2001-02 WWE MVP

[The Fabulous Rougeau's]

Were entering the attitude era and at 01-02 were at the tail end. WCW is bought out by WWE just before this year begins so we are in full on invasion mode. The Rock would take a few months off at the beginning while he's doing his movie stuff and Triple H would miss just about the entire year after tearing his quad for the first time on Raw putting an abrupt end to the two man power trip and what ultimately would have been one hell of a match between himself and Austin down the road but this time with Trips as the face and Austin as a heel.

So who is my MVP? I can make a strong case for Angle and I hope someone here does, I can even see Jericho being mentioned, but for me it has to be Austin. He begins the year with the unexpected heel turn and morphs that into a top comedy heel with some of the funniest moments ever. His interaction with Vince and Angle during this time is priceless. Austin is around the title the entire year but does lose steam heading into the 02 calendar year. Of course we know 02 wasn't a good time for Austin as he nixed the Hogan Mania match and had a lackluster performance against Hall. However, his 01 was so strong that for me Austin is the man for 01-02.

 

[TheICChampion]

Well, Austin may have been a great comedy heel, but there's no way he could have accomplished that without Angle. As in my previous post of the 2005-06 MVP, I may have to go with Edge or perhaps even Christian. Let's face it, they started off the year 2001 with winning the Tag team gold in a TLC match that I believe had to top the first one, especially with the insane spear off the top of the ladder. Edge would go on to win King of the Ring, which caused his split with Christian, then not only win the Intercontinental and U.S. titles, but also unify them. In 2002, he had some of the best matches of the year, including his feud with Eddie Guerrero. Christian would also win a few singles titles, and though his solo run was short-lived, I think he deserves mention because of how great a heel he was. Then again, I'm from Toronto, so I may be a bit biased.

 

[P. Nut Butters]

My case would be for Jericho, without question. He'd flirted with the main-event in WWF in 2000 and came in strong to 2001 with an unbelievably stellar laddar match at Royal Rumble, winning the Intercontinental Championship against Chris Benoit. He and Benoit would ultimately team up, winning the tag team championship with both being positioned as strongholds within the upper-midcard. I believe had Benoit not sustained the neck injury, that he would have been favoured over Jericho in terms of push but fate caused that not to be.

If you look at Jericho's turn in 2001, it was actually pretty well simmered and executed. A great amount of tension and tease, with Jericho hovering between face and heel throughout the final quarter of the year, pulling off what I think is one of the more underrated "tweener" runs (if you want to use that term).

I remember waiting and wanting anxiously for Jericho to turn full-fledged heel and win "the big one" from The Rock, and it finally happened. By the time he turned solid heel at Survivor Series, everybody was ready for it. It was a great transition into the egomaniacal, King of the World gimmick that would carry him through 2002.

Say what you will about his Undisputed title reign which may not have been all that amazing, but in my opinion takes nothing away from the fact that between January 2001 and 2002, Jericho was undeniably the most well-built, most ameliorated star within WWF during that period of time. The title reigns, feuds with bigger stars, his extenuated turn angle and side-angles with Stephanie McMahon during the year ultimately became perhaps the page-turning factors to a legendary career.