The Last Great Year in WWE
As I was watching old WWE videos this past weekend, I came up with the conclusion that the last great year WWE had was 2001. In 2001, WWE bought WCW but for the majority of the year, the ran an invasion angle with WCW and ECW. It was chaos, unpredictable and you really didn’t know who was going to jump ship or come in.
It had some of the greatest matches that wrestling has ever seen. Let me pick one from each PPV starting with Royal Rumble.
Royal Rumble- Chris Jericho vs. Chris Benoit in a Ladder match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship
No Way Out- Triple H vs. Steve Austin in a Three Stages of Hell Match
Wrestlemania 17- The Rock vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin in a No disqualification match for the WWE Championship (That whole Wrestlemania was great and my personal favorite)
Backlash- The Two Man Power Trip (WWE Champion Steve Austin and WWE Intercontinental Champion Triple H) vs. Kane and The Undertaker (c) in a Tag Team match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship, WWE Championship and WWE Tag Team Championship
Judgment Day- Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit in a Two out of three falls match
King of the Ring- Kurt Angle vs. Shane McMahon in a Street Fight
InVasion- Booker T, Diamond Dallas Page, Rhyno and The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von) vs. Steve Austin, Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, The Undertaker and Kane
Summerslam- Kurt Angle vs. Steve Austin for the WWE Championship
Unforgiven- Kurt Angle vs. Steve Austin for the WWE Championship
No Mercy- Chris Jericho vs. The Rock for the WCW Championship
Survivor Series- Team WWE (The Rock, Chris Jericho, The Undertaker, Kane, and The Big Show) vs. Team Alliance (Steve Austin, Rob Van Dam, Kurt Angle, Booker T, and Shane McMahon)
Vengeance- The Undertaker vs. Rob Van Dam for the WWE Hardcore Championship (This was also the night Jericho defeated Austin and The Rock)
So as you can see, WWE had a lot of great matches. When I really think about it, every pay-per-view was stacked and solid. Once the WCW/ECW Alliance angle ended, that’s when WWE lost their edge. They have had some great matches and great angles since then but a full year of great wrestling, not even close. The only way WWE could ever match this is if Vince buys out TNA and they do TNA Invasion angle which I doubt will ever happen.
This year was what I had come to expect from WWE but they are from what they were 10 years ago. Maybe someday they will get back there again. I remember in 2001 when it was Raw, Smackdown, Sunday Night Heat and Tough Enough. It was a great year that will never be duplicated again. Now you all know why I have such a problem with WWE now, because they went from greatness to pathetic. Like I said hopefully someday they will reach great heights again.
