2000-01 WWE MVP

[The Fabulous Rougeau's]

The tail end of the attitude era and a time that most people consider to be the best time in WWE history with a mix of established guys (Rock, Trips, Taker) and new guys (Angle, Jericho, Benoit, Guerrero, Edge&Christian, Dudley's, Hardys. This is also the year that saw Austin miss alot of time after getting the neck surgery he should have had back in 97. Austin would miss the first 7-8 months of this year and return around Survivor Series time to get revenge on those who were involved in his hit and run. With Austin out of the picture, it really was a two man show at the top between Rock and Trips. Not only that, but they had an amazing series of matches that began at WrestleMania 2000 and would go on for the next few ppvs culminating in their epic iron man match. This was probably the best that each guy was at as they were producing gold at every turn. While Trips got the upper hand feud wise, no doubt it was Rock carrying the feud. He would regain the title down the road and have his longest title reign of his career before dropping the title to Angle and doing what he did best which is make get his opponents over. Rock would finish the year strong by regaining the title and setting up his rematch against Austin at Mania X7 which was one of the best title matches in Mania history.

For me Rock is the obvious choice here although Trips had himself a solid year which was MVP worthy but when Rock is killing it the way he did it just wasn't enough.

 

[hacksawrowdyhogan]

My vote is for Stone Cold is the mvp. He was hotter than a pistolm

 

[hacksawrowdyhogan]

My vote is for Stone Cold is the mvp. He was hotter than a pistolm

 

[Goldie]

Looking across 2 calendar years, this is tough due to the long absences of top stars:

Austin was out until Oct 200 with a recurrence of his neck problems... but was pushed back to the top, and dominated 2001, with a Rumble win, WM17 title win, a long title run (by the standards of the time) and regained the title a 2nd time later in the year.

2000 was dominated by Rock and Tripper, carrying the company during Austins absence... yet Rock disappeared after WM17 to make movies, returning later in the year (wining the WCW title for what it was worth)...
Tripper could have been a candidate, but suffered a horrible quads-tear in May 2001, benching him for the rest of the year.

Kurt Angle was very consistent throughout the period, winning the world title in his rookie year, though he wasn't booked as a strong champion, not gaining clean wins in his PPV defences.... but did regain the title from Austin in late 2001.

All in all.... I might give this to the Rock, if only because his absences were not as prolonged as Austins in the timeframe. Rock won the 2000 Rumble, main evented both WM16 & WM17, and business was at a peak.. even without Austin!
Had Austin been fully fit throughout however, I would have given it to him.

 

[CrucifiedRaven]

I realize now that you mean to do this in WWE years ie from WrestleMania to WrestleMania. I answered your last thread (1999-2000) as two full calendar years, but I see now what you're doing.

So first, I'd like to go back and change my answer to your previous thread.

From WrestleMania XV - WrestleMania 2000 the MVP is absolutely Triple H. He was champion for a total of around 4.5-5 months during this period, and even though it was interrupted, was basically the guy from SummerSlam all the way to WrestleMania. He became The Game and The Cerebral Assassin during this time, and had one of the most epic feuds with Cactus Jack. Runner up goes to The Rock, but only because Austin had to leave part way through.

From WrestleMania 2000 - WrestleMania X-7 the MVP is absolutely The Rock. He was champion for a total of 6 months during this period and this is when he really became The Great One and one of the biggest superstars of all time in the business. Runner up goes to Stone Cold Steve Austin, because even though he missed half of this period, the "who ran over Stone Cold" angle really did headline all WWF programming at the time, and of course lead to the great Three Stages of Hell match at No Way Out 2001. Triple H was also at his best during this period, but with both The Rock and Austin around, I can't give him the MVP.

The entire tag team division could also be given props here... Edge & Christian specifically. They were excellent, especially with their alliance with Kurt Angle. Not to mention the ladder match at WM2000, TLC at SummerSlam 2000 and TLC2 at WMX7.