Could they do it to a bigger name than benoit?

[RIPMOOSE316]

We all know what happened with Christ Benoit, so less leave out the details. My Question is, what if someone like a Hulk Hogan or Stone Cold or Undertaker did what Benoit did? Would the WWE really be able to delete any of these guys from the history books and deny their existence? Curious to hear your thoughts.

I personally think that they could not be able to delete a Hulk Hogan or Stone Cold or even an Undertaker, deleting them would be like deleting half the companys history, they would try but I dont think they would be able to pull it off in such an effective way as they have with Benoit.

 

[TheMizardofOzsome]

Well if you read this site ago they said that hogan was actually about to pull the trigger (I don't know if this was to promote his new stint with TNA or his book or actually happened) but was called by a friend's daughter and stopped, so thankfully this is just speculation that may of almost happened.

But to get back to your thread, no, simply because they couldn't get rid of anybody like Hogan or Stone Cold, they might be able to stop referencing them and showing matches from back in the 90's early 2000's but they definetly couldn't due that with anybody a hundred percent relevant now (Cena, Orton, Edge, Rey,etc.)

 

[TheMizardofOzsome]

Benoit mainly because he was on ECW (Saddening isn't it) but if anybody in the main event status did they couldn't like:

(Royal Rumble 2011)

Announcer-Remember when Edge won last year

Other Announcer-(Gasp)

(The next day)

first announcer (on the side of a street begging for a job or food)

 

[Wullief23]

I think it is very petty when WWE cut guys from their broadcasting/internet site etc. Over here in the UK we have a little segment before WWE programming starts and it just shows some wrestlers over the years with some of there sayings. Whn Hulk and Flair went to TNA they cut the 2 of them from the little segment. Now at the end of the day, i understand the 2 are with a different company, but that doesn't mean they should be erased from the companybecause after all they were a huge part.

Same with Benoit. What he done was way wrong, but he is a former world champion in the WWE and i understand them not promoting his name - but erasing it completly.

I read recently that the latest move from Vince is to ban wrestlers from using chops across their opponents chest (the only 2 allowed to do it now are Big Show and Khali)
The reason the chops are banned is because when a wrestler performs the move the crowd react by chanting 'WOOOOO' just like Flair used to. Vince has now banned the move so the crowd can't 'WOOOO' as he does'nt want any Flair references. I think this is unbeleivably petty on WWE's part.

 

[JJ15776]

They could, and it'd be shockingly easy. Want proof? Randy Savage.

Sure, Savage wasn't as big as Hogan or Stone Cold, but he was bigger than Benoit and they've had no problem wiping him from history. And he didn't even kill anybody. The WWE can erase anybody they want from their history anytime they want, with little to no effort. They pretty much do it every time somebody leaves the company.

As for Hogan about to pull the trigger...never believe a word that comes out of that man's mouth.

EDIT: In response to the stuff around the knife edge chops being banned because of the crowd saying 'woooo', one of the former WWE refs clarified that recently. They've actually been banned for a very long time, even when Flair was still in the WWE. It was just that Flair and HBK were allowed to keep using them...of course, Flair is in TNA and HBK is retired, so nobody currently active can use them. But it wasn't because they wanted to stop the crowd from saying 'wooo' because Flair was in TNA.

 

[RIPMOOSE316]

Just wanted to say in response the Savage comment, he hasnt been erased from their website or even certain broadcast, they still mention his name on tv once in a blue moon, usually reffering to his match with steamboat, but he was almost mentioned online in their list of greatest IC champs I believe, so he is ignored but not forgotten or erased i think

 

[peep4life]

Yes they could WWE could get rid of anyone they want from thier history. Sure it would of been ALOT to erease if it was someone like SCSA,Hogan,Taker,Hell Even HHH but could Yes just be hard.
EDIT:To people saying the ban Chops Yoshi Tastu has been using them in his matches even though a former Ref said they've been banned for awhile Yoshi has been using them and the crowd whoos

 

[wushady]

It wouldn't be easy, but I think it would be possible. Like Benoit their name would still be on title history and things like that. It wouldn't have a link to it on WWE.com it would just be a name like Benoit's.

They would also be removed from all TV not to be mentioned on air. All their merchandise would be pulled. The WWE would lose a ton of money for sure, but they would have no choice but to distance themselves.

 

[Yarrie]

Yeah they definately could. Look how long they dubbed out the WWF sign in the back ground of DVD's and bleeped the name. Benoit was still pretty big for a while. Unsure how I feel about him being wiped. What he did was horrendous and sad, but too bad for anyone who had the greatest match in the world with him and now they cant glory in it. As for Hog the Fame Hogan, just squeeze the trigger buddy, squeeze the trigger

 

[El Rev sXe]

good question man, but I think the E can erase ANYONE if they want it do so.

my answer is definitely.
obviously with guys like Hogan, SCSA, Cena it would take millions from the company and alot of time. however I do think that they have for those cases a back-up plan.

a couple of weeks ago, I read on another thread that the E has a cycle with targetting the audience: children (PG), teenagers (PG 14) and adults ("Attitude" if you will..) as you may notice now we are on a PG era (regardless you like or not), in that case children are the target so the E doesn't need or want's to show to this newbies on wrestling who was who and did this or that.

what I'm trying to say is that for the E, the history isn't important as long they have: a new, fresh, younger audience and number two fresh younger STARS. Hogan was int the 80's, Austin replace him and now is Cena the top face.
they can erase entire books with the help of kids and help of new faces of the company.

 

[XgringolocoX]

Damn good question. I don't know. Hogan is getting to the point of Bruno Samartino. The COULD just ignore his old busted up ass. SCSA would be bit harder cause he's much more recent and was fucking huge. Benoit, as good as he was, is sorta easy to erase. One big title win in WWE. Short reign. Everything else was mid card. He never dominated the programing.
The big names would be harder and more costly, but I think they'd do it just the same.

 

[shankit231]

They could, and it'd be shockingly easy. Want proof? Randy Savage.

Sure, Savage wasn't as big as Hogan or Stone Cold, but he was bigger than Benoit and they've had no problem wiping him from history. And he didn't even kill anybody. The WWE can erase anybody they want from their history anytime they want, with little to no effort. They pretty much do it every time somebody leaves the company.

Acctually Randy Savage has not been deleted from there books, remember they had the Macho Madness dvd last year? I'm sure they will eventually induct them.

I think they will do it again if they have to, WWE is becoming to involved in politics. They will do anything to make themselves seem like they have no care for a person who helped there business just to make themselves look good. Think if WWE wasnt so worried about being judge(and Lindas campaign) they would probly just act like what he did never happend and that he just disappeared from the company but not totaly terminate him. They will do it again if they have to just to make them look innocent.

 

[mayankeagle]

Hogan is not in the same league as Stone Cold and Undertaker anymore. All his parts have been edited from the WWE intro video, and he is not given the same amount of respect. Erasing him is easy. As for Stone Cold and Undertaker, since they have not been associated with any other wrestling promotions since they joined WWF (and in all likelihood will never be), the WWE wouldn't really want to erase them. That being said, the WWE can actually live without anyone which was obvious in the way they screwed Bret Hart in the late 1990s, but I don't see them being able to ever remove Undertaker from their memory because he has been the most loyal employee, being active for longer than anyone else on the roster and garnering more backstage respect than anyone else ever has done. Anyways, doubt it that Taker or Stone Cold would ever do something like what Benoit did.

 

[mrbrownstone]

No I dont think they could cut Hogan or SCSA out of history to cut Hulk Hogan out you basically have to destroy the first 6-9 years of the companys history. Same with SCSA they would basically have to deny that the attitude era ever happened. So no it would be impossible to completely erase either of those two from the history books.

 

[Decarow]

I think the hardest of those 3 to cover up would be Undertaker because he is so recent. With them releasing dvd compilations of certain matches, Undertaker is in most of them. Plus he's undefeated at Wrestlemania.

And honestly, how often on WWE programming do we hear about Hogan and Austin? Well Hogan is in TNA right now so he's basically erased from history. Simple as that.

The great thing about WWE is they have so many matches and superstars that they can away with "deleting" somebody. But if and when they do it, it's harder to cover up the more recent stars.

I think people just make a big deal out of it. It's easy for WWE to "delete" somebody, they always have a back-up plan. And they have no remorse about it.

Edit: They don't erase them from the history books. They don't show videos of them or mention them. Benoit's name is still on the site in places. Title History, PPV Histories, etc. You just can't click on it and see a bio. So they don't fully erase the person and forget they ever existed.

 

[hardy8778]

the whole Benoit thing just really left a lot of questions unanswered and if ya know Austin, Taker, Hogan, or even HHH did that they wouldn't be written out of the history books like Vince did to Chris Benoit.

 

[Nada]

WWE has been deleting the very existence of alot of wrestlers for far less reasons than what Benoit did.

We dont know what happened with Randy Savage, but we do know that it wasent near as bad as what Benoit did, afterall what could possibly eclipse what Benoit did!?

So if Macho Man was cut off and has been for years now, there is no reason why anyone else would be safe from it. After the Benoit thing happend i dont think anyone said "well he was barely a main eventer so we can easily cut him out", i believe it was "REMOVE IT ALLL!!!!!!!" and i believe that goes for every other performer in the company.

If Austin had beaten Debra so much that he killed her, i dont doubt for one second that WWE would do the same as they did with Benoit. Because nobody would say in the WWE "well Austin kinda was the reason we survived and won against WCW and carried the company on his back".

Going to TNA isent the same as what Benoit did, i truly believe that after Hogan, Flair quit TNA, they will be shown on WWE again, possibly even the intro, but right now, Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair never existed in the world of wrestling, until WWE says so to their "Universe" at least.

 

[President Evil]

Y'know, Ive thought about this before. If a major WWE name such as Hogan, Austin or Cena committed a horrible crime, what would the E have to do?

I personally dont think a superstar other than Hogan have been in more main events, more dvd covers, magazine covers, than Cena. And he's more exposed today than Hogan because of internet and todays technology. Ive thought about this, what if one day Cena has several problems, snaps and injures or even kills his wife or someone? Leading him to confess the crime or having sufficient proof to be found guilty. What would the E do about this? Cena's face is almost as recognizable as the E's logo.

I think Vince and the E are taking risks in making 75% of the product on the shoulders of just one man. Because if something like the Benoit case ever happens again, and it could, especially with a bigger name than Benoit, I dont think the E could survive it.

 

[That Don Guy]

Could they? Yes.

Would they? It depends on how many people Vince thinks would stop watching if they didn't. Keep in mind that if it was somebody "big" like Hogan or Cena (maybe Austin, but I think most of the current fanbase doesn't really remember him in his heyday), a considerable number of people would stop watching regardless of what was said, so the number of additional people who would leave might not justify the expense of having to edit all of their appearances. (Also keep in mind that mentioning Benoit's name is not a problem - they let it go on old Nitros, and we know they go through every episode if for no other reason than to remove the "F" from all mentions of "WWF".)

-- Don