Today's WWE.... If Benoit Didn't Happen

[Mudlup50]

Time for a fun thread started by me, and I wanted it to be a modern take which is why it's here not in Old School.

So back in 2007 Benoit...I'm sure we all know this part so I'll jump in

He was booked to win the ECW championship that weekend, if you look at the previous champs in order: RVD, Big Show, Lashley, Vince, Lashley and then it was vacated. In this new WWE, Benoit would have won it. He fought CM Punk that night and would have put on a good match(regardless as to how you feel about Punk, I just can't picture this being a bad match).

While I did enjoy the John Morrison/CM Punk feud, this match and subsequent feud would have elevated CM Punk more than Nitro who lets face it was a midcarder. Meanwhile, Nitro's reign officially represented the moment the ECW title fell from equal to the other 2 belts to a mid card belt(at least to me). Benoit was a previous world champion who had been around for decades, this might have helped keep the prestige on the belt.

Now when Nitro turned to John Morrison it pulled his career up big time! It also created the partnership with Miz. Which if you don't remember, they started a show on WWE: The Dirt Sheet(this was when I became a fan of the two of them). You could argue that with Benoit still around and Morrison losing his shot, Miz and Morrison wouldn't have happened. Without this, who's to say if Miz ever became WWE champion. I mean really, what was Miz before John Morrison? That guy from TV?

Most of us agree that when they checked Benoit's brain and found the defects caused by concussions, that was a wake up call for the WWE and it forced them to change the WWE, abolishing chair shots to the head.


So with a little thought put in, the WWE Universe changes big time.

With Benoit Incident:
John Morrison, Miz, abolished chairshots..on a side note, I heard some people credit Miz/Cena w/ Rock as a catalyst for CM Punk's pipebomb, so the Summer Of Punk might also be there too

Without Benoit Incident:
CM Punk years sooner, Benoit still being here, maybe a still relevant ECW, still chairshots...maybe even no Rock.


So what else do you guys have? Do you even agree with me on this? I'm not arguing about the incident itself, just the effect it had on the WWE.

 

[Creepy Old Man]

It's all total speculation really. It's the whole butterfly effect thing, and I don't know where to begin.

As for Benoit himself, he was winding down. He was assigned to ECW to be its champion and to mentor the young guys coming up. A job he'd surely have been excellent at. Had he lived and been the face of ECW for the next couple years, the brand and its world title would likely have a great deal more credibility today.

 

[TheICChampion]

It sucks for me to say this, but if Benoit's brain was as damaged as they say, it was only a matter of time before something like this happened anyway. It also sucks that no matter what, I don't see him being in the Hall of Fame, and all people want to do is condemn him for what he did. It was bad, there is absolutely no argument about that, I just feel it shouldn't nullify all he did to entertain us for 20+ years, or how great of an actual wrestler he was.


On another note, I wonder how people would feel if the same thing happened in their family, where someone in your family killed someone else in your family. The grief has to be bad enough, not to mention you have to live with it for the rest of your life. Then on top of all that, you have random strangers who don't know the slightest thing about the situation condemning you and your family, making you feel even worse. Not knowing the slightest thing about the person you've known all your life or what he was like.

 

[BuriedByCena]

Chris would have been champ for a couple months. Then he would have died from a random heart attack. Over the years there has been many statements from close friends who knew him. Apparently he had an over sized heart like eddie and was a ticking time bomb. This probably pushed him over the edge knowing he too only had a couple months left to live.

Anyway, we would still have chair shots, ECW still would have died, and well not much would have changed really. Maybe increased medical checkups.

 

[Wrestlingaholic]

One of the weirdest storylines WWE ever dreamt up would have had a proper conclusion: the Vince McMahon/exploding limousine storyline. It was cut short as the Benoit tragedy occurred only a couple of weeks later.

 

[Navi]

It sucks for me to say this, but if Benoit's brain was as damaged as they say, it was only a matter of time before something like this happened anyway. It also sucks that no matter what, I don't see him being in the Hall of Fame, and all people want to do is condemn him for what he did. It was bad, there is absolutely no argument about that, I just feel it shouldn't nullify all he did to entertain us for 20+ years, or how great of an actual wrestler he was.


On another note, I wonder how people would feel if the same thing happened in their family, where someone in your family killed someone else in your family. The grief has to be bad enough, not to mention you have to live with it for the rest of your life. Then on top of all that, you have random strangers who don't know the slightest thing about the situation condemning you and your family, making you feel even worse. Not knowing the slightest thing about the person you've known all your life or what he was like.

I couldn't disagree with you more on the Hall of Fame point. I don't give a rat's ass on how long he entertained us, the minuted he killed his wife and child pretty much did it for me. If the WWE ever puts him into the Hall of Fame it will be the lowest point in the company's history. No matter what a great wrestler he was, and no one knows for sure what happened, killing your family is about the worst thing you can do. If he had wanted to kill himself then fine, no need to take an innocent woman and child out with you.

No one was hating on his family, they were hating on him when it happened and rightly so. His family got a tremendous amount of sympathy if I can remember correctly and no one blamed them at all. The blame was put squarely on on person, Chris Benoit, where it should be.

 

[pepentorresHHH]

Wells if he hadn't gone home that weekend and stayed with the crew and wrestled like he was booked to, he would have become ECW's next World champion for a few months. Legitimizing not only the belt but the brand itself. He would have feuded with Punk but Punk wouldnt have been rushed to the belt. Also a feud with Morrison and others would have made sure the younf guys had someone to learn from.

As far as overall in the WWE, the Wellness policy was put in place after this incident. Meaning less testing and we would still have chair shots but also MVP would be dead. Remember he had a bad heart and that condition was caught because of a random test he got from the new policy. Benoit would have given us many more memorable matches, maybe a few IC and US title runs (maybe a final thank you world title run).

As far as his HOF goes, he definetively would have headlined his own class. You can see the amount of respect the boys in the back and the people in charge had for him on his Raw Tribute Show. He also mainevented a WM and had multiple title reigns and memorable feuds. He had a presence on WWE, WCW, ECW and other promotions.

As it stands now he wont be joining his deserved place in the HOF. At least not for a long time. For me personally, he deserves to get in. Not headline but at least be included. He made a huge impact in WWE and wrestling in general for more than 2 decades. He definetively has the accolades. I can and do separate the performer from the man. I think he commited a heinous crime but his brain was compromised (not an excuse but definetively a factor) but he was more than his last 2 days on this earth

 

[Charismatic Enigma]

All HoF talk aside, because obviously he's not going in, and obviously he would've otherwise, so thats a moot point I'd say.

ECW still would've gone under, because the brand split faded away over time, and WWE produces way too much programing, it really wasn't that good, and offered nothing different, other than the brief "new talent initiative" which got us a few good workers, but they've would've just found a different way to bring them in.

By far the biggest difference would've been in things like wellness testing, concussion treatments, blade jobs, chair shots, etc. Eddie was the one to start to turn that corner, but Benoit pushed it over the edge. WWE was already a public company, but people like to blame the PG era on trying to please shareholders, but I think it was actually a swift reaction to Benoit.

As for what his career would've held, if you examine other guys who were around at that time and are still involved, guys like: JBL, Big Show, Kane, Cena, Jericho, etc. It's easy to imagine that he likely would've continued to work (but probably never won the title again), or transitioned in to the role of agent or NXT trainer, who would occasionally pop back in for a short program.

Honestly though, I think the best days of his career were already behind him at that point, a sobering fact that was probably only amplified in his altered state of mind by the loss of his friends.

 

[mankind72]

I honestly dont really think it had that much of an effect other than to Benoits own legacy.
Sure they banned chairshots but as soon as Linda McMahon started running in politics the WWE went PG, so they would have been banned pretty soon anyway. WWE could have stepped back into an edgier era after Linda lost her election but they have chosen to stay in the PG bracket and thats nothing to do with Benoit

 

[Mustang Sally]

As for Benoit himself, he was winding down. He was assigned to ECW to be its champion and to mentor the young guys coming up. A job he'd surely have been excellent at. Had he lived and been the face of ECW for the next couple years, the brand and its world title would likely have a great deal more credibility today.

Totally agree. As much as we like to revise history, there seem to be two trains of thought on Benoit: First, that because of what he did to his family, he was never any good in the years before that.....which is ridiculous.

Conversely, we also read that while Benoit's deeds at the end were terrible, as a wrestler he was good as he ever was at the time of his death. I disagree with this; I remember him slowing down his ring repertoire and not being as exciting a performer as he had been in prior years. Still, I agree with the above poster who says Benoit could have been a real asset to ECW, holding the title on occasion....and mentoring members of the roster who needed it.

Of course, all this presumes his maladies could have been diagnosed and treated.

How his non-demise would have affected the careers of others on the roster is impossible to say, but while I think he could have been a positive influence on ECW, the other two shows wouldn't have been affected much since he wasn't on them.

 

[rbv13]

"What is Benoit doing in the Impact Zone?!?" This likely would have lead to he and Angle going on a massive killing spree. Not in the ring but killing actual people. "Remember that Summer when those wrestlers murdered everyone?"

The E would still go public and be what we have today.

 

[Softcore Holly]

In ring wise he wasn't as exciting as his big WHC year but I didn't think of him as being that close to the end, if I had to guess he had maybe 4-6 years before finally hanging it up? Hard to tell and I'm certainly not going to check his final matches to find out. (Just feels weird) Although I didn't know he was already 40 at the time so maybe that knowledge would've made me think differently.

Wellness wise impossible to say for sure, but WWE is generally resistant to change and while it might've eventually gotten to the point where it is now I think it needed something to push the panic button to get it done quickly. A analogy would Eddie's death planted the seed but WWE was willing to let it grow slowly on it's own, while it took something huge like the Benoit tragedy to make them use the miracle-grow.

HOF....yeah I'm sorry but no never. He was a world-class wrestler, a absolute joy to watch and one of my all time favs but nothing he could've done in the ring could possibly make up for his final actions in this world. It would be a media nightmare for WWE and no one gains anything but a major headache out of it.

 

[rbv13]

Here is a twist. Could Woman/Nancy ever make it into the HOF? She was a major player for so many years.

 

[bioshock]

I think if his brain was in such bad shape was says Benoit wouldn't of died in the ring, or done something crazy inside a arena with 1000s of people. Not saying something worse could of happened, but I think it was a matter of time before something bad did happen.

And lets be honest, WWE was already pretty lame around that time, week before Vince does his farewell and his limo blows up, so yeah, WWE wasn't breaking down any walls at that point. I think no matter, the WWE would of went in the same direction, because it would of only been a matter of time with Benoit.