2007 was a dark time to be a wrestling fan. The profession was already under immense scrutiny from society at large and many outside observers for a multitude of reasons. Allegations of inappropriate and offensive content and characters, steroid and drug abuse, generally dangerous work, and most importantly, wrestlers dying young were rampant.
People dying at a relatively young age has always plagued wrestling due to its inherent nature, but WWE, the last big North American promotion standing by the 21st century, was constantly criticised whenever a wrestler died.
Trending
Things reached a fever pitch two years earlier when popular fan favourite Eddie Guerrero passed away at 38 years old. WWE responded by introducing several new measures to prevent such a thing from occurring again, the most notable of which was what has since become WWE’s Wellness Policy.
It was hoped that, with more stringent guidelines on health and physical activity, WWE wouldn’t be in the hot seat for a wrestler dying for a long time.
Then, in June 2007, all of that was thrown out the window, and WWE experienced a media frenzy whose consequences are still felt to this day.
By this point, everyone reading this knows what happened with Chris Benoit. How he killed his wife and son before committing suicide. It sent shockwaves throughout the wrestling industry and has become arguably the hottest discussion topic among wrestling fans.
For some, it’s important to distinguish between Chris Benoit the wrestler and Chris Benoit the man outside the ring. The others cannot make that distinction and believe that Benoit’s actions were unforgivable, regardless of how good he was in the ring. There is no right or wrong answer on this topic.
But what if this event never happened? If Chris Benoit never committed those atrocities, where would his career have gone? In this article, we’ll look at where Chris’s career & life would’ve gone if that tragic event would have never occurred, and what it would’ve meant for WWE as well.
The immediate differences
Mr. McMahon would’ve been killed off
Shortly before the Benoit tragedy occurred, WWE did an explosive angle (pardon the pun). It featured Mr. McMahon entering a limo, which then exploded, with the obvious implication that Mr. McMahon had been killed.
At this point, no one knows exactly what the payoff for this event was supposed to be, but it was once rumored that this was meant to be the starting point of another war between opposing factions over who would take over WWE in Vince’s absence.
The dominant narrative was that this would set the tone for the ‘Mr. McMahon illegitimate child angle’ that would’ve led to Ken Kennedy being revealed to, in fact, be a McMahon.
Of course, this entire storyline was retconned as soon as Benoit was announced to have died. Vince himself appeared on TV the week afterwards, alive and well, and actually announced that the RAW on which he appeared was meant to be a celebration of the Mr. McMahon character’s life.
Had the Benoit tragedy never occurred, we’d be exposed to some of the craziest, most ridiculous and over-the-top soap-opera style programming ever seen (and odds are, it would've been highly entertaining).
RAW would’ve become the ‘who-did-it show’ with weird investigations, conspiracy theories, and several players trying to take control in the power vacuum that would’ve appeared following Mr. McMahon’s death. Given how much emphasis was being put on this storyline, it’s likely it would’ve gone on for months, cultimating with a big reveal that would’ve led to a younger superstar sharing screen time with Vince himself.
Rumors at the time suggested it was meant to be Ken Kennedy that was meant to be Vince’s illegitimate child. Had that taken place, Kennedy’s stock in WWE would’ve risen immensely.
He would’ve slowly been phased out
He wouldn’t have lasted much longer in WWE anyway.
Just before his tragedy, Benoit was to WWE’s ECW brand, and was scheduled to become a top player there, and was even scheduled to win the ECW Championship. But for Benoit, it didn’t seem like a glamorous decision. At the time, ECW was very much perceived as a ‘C-class show’, the one with the lowest priority and the least significance to the company.
Benoit must’ve thought for certain that this was either a demotion or a way for him to be forgotten by the rest of the company. He was, in essence, being relegated to the forgotten brand where his payoff would’ve been much less than when he was on RAW or even SmackDown.
Also read: What if Eddie Guerrero didn’t pass away in 2005?
If this were to have happened, it’s highly likely Benoit would’ve either asked for his release or would’ve only gone on for a short period. Benoit was 40 at the time of the incident, and was already slowing down in many ways. If his final days in WWE were to have been on their ECW program, he probably wouldn’t only lasted a few months before either trying to get out of his contract or trying to get one last big match out of himself.
As good as he was, it was clear that Benoit wasn’t on WWE’s top priority list for people to push or keep in high-profile storylines in 2007 and onwards. If he was, he wouldn’t have been drafted to ECW. Given that, he probably would’ve had one more run as ECW World Champion, and after he’d have lost that belt, he’d have retired from wrestling.
How would WWE have dealt with concussions?
WWE might not have adopted such a strict approach to dealing with concussions –
The Benoit tragedy was a swift kick in the ass for the promotion. The negative publicity was so severe that WWE began adopting as many safety checks and preventative measures as possible. Because the dominant narrative surrounding Benoit’s death was that he suffered serious brain damage due to several concussions, WWE implemented several new policies aimed at preventing concussions from reoccurring.
From this point on, chair shots to the head were banned. Many moves that targeted the head were also banned. Anytime a wrestler suffered even the slightest of head trauma, they had to be evaluated by WWE’s medical staff very carefully. These policies led to a safer and less-risky environment for the WWE wrestlers, even if it also led to most matches being less exciting and featuring fewer high spots.
But do you really think WWE would’ve gone this far to protect its talent if this tragedy never happened? Not likely.
This is the same WWE that continued the Over the Edge 1999 PPV after Owen Hart fell from the rafters and died shortly thereafter. That was in 1999 when WWE was still hellbent on defeating its archrival WCW in the ratings. Even after that, WWE’s policy towards protecting its own talent was minimalistic.
If Chris Benoit were still alive, it’s likely WWE would’ve eventually adopted some kind of protective measures for their wrestlers eventually, but they wouldn’t have been in place so early or so quickly. Their current concussion policy was adopted as a form of damage control, not because the company truly cared about the well-being of their wrestlers (if they did, there wouldn’t still be a massive class action lawsuit against the company for how it allegedly treated so many wrestlers).
A Hall of Fame induction
He would’ve been inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame:
If you take the Benoit tragedy out of the equation, Chris Benoit had one of the most stellar careers in wrestling history. He wrestled all around the world, and was a star in virtually every promotion he wrestled for. His matches throughout his career and the moments he created were fantastic.
While wrestling in Japan under the name ‘Wild Pegasus’, Benoit had one stellar match after another, including his legendary performance at the 1994 Super J-Cup. His matches against Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle, and many others in WWE were simply phenomenal.
His crowning achievement, winning the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XX and sharing an emotional moment with Eddie Guerrero, touched the hearts of many around the world.
All of this would’ve led to Benoit being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame for certain. WWE’s approach as of late has been to induct wrestlers that haven’t even wrestled for WWE proper (like Tatsumi Fujinami), but did so for WCW, whose footage they own.
Benoit, having wrestled in NJPW, ECW, WCW and WWE, would’ve been a guaranteed Hall of Famer by this point if those events hadn’t happened.
Send us news tips at [email protected]
