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Bizarro Benoit Universe

Topic for Blog: Assuming Benoit *doesn't* go batshit crazy... what was in his future? 1 yr, 5 yrs, ..10 years? HOF? 

Immediate plans were winning the ECW title at that PPV, and then he was going to be phased into a role as a trainer and agent.  Obviously with the years of surgeries and injuries, WWE and Benoit himself had to know that his time was coming to an end one way or another.  You could make a pretty strong argument, and I recall doing so at the time, that he should have been moved into that part-timer role long before that even for his own good.  That being said, given what we know about his personality, I don't feel like he'd make that kind of transition as gracefully as someone like William Regal has done, because he was such a hyper-competitive guy.  But especially with the Wellness Policy weeding out medical problems like it was, I think his in-ring WWE career would have come to an end, whether or not by his own choice, very soon after that last title win.  I don't know whether they would have put him in the Hall, but he would have been as good a choice as anyone.

Comments

  1. The main event of WMXX would put him in the Hall by itself even if not for everything else he did. I think there's zero question he would've been a HOFer.

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  2. Eddie getting in (which he should have) makes me think they would have totally inducted Benoit (which if he hadn't killed his family they should have).



    My guess is after they phased Benoit out he goes to TNA or somewhere else and works for a couple more years.

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  3. Even if he'd managed to avoid the crazy I don't think Benoit was destined for a good end. He was just too competitive, and would still be breaking his neck on the indies until he was in a wheelchair like Dynamite.

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  4. Eddie isn't a good point of comparison b/c he's been martyred since his death. I don't think he would have gotten in as fast if he had finished out his career.

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  5. I agree with this. His death has retconned him into more of a star than he ever really was.


    I liked Eddie, don't get me wrong.

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  6. I don't know how far we're taking "not crazy"- if he didn't commit the murders, I kind of still seeing him committing suicide. the dude clearly just had some deep seated issues and was not the sort to ever seek help.

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  7. That was my immediate thought too. He'd be another Dynamite.

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  8. If you take out the murders, I'd basically see Benoit ending up the way I think (sadly) Kurt Angle will. Paralysed and/or completely off the deep-end with drug and steroid abuse.

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  9. There really was nothing left for him to do. That ECW role would have been a great way for him to move down the card with dignity and have some great matches on the way out. He was certainly Hall of Fame bound and I imagine they would have released at least one or two more anthologies of his matches (like they did with Eddie and Foley). He probably would have ended up in a similar role to Bret Hart, except he would have been able to occasionally work matches (barring any further injuries). Needlessly to say, I think he tragically overreacted to his perceived demotion, but clearly his synapses hadn't been firing right for quite some time.

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  10. Benoit was totally Hall of Fame-bound. Probably as a headliner, too, since they're running through their last batch of main-eventers pretty quick.

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  11. For the sake of the question. I think the time off the road would probably help him. A year off vacation away from everything. Maybe he doesn't go crazy. Transitions into trainer / part time worker. Becomes top trainer for nxt has feuds with punk and daniels getting them over. Gets a job in the office and lives a long life.

    But in reality the brain damage from concussions and steroid abuse was way past being a problem at that point. Maybe he doesn't murder his family, but it probably would have ended up being a tragic end anyways.

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  12. Didn't he take 3-4 months off the previous year anyway? Didn't seem to have helped him much considering what happened in the end.

    If he could have held his head together he'd certainly be an agent and a HoF'er. That was a fairly massive if though as we all know

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  13. Back around the time of Wrestlemania xx if someone had told me what Chris was going to do I would have been "Whaaa???"

    It's a bad joke, yet it is also true.

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  14. The story on Dynamite is he'd put a gun in his wife's mouth while sleeping and when she woke up, tell her it'd be loaded one day. Benoit just went that one extra step.


    Benoit was Dynamite 2.0 from beginning to end.

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  15. If we was a trainer, though, would he have been completely overbearing, over and above the horror stories of Bob Holly and Bill DeMott?

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  16. Also, people forget that Benoit had a chunk of time off in '06. Not anything extensively... er, extensive, but he still presumably got some downtime.

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  17. Chris Benoit!

    WHAT?!



    The Rabid Wolverine!



    WHAT?!


    He went crazy!

    WHAT?!

    He killed himself...

    WHAT?!

    His wife...

    WHAT?!

    His son!

    WHAT?!

    And before he did it, he had one of them fuckin' fried fish sandwiches! *

    * In case anyone remembers that one

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  18. I think the same thing... either suicide or death-by-enlarged-heart.

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  19. I'm amazed that Kurt isn't already at that point.

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  20. Agreed... that was one of the iconic Mania moments you would see every year (especially with the Eddie factor) if it wasn't for what happened.

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  21. I admit I chuckled. I don't remember the part about the fish sandwich though.

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  22. Thesz, Nash, Rock, HHH, Taker, Macho... that's all I got

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  23. I think Benoit would have been an easy choice for HOF. Maybe not a headliner, but I think he definitely was Hall of Fame bound.

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  24. I think he would have gotten in eventually though. It's true that his death expedited his induction, but he would have gotten in.

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  25. I actually think time off on the road would have just made it worse. He was a guy who was completely in love with wrestling. On his DVD he referred to it as his "mistress" I think being forced away from wrestling for months would have done a lot of damage on him.

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  26. Probably worse.

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  27. You can cross out Thesz as a headliner, since he's not well-known enough to today's fans.Savage too, because they don't give the top spot to dead wrestlers. Cena and Orton will headline, probably within the next ten years. Batista and Big Show may have to. Jake Roberts could, despite not being a champion. Piper should have.
    I bet they would have held off on Foley if the Bruno-thing had been finalized sooner.

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  28. Yeah, Austin was giving a promo and going off about the things he'd eaten that day, and it sounded like he slipped "fuckin' fried fish sandwich" in there.

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  29. I would love to hear Al Pacino cut a "What?" promo. I bet you could mix some what's into one of his Devil's Advocate monologues and it would be pretty sweet.

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  30. It's almost impossible to know what he was perceiving. Didn't the autopsy report say that his brain looked like that of a 90 year old man with Alzheimers?

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  31. I wanted a Stone Cold/Little Jon "What" duel.

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  32. This is actually where I'd hoped TNA would have been the alternative. Established wrestlers that wanted a lighter schedule could have gone there. He would have worked less there and been closer to his Atlanta home.

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  33. ..or his hero, the Dynamite Kid.

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  34. Oh yeah, he'd have been pretty much abusive. And I wonder exactly how effective he'd have been. Certainly he could teach people how to work a match. But without benoits mind and physical gifts, you don't just become benoit through osmosis. Not everyone could just replicate what he did, and its not as though benoit would have been in a great position to teach people how to coast on charisma.

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  35. Woah its the return of ryan murphy! I miss the inside the indies articles dude

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  36. Don't forget about sting!

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  37. Yeah, I believe the report said 70 year old man with Alzheimer's and tons of scar tissue all over his brain. It's amazing he was even functioning. From what people say though you get the feeling he was decending into the crazy his brain was causing. I think Eddies death was a huge factor as well, if he had a normal brain he might have been able to handle it but as his brain was he couldn't handle it. So who knows how his brain was handling information and what he actually perceived as real.

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  38. He was probably looking at a divorce.

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  39. Yeah, I think the more time he spent away from his wife the better in this case.

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  40. He's home for what? 3 days a week? He can't just not kill his wife for 3 days a week?

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  41. You think they'd let him headline? Even Dusty had one run with WWE.

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  42. Add Jericho in there too, and probably Angle, after he retires. And Warrior, if they can work their shit out.

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  43. Benoit was well respected though, I don't see him going to TNA. If wrestling was that important to him they'd probably just let him wrestle - which he likely would have done until something snapped mentally or physically.

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  44. Not to disparage the dead but have you heard Nancy scream before? Her pitch could shatter glass.

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  45. He doesn't love wrestling and wrestling doesn't love him but Goldberg was certainly a big enough name in the late 90's to potentially justify a headline spot (if we're getting desperate).

    If he ever actually retires then Vince is certainly another headline name, but it would feel a little awkward, being inducted into his own HoF.

    After that we're on to guys from the late 90's/early 00's as headliners

    Of those that are (semi) retired Jericho would be near the top of the list, as would Batista. Would JBL be a big enough name to headline? Maybe in a lean year. Booker T?


    Once HHH, Rock & Taker are done there's a bit of a gap in the headline slot till the likes of Cena and Orton hang up their boots

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  46. Who are you and what have you done with Drunk Murph?

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  47. Didn't it come out in the aftermath that he was injecting steroids or something like that in his son? This dude didn't just become wacko overnight.

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  48. Goldberg headlining a class isn't desperate at all. I think his short run and failed WWE run make people forget just how fucking massive he was back in the day.

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  49. Benoit was mentally ill. If he had reduced his wrestling schedule, it's impossible to know if he would have been diagnosed sooner. Regardless, I don't think he would have stopped wrestling until he was physically unable to.

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  50. He just coming back for the WM payday. These damn part timers...

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  51. Yeah because they own all his best work and there is plenty of money to be made off a big sting dvd

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  52. THREADJACK:

    Hey everyone who invested in the super duper WM box set (or even individual sets) a few years ago, now you get to buy the shows AGAIN!

    http://www.411mania.com/wrestling/news/275109/WWE-to-Re-Release-Wrestlemania-1-15-on-DVD.htm

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  53. I wish they'd re master them and release it on Blu Ray.

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  54. After reading Jericho's second book, it was clear Benoit was off for a while. Especially when someone is taking WEEKS to reply to a text message.

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  55. Other than for work I'm pretty bad at returning calls and such. I don't think that's a sign of mental illness.

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  56. Yeah but i bet she gave great helmet!

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  57. I forget who it was but some other one of his friends died shortly before that and it was said to have had a very bad impact on him... it was a wrestler but the name escapes me now though...

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  58. I love how everyone has become a neurologist in this thread. No one will ever know what really went on in Benoit's head or how messed up he was / wasn't. Was the murder a crazed man's delusion come to fruition or just a heat of the moment thing while he was drunk / pilled up? We will never know. I think about Benoit and I think about the match he had with Edge right before he died. I was at a bar with a friend and actually remarked how amazed I was he was able to stay in such great shape. IMO, I think Benoit would have held onto his spot as long possible. He would have quit WWE and went to Japan / TNA. His big push in spring 2001 was one of my favorite times to be a fan, the Austin match in Edmonton is still a top 5 favorite for me. All of this brain research is brand new, it will take years to truly know what was going on with these athlete's brains, I still feel weird about watching Benoit matches.

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  59. If he died naturally while still an active performer, he would have gone in the following year, while Rey Mysterio wins a championship while wearing a "CB" armband.

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  60. Exactly, great post. I'm reminded of a guy who was pretty well known in the online biking community, Steve Love aka Svengalie. Incredibly likeable, happy, normal family man who one day in a moment of madness after an argument just completely switched and committed suicide. No one could predict it ,no one had a clue, he just did it. And the rational Steve just like the rational Benoit would have never dreamed of committing such an act, until that moment they did. So yeah, let's not guess as to the working of Benoit's mind.

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  61. If I were a betting man, I'd wager they'll do that for 1-30.


    Although I'm not sure why anyone would want a blu-ray of the first WrestleManias, they weren't shot in high-definition so what would be the point exactly?

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  62. Um, I go weeks without texting someone back.

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  63. You go weeks without talking to your best friend who you never see?


    I sure as hell don't.

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  64. Well, maybe. Sometimes. I just texted a very good friend I haven't had time for in a while to see if she wanted to go out tomorrow night and we're doing something. So, sure? My brother goes for months and never texts me (but he's an asshole).

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  65. If I remember correctly, this was right after the wellness policy was put in place, or close to it... and when he came back, he looked less inflated. Still cut, but just less.

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  66. Ahhhhhhh fuckin fresh catch fish sammiches!

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  67. I definitely go long periods of time between contacting friends, yeah.


    If I ever kill my wife and son, you can say that you always had a feeling...

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  68. Things were being stored, and then my laptop shit the bed. Once I replace it I got some stuff I wanna do. But the Murphmobile needs tires, so y'all gotta wait.

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  69. heat of the moment? he had it written down stuffed in a bible to a family member. it was planned weeks out,

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  70. How about if he only offs himself?

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  71. As long as they didnt pack the discs with extras, they'd have less noise and artifacts because the bitrate would be notably higher, which is a problem with some of those WM discs, albeit a mostly minor one. Other than that though, there really wouldn't be any advantage.

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  72. Ultimate Warrior, Batista, Andre the Giant (He never got a proper induction, and hell, if Flair can go in twice, why not Andre?), Degeneration X (the group)

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  73. The point is to make money, brother.

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  74. Can you post a link to the article that provided that info? I recall the bibles, I don't recall anything being written in them.

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  75. I think a more interesting question is what impact does he have on CM Punk? I imagine the plan was for him to be something of a mentor to the guy, starting with the Vengeance match that they were supposed to have.

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  76. Same here. The note thing is news to me.

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  77. He did just fine without him. Kurt Angle and to an extent The Rock were the most influenced from having worked with him. Both came out much better workers after their respective feuds.

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  78. I heard about the bibles near the bodies, but never heard of any notes.

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  79. Pretty sure it was Beef Wellington. I never really thought that was more than internet conjecture though.

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  80. Johnny Grunge was who I was thinking of... apparently he was Benoit's neighbor and had been helping him deal with Eddie dieing.

    Wellington died the same day as Benoit so it couldn't have been him.

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  81. Diesel, Vinnie Vegas, Oz etc... first name Kevin... heard of him?

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  82. Ok. I hadn't heard that one.

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  83. http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local/chris-benoits-father-murderous-rampage-resulted-fr/nQk9k/



    "Michael Benoit lives in Canada and didn't see his son frequently enough to notice a mental decline. But he said the signs at the murder scene -- Benoit had surrounded his victims with Bibles, and a suicide note was found in a Bible in a drawer -- fit the profile of a CTE sufferer. "He had a hand-written notation in there saying ‘I'm preparing to leave this Earth,'" Benoit said."

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  84. WWE inducted the whole Von Erich family including Chris & Mike, so I'm gonna say yes, but it wouldn't be till waaaaay after the fact. 10 years at least.

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  85. they're not gonna have a dead person has the headlining HOFer, so Thesz & Savage are out

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  86. Does that mean Undertaker won't be able to headline?

    I slay me!

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  87. He could have written the note after the murders, that doesn't prove premeditation. Not that it really matters or makes a difference.

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  88. OOOOOH! Here's one...


    Let's say Charles Manson DOESN'T go homicidal...would he have been poet laureate? Discuss.

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  89. The real question with Manson is if any of the murders would have occurred had he gotten the music deal he was so close to getting.

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  90. He killed his wife and son on different days. Surely we can agree that at least one of the murders was premeditated.

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  91. Desperate for headliners who Vince would want / would want it themselves

    As I said he was a more than big enough name to deserve that spot based on his WCW run

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  92. Murphmobile... lol Sealab 2021.

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