Post by Matt on Jul 24, 2011 23:09:56 GMT -5
After the success of both ECW: One Night Stand pay-per-views, fans and critics everywhere had high hopes for ECW, which was to air every Tuesday night on the Sci-Fi Network. However, it became very clear, very quickly, that this was not going to be the edgy, hard-hitting, passionate wrestling extravaganza of the nineties.
Although the first week drew a good rating, this was not a sign of good things to come. Ratings quickly dropped and in response the show became even worse. It was evident that Paul Heyman had no control over the product and it seemed Vince McMahon simply wanted to destroy everything ECW stood for.
The likes of Rob Van Dam, Sabu, and Sandman took a seat on the back-burner while Big Show, Test, and Bobby Lashley began main eventing. And after an atrocious pay-per-view entitled December to Dismember, it was clear that ECW was as good as dead.
In the aftermath of the event, Paul Heyman left the company. The quality of the show continued to diminish in 2007 and ratings fell to an all time low. The Sci-Fi Network was putting a lot of pressure on WWE to improve the show and increase ratings. After the 2007 draft, McMahon turned his full intention to the falling brand and did everything he could to improve the show. He decided that the biggest turning point would be awarding Chris Benoit the ECW Heavyweight Championship at Night of Champions. His thought was that Benoit could draw ratings for ECW and improve the main event quality each week.
Chris Benoit missed the weekend house shows leading in to Night of Champions, claiming his family was vomiting blood due to food poisoning. Chris Benoit did manage to make it to Night of Champions and went on to defeat C.M Punk to win the ECW Heavyweight Championship. However, while Chris Benoit held the ECW Heavyweight Championship up high, he was keeping a terrible secret.
On Monday June 25, 2007 police entered Benoit’s home on a “welfare check” for Nancy Benoit. Nancy had missed a very important charity event the day before, and no one was able to get in contact with her. Unfortunately, when police entered the home, they found the dead bodies of Nancy and her 7-year-old son Daniel. Chris Benoit was immediately called down to the family home.
Raw that evening air a memorial image for Nancy and Daniel. Chris Benoit was absent from the show, causing the creative team to make a few last minute changes to the script, cutting out an angle involving Chris Benoit.
Around 1 AM Tuesday morning, Chris Benoit was taken into custody for the murders of Nancy and Daniel Benoit. Every morning news station reported the arrest, forcing WWE to release an official statement. WWE confirmed the arrest of Chris Benoit and vacated the ECW Heavyweight Championship. That night ECW went on to crown a new champion in Johnny Nitro after he defeated C.M Punk.
By the end of the week, news reports were heavily stacking evidence against Chris Benoit and WWE was under heavy media fire. WWE quietly released Benoit on Friday June 28; on the same day, NBC Universal and Sci-Fi officials decided to pull the plug on ECW.
The following week the media really sunk its teeth into WWE. Examiners claimed that physical abuse received in a WWE ring caused Benoit serious brain damage. WWE falls under attack for not having policies in place to protect its workers. The same week, in an attempt to separate itself from WWE, NBC Universal and USA officials decided to pull the plug on Monday Night Raw.
Smackdown continued to air on the CW Network while Raw aired live on WWE.com. Vince McMahon tried to find a network to air Raw, but no one was willing to pick up the show with the current Benoit trial pending. During this time Smackdown ratings slumped, though the week before the Benoit trial began ratings significantly improved.
In December on 2007 Chris Benoit was put on trail and was found...
ing genius. I'm really looking forward to this, bro!
