What if the Benoit Tragedy never happened?

Now, before I begin, I want to state something. Personally, I feel that the, "What If" section should be more active than the, "All Time" section. The, "All Time" section is more about saying your opinion, not much knowledge is really needed their. For example, one of the most replied in threads in that section is the, "Hottest Diva" one. Which in the end, is all about personal perspective. The, "What If" section, however you need at least some knowledge on the event and then can have pretty good discussions on what do you think would happen had said not event not occured. Besides one thread (which I would post on but I lack knowledge on the time period to really have good input) have had some pretty intelligent posts in there. So, I'll be making a few more, "What If" threads because it's looking to me that this hasn't exactly been a success.

One more thing, no Benoit bashing, please. I don't think anyone on CGS will but it's not releavent to the discussion. Also it doesn't really matter what you think caused it. Whether you think it was steroids, brain damage, or that he didn't do it. No matter what you think happen, the main thing is how WWE and the media took it, and that doesn't change because we have a different opinion on what went down.

Now, I don't think there is anyone who doesn't know anything about the event, so I'm not going to do a little summary on it. Everybody on this site should at least have a brief knowledge of the event. So, what do you guys think would of happened? As always, I'm going to post after a few responses. For two reasons, I. This post is long enough and II. I want to ensure discussion.

I think that Beniot would have won the ECW title at NOC and he would have had a Finaly type role, helping the young ECW rosters and still having great matches. I don't think Beniot would have had another World Title run, but he would probably have had a couple US/IC title reigns.

Eventually, I feel Beniot would have started having a reduced schedule, much like Taker and HBK's. The injuries and years of wrestling really started to catch up to Beniot, towards the end. I don't think Beniot was ever the same, after his broken neck. Not that is performance was not the same because he was still outstanding, but I don't think his body was the same.

Urgh, I was really hoping CJ wouldn't be the only one to respond to this thread before I posted. I don't think I'll be going into my full thoughts on this (at least now) but I might get carried away.

Concrete Jesus wrote:

I think that Beniot would have won the ECW title at NOC and he would have had a Finaly type role, helping the young ECW rosters and still having great matches. I don't think Beniot would have had another World Title run, but he would probably have had a couple US/IC title reigns.

I pretty much agree completely. From what I read, Benoit was definitely planned to win the ECW title at Night of Champions. Even if I didn't read that, it's an obvious assumption. As if Benoit wasn't going to go over, than they wouldn't of had Morrison (then-Nitro) win the vacated belt instead of Punk. I also knew that Benoit's role on WWECW was going to be that of a mentor, and I don't think Finlay would of been drafted to WWECW if the tragedy never happened. I personally feel that Benoit would remain on WWECW for a few years, so Finlay moving there to fill in for the mentoring role would be pointless. As for him never having another World Championship reign...most likely. If his time in WWECW went excellent for him, then it's possible WWE would give him another World Championship reign but I myself am not positive it would of ended up that way. He also could of won it if he was on Smackdown or Raw when both were lacking main eventers.

Quote :

Eventually, I feel Beniot would have started having a reduced schedule, much like Taker and HBK's. The injuries and years of wrestling really started to catch up to Beniot, towards the end. I don't think Beniot was ever the same, after his broken neck. Not that is performance was not the same because he was still outstanding, but I don't think his body was the same.

I can definitely agree with that.

Now, besides Benoits career, I want to talk about something WWE-related. Without the Benoit Tragedy, I doubt that WWE would of gone PG. At least, not when the did. I firmly believe that was one of the main reasons they went PG. Of course, it was many things but if you look at it, it has to bew a major factor. When the whole thing about the double-murder suicide and steroids got out, it's not going to appeal to many adults. It's likely to turn off more adults. Whereas kids (in general), are too young to understand the seriousness of what happened. As Vince said, "It was the darkest day in the companys history", and there is an obvious backlash from that.

[quote="Concrete Jesus"]I think that Beniot would have won the ECW title at NOC and he would have had a Finaly type role, helping the young ECW rosters and still having great matches. I don't think Beniot would have had another World Title run, but he would probably have had a couple US/IC title reigns.quote]

I agree, I feel if Benoit's problem never happened, he'd be in WWECW still. I can see him feuding withe the likes of Christian, Dreamer, Ryder, Regal and Jackson. Hell, I'd love to see him team with Christian.

Now going off topic here, can we do an Eddie won and WCW one too?

I'll do the WCW.

ayatollahofrocknrolla wrote:

Now going off topic here, can we do an Eddie won and WCW one too?

I'll do the WCW.

Of course, you can...why wouldn't you be able too? Let's stay on topic though...you can always PM staff or check the rules for this subject if you have any questions like that.

I had not even thought that the Beniot thing was probably the pre-cursor to the PG thing. Following that logic, it does make sense.

I guess he would have faced Punk at Night of Champions and would have won the ECW Championship.

BUT THEN... we wouldn't have John Morrison...

T_T FML.