Should Smackdown Bury Benoit?

[The CyNick]

I really didn't like how they handled the Benoit jump to RAW. For one, they totally lied about the stip of the Rumble, saying that the winner could choose which title he went after, that was never said in the build up to the Rumble. In fact the opposite was said, and last year they had the same rule; "winner gets a shot at HIS brands' championship". But, I can live with that oversight.

What I couldn't live with is how they couldn't come up with a creative way to bring Benoit to RAW. If you follow the story, Benoit makes Brock tap at the Survivor Series and gets a title shot on Smackdown. In that match he has Brock beat, but ends up pasisng out and loses the match. In the following weeks he is informed he'll never get a SD title shot by SD GM Paul Heyman. However, in a very Austin-esque manner Benoit fights and fights, and eventually gets in and wins the Royal Rumble despite being handicapped by the #1 position.

Now, logic would say Benoit knows he can beat Brock, and would want to complete his journey by winning the SD title on the biggest stage of all; Wrestlemania XX. However for an unknown reason (well the real reason is to stroke Hunter's ego, but nothing that makes sense in terms of television angles), Benoit jumps to RAW, using a never before mentioned stip, and goes after Hunter's title. It would have made more sense, storyline wise for Heyman to fire/trade Benoit in order to avoid a match with Brock (where Heyman might think Brock would lose), but logic takes a backseat to stroking Hunter.

Now, if we go by the idea that the brand extension is supposed to relive the competition between RAW and Nitro, Smackdown should try to tear down Chris Benoit as a credible challenger.

John Cena has fought the good fight alongside Benoit against Heyman, but you dont see Cena jumping ship. So, shouldn't Cena talk about Benoit being a bitch for jumping to RAW instead of fighting Brock. This could be used to build up tension during the big 4 PPVs between Benoit and Cena, and also to build up a match down the road between Brock and Cena. Cena could say "I aint gonna run like that punk Chris Benoit as soon as things get tough". I mean if this were WCW and WWF from back in the day, things like this would happen, in order to make the fued seem 'real' they should do it now.

Same thing with Brock. Brock should be talking non stop about how he's the toughest champion because Chris decided to run away at the prospect of fighting him at Mania. In other words Chris is scared of Brock.

Of course the negative of doing this is that it tears down Chris Benoit, a guy they are trying to push, but at the same time why should the Smackdown guys sit back and say nothing while guys go to RAW and make their product seem inferior? When the WWE lost Hall and Nash they went out of their way to bury them, same with Bret Hart, same with everyone who jumped during the Monday Night Wars. So why should it be any different now?

[Gerard]

The royal rumble year in year out is full of oversights, i remember one year ahmed johnson jumped over the top rope to chase someone and the commentators stated he has to be thrown over by someone to be eliminated. Later in that same rumble savio vega done that running kick or whatever to a guy in the corner and vega flipped over the top rope to the floor and that was classed as an elimination even though it was part of the move...

[Corkscrewed]

I completely agree with Cynic. Problem is that such a thing is logica,, and you know how WWE is with logic.

It wouldn't be that hard, though. When Austin ditched, The Rock totally tore him down.

[Sephiroth]

Originally Posted by Corkscrewed I completely agree with Cynic. Problem is that such a thing is logica,, and you know how WWE is with logic. It wouldn't be that hard, though. When Austin ditched, The Rock totally tore him down.

True, that is the WWE for ya.