John Morrison's Success Is Thanks To Chris Benoit

It is hard to believe that it has been almost three years since the shocking death of Chris Benoit rocked the wrestling world. Benoit killed his wife and child in his Atlanta home over a weekend before committing suicide on June 24, 2007. The three-year anniversary of that tragedy is this upcoming Thursday.

During that weekend, Benoit was supposed to be in Houston for Vengeance: Night of Champions. At the event, Benoit was scheduled to face CM Punk for the vacant ECW World Championship. With Benoit being a no-show, Morrison, then known as Johnny Nitro, took his place in the bout and became the champion.

It has been stated that, had he competed that night, Benoit would have become the ECW World Champion. The win for Nitro was mostly, in part, due to the ongoing buildup for CM Punk and his inability to win the gold.

Nitro was in the right place at the right time, having just become a member of the ECW roster via the 2007 WWE draft. Nitro was the very last pick of the supplemental draft that also brought the brand Benoit, The Boogeyman, Viscera (repackaged into Big Daddy V), and The Miz.

Nitro was selected to take the place at the top over Big Daddy V, who feuded with The Boogeyman. Meanwhile, The Miz, starting his "Chick Magnet" stage, began a feud with Balls Mahoney. Some questioned why Elijah Burke was not given the shot and some can use Nitro’s title win as the straw that broke Burke’s back in WWE.

The night after shocking everyone with his ECW title victory, Nitro revealed himself as John Morrison, his true alter ego. Emphasize the word “ego” in that last statement. Morrison was a funky and more arrogant version of Nitro. In reality, there wasn’t much more than a clothing, name, and hair change. While his attitude developed more, enabling him to be similar as both a face and a heel.

Without Benoit’s death, it is hard to make a case for John Morrison to have ever been revealed and/or catch on the way he did. Perhaps, the recent releases would have had one more name on it—Johnny Nitro.

(NOTE: While putting this article together, I read another article (http://bleacherreport.com/articles/408764-what-if-guerrero-benoit-and-umaga-were-still-alive ), which touched on a point that I was making. However, it left out a very important aspect to how WWE moved on.)