sci-Fi, much later than either Raw or Smackdown! and you have the Smackdown! stars on it... It seems to me that the SD! stars show up a lot more on ECW than ECW stars show on SD!... So with all of that happening the ECW title I think is considered as more of anoth Smackdown title now than it's own show...

 

[Miko]

yeah its true, the ECW title suffered a lot because of that tragedy (not taking things out of perspective of course), because whoever beats Benoit would look like a legitimate champion, but i still think there is hope especially if Kane holding it works out

 

[jmt225]

If I remember correctly, rumor was that they were just putting him on ECW for a little while. He was going to transer to Raw sometime in the fall and become a top player there as heel, if the rumor turned out to be legit.

With that said though, I think a short stint on ECW for Benoit would've ended up being fantastic. Matches between Benoit and Punk, and Benoit and Morrison would've been fucking beyond awesome, in my opinion. And then had Benoit stayed on ECW and not transer to Raw, a feud would Chavo would've been great as well.

When you have someone as talented as Benoit on your roster, the potential is endless in what you can do with him. Did he have the ability to carry the ECW brand to 3.0 ratings? No. But what he did have was the respect of EVERY single fan out there, and the ability to have a great match at any given time. With him as the champion of ECW, it at least makes the casual fans to keep an eye on the product, and it definitely gives hardcore and internet wrestling fans a great reason to tune in every week. Other than RVD, there never was a better option to have as ECW Champion more than Chris Benoit.

 

[Skullz Crack'Em]

Yes, the ECW title would have been better off if Benoit had won it last year instead of John Morrison. It is great to see the younger guys in the business get through the rankings, but Morrison was definitely not ready since he was a JOBBER at the time, and giving him the title took away it's momentum pretty fast. ECW needed a lead role model in it's roster after RVD and Big Show left, and Chris Benoit was the perfect choice, but that didn't happen and ECW was stuck without any guidance for quite a while. Kane should have been WWE's back-up choice after Benoit No-Showed the PPV last year, but we really can't blame them for putting it on Morrison, they only had a few minutes to decide and there wasn't many choices, since most of their talent were already in title matches that night. Kane is an okay champion, but when it comes to matches he stinks, he is not the same Kane that many people grew up to love, he is a big enough star to make the ECW title look important, but his matches are a bore IMO. Benoit was on the same level as Kane(Upper Mid Card), but at least his in-ring style would have brought more exciting match-ups against many of the young stars on ECW like CM Punk, Morrison, Elijah Burke, Shelton Benjamin, etc.

 

[Sunsetrocket]

It wasn't only the ECW Championship that suffered because of the Benoit tragedy. CM Punk also suffered, probably even more than the championship. Remember the type of performer that Benoit was in the WWE. He was always that one guy who could make his opponents look as good as he could in the ring. If there was a performer that the WWE wanted to get over, had tons of ability and promise, and just green in terms of fan acceptance toward that person's in-ring ability, they would most likely book that individual with Benoit. Cena, Orton, MVP, etc. all benefited tremendously by wrestling with Benoit. CM Punk was going to be next in line, and it would have really propelled Punk in my view. Just imagine the type of feud those two would have had regarding the ECW Championship. The status of that belt, that brand, and Punk would have all been drastically different in terms of increased popularity and acceptance (in terms of fans and management) if Benoit didn't parish. It's a very sad saga if you really think about it.

 

[Monkey_Mania]

Oh yeah. Benoit would have brought the ECW title some credibility. ECW started off white hot. If Benoit would have won the title he couldve kept ECW white hot. He would've been a great teacher to guys like C.M. Punk and John Morrison. He would have made those guys legit title contenders. I think Benoit would have had a long title reign. He would also have been the most respected man in the ECW locker room. Hell, even if he only held the title for a short time it would have made a huge difference. He would have definitly brought some credibility to the title.

 

[Sparky]

Benoit Would of been the best ECW champion ever. He would of made the title What WWE was trying to make it, A legit World Title. I think What happened greatly affected the WWE in many way's but this being the worst. Benoit could make any challanger look worthy of competing for the title, Just look at M.V.P, the same thing could of happend to CM punk or better yet Morrison. i think his tittle run if it had of happend wouldnt get stale like most people. Benoit was a great wrestler and entertainer. Instead the title is worthless and we are stick with Mid Carder's with the belt.

 

[TheOneBigWill]

While I agree that Chris Benoit would've brought some credibility to the Championship, I'm actually going to side away from the general public and say.. NO.

The reason I'm saying this is very simple. Lack of worthy competition. If Chris Benoit would've won, who would he have defended the Championship against to make that brand look any better than 3rd best? Elijah Burke? C.M. Punk? John Morrison?

The way I see it, while the Chris Benoit tragedy was a tremendous loss to the wrestling community. The loss of Benoit to the E.C.W. brand, was of one guy. A guy far above the rest, albeit, but just one guy none the less. And with him taken out of the picture, it did allow the Championship to be given to any number of random never thought of Championship contenders.

John Morrison: Was running on fumes before gaining the opportunity of his career in winning the title in place of Chris Benoit. While he may not have been ready, he certainly took the so-called "ball" and ran with it. He was the highest rated Champion, in that programs history.

Now you tell me this. If during a time, when Wrestling was at its lowest, due to this tragedy that be-fell the Benoit Family.. whats it say, for a guy, a basic "no-name" like John Morrison to come out of nowhere, step up, win the Championship and then carry the brand, the television show, to its highest ratings ever.. in the lowest period ever? Just image the ratings, if the Benoit tragedy never occured.

C.M. Punk: Was flat out a dud. While he arguably had and still has the biggest fan pop from anyone in that brand, as Champion he truly did nothing and went nowhere. That hurts the Championship's legacy, but in a ways, you can't blame that on the Championship or on C.M. Punk. As during this run, it was also a low point for the brand, as they truly didn't open the door for anyone to truly step up as challenger for the first several monthes of Punk's reign.

The Miz. The back to Morrison. Then finally Chavo Guerrero. I believe Punk had a couple matches with Elijah Burke, if that. And possibly one really great one that had all the opportunity in the world to go somewhere but never did.. with Kenny Dykstra. Now, while a lot of you are going to say.. "Okay, no f*cking way a former Cheerleader turned World Champion contender can bring credibility to the Championship." But the fact is, the cheerleader gimmick wasn't his fault. Blame Vince McMahon on sticking a very talented performer, with a very ******ed gimmick.

Chavo Guerrero: By this point, the Championship likely wasn't viewed as anything more than a midcard Championship, or the third best Heavyweight Championship, as a "starter" belt for those trying to become Heavyweights. Guerrero was likely handed the title, because Punk's reign was stale.. it was very dry, and very boring. So they figured what could it hurt? Guerrero held the Cruiserweight Championship each time it became stale.. why not let him run with this title.

Just because it showed up in the Royal Rumble, instead of defended on the p.p.v. doesn't hurt it. (through my eyes) It just means that they're giving Chavo Guerrero (Champion) the opportunity to become a Double Heavyweight Champion. If anything, since no foreseeable feud was open for Guerrero, he went into the Rumble as an entrant.

Overall Thoughts: Again, going back to Chris Benoit. The guy would've been a great Champion.. during the days of Rob Van Dam, The Big Show & Bobby Lashley. As he fit in well with them and that type of competition. However, Chris Benoit didn't logically fit in with a bunch of average midcarders.

So in the end, while HE may of been a great World Champion. His Championship run/title reign would've ultimately went nowhere, because of the lack of competition he had to fight with.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

It wouldn't have been more credible than it was around Big Show, RVD, Lashley & Vince. But it still would have been the third biggest title in the company. Which isn't bad. When a company has that many titles you can't really expect any to have much credibility.

The one benefit I could have seen from having him as champ is regarding Punk. He has talent. It's in there somewhere. But since Punk made his debut two yeasr ago he's been boring in every aspect. Ok so he's a natural heel. But that's no excuse for the boring, unmemorable matches. With Benoit helping him he would have grown as a wrestler. There would be no need for that MITB suitcase. I'm confident that Punk would have finally defeated Benoit, and become a credible champion in himself.

 

[Rusty]

Jake hit the nail on the head. Punk would have definitely benefited from matches with Chris Benoit for the ECW title. I remember this time last year, I was really looking forward to the CM Punk vs Chris Benoit match at Night of Champions 2007. I was almost totally convinced Benoit would have won that match and would have won the ECW championship until the unthinkable happened.

I am fairly confident that if Benoit had indeed won the title, it will be more prestigious and credible than what it is today. Guys like Punk, Morrison, Miz and Burke would have all benefited from having matches with Chris just like M.V.P did.

However, I'm glad that Morrison won the title at NOC last year instead of Punk, because it was a shock that literally nobody had expected. Morrison and Punk both benefited from their matches with one another last year in my opinion. But I still wanted to see Benoit vs Punk and Benoit vs Morrison. But not everything can be perfect.

 

[ch46745]

Chris Benoit being ECW champion would have been a success because he embodied all that dscribed ECW. He would have drawn in more viewership to the show. He would have had good feuds for the title. I think CM Punk and John Morrison would have became more solid all around performers very quickly by feuding with Benoit. The ECW title would have been looked at as a solid world title at that time and ECW would have been pushed as a good brand with good talent.

 

[Saiquan]

Hell YEA!!!!! Benoit as i recall Jericho saying on Nancy Grace was going to win the title and help build younger talent. Who ever would have beat Benoit would have come out looking like gold. Also I really believe he could have helped the ratings a little. I started watching ECW again to see what he was going to do and what angle they were putting him in.

 

[Luther_Hull]

I still think the ECW title would have lost credibility if Benoit became champion. Let's face it, around that time Benoit was a bonafide midcarder. Sure he'd been a world champion before but at this time he was nothing more than a midcarder, and really it made no difference to the title's credibility that Nitro won the title instead of him. The title and the brand lost all credibility after the draft when the one big name on the brand was shipped out and stripped of the title.

 

[Joaquim Akaem]

I kinda think the same tbh, Lashley as ECW champion was feuding with Umaga the IC champ, and Benoit had just dropped the US title.
ECW had already lost enough credibility to be regerded as a midcard title that was seen as equal or maybe even lower than the IC and US.

Putting the strap on Morrison did put the nail in the coffin as far as ECW goes. Benoit probabally could have held the title quite well. He definatley had the ability and the experience to make ECW more credible, and his presence could have appeased the original ECW fans for a little while.

But.... tragedy strikes, and WWE weren't quick enough to think of a better plan to save ECW then to just put the title on any randomer. If Vince was serious about this brand, he would have moved a big star over there, just like he sent Kurt to Smackdown when they lost their champion thru injury. Even some sort Rey Mysterio or a Kane type performer would have made a good replacement. but instead, they just went with another midcarder as their champion. I dont want to call Morrison average, but having him as the face of an entire brand was a bit above him.

 

[Gifted Music]

To be honest...ECW's ratings wouldn't have improved..I loved Chris Benoit the wrestler.. But lets face it, the guy had a personality of a brick wall. Even as a heel I often found myself takin a bathroom break during his promos. Yeah, he's intense.. But so are alot of other superstars.. Just being intense doesn't mean you can cut an entertaining promo.. You have to know how to use that intensity.. Benoit didn't.

Sure, Chris Benoit could've done alot to put over the younger talent like CM Punk, John Morrison, Miz, Elijah Burke, etc. But asfar as ECW Champion goes? He never would've aquired the ratings as Champion that Morrison eventually gained simply because, Benoit wasn't entertaining.. Now, I can watch Chris Benoit's matches all day and not get bored.. But whenever he touched a microphone, I felt the sudden urge to shove a pencil in my eye socket. Yes, Benoit was a great wrestler, one of the greatest who ever lived and arguably the second best wrestler to ever come out of Canada(besides Bret Hart) but as far as improving the ECW brand's ratings as the WORLD Champion? I doubt he would've gotten better ratings than John Morrison, the highest rated ECW Champion in the brand's history.

 

[Gifted Music]

I kinda think the same tbh, Lashley as ECW champion was feuding with Umaga the IC champ, and Benoit had just dropped the US title.
ECW had already lost enough credibility to be regerded as a midcard title that was seen as equal or maybe even lower than the IC and US.

Putting the strap on Morrison did put the nail in the coffin as far as ECW goes. Benoit probabally could have held the title quite well. He definatley had the ability and the experience to make ECW more credible, and his presence could have appeased the original ECW fans for a little while.

But.... tragedy strikes, and WWE weren't quick enough to think of a better plan to save ECW then to just put the title on any randomer. If Vince was serious about this brand, he would have moved a big star over there, just like he sent Kurt to Smackdown when they lost their champion thru injury. Even some sort Rey Mysterio or a Kane type performer would have made a good replacement. but instead, they just went with another midcarder as their champion. I dont want to call Morrison average, but having him as the face of an entire brand was a bit above him.

Like I said in my post above, John Morrison was the highest rated Champion in ECW's history, over Rob Van Dam, Bobby Lashley, CM Punk, and Big Show... Some people may not like Morrison, but you can't argue with results and when Morrison was on top, ECW was at it's peak.

 

[instantkarmaVA]

Benoit as a super heel with a good talker to do his promos would of worked. Make someone like Arn Anderson his manager. Have him take on all comers and destroy them all for a year..Then have a C.M. Punk /Beniot match where he drops the belt to Punk. Make it a TV match for extra effect on following shows..Lead it up to a sweet Extreme rules match at a ppv...

 

[bunnyman1985]

instead of given morrison benoits spot last year at the ppv it would of been a complete shock if like the ring announcer announced cm punks opponent is.........TAZZ now that would of been a huge shock or like mick foley or even terry funk someone with like a big high profile that had been the ecw champ in the past just someone that the fans werent even thinking about just came out an beat punk 123 an we would of had a new ecw champ an it would still be a legit world title.

Like i want to know as the bash is comin up an ecw wil have a title match who wil b henrys opponent it wil have 2 b sum1 gud cause they just cant have a squash match

 

[Mantard]

I think another point that might be worth mentioning is Benoit's draw. If Benoit was indeed set to be the ECW champion, if only for awhile, I think some or most of us actually would watch ECW to see Benoit shine. Benoit was a fantastic technical wrestler (see Angle V Benoit, WM17), but some of his high-flying moves would have fit nicely into "the Land of Extreme." His reign would have brought not only credibility to the title, but some draw to the brand. His feuds while reigning could have then, as previously mentioned, made his opponent(s) build up to become legit contenders until Benoit would lose the title. I think this could have been an amazing move for ECW if things hadn't ended up the way they did. With the exception of Morrison and CM Punk, I haven't been impressed with the in-ring work of the other champions (Chavo, Henry, and even Kane). Morrison and Punk have the ability, but weren't ready. Kane was ready, but imho didn't have the ability as much as he could have. Chavo and Henry... have neither.

 

["Cool Guy" Jensen]

In my opinion having Chris Benoit as the E.C.W. Champion would add a lot of prestige and credibility to the gold and the show itself. Chris Benoit was one of the best wrestler to ever step into the ''squared circle'' and would have been an excellent champion. Now having all the ECW superstars face Benoit in various bouts (non-title or not) would definitely benefit them, but I don't believe that it would prove enough to take the title from Benoit. The ECW Originals would be the best choice to take the gold from Benoit, but at the time there weren't that many except Tommy Dreamer, Balls Mahoney and yes, Stevie Richards. Since Sabu was recently released at the time, R.V.D. was out with a ''concussion'', and Sandman was drafted to RAW for some dumb reason. So after about a 6 or 7 month reign, Benoit could drop the title to Morrison or Punk. So Benoit ''no-showing'' his Night of Champions match and replacing him with Morrison was not a good choice because he obviously was not ready. Quite frankly, I would think that Elijah Burke or Kevin Thorn would make a better champ than John Morrison ever did, but I guess they picked Morrison because we seen many Punk/Burke and Punk/Thorn matches a lot at the time.

 

[Starchild]

I think that yes Benoit would have kept the prestige of that title. I was thinking it may have held some other guys down, but look at it this way.
He could have feuded with Punk, Burke, or Morrison for a while to get them over, and after a long reign one of these guys takes it off of him in a couple month feud and they would really be seen as a main eventer. Who knows, maybe if this had come we would see more of these guys than just Punk in the heavyweight title picture today, while the ECW title would likely still be seen as at least a step up from the IC and US titles, if not a legit world title by itself. What happened with Benoit is really tragic and it has really affected the entire wrestling business in more ways than just the steroid and brain damage issues.