What if the Benoit incident never happened?

[CM Steel]

On a Sunday June 25th 2007, WWE superstar Chris Benoit did the unthinkable. He murdered his Wife Nancy and youngest son Daniel before killing himself in his home gym. This news shocked & rocked the wrestling world! That a guy like Chris Benoit would do something like this to the people he loved so much as well to himself. Chris Benoit was scheduled to wrestle CM Punk for the vacant ECW championship. But at the pay per-view Chris Benoit was in route to his home in a suburb of Atlanta, GA and was replaced with Johnny Nitro aka John Morrison at the last minute.

Chris Benoit had just signed a new 5-year contract with the WWE before all this took place. TNA star Kurt Angle was trying to talk Benoit into signing with TNA Wrestling, but of course it didn't happen. But what if that tragic never happened? What if what Chris Benoit was on or what he was going through was never a factor in his life? Would the Benoit family still be here today? Because in this day and age of pro wrestling, it's missing someone like a Chris Benoit. The ring veteran that the newer guys looked up to and wanted to be like.

It's a shame that Chris Benoit's life & wrestling career ended the way it did on that note. But all in all what if the Benoit incident never happened?

 

[TheOneAndOnlyGOAT]

If it wasn't for the Benoit "incident", WWE wouldn't be PG today.

I don't think anything would've changed other than that.

Ever since Benoit killed his family, WWE are trying to be more "family-friendly" and are focusing on their image more.

 

[tom9422]

As bad as this sounds, it might have been for the best.

Because of him, they put more emphasis on safety for the wrestlers, especially with regard to head injuries. No chair shots to the head are a pretty good example of this. Along with the crackdown on drugs after Guerrero died, they made great strides in improving the wellness of their talent in just a few years. Hopefully this means the next generation of pro-wrestlers won't be drug-addicted or dead before 55.

A potential negative though might be the beginning of the PG era. Yeah, of course its not impossible to have a good product under that rating but it is restrictive. I would argue that focusing on the kids has been a bit detrimental.

 

[Airehk]

I think if the incident never happened, Benoit would have retired by now anyway and would be living a quiet life off television in the same vein as other retiree's. Before, though, he would have acted as the ring veteran on ECW for a while like how Undertaker was on SmackDown and Triple H was on Raw. I would like to guess that by 2010 or 2011, Benoit would have retired, been inducted in to the hall of fame and just lived a quiet life off the grid in his house in Atlanta. If you heard the Talk is Jericho podcast with Chavo, you could draw a similar conclusion.

 

[The Fabulous Rougeau's]

In terms of Benoit's wrestling career by the time of the tragedy he was starting to slide down the card. His time as a main eventer had come and gone. He would have remained in the mid-card for however much longer he would have remained a WWE superstar.

As for the impact on the company that one is up for debate. Ratings were dropping but 2007 saw the WWE return Mania to stadiums and the WWE sold out Ford Field (I was there) by filling it up with over 80000 fans. Without the tragedy to spearhead the change to PG we probably would have remained in whatever rating you want to consider the product back than. The one thing that jumps to mind would be how much better the Straight Edge Society could have been without the restrictions PG presents.

 

[Softcore Holly]

If it wasn't for the Benoit "incident", WWE wouldn't be PG today.

I don't think anything would've changed other than that.

Ever since Benoit killed his family, WWE are trying to be more "family-friendly" and are focusing on their image more.

I seriously doubt that. The main reason WWE became more "family-friendly" is because they figured out that focusing on their younger audience was the most profitable way to get to their parents' wallet. Benoit was possibly a factor but I have no doubt WWE in 2014 would've been PG even if the incident never happened.

As for Benoit himself, well if the incident with his family didn't happen then another separate incident would've. Sadly enough it would've just been a matter of time since he would've still been taking drugs, the damage to his head has already been done and of course his divorce would've actually happened. The best case scenario would've been if he went off backstage where he could've been taken down by a bunch of other guys, where from there Benoit would've been hopefully been sent to rehab and possibly forced to move to a off-screen role. And from all that the Wellness policy would've went into full swing to where it is today.

 

[OneLoneSapper]

I seriously doubt that. The main reason WWE became more "family-friendly" is because they figured out that focusing on their younger audience was the most profitable way to get to their parents' wallet. Benoit was possibly a factor but I have no doubt WWE in 2014 would've been PG even if the incident never happened.

As for Benoit himself, well if the incident with his family didn't happen then another separate incident would've. Sadly enough it would've just been a matter of time since he would've still been taking drugs, the damage to his head has already been done and of course his divorce would've actually happened. The best case scenario would've been if he went off backstage where he could've been taken down by a bunch of other guys, where from there Benoit would've been hopefully been sent to rehab and possibly forced to move to a off-screen role. And from all that the Wellness policy would've went into full swing to where it is today.

I agree. If the tragic events hadn't happened Benoit would still have been suffering from drug abuse, mental issues and brain trauma. His marital issues with Nancy would still have been on going. Hopefully, someone would have got him to see the help he needed. If that didn't happen then sooner or later he would have snapped, and it is possible that the tragedy could have been even worse. The truth though is that we will never know and we can only guess.

 

[TDFG]

I'm not too sure he would have seen out that 5 year contract, he had neck trouble, and was off with nagging injuries for a short while.

He probably had one or two title reigns left in him, but I don't know if it was down to his contract status or if creative didn't know what to do with him but he was wrestling for the ECW Brand at that stage.

 

[enviousdominous]

I'm pretty sure that his family would still be alive if he had just sought help for his dementia.

Best case scenario: Chris goes to a doctor for help, he's found to have damage to his brain brought on by years of abuse in the ring. Chris is able to work with Chris Nowinsky in regard to the long term affects of concussions and similar forms of head trauma.

I honestly don't think he would have wrestled much more than the match with CM Punk. The man was not well in the head and eventually something was going to happen if the tragedy he caused didn't happen.

I have friends with PTSD and who have suffered from TBI. They got help and they improved their livelihood, but nothing is ever the same anymore. One friend will be fine, and then some days he can't remember anything from the last five days. One friend sees someone on tv who looks like a friend of his who was killed, and he locks himself in his room for two days. Time can't possibly heal some ailments, Chris Benoit should have chosen to stop taking bumps years before the incident he caused.

 

[P. Nut Butters]

If the Benoit Tragedy didn't happen, Chris would still be dead today. Even though that's a horrible thing to speculate, the coroner said that Benoit would have died within 10 months because his heart was over three-times regular size and was ready to explode.

Chris would have no doubt been put into the Hall of Fame and would have been immortalized by WWE for being the greatest technical wrestler of our day, and for having one of the greatest underdog stories.

If Benoit didn't die, then I think he would have still wrestled through his contract, but would have probably been a semi-retired trainer now, based on reports that he was actually planning an exit strategy from active wrestling by starting his own training facility in the months before his death.

The wrestling buisness would be a lot better off in terms of talent for having Benoit as a trainer. All the health tests and concussion information that has come to the surface in light of his death has helped wrestlers' careers and lives in the long run. Ultimately, that information would have come out anyway, but who knows how long it would have taken.

 

[Kool Aid Man]

I think the WWE would still be PG to this day. The reason being is that the WWE is now publicly traded which means Vince has stock holders to answer too. They could care less about catering to a demographic or any sort of art involved with Wrestling. Their primary concern is audience capture in the same way you may only have one or two items on the menu you like.