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The way in which Chris Benoit’s life came to a close is one of the biggest black eyes pro wrestling has ever endured. While there are those conspiracy theories that suggest all is not what it seems, the prevailing narrative is that Benoit killed his wife and son before committing suicide. Exact motives and context remain fuzzy, though the general sense is that Benoit had mental issues related to head injuries over an extended period of time that facilitated his tragic final choices.
Disclaimer: The views of the writer do not reflect the views of Sportskeeda.
Benoit was still under WWE contract when his life came to an end. That meant his death reflected on the company, and also means that WWE had to change plans for what he was going to do as a wrestler and what would happen for the wrestlers around him. This article takes a moment to speculate about an alternative reality. What if the Benoit family tragedy hadn’t happened at all in 2007?
#5 CM Punk’s trajectory changes
When fans think of CM Punk now, it’s hard not to think of his year-plus WWE Championship run, his ugly split from WWE, and his MMA endeavors. Had he not established a foundation in WWE’s version of ECW, though, these more noteworthy developments may never have come to pass.
Punk was a popular new star on the ECW landscape, but by all accounts, management had mixed feelings on him. He was booked to wrestle Chris Benoit for the vacant ECW Championship the weekend Benoit died, and the general consensus was Punk would lose (and maybe battle his way to beating the veteran champ way down the road). With Benoit out, WWE plugged John Morrison in as a substitute. Punk has openly suggested in interviews that his matches with Morrison were no good, which in and of itself affected Punk’s path because the Benoit match probably would have been pretty great. Moreover, Punk would end up taking the title off Morrison months later because of the champ’s Wellness Policy issues—another turn in Punk’s story.
So what would have happened for Punk if all had gone as planned with Benoit? It looks as though he’d have had better matches, but a slower march to the top of ECW, and perhaps not have moved up to Raw or gotten his first Money in the Bank win and World Heavyweight Championship reign in 2008.
#4 John Morrison’s character evolves more slowly
As noted earlier, when Chris Benoit didn’t report for his EXW Championship match with CM Punk, WWE abruptly substituted John Morrison into the spot. Maybe WWE envisioned Morrison ultimately playing the lead heel role on ECW anyway. At the time, though, his shift in name, gimmick, brand, and status within the company all seemed out of left field.
Leading up to that night, Morrison had been known as Johnny Nitro and was working in a dead end tag team with Kenny Dykstra. Had Morrison not moved into Benoit’s place, perhaps we would have seen him split from Dykstra in an angle of its own before more gradually working his way up the ranks. It’s tough to say if that would have been better for him. The ECW run was a mixed bag that garnered him some more credibility, but it’s most important result was probably a tag team with The Miz that helped both young stars get over by showcasing their personalities.
#3 WWE resists changes to protocol
One of the biggest upshots of the Benoit family tragedy was a shift in how WWE handled head injuries in terms of prevention as well as reactions to them. This was both a matter of protecting wrestlers as human beings, as well as an essential public relations move to demonstrate that the company had learned its lesson and strived to be safe. We no longer see chair shots to the head because WWE recognizes they’re particularly likely to result in concussions. Moreover, we regularly see wrestlers need to miss time now because of head injuries—most notably Daniel Bryan sitting out over two years for these reasons.
Maybe WWE would have made these changes anyway. After all, the company doesn’t exist in a vacuum, and couldn’t be oblivious to football facing similar conundrums about head injuries, besides a blooming body of research on the subject. Just the same, WWE isn’t exactly known for being progressive in its protocols and its entirely possible they would have been slower to make changes if they made changes at all in the absence of an incident as big as what happened to Benoit and his family.
#2 Benoit’s son at least makes it to NXT
David Benoit has started to build a legacy for himself across the professional wrestling world, working for smaller promotions and drawing comparisons to Chris Benoit for his look and his work ethic.
Unfortunately for David, given his connection to wrestling’s most infamous figure, there’s little to no chance he will ever get a shot at any level with WWE.
WWE doesn’t want to remind fans of The Crippler, and all the more so has no reason to take a risk on anything similar ever happening with his son. It’s a shame for David who, for his part, is an innocent in the situation. Whereas his old man may have gotten him a foot in the door to at least work with NXT were he still alive and as respected as he was, he’s now the albatross its unlikely David will ever be able to overcome.
#1 Mr. Kennedy gets his push
There are much more important repercussions of the Benoit family tragedy than a single wrestling angle—not least of which are the loss of people’s lives. Still, it is fascinating to think just how far off course this event threw major WWE storylines that ostensibly had nothing to do with Benoit.
The summer of 2007 saw WWE launch its “Who Killed Mr. McMahon?” angle, in which an episode of Raw finished with Vince McMahon’s limousine exploding. WWE went so far as to stage ten ring bell salutes at the shows to follow. However, after the real-life death of Benoit and his family, McMahon reappeared on WWE television, openly explaining that the company wasn’t going to pursue a staged death angle while a real-life tragedy like the Benoits’ had just occurred.
Mr. Kennedy was reportedly supposed to be revealed as the culprit of the limo explosion, launching a huge push for him as he interacted with the McMahon family in dramatic ways. Kennedy’s push seemed cursed after not only this first attempt failed, but ill-timed injuries and Wellness Policy issues derailed his Money in the Bank push and the story of Mr. McMahon’s illegitimate son that aimed to replace the Who Killed Mr. McMahon angle.
It’s unclear if Kennedy ever would have gone the distance and become a bona fide main event player in WWE. This first shot at shooting him to the moon fell apart, though, through no fault of Kennedy’s own.
