Who Had The Worst Year: 2001

[Little Jerry Lawler]

Every year in wrestling, you have a guy or gal who just isn't getting the job done. Bad pushes and bad matches can contribute to a bad year. Even the greats like Hogan and Austin had years where they didn't do anything noteworthy. I have a special person who I think had the worst year in 2001.

You may be saying to yourself, "How can an announcer have the worst year out of anyone?" I'm going to tell you why. As you all know, Jim Ross is a die hard Stone Cold supporter. Naturally, that makes Ross an easy target for someone who hates Austin but is too afraid to mix it up with him. Enter HHH. Him and Austin both signed a contract stating that they couldn't touch each other until No Way Out. Since HHH couldn't go after Austin, he decided to go after Austin's best friend.

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That was pretty bad for him but it will continue to get worse. Austin aligned with Vince McMahon at Wrestlemania 17 and with HHH the next night on RAW. That Thursday on Smackdown, Ross called Stone Cold out to ask the one question that everybody wanted the answer to. Why did Stone Cold sell his soul to the devil? This is what asking that question got him.

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I forgot to mention that Jerry Lawler quit the WWE in February because his wife, The Kat (who did much of nothing in her career), was released. Heyman was named as Lawler's replacement and you can tell Ross hated having him there but it did make for some good commentary at times.

Fast forward to after Survivor Series when Vince was planning to make Austin kiss his ass. After some good old Austin antics, Angle and Vince noticed Ross laughing and brought him into the ring to kiss Vince's ass since Stone Cold wasn't going to oblige. Here comes the American Bad Ass and the rest is history.

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Getting beat up three different times by three different superstars was not a good year for Jim Ross. He took those ass kickings like a man and I respect him for that. The motus operandi that year was if you wanted to get good heat or turn heel in Taker's case, just beat up J.R.

So who do you think had the worst year in 2001? As usual, give reasons behind your choice.

 

[DiscipleofWrestling]

Who had the worst 2001? I have three letters for ya: H H H.

Triple H was on cloud nine at the beginning of the year. He had a good feud with Steve Austin which culminated with a damn entertaining 3 Stages of Hell match at No Way Out. He then gets all of this build facing Undertaker, joining forces with Austin and McMahon, and being part of the Two Man Power Trip. He was primed to be facing Austin at SummerSlam for the WWF Championship. Then, he gets injured on Raw after Judgment Day, and he has to sit seven months out with a quad injury. Who knows the effect Triple H's presence could have had on the Alliance storyline?

But here's another person who had a bad year in 2001: the fan. We all had dreams of how a WCW vs. WWF event would be. We all would have loved to have seen Sting vs. The Undertaker, Eric Bischoff vs. Vince McMahon, and Goldberg vs. Steve Austin. None of that ever happened. Instead, what we got was a half-hearted invasion with superstars formerly affiliated of both previous companies (and some from WWE's own roster). The fan's dreams died that year when Vince McMahon could not bring in the top superstars of WCW to truly give the Invasion storyline a proper feel.

 

[ThePh3nomonal1]

Yeah, I actually agree with the poster. JR had a shocker of a year and I agree with all the reasons mentioned, the only other person I would have to say was HHH aswell that injury would of majorly sucked.

 

[kurt_angle_no1fan]

Just post OP. Love the videos, brings back so many great memories of that heel Austin. He was a vicious son of a bitch. His backstage skits with Angle/Vince were also comedy gold. 2001 was still a great year for WWE, despite the Invasion angle not living up to the hype (I didnt think it was bad though) and Rock, HHH, Benoit missing a huge chunk, but thats another story.

With regards to who had the worse year, in regards to storylines it wasnt a good year for JR. I dont think it was a great year for announcers in general - the beating of these guys was used to generate heat. If I remember correctly didnt Austin beat up Michael Cole and in a seperate incident beat up Tazz? Speaking of which, Tazz had a horrible year. Lost his place on the wrestling roster to announce, then took beatings at the hands of Austin, he was also humiliated and embarrased by the Alliance, before being thrown out.

Ill go for Tazz!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYOno0d6cmU&feature=related

 

[Newman]

Well how about WCW's version of the People's Champion for a shout. Diamond Dallas Page was introduced to the WWF as the stalker of The Undertaker's wife Sara, he did it as he wanted to 'BE FAMOUS' and he did not really did anything except getting humiliated at the hands of the American Bad Ass at King Of The Ring 2001, he then won the WWF Tag Team Championship together with Kanyon but thats only because he is getting the beating of his lifetime at the hands of The Brothers Of Destruction at Summerslam. The only thing that he did thats noteworthy in his stint with the WWF/E was Diamond Cutting Sara. After receiving an injury, he transformed his gimmick into a motivational speaker. Seriously? DDP that is such a star going down to this level? If thats not enough during that stint he was jobbing to the likes of Big Show etc.....

So, if anybody has a torrid 2001 its the master of the Diamond Cutter himself, DDP.

 

[Caitiff]

WCW and ECW both died within 2 weeks of each other, and WWE began an "Invasion" by combining the rosters of the two companies, and refusing to put any of them over. So, 6 months later, and this angle is remembered as being the biggest disappointment in wrestling history.

Combine that with the stupid booking decisions that everyone else mentioned, and my choice becomes clear. My vote for "who had the worst 2001 in wrestling" goes to the wrestling fans who were actually fed this steaming pile.


(By the way, nothing about combining the WCW and ECW rosters made any sense, given the raging, seething hatred those companies had toward one another. But, different topic for a different day.)

 

[Beitter]

Eddie Gurriero had maybe the worst year! It started off with him coming back from injury, then getting fired due to drug abuse shortly after Wrestlemanina 17! Eddie eventually returned a year later! However being out for a year with no job must of sucked! Say what you want about Triple H, J.R., or even Tazz, at the end of the day at least they had a job1

 

[ThePeoplesChampion]

The Fan! You had HHH hurt which who knows how he would of played in on this. None of the top stars of WCW except for Booker T came in the Invasion....the truly only superstars in that came over was Booker and RVD...you had Benoit hurt as well just some bad times for the fan.

 

[Tastycles]

It was a bad year for anyone employed by the WCW, to be fair. They started the year getting raped in the ratings, then they all lost their jobs. They either got put onto a loser by being totally spanked in the Invasion, or they sat at home until at least 2002, and for most of them, their careers never really recovered.

It was obviously a bad year for Triple H too, and if we're going kayfabe then it was a bad year for a whole host of people. It was really a bad year for the fans, because it saw the end of wrestling's golden age. Who was it the worst year for? Stone Cold Steve Austin.

Sure, he won titles that year. Sure, he was a focal point, but this was the year when the WWF proved it had run out of ideas for the character. He turned heel twice, and became Billy Big Boots backstage, and yet he still wasn't the asset he had once been. 2001 was the year that WWF lost their grip on the mainstream, and it was the year that Steve Austin jumped the shark. By the time Triple H returned in January 2002, Austin wasn't the go to guy anymore.