How Different Would ECW Had Been If Benoit Hadn't Died?

[frostbite2819]

pretty simple here. would ecw have stuck around longer had benoit lived? would it have survived? benoit was slated to win the ecw title the very weekend that he passed.
mcmahon and hhh wanted to use him as a building block to get the young guys over.
so where would we be now?
how would the journey have been different?
would guys like punk and morrison, sheamus and burke have different paths to stardom by proxy?
keep it clean folks.

 

[blockanWo]

Wouldnt have made a difference.

The ECW brand was a "D" grade show simply used to get the green wrestlers a bit of exposure instead of being used in dark matches and house shows all the time.

if what you say is true, they simply would have used Benoit to get people over, which is what was wrong with the ECW brand.

 

[JohnnieGoodtimes]

No, I don't think it ECW would have lasted much longer. The fact is WWECW sucked. I remember at WM23 I went out to smoke during the ECW match, that is how uninteresting that match was. Chris was around for a little over a year after that. In that time, there was no significant change to WWECW. While Chris was an amazing wrestler, he couldn't have carried the brand alone. But, that has more to do with WWE buying out ECW than anything else.

 

[d_henderson1810]

I don't think that ECW would have lasted long-term, no matter what. Vince only did it to eventually trash ECW (since people at shows were chanting "ECW") , so he tried to make it as bad as possible, so that the Universe would forget about it. "December To Dismember" is a perfect example of this. Also, the most time the ECW Title got at a "Wrestlemania" was an 8-second match between Chavo Guerrero and Kane. ECW didn't have a chance.

I believe that Benoit was moved to ECW for a number of reasons:-

(a) he was a former ECW star, so would be accepted by ECW fans

(b) ECW had two distinct types of wrestlers at the time, either good wrestlers, but who were green (C.M. Punk, John Morrison), or older, crappy wrestlers (E.G. Boogeyman, Big Daddy V). I guess they thought that benoit would be able to teach the young up-and-comers a few pointers in the ring, and graft good matches out of the older guys. So, he was like in a Finlay role, a veteran who is used to get others over. Apparently, the new contract he signed with the WWE was for five years, but had a clause where, if he chose to retire, he would serve the rest as a trainer or road agent. So, this was probably preparation for that. So, ultimately, I think they had Benoit down to train others, like Goldust, Finlay, Ricky Steamboat and Dean Malenko do. If he had lived, and not done his crimes, I think he would have fitted that role nicely.

(c) I have heard that Benoit was out of contract, and TNA were making a sizable offer for him to jump ship. Maybe one of the things Benoit wanted to stay with WWE was a World Title. Vince probably promised him this, but tricked him by planning to put the ECW WORLD Title on him. Maybe Vince didn't think that Benoit's run as World Champ didn't rate last time, so put the ECW Title on him, to stick to the demands of the contract, but give him a "D" grade title, so as not to lose ratings on "Raw" or "Smackdown".

Amongst all the obvious reasons I wish Benoit had not done what he did, it meant that we never got to see a Chris Benoit v C.M. Punk match, which would have been a good match.

 

[jhauth11]

ECW would have taken over smackdown as the B show and be a huge hit ......

REALLY!, do you think that just because things be different. ECW was doomed from the start look at December to Dismember. Maybe things would have gotten better for them but Benoit would have most likey gotten traded back to Smackdown/Raw after a couple of years

 

[slimymeteor]

Chris Benoit would have had a decent ECW title run, I'm sure, but I agree with the consensus that it wouldn't have made things there much different. He would've lost the title to someone like Punk or Morrison to help put them over, but wouldn't add any longetivity to the brand.

As stated, he would have made an excellent trainer or agent, and it seems WWE was preparing him for this role. Let's face it, Benoit was 40 years old, and WWE felt Benoit's best days were behind him. He never was going to get another WWE or World Heavyweight title. Vince would have used him as an enhancement talent for the rest of his in-ring career, though I'm sure he'd be welcomed as a trainer when he retired.

And this, I suspect, was probably one of the biggest reasons Benoit chose to do what he did. Nobody had a bigger passion for pro wrestling than Chris Benoit. He couldn't wait to get back in the ring even after a broken neck. Wrestling was his life. While there were other factors leading to his insanity (marital problems, best friend's death), I think he knew the end of his in-ring career was near and he just couldn't imagine a life without wrestling.

 

[neildittmar]

In the transition from ECW to WWECW, many things were lost. Incredibly enough, talent wasn't one of them even after the Benoit tragedy. Along with Chris, you had guys like CM Punk, John Morrison, Elijah Burke, Kevin Thorne, and others who filled out the roster pretty well. Put Tommy Dreamer in there for the "Hardcore Originals" and guys like Big Daddy V as the resident monster and you have a pretty diverse cast of characters that can wrestle many different types of matches.

No, the problem with ECW's longterm viability wasn't Benoit committing suicide, V's poor workrate, Dreamer not drawing money or the other guys being "too green." Though I don't quite buy the sabotage argument fully, the fact is that Vince and Company never really cared about ECW, simply because it was a brand WWF/E didn't create. The most devastating blow to ECW was the loss of its original premise as a test-bed for new characters and ideas. Particularly after Heyman left, ECW simply became the companies C-show where you went if you were just starting to come up or if your time in the spotlight had already passed. Although the original ECW embraced these concepts to a certain degree, Paul E.'s passion for the product, the talents ability to shape their characters, and specifically the shows free-form format is what made all the difference in the world. WWECW, simply put, had very very little of that original vision.

Even if Benoit were still alive today, ECW would've followed the same path at about the same rate as it did. All the talent in the world couldn't save what that brand had become. Only the top-level brass truly caring about ECW and making it something special like Heyman did would've possibly changed the course of ECW's existence.

 

[wushady]

I don't think it would have changed much to be honest. Benoit was a tremendously gifted wrestler there's no doubt about that but he didn't have huge drawing power. He was forty when he died and from what I've read before. He was going to retire soon to become an agent or trainer and was brought to ECW to work with younger talent and help them get over. From how that night he no showed went by Johnny Nitro beating Punk then changing his gimmick and name to John Morrison. Shows me they were going to have Benoit beat Punk then put over Morrison but they had to rush things.

Other veteran talent like Angle before Benoit tragedy, Matt Hardy, Christian, Kane, Mark Henry, and a few others were moved to ECW to give name recognition and help younger talent. Most of them besides Angle and Christian weren't as big names or as gifted in the ring as Benoit. I just don't think it would matter much WECW was never meant to last forever.

 

[Lugar]

I think that Benoit was moved to ECW to bring through the younger talents. Wrestlers like CM Punk (not strictly needed but would have impressed the brass) and Morrison (might have pushed him through the glass ceiling that keeps hitting his head) would have improved their standing. Much like he brought through MVP on Smackdown or Booker in WCW. Towards the final death of ECW he could have worked with Swagger, Shamus, Big Zeke and even Koslov much the same as Goldust and Regal did.

Maybe ECW would have died but I could see potential for a "finishing school" type program. Regal, Benoit, Finley, Goldust and a few others could have taken the NXT recruits and run it like a graduate program before they went to Raw or preferably Smackdown, so they get used to the filming set up without the non wrestling crap. It could also have been used for a rehab type facility for injured superstars to work the ring rust off and also for a dash of star power.

 

[123NewChamp]

To be honest with you, I see where WWE was going with having Benoit in ECW. And Benoit accomplished alot in his career. He was such a humbled guy, that he was willing to help the business. But to answer your question, I think we would end up with the same result we have now. Because ECW was basically like a territory for training up the upcoming stars of tomorrow. It's like the live tv version of OVW. So we know it wasn't going to misplace smackdown or Raw for that matter. But the ECW brand has always been a flop, and Benoit is a popular face, but it wouldn't of made it no better. But we would end up with the same result we have now.

 

[Enoch V2]

If my memory serves me correctly, Benoit died the day of or day before a PPV where he was scheduled to have an ECW title match. On the night they replaced Benoit with John Morrison claiming that Benoit couldn't make it to the show. Morrison won the title which I am assuming was meant for Benoit to win that night. From there on Morrison was the face of ECW and i changed.

 

[FlairFan2003]

It probably did not make a difference. The WWE brand of ECW was not cutting edge, like the original product was years earlier. It also was treated like a 3'rd rate show, smaller tha SmackDown, where established stars only made occassional guest spots with a roster filled mostly with mid carders already over exposed on the big programs or relative unknowns.

Wrestling fans never would have taken to it the way they did the old ECW. It would have suffered the same fate regadless of Benoit assuming management was the same

 

[EastCoastFan]

Wouldn't have changed anything. The biggest problem WWE had when it relaunched ECW was that it bore very little resemblance to the ECW fans came to love in the 90's, especially once Paul Heyman was out of the picture.

 

[Dan]

Meh, To be honest he wouldn't of changed alot... He would of had a damn good match with punk @ Vengeance though! What a shame that didn't happen... But apart from that i honestly think Benoit in ECW. Would of made no difference, Maybe he could of turned heel? Or Punk would of turned heel? And there could of been a long-lasting Punk&Benoit feud, We shall never know!

 

[RVC]

in the overall history of pro wrestling the original ECW was a massively influential movement, Vince and other companys at that time had to move with it or face the very real danger of something taking a huge portion of there stock,
with that we were treated to the attitude era blah blah...TLC, any other Hardcore stuff (which i'm a huge fan of).
In whatever form, the original ECW would not die (by special request), the originals multiplied, demand for the edgy, true to life characters outweighed the existing and current roster talents (at that time).
ONE NIGHT STAND 05 was a huge success and undeniably entertaining....
here's where my thoughts go,
Vince finally acknowledges the business as a whole has reached a level that can barely be reached again in terms of risk taking, adult content, physical limitations etc....,
the only way he see's fit to take pro wrestling down the route he would like is to replace everyones lasting memory of ECW with a boring 4th rate show that died a boring death, he succeeded.
WWECW was never going any further than it did, like angle, benoit wanted out but wasnt able to escape contracts so was placed on the lesser show.
this is just an opinion but i do believe it