WWE's Best & Worst Year Of The 00's?

[The Brain]

Following up with the best and worst of the 90s thread let’s now discuss the best and worst years for the WWE in the 00s.

What a difference a year can make. In the 90s thread I said 1999 was the worst year but here I’m saying 2000 was the best year of the 00s. Russo was out and the focus on the in ring product returned with his departure. A lot of great new talent debuted in late 1999 or early 2000, and some others that had been around for a while brought their game to the next level in 2000. I’m talking about guys like Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Edge, Christian, The Hardy Boys, and The Dudley Boys. These guys were either not with the WWF in 1999 or did not play a major role. In 2000 they were all big time players. The boring brawls outside the ring were starting to disappear and matches were actually taking place in the ring again. One of my favorite events in 2000 was Fully Loaded. Three veteran superstars, The Rock, Triple H, and Undertaker took on three up and coming wrestlers in Benoit, Jericho, and Angle in singles matches. That event showed me these new guys were to be taken seriously as top stars. Along with new talent and great action the WWF was more entertaining than ever when it came to comedy. Commissioner Foley, Edge & Christian, Kurt Angle, and Triple H made the WWF just as much of a comedy show as an action show and I loved every minute of 2000.

As for the worst year of the 00s, I’m going with 2006. 2006 seemed to be a transition year and it was a rough transition at first. The WWF lost Chris Jericho, Christian, and Eddie Guerrero in 2005 and lost Kurt Angle in 2006. That’s a lot of great talent to lose in a short amount of time. We saw some main event angles that just didn’t work out. Shawn Michaels and Triple H reunited as DX but it was nothing like it was nine years earlier. DX just didn’t clique for me in 2006. It didn’t help that they’re main opposition was five rookie male cheerleaders and two non wrestlers. The whole summer was two of the all time best wrestlers against completely inferior competition. Another angle that flopped that summer was Hulk Hogan vs. Randy Orton. The feud started out ok but quickly died before it really got going. What could have been an interesting angle that helped Randy Orton continue his rise was a total bust. 2006 also gave us the unnecessary addition of ECW as a third brand. It looked like it might be promising with Rob Van Dam and Kurt Angle as the main stars on the show but RVD blew his golden opportunity and Angle left the company immediately after ECW debuted. It was doomed from the start and I’m shocked it lasted as long as it did. Overall 2006 was a year of bad choices and missed opportunities.

What do you think were the best and worst years of the 00s?

 

[ThePhenomLives]

I loved all the Attitude Era years but 2004/2005 were also great imo. We had JBL's terrific run as champion, Evolution, HHH turning on Randy Orton, two awesome Wrestlemanias, the emergence of Batista, and probably some more good stuff I've forgotten.

 

[Jerichoholic8894]

I agree with both of your answers for the same reasons you list. I really don't remember too much of 06, it was just bland to me.

One of the underrated years of the 2000's was 2003. In 03 we saw Evolution dominate, Triple H have one of the very good heel runs in history. Kane was outstanding in 2003, going from a top over face, to a top 3 heel in the WWE in a 24 hour period. We saw Brock Lesnar take over Smackdown. We also started to see the emergence of John Cena towards the end of the year with his Thuganomics gimmick. The return of Stone Cold Steve Austin and his feud with Eric Bishoff. The WWE debut/run of Goldberg. We got to see a spin in The Rock's gimmick (Hollywood Rock).

2003 comes in as 1B to 2000 being 1A as the best year(s) of the 00's. 2006 also stands out as the worst year.

 

[enviousdominous]

I didn't have very many opportunities to watch pro-wrestling during the 2000's. I was overseas a lot and where-ever I was, the only pro-wrestling I could watch was off of shoddy bootlegs. Thank goodness the internet started to come full circle around that time and I could get caught up through crisp videos of WWE programming. I also got to watch the death throes of WCW.

Though my opinion is obsviously retrospective, I was more impressed by programming from 2003 than I was for any other year. Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle were impossible to ignore at that time, their match at Wrestlemania 19 was one of the greatest I had ever seen. Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas were on fire, and were testing their mettle against other notable teams like Rey Mysterio and Billy Kidman and Los Guerreros.

This was also a year where Lita, the greatest American female performer of all time (suck it moolah), was allowed to shine. Lita was allowed to team with Trish Stratus in what was the greatest year for female wrestling in the WWE, she was also allowed to compete in the only steel cage match involving women in the WWE.

Scott Steiner's debut was a bit forced, but it gave some decent hype for the upcoming Royal Rumble title shot against HHH. The match was terrible, but people bought the ppv to see Brock Lesnar so it didn't really matter.

The only thing I didn't like about 2003 was that this was the year that an over-hyped sack of shit named Stone Cold participated in an angle where he buried Lance Storm. Lance Storm by the way, is someone who could out-wrestle the original Mr. Anderson any day of the week and wouldn't have to shit all over the younger talent to do it. Just saying, Stone Cold fans were always fucking morons who needed a pointless "3:16" fad to hold their attention because a poorly executed neck cutter and middle finger foam hands were the definition of a great wrestler unto them. Their hatred for Lance Storm confirmed it for me.

Worst year? This one's a no brainer. 2001, simply because this was the year that Vince lost his shit worse than he had ever lost it before. You have someone like Vince McMahon who, at the time, literally believed that if anything bad happened it was only because of unseen forces that were conspiring to negatively affect his sacred family business. Sources vary on the actual dollar amount, but Vince was able to buy his chief rival who had tormented him for years for only the amount that was required to cover their liabilities to AOL.

You'd think that Vince could have taken this time to relax and get back to basics, except that there was still more money out there and dammit Vince was going to get it somehow through his flawless product.

Vince botched what could have been the absolute greatest ppv in prowrestling history. Not only did he have a group of WCW performers ready to prove that they were worth their salt in any arena, but you also had an awesome promo that came out of nowhere showing that ECW performers wanted in on the mix ready to bring mayhem and captivating bedlam to the big corporations that once wrecked their potential to be as big as them. It would have been perfect, except Vince got a hair up his ass regarding his performers being made to look silly by perennial WCW performers. It didn't help that Undie, Layfield and Austin purposefully put these ideas into Vince's head. It wasn't their fault that reviews for their shows were abysmal, it was the fault of these no-good WCW and ECW performers stinking up the ring. WCW and ECW were made to team up against the WWF, because Shane wanted to compete with Vince's brain or something.

I'll rattle off ten pages of complaints if I don't stop myself here.

 

[Irishock]

I agree with both of your answers for the same reasons you list. I really don't remember too much of 06, it was just bland to me.

One of the underrated years of the 2000's was 2003. In 03 we saw Evolution dominate, Triple H have one of the very good heel runs in history. Kane was outstanding in 2003, going from a top over face, to a top 3 heel in the WWE in a 24 hour period. We saw Brock Lesnar take over Smackdown. We also started to see the emergence of John Cena towards the end of the year with his Thuganomics gimmick. The return of Stone Cold Steve Austin and his feud with Eric Bishoff. The WWE debut/run of Goldberg. We got to see a spin in The Rock's gimmick (Hollywood Rock).

2003 comes in as 1B to 2000 being 1A as the best year(s) of the 00's. 2006 also stands out as the worst year.

WTF? 2003? Are you serious? Apart from Brock and Kurt tearing it up there was NOTHING great about that year. IMO it's the worst year of the new millenium:

-HHH had a horrible heel run-- his angles with T, Steiner and Goldberg were probably the worst main event feuds since anything involving Sid Vicious in the 90's.

-Austin vs Bischoff didn't work the way it should've.

-Goldberg-- LOL. Talk about one of the most mismanaged debuts WWE has ever handled.

-Taker's worst in-ring year perhaps ever

Let me guess, you enjoyed the horrendous angles the McMahon's were involved in. That was the icing on the cake to the worst business year for the WWE since 96.

 

[squeaky000]

I'm not sure about the best year but,by far the worst year of the 00's was...2009. Seriously nothing even compares to that year. The stupid guest hosts was just a waste of time, who could forget Hornswoggle mania, PG dx, jerishow was just dumb and an even dumber name, Cena and Orton were the main event for what? like 6 ppvs straight, and the PG rating was full force, and just the most unentertaining year imo.

 

[jameyt2003]

2005 is the best because of Cena and Batista.
2006 is the worst because of Edge and King Booker.

 

[ThePhenomLives]

I actually liked 2006. Imo 2004-06 were awesome years. Remember, in 06 we had a great rivalry in Cena vs Edge, DX were decent, a good Wrestlemania, the best crowd ever at ONS (I was there) and some great PPVs.

2007 wasn't the best but I enjoyed the first half of it. The period between Royal Rumble-Wrestlemania was good. I liked the Rated RKO vs DX feud, Cena and HBK had a good build, as did Batista and the Undertaker, and Randy Orton as champion in late 2007 was great. Although I hated Cena's run with the title.

2008 was bad but I enjoyed Randy Orton as champion and Wrestlemania 24 was good. Though it was the year PG started, so yeah...

But yeah 2009 is probably the worst. Guest hosts, hot potato with the WWE title (changed hands every PPV almost), too much PG. It was awful.

To sum up. Best years = attitude era years, 2004 & 2005. Worst years = 2008 & 2009.

 

[Christian Faith]

I am finding it difficult to pick one year. The second half of 2001 was awful as were the whole of 2002 and 2003. There was also a year where Edge won or lost a World title at every PPV for about 6 months. There was 2009 where Cena/Orton was way overdone and the whole evolution run got boring pretty fast as did the spirit squad, hornswoggle.... I could go on and on.

Thankfully I think things are improving.

 

[The Perfect Max]

I think the best year goes to 2006. I don't know why, but everything about the year seems appealing. The Royal Rumble event early on started off the year well. A great Royal Rumble Match, Rey winning for Eddie, great feel good moment. WrestleMania 22 was, in my opinion, the last "great" WrestleMania event. Don't get me wrong, some events have come close since 2006, but this was great. The John Cena and Edge feud for the WWE Championship was a fun one to watch, some great matches included, and sparked the rise of Edge to the main event level. I feel he also managed to bring John Cena up a notch too. The D-Generation X reunion was fun to see, and a much welcome change for Triple H and Shawn Michaels. ECW's return, in 2006, was a good one. After this year, ECW deteriorated. All pay-per-view events, bar ECW December to Dismember, were at least good, and all had something good and interesting to remember it by. The WWE Championship and World Heavyweight Championship were considered big time titles, the Intercontinental Championship too for that matter. Randy Orton's rise, in my opinion, began at the latter part of the year with Edge.

As for the worst year, it has to go to 2009. You would think, the 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania, the WWE would want to make this the year for the business, leaving a mark 25 years on. No, it did not happen. I think the period between the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania XXV was decent in doses, but that's it. The "PG" aspect really took over mid way through the year, and I think if you watch a PPV from early 2009 and watch a PPV from late 2009, I don't know what it is, but there is a different mood. A lot of new talent came in this year, not complaining, but it flooded the company with too much talent and too little stories. The WWE Championship was hot potato, the World Heavyweight Championship wasn't doing much other than the CM Punk and Jeff Hardy feud, definitely the highlight of the year, and that's about it. When I ask myself about 2009 in the WWE, I can't remember much. That sums things up really.

 

[Bookerkingston]

I say 2000 was probably my favorite. It had The Radicals, Y2J, Angle, Big Show, Jericho and others rising higher as stars but what I loved the most is the hardcore. The Hardys/Dudleys tag team table match, the Cactus Jack vs Triple H street fight and Hell In A Cell, the triangle ladder match at WM16. Then, the first ever TLC match and the Shane McMahon vs Steve Blackman streetfight at Summerslam. I know I'm forgetting some. So many no DQ championship matches and Foley became commissioner so that contributed to the amount of hardcore rules.

I'm not sure about the best year but,by far the worst year of the 00's was...2009. Seriously nothing even compares to that year. The stupid guest hosts was just a waste of time, who could forget Hornswoggle mania, PG dx, jerishow was just dumb and an even dumber name, Cena and Orton were the main event for what? like 6 ppvs straight, and the PG rating was full force, and just the most unentertaining year imo.

Thanks for reminding me what else happened in 2009 because I forgot and that's easily my pick for the worst as well. It seemed like the whole year was all about Orton and Legacy all night every night. I was sick of Orton trying to be a "psycho", sick of all his blank stares and awful monotone promos, and sick of his punts. All three members were unentertaining and looked the same, walked the same, talked the same.
Every main event of Raw involved some random Triple H/Cena/Batista vs one or more members of Legacy in some type of match. And then Shane McMahon started fighting them too. I had just about enough of Batista. Even Jericho got less entertaining. I don't know what happened.

Edit: Oh yeah, wasn't the Kane vs Rey Mysterio feud in 2009 as well? Man I hated that year.

 

[Emmet]

I've always maintained that 2000 was the absolute best 12 months the WWF ever had since VKM bought the company from his father.

Great matches like Brain said with the introduction in late 99 of Y2J and Angle and The Radicalz in early 2000. Taker and Austin were gone for most of the year (the two who were mostly responsible for the outside brawling crap of 98 and 99).

You had HHH in his prime and The Rock was, well The Rock. On fire as always.

That entire year the WWF hit it out of the park, every RAW and Smackdown was worth tuning in for.

Although I feel they handled Austin's comeback horribly. Taker's was awesome.

Worst year I can't really account for. I lost interest in Wrestling full time by 2004 and have only ever sporadically watched it again since.

I thought 2003 was pretty awful in saying that. Austin and Rock gone more or less permanently. Goldberg and Steiner's runs were poor. Nothing great happened in the year.

 

[Matty~!]

The best year for me was totally 2000, the company was still riding the wave of 98 and 99 but had renewed focus on the ring work with Jericho, Benoit, Guerrero, Malenko and Saturn all having arrived from WCW.

HHH was easily one of the best workers on the planet during this year and really cemented himself as a star in the company and to casual fans. He had great matches with Foley, Rock and Jericho. Not to mention a couple of diamonds in the rough with the likes of TAKA Michinoku and Bob Holly.

2003 would probably be the worse year for me for the reasons Emmet gave about, the company was descending into the toilet even more after a relatively decent back end of 2002. Triple H had gone from one of the best workers around pre-injury to a bloated, over muscular sandbagger. The Steiner and Goldberg feuds were huge flops for numerous reasons, not to mention lacklustre big matches on the biggest cards of the year.

 

[The Fabulous Rougeau's]

Best Year 2000

This includes Rock/HHH part 2. A continuation of their feud in 98 but now both are main eventers. This includes a great 20 minutes they put on at the end of Mania 2000 and an even better iron man match 2 months later. Those two had great chemistry and made it work every time. You also have the wars begin between The Hardy's, Edge & Christian and The Dudley Boys. They put on some of the best tag team matches ever. Also the year set up the following year's Mania perfectly with Austin coming back at the end of the year to set the stage for one of the greatest Mania matches ever with Rock and the continuation of the Hardy's/E&C/Dudley's leading to Mania as well.

Worst Year 2004

The main happenings of the year were Benoit and Guerrero winnning the titles. That never sat well with me as I never saw either of them as world champions, let alone winning and retaining the titles at Mania. I always thought Mania XX was the perfect ending for Trips and Shawn's feud with Shawn winning the title at Mania. You also had the departures of Goldberg and Brock, Edge was either injured or still stuck in the midcard, and Jericho was in a weird place as well.

 

[CrucifiedRaven]

I stopped watching wrestling altogether around 2005 I think. I remember watching WrestleMania 21... but after that I stopped watching. The last thing I really remember was the Evolution going down. So unfortunately I can't comment on the entire decade. I only started watching semi regularly again in 2011-12.

The only reason why I'm commenting (unfairly because I missed half the decade) is because 2000 was one of the best years in the WWF, of all time.

It is pretty hard to top what was going on here. The rise of The Rock, The Rock/Triple H feud, the McMahon-Helmsley era, who ran over Stone Cold, the rise of Kurt Angle, The Dudleyz, the Hardyz, Edge & Christian, Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero...

I don't think 1999 was a bad year at all. Sure there were some shenanigans... mainly the Ministry/Higher Power storyline... but they went into 2000 with a ton of momentum. The entire card was stacked. From the main events, the mid card, the tag team division, even the hardcore division with Tazz and Raven.

This year was also the year they found their "formula" for RAW. It was less wild and unpredictable than 98/99... But the entire ruthless aggression era was basically built off of this year.