I know that people thought that 2001 was worth nothing

**The Naitch** · 01-06-2006, 03:45 AM

But remember the Kurt Angle vs. Austin feud?

RP · 01-06-2006, 04:00 AM

Yah it was one of the most underrated " ball drops " ever. I think they actually murdered both of those guy's momentum at one point in that fued. It was pretty brutal. Could have been classic.

**The Naitch** · 01-06-2006, 04:01 AM

i remember they put the strap on Angle right after 9/11

**D Mac** · 01-06-2006, 04:07 AM

Was that the one where Angle drove in a milk truck on RAW and sprayed Austin and Vince with milk?

LK · 01-06-2006, 05:11 AM

Yeah there was some serious Splaya action there. I liked 2001 just because of the night that ECW was re-formed. Even if it was for less than one show.

**The CyNick** · 01-06-2006, 08:33 PM

2001 was filled with bad decisions by WWE.

The Angle-Austin fued was awesome right through Summerslam, but then they blew it.

I always thought the Austin heel turn was a mistake that they made twice in 2001, but they had a chance to make good of it with Angle coming off Summerslam. 9/11 happening as sad as this sounds could have been a huge break for the company, but they didn't use it.

Instead of making Angle the bad ass babyface that Austin used to be, they had him spray himself and a bunch of other men with white liquid. They also tried to make him be funny, which he is great at, but it doesn't help him draw money.

The Austin-Ange fued was awesome, but I think it could have been used like Hart0-Austin was in 96/97 and could have created the hier apparant to Austin, but of course it didn't. Sad.

**Loose Cannon** · 01-06-2006, 08:49 PM

god they pissed me off so many times in 2001. That was one of them. The other two worth noting for me was when Austin and RVD were getting into it (after Austin turned for the 2nd time) and Austin goes "I don't like you" and RVD goes "I don't like you eathier" and the crowd popped huge. Then they just did nothing and RVD became just an Austin stooge. So stupid.

The other was Taz when he and Austin were getting into it for like 3 weeks, but they did nothing with that eathier.

**The Naitch** · 01-06-2006, 09:11 PM

And they never did a Rock vs. Austin rematch either. They just sang songs and Rock gave him a Rock Bottom. Sure they were the final two at Survivor Series, but it should've been one on one

Also, why the hell did they have Angle join the Alliance and turn heel for like 2 weeks? I know it was to be as a mole but that made it even worse

Here are the good things about 2001:

Jericho becoming Undisputed Champ, but even they pissed on that

Hmmm, an honest to God good 2001 moment would probably be....

Thinking...

Hmmm....

Probably The Rock's return in Philly, where he turned for 20 seconds only to Rock Bottom Shane and join the WWF

You seldom see debris thrown in the ring (in WWE) but someone did it here, right after he Rock Bottomed Vince.

**The Naitch** · 01-06-2006, 09:15 PM

I also thought it was amazing how we could hate Vince through out the late 90's-X7, yet when he was fighting off the Alliance, he became the biggest babyface

**Boondock Saint** · 01-06-2006, 09:43 PM

I love the Austin/Angle match from Summerslam.

**Taker Fan** · 01-06-2006, 11:38 PM

I thought that 2001 started off great with 3 really good PPVs. The Rumble, which featured Jericho/Benoit Ladder match, and a good Rumble match..No Way Out was a really good show IMO, which had a good fatal four way for the IC title, Austin/HHH, Rock/Angle, and of course WM X-7 which was just awesome.

But then, once Austin turned heel everything just went downhill. This left Taker/Kane as the top faces and Backlash was headlined with a RAW main event tag team match, which only notable moment on the PPV was when Shane jumped off the tron. EDIT- Wow how did I forget the Angle/Benoit Submission match...

Judgment Day was meh, even though I thought the HHH/Kane chain match was pretty good, and plus they had a good tag team turmoil with Jericho/Benoit winning the belts. Then in June they had TLC 3 which was an awesome match, but it was kind of forgettable because it really had no hype, and was just a way to get Jericho/Benoit over as champs. Also, KOTR was a good show, which Angle worked two good matches with Edge and Christian, and a great street fight with Shane.

And then in the summer, the Invasion happened and it seemed like Vince was reluctant make have any WCW stars highlight any show as already developed WWE wrestlers were joining the Alliance. So it was basically just WWE vs. WWE (I noticed that in the "Winner Take All" Match there were only 2 wrestlers they came from WCW or ECW which were RVD and Booker T)

But the year was capped off by Jericho winning the Undisputed Title

, but it was obvious that he wasn't being booked correctly as he was destroyed by Austin the very next night, barely escaping with his newly won title.

So the year started off really well I thought, then they botched a highly anticipated angle by not giving the former competition a chance to shine, and they ended the year by finally giving Jericho the title.

Wow, I actually felt like writing a quick review of the whole year.

**RGWhat316** · 01-07-2006, 04:19 PM

2001 was alright to me, but there was alot of mistakes that shouldn't have been made. I will always look at the night after Wrestlemania as a reason why WWE started to go downhill. Rock was leaving, Austin had just turned heel, then we have HHH tease a face turn, but then turn heel and align himself with Austin. So before WM, the top 2 faces were Austin and Rock, after WM the top 2 faces were Undertaker and Kane. And to me, Taker and Kane just didn't have enough popularity to carry the company as faces as much as Austin and Rock could. I was also really pissed that Austin and Rock never had their rematch.

The invasion has been discussed time and time again, so I will skip that.

2001 though did help me turn into a fan of Kurt Angle. I just hated his character during 2000. But the night after he lost the title, Angle snapped a showed an aggressive streak that I loved, and became a fan there.

**The Naitch** · 01-07-2006, 04:41 PM

when news came out about the WCW buyout, did you expect the Invasion angle to start sooner right after Mania instead of it starting later in the summer?

**Innovator** · 01-07-2006, 05:37 PM

The splaya pulled with RVD in 2001 was ridiculous

**Russenmafia** · 01-07-2006, 05:54 PM

2001 did have its good points...

Amazing Austin vs HHH match at No Way Out.

WM17

Austin vs Angle

Paranoid WWF Champion Stone Cold Steve Austin

Jericho winning the big one.

**jerichoholic169** · 01-07-2006, 06:02 PM

wasn't the 2001 RR the one with Drew Carey!?!?! Geez. And getting Tazz eliminated after 3 seconds as well. The only matches i can remember from 2001 that really stand out are Jericho winning at Vengeance and the RR match between him and Benoit when Benoit did that diving headbutt through the ropes and Jericho nailed him with the chair. Ah good times.

**Russenmafia** · 01-07-2006, 06:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jerichoholic169

wasn't the 2001 RR the one with Drew Carey!?!?! Geez. And getting Tazz eliminated after 3 seconds as well. The only matches i can remember from 2001 that really stand out are Jericho winning at Vengeance and the RR match between him and Benoit when Benoit did that diving headbutt through the ropes and Jericho nailed him with the chair. Ah good times.

Drew Carey was in RR 2001. When Kane came to the ring he crapped it and eliminated himself.

**Mr. Nerfect** · 01-07-2006, 06:33 PM

2001 was the first year I considered myself a wrestling fan. The start of the year was fantastic, the 2001 Royal Rumble was a great PPV, and then you had No Way Out and WrestleMania X7.

WMX7 concluded the Attitude era, and the WWE needed to find a new identity. Who was the crowd hot for, but Jericho & Benoit. It upset me that they didn't put the belt on one of these two. Jericho probably would have been the better choice. Once Jericho was WWE Champion, you would have probably been right to have Booker T come in, trying to get the WWE to recognise him as World Champion, and have a unification match between Chris Jericho & Booker T at Summerslam. Jericho wins, but only barely. Benoit wins a feud with Austin, Survivor Series gives us Chris Jericho vs. Chris Benoit for the WWE Championship. That shit would have been awesome. With guys like RVD, Kanyon, the cruiserweights and Diamond Dallas Page being slowly introduced, the feuds and storylines would have been more methodical, made more sense and create a better vibe.

You'd probably still end up with Chris Jericho vs. The Rock at RR '02, with Jericho turning heel and holding the belt until WrestleMania, where he would still lose it to a now babyface Triple H, but the overall year in 2001 would have been a more quality based one, with Jericho looking like a money man.

2001 was one of those years that "could have been", but ended up being largely forgettable.

**Russenmafia** · 01-07-2006, 06:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alienoid06

2001 was the first year I considered myself a wrestling fan. The start of the year was fantastic, the 2001 Royal Rumble was a great PPV, and then you had No Way Out and WrestleMania X7.

WMX7 concluded the Attitude era, and the WWE needed to find a new identity. Who was the crowd hot for, but Jericho & Benoit. It upset me that they didn't put the belt on one of these two. Jericho probably would have been the better choice. Once Jericho was WWE Champion, you would have probably been right to have Booker T come in, trying to get the WWE to recognise him as World Champion, and have a unification match between Chris Jericho & Booker T at Summerslam. Jericho wins, but only barely. Benoit wins a feud with Austin, Survivor Series gives us Chris Jericho vs. Chris Benoit for the WWE Championship. That shit would have been awesome. With guys like RVD, Kanyon, the cruiserweights and Diamond Dallas Page being slowly introduced, the feuds and storylines would have been more methodical, made more sense and create a better vibe.

You'd probably still end up with Chris Jericho vs. The Rock at RR '02, with Jericho turning heel and holding the belt until WrestleMania, where he would still lose it to a now babyface Triple H, but the overall year in 2001 would have been a more quality based one, with Jericho looking like a money man.

2001 was one of those years that "could have been", but ended up being largely forgettable.

not totally forgettable, I still remember Austin's watch. Paranoid WWF Champ Steve Austin was a great character.

**Y3J** · 01-07-2006, 08:18 PM

Basically, Invasion screwed that year up, as the start of 2001 was hot

**D Mac** · 01-07-2006, 09:24 PM

**Favre4Ever** · 01-07-2006, 11:54 PM

Jericho, Benoit and Austin all had some fucking tight matches in 2001.

**Johnny Vegas** · 01-08-2006, 12:36 AM

Does anybody have a video of the Rock's return in 2001?

**The Naitch** · 01-08-2006, 12:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Diesel Mac

at the end of the day, it was still a fucking joke

**The Naitch** · 01-08-2006, 12:44 AM

which leaves me to this:

When The Rock returned, it was still intense, serious and it was one of the best if not the main highlights of 2001, and it didnt have to resort to comedic value to get a fucking pop like Angle and Austin did when they sang their songs and fought eachother for hugs

**Savio** · 01-08-2006, 12:54 AM

2001

**Savio** · 01-08-2006, 12:54 AM

2001 had alot of funny backstage moments.

**Johnny Vegas** · 01-08-2006, 01:51 AM

Yo P, you got that Rock return video?

**Savio** · 01-08-2006, 01:55 AM

in 01? no

**Favre4Ever** · 01-08-2006, 05:00 AM

The thing that sucked about 2001 is that 9/11 affected the product a lot more than people recognize......and of course, face Triple H getting shoved down our throats didnt help much either.

No, wait, that was 2002.

.....but still.

**Londoner** · 01-08-2006, 12:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hulkamania320

The thing that sucked about 2001 is that 9/11 affected the product a lot more than people recognize......and of course, face Triple H getting shoved down our throats didnt help much either.

No, wait, that was 2002.

.....but still.

You're right about the 9/11 thing, I think that was the end of the attitude era. I wish they would change it back as it would give more of an attitude feel to it again.

**John la Rock** · 01-08-2006, 01:15 PM

the biggest ball drop was the night after WM. HHH was so insanely over at the time. he ran into the cage and everyone thought we was going to deck Austin but turned around and clocked The Rock. then he went on to win the IC title.

It could have started a huge HHH vs Austin feud for Summerslam but the fucked up royally

**KingofOldSchool** · 01-08-2006, 02:58 PM

Well remember, before HHH's injury...they were building towards a HHH/Austin program with Triple H finally turning full-fledged face.

But if I remember right, the long term goal was to have HHH/Austin at Wrestlemania X-8. It would've been kinda like The Mega Powers, only the Austin/HHH team were heels.

01-06-2006, 03:45 AM	#1
The Naitch RAPTURE READY. Posts: 31,936	I know that people thought that 2001 was worth nothing But remember the Kurt Angle vs. Austin feud?

01-06-2006, 04:00 AM	#2
RP King of Love and Piss Posts: 62,991	Yah it was one of the most underrated " ball drops " ever. I think they actually murdered both of those guy's momentum at one point in that fued. It was pretty brutal. Could have been classic.

01-06-2006, 04:01 AM	#3
The Naitch RAPTURE READY. Posts: 31,936	i remember they put the strap on Angle right after 9/11

01-06-2006, 04:07 AM	#4
D Mac Posts: 21,603	Was that the one where Angle drove in a milk truck on RAW and sprayed Austin and Vince with milk?

01-06-2006, 05:11 AM	#5
LK It's Clobbering Time! Posts: 5,337	Yeah there was some serious Splaya action there. I liked 2001 just because of the night that ECW was re-formed. Even if it was for less than one show.

01-06-2006, 08:33 PM	#6
The CyNick Make the IWC Great Again Posts: 8,922	2001 was filled with bad decisions by WWE. The Angle-Austin fued was awesome right through Summerslam, but then they blew it. I always thought the Austin heel turn was a mistake that they made twice in 2001, but they had a chance to make good of it with Angle coming off Summerslam. 9/11 happening as sad as this sounds could have been a huge break for the company, but they didn't use it. Instead of making Angle the bad ass babyface that Austin used to be, they had him spray himself and a bunch of other men with white liquid. They also tried to make him be funny, which he is great at, but it doesn't help him draw money. The Austin-Ange fued was awesome, but I think it could have been used like Hart0-Austin was in 96/97 and could have created the hier apparant to Austin, but of course it didn't. Sad.

01-06-2006, 08:49 PM	#7
Loose Cannon I'm all there is Posts: 31,811	god they pissed me off so many times in 2001. That was one of them. The other two worth noting for me was when Austin and RVD were getting into it (after Austin turned for the 2nd time) and Austin goes "I don't like you" and RVD goes "I don't like you eathier" and the crowd popped huge. Then they just did nothing and RVD became just an Austin stooge. So stupid. The other was Taz when he and Austin were getting into it for like 3 weeks, but they did nothing with that eathier.

01-06-2006, 09:11 PM	#8
The Naitch RAPTURE READY. Posts: 31,936	And they never did a Rock vs. Austin rematch either. They just sang songs and Rock gave him a Rock Bottom. Sure they were the final two at Survivor Series, but it should've been one on one Also, why the hell did they have Angle join the Alliance and turn heel for like 2 weeks? I know it was to be as a mole but that made it even worse Here are the good things about 2001: Jericho becoming Undisputed Champ, but even they pissed on that Hmmm, an honest to God good 2001 moment would probably be.... Thinking... Hmmm.... Probably The Rock's return in Philly, where he turned for 20 seconds only to Rock Bottom Shane and join the WWF You seldom see debris thrown in the ring (in WWE) but someone did it here, right after he Rock Bottomed Vince.

01-06-2006, 09:15 PM	#9
The Naitch RAPTURE READY. Posts: 31,936	I also thought it was amazing how we could hate Vince through out the late 90's-X7, yet when he was fighting off the Alliance, he became the biggest babyface

01-06-2006, 09:43 PM	#10
Boondock Saint Posts: 8,795	I love the Austin/Angle match from Summerslam.

01-06-2006, 11:38 PM	#11
Taker Fan The Mink Posts: 4,224	I thought that 2001 started off great with 3 really good PPVs. The Rumble, which featured Jericho/Benoit Ladder match, and a good Rumble match..No Way Out was a really good show IMO, which had a good fatal four way for the IC title, Austin/HHH, Rock/Angle, and of course WM X-7 which was just awesome. But then, once Austin turned heel everything just went downhill. This left Taker/Kane as the top faces and Backlash was headlined with a RAW main event tag team match, which only notable moment on the PPV was when Shane jumped off the tron. EDIT- Wow how did I forget the Angle/Benoit Submission match... Judgment Day was meh, even though I thought the HHH/Kane chain match was pretty good, and plus they had a good tag team turmoil with Jericho/Benoit winning the belts. Then in June they had TLC 3 which was an awesome match, but it was kind of forgettable because it really had no hype, and was just a way to get Jericho/Benoit over as champs. Also, KOTR was a good show, which Angle worked two good matches with Edge and Christian, and a great street fight with Shane. And then in the summer, the Invasion happened and it seemed like Vince was reluctant make have any WCW stars highlight any show as already developed WWE wrestlers were joining the Alliance. So it was basically just WWE vs. WWE (I noticed that in the "Winner Take All" Match there were only 2 wrestlers they came from WCW or ECW which were RVD and Booker T) But the year was capped off by Jericho winning the Undisputed Title , but it was obvious that he wasn't being booked correctly as he was destroyed by Austin the very next night, barely escaping with his newly won title. So the year started off really well I thought, then they botched a highly anticipated angle by not giving the former competition a chance to shine, and they ended the year by finally giving Jericho the title. Wow, I actually felt like writing a quick review of the whole year.

01-07-2006, 04:19 PM	#12
RGWhat316 YesYesYes! Posts: 4,163	2001 was alright to me, but there was alot of mistakes that shouldn't have been made. I will always look at the night after Wrestlemania as a reason why WWE started to go downhill. Rock was leaving, Austin had just turned heel, then we have HHH tease a face turn, but then turn heel and align himself with Austin. So before WM, the top 2 faces were Austin and Rock, after WM the top 2 faces were Undertaker and Kane. And to me, Taker and Kane just didn't have enough popularity to carry the company as faces as much as Austin and Rock could. I was also really pissed that Austin and Rock never had their rematch. The invasion has been discussed time and time again, so I will skip that. 2001 though did help me turn into a fan of Kurt Angle. I just hated his character during 2000. But the night after he lost the title, Angle snapped a showed an aggressive streak that I loved, and became a fan there.

01-07-2006, 04:41 PM	#13
The Naitch RAPTURE READY. Posts: 31,936	when news came out about the WCW buyout, did you expect the Invasion angle to start sooner right after Mania instead of it starting later in the summer?

01-07-2006, 05:37 PM	#14
Innovator Inno Knows. Posts: 43,710	The splaya pulled with RVD in 2001 was ridiculous

01-07-2006, 05:54 PM	#15
Russenmafia Scottish Champions 2009 Posts: 744	2001 did have its good points... Amazing Austin vs HHH match at No Way Out. WM17 Austin vs Angle Paranoid WWF Champion Stone Cold Steve Austin Jericho winning the big one.

01-07-2006, 06:02 PM	#16
jerichoholic169 Posts: 585	wasn't the 2001 RR the one with Drew Carey!?!?! Geez. And getting Tazz eliminated after 3 seconds as well. The only matches i can remember from 2001 that really stand out are Jericho winning at Vengeance and the RR match between him and Benoit when Benoit did that diving headbutt through the ropes and Jericho nailed him with the chair. Ah good times.

01-07-2006, 06:33 PM	#18
Mr. Nerfect Posts: 61,533	2001 was the first year I considered myself a wrestling fan. The start of the year was fantastic, the 2001 Royal Rumble was a great PPV, and then you had No Way Out and WrestleMania X7. WMX7 concluded the Attitude era, and the WWE needed to find a new identity. Who was the crowd hot for, but Jericho & Benoit. It upset me that they didn't put the belt on one of these two. Jericho probably would have been the better choice. Once Jericho was WWE Champion, you would have probably been right to have Booker T come in, trying to get the WWE to recognise him as World Champion, and have a unification match between Chris Jericho & Booker T at Summerslam. Jericho wins, but only barely. Benoit wins a feud with Austin, Survivor Series gives us Chris Jericho vs. Chris Benoit for the WWE Championship. That shit would have been awesome. With guys like RVD, Kanyon, the cruiserweights and Diamond Dallas Page being slowly introduced, the feuds and storylines would have been more methodical, made more sense and create a better vibe. You'd probably still end up with Chris Jericho vs. The Rock at RR '02, with Jericho turning heel and holding the belt until WrestleMania, where he would still lose it to a now babyface Triple H, but the overall year in 2001 would have been a more quality based one, with Jericho looking like a money man. 2001 was one of those years that "could have been", but ended up being largely forgettable.

01-07-2006, 08:18 PM	#20
Y3J Mr. No MITB Posts: 952	Basically, Invasion screwed that year up, as the start of 2001 was hot

01-07-2006, 11:54 PM	#22
Favre4Ever Incoming Text Posts: 2,646	Jericho, Benoit and Austin all had some fucking tight matches in 2001.

01-08-2006, 12:36 AM	#23
Johnny Vegas Head on a Rollercoaster Posts: 6,756	Does anybody have a video of the Rock's return in 2001?

01-08-2006, 12:44 AM	#25
The Naitch RAPTURE READY. Posts: 31,936	which leaves me to this: When The Rock returned, it was still intense, serious and it was one of the best if not the main highlights of 2001, and it didnt have to resort to comedic value to get a fucking pop like Angle and Austin did when they sang their songs and fought eachother for hugs

01-08-2006, 12:54 AM	#26
Savio Spammy Certified Posts: 46,115	2001

01-08-2006, 01:51 AM	#28
Johnny Vegas Head on a Rollercoaster Posts: 6,756	Yo P, you got that Rock return video?

01-08-2006, 01:55 AM	#29
Savio Spammy Certified Posts: 46,115	in 01? no

01-08-2006, 05:00 AM	#30
Favre4Ever Incoming Text Posts: 2,646	The thing that sucked about 2001 is that 9/11 affected the product a lot more than people recognize......and of course, face Triple H getting shoved down our throats didnt help much either. No, wait, that was 2002. .....but still.

01-08-2006, 01:15 PM	#32
John la Rock That's how I roll!!! Posts: 4,437	the biggest ball drop was the night after WM. HHH was so insanely over at the time. he ran into the cage and everyone thought we was going to deck Austin but turned around and clocked The Rock. then he went on to win the IC title. It could have started a huge HHH vs Austin feud for Summerslam but the fucked up royally

01-08-2006, 02:58 PM	#33
KingofOldSchool ...IN HD!!!! Posts: 23,327	Well remember, before HHH's injury...they were building towards a HHH/Austin program with Triple H finally turning full-fledged face. But if I remember right, the long term goal was to have HHH/Austin at Wrestlemania X-8. It would've been kinda like The Mega Powers, only the Austin/HHH team were heels.