No it doesn't. None of the peace in between or even the conflict that's going on now happens if the Emperor isn't stopped in life in the first place. Evil reigns in that case, period, no serious resistance in any form. Thus Rey wouldn't even have had a chance to play hero if it wasn't for Luke and the others.
Whether my particular idea holds any weight or not, the reality is that Abrams would have to try really, really, really hard to craft a scenario so devastatingly bad where the past films didn't matter. 100% of the time that comes up, be it in the wake of TFA or the TLJ, its just angry or mocking hyperbole. Highly likely it will be again after IX.