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#1 |
facebook.com/bloquemen
Posts: 5,452
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The first half of 2001
I've been watching some Raws and Smackdowns from June, right before the King of the Ring, and everything I remember being awesome is still pretty damn awesome watching again 8-9 years later.
Edge, Christian, and Kurt Angle Regal and Tajiri Hardcore title still had some good matches King of the Ring Austin and Spike's two show feud Angle vs Shane at KotR Austin talking to Tajiri privately The Invasion was the beginning of the end for WWE, but there were still some great moments over the next couple of years. You know, I find it really sad that we have to wait weeks, sometimes months, just to see some great moments. WWE is better now than they were four years ago, but they still have a long way to go. I miss enjoying every show. I watched Saturn with Terri go on a double date with Malenko and some slut. Saturn was stupid at this point and the girl loved everything he was saying. Malenko was getting jealous so he says to his date "You know, pigeons wear lipstick to get out of parking tickets". Fucking awesome. Post your favorite memories from any company. |
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#2 |
facebook.com/bloquemen
Posts: 5,452
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X-Pac is wearing overalls. Apparently it was 1993 in 2001.
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#3 |
facebook.com/bloquemen
Posts: 5,452
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Ahahahaha. Vince talking to Austin about the hug. I wonder what DDP thought about the hugs.
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#4 |
Skibbidy Lock Jaw
Posts: 88,654
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Where are you getting these shows?
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#5 |
Feeling Oof-y
Posts: 17,151
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Right, I'm gonna say something now and I'm not sure anyine is gonna have a clue what I'm talking about, but here goes...
Is it just me or in the early part of 2001 did the colour of WWE look more vibrant? I really don't know how to explain it but I remember watching a few of the PPVs (Backlash & Judgment Day spring to mind) and the colour just looks different. |
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#6 |
facebook.com/bloquemen
Posts: 5,452
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Blackman, here: http://livewrestling-hd.com/
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#7 |
Get a poke on
Posts: 35,234
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The first half of 2001 was absolutely fantastic. It may have been the peak of pro wrestling. Things looked great. All of the established stars of the attitude era were healthy and present, new and exciting stars like Jericho, Angle and _______ were gaining momentum and popularity, and began getting pushed. The tag team division was epic.
Looking at the WWF alone, everything about the roster and the company was in great shape, and there was plenty to look forward to. On it's own, without the added excitement of the upcoming influx of talent, there were lots of good things on the horizon. To make matters better, the company had aquired ECW and all of their top talent, and the services of Paul Heyman.and they owned WCW and were slowly building to what was going to be the biggest storyline of all time. It was a wrestling fans wildest dream. I was pumped just to see what was coming next for the WWF guys, let alone the arrival of Booker, DDP, Goldberg, Steiner, nWo, Lance Storm, RVD, any tons of others. I'm not going to get into the second half of the year |
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#8 |
Get a poke on
Posts: 35,234
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The Two Man Power trip and their fueds with The Hardys, Taker & Kane, and Jericho & Benoit were awesome
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#9 |
facebook.com/bloquemen
Posts: 5,452
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Kane was tagging with the Hardys and there was a really loud chant of "WE WANT KANE". Remember when Kane was an upper mid card guy instead of the guy who would job to Barry Horowitz?
I think Team Xtreme might have been the most popular thing that summer, but that's getting into the second half of the year. They were still mad over pretty much since 98. Last edited by Dorkchop; 01-19-2009 at 05:23 PM. |
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#10 |
Get a poke on
Posts: 35,234
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I thought that summer would have been a good time for a Kane title run, since he was over as fuck. It was clear that they were looking to hold off on Jericho for a while, rightfully so. HHH and Benoit were hurt, and instead of rushing into the Invasion they should have built it slower and waited until they had it ironed out.
A Stone Cold/Kane fued would have been over as hell, and would have been a good oppurtunity to make Kane a champion for longer than 24 hours. |
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#11 |
That's Not My Name
Posts: 9,086
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#12 |
Get a poke on
Posts: 35,234
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Well, it certainly had some awesome matches, and there's no denying that the roster was also great. There were a few great moments, but there should have been dozens of really really great moments.
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#13 |
That's Not My Name
Posts: 9,086
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I'd consider the night of the Fred Blassie motivational speech/the return of the "old" Stone Cold as one of THE definitive WWF/WWE moments.
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#14 |
Get a poke on
Posts: 35,234
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Well, there's no reason they couldn't have had that, and some of the other moments, while still handling the whole thing well.
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#15 |
That's Not My Name
Posts: 9,086
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Not arguing with you. But a lot of the golden moments of that period get washed away in the torrent of abuse the Invasion receives. While it was mishandled and ruined by the XFL, there were still some great moments that wrongly get overlooked.
I'd take Invasion era WWF over today's product any time. |
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#16 |
Doin' It Right
Posts: 35,461
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^ word
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#17 |
EATER OF HOT POCKETS
Posts: 14,340
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I'd take it over a lot of points in modern wrestling history. There were two pretty big reasons it was less cool than it could have been: first of all, you couldn't "hold off" the Invasion... what the hell was all that ex-WCW talent going to do? Sit on their asses and collect checks? Yeah, that's a way to run a business. The other half of the equation was that the WWF was suffering from a pretty bad hangover after the high points of the Attitude Era. There was a lot to behold in the latter part of '01, but the fact that fans had become accustomed to such greatness left them feeling a little let down. IMO.
And as an aside, a lot of drooling fanboys will refuse to admit that anything good happened during that time owing largely to the fact that RVD wasn't given the WWF title in a golden bong the moment he set foot in the company. |
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#18 | |
Posts: 61,533
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Quote:
While 2001 was in so many ways an awesome year, there are a few things I think they could have done better. While many liked the Two Man Power Trip, I think things were pretty perfectly set-up so that Triple H could turn face (like originally teased) to do battle with Austin. Especially considering Triple H went over Austin in 3 Stages of Hell at No Way Out. I guess that was the direction they were thinking about heading after Austin & Hunter lost the World Tag Team Championship to Chris Benoit & Chris Jericho, but injuries obviously got in the way of that. It's just that a lot of fans were turned away after Austin turned heel, and instead of creating a new top babyface to challenge Austin in The Rock's absence, they decided to have the remaining two of the "top three" act as heels. Another of the WWE's bigger mistakes in 2001, in my opinion, was turning Booker T & Shane McMahon heel just for the sake of making the WCW guys all "evil." When Booker first jumped the barricade and put Austin through an announce table, the fans went NUTS. With The Rock out making a movie, Booker T would have been another great candidate to step-up and challenge Austin. A heel Austin vs. face Booker feud, pitting the WWE Champion against the WCW Champion could have been huge for the WWE. Instead they turned Booker into a clown and a Rock "wannabe." |
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#19 | |
Posts: 61,533
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#20 | |
That's Not My Name
Posts: 9,086
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Quote:
There had to be clarity for the angle to have any kind of lasting chance, and one side had to be presented as the antagonists, Did you really think Vince was gonna present the WWF as the bad guys against WCW? The main things that fucked up the Invasion: 1. Stephanie McMahon. Her first big angle in charge of the creative team, and she proved out of her depth. 2. XFL. A massive distraction for Vince McMahon, and a huge drain on his resources, leading to.... 3. Vince's XFL-forced frugality = no big name WCW topliners. WCW was made up of nobodies and guys who had defected from WWF for the angle. The only true WCW stars were Booker T, who had become a main eventer long after most had stopped watching Nitro, and DDP who was instantly made to look like shit by Undertaker. The third factor is made a more bitter pill to swallow by the fact that when the Invasion angle was dead and buried, Vince proceeded to dip his hand in his pockets and bring in ALL the guys who would have made the angle white hot... Hogan, Bischoff, Hall, Nash, Flair, Steiner, Goldberg... squandered opportunity yes, but don't let that big disappointment detract from some of the great moments the Invasion angle did manage to muster up, plus hark back to a time in late 2001 when Rob Van Dam was the most over guy in the company, the Paranoid Rattlesnake's "What?" gimmick had yet to grow annoying, Vince/Austin/Angle were gold and great matches were taking place left, right and centre. |
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#21 |
Voices in my Head
Posts: 742
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It was more vibrant, NOT TO MENTION, Backlash that year kicked so much ass. Judgment Day was awesome too. But no I have said it before, 2001 was my favorite year, I know most of you think the Alliance was the beginning of the end, but I think it was a great start to something awesome, but newer wrestlers like John Cena and Batista came along. All of the REAL wrestlers either killed their family, died of natural causes, or got fired due to Mary-Jane or Roids. Some also just got too old and it was time for them to retire. It sucks that wrestling takes a toll on a man's body, if only it was something that many could keep doing until the day they die.
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#22 | |
Posts: 61,533
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#23 |
EATER OF HOT POCKETS
Posts: 14,340
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#24 | |
Shelly Martinez = Ratings
Posts: 23,615
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Quote:
2001 was a pretty great year. I loved the Two Man Power Trip, the awesomeness of the Tag Team division and some of the moments from the Invasion angle (though that's more the second half of the year). One thing I will say about that though, is that I wish there had been other guys to stand out in addition to RVD, Rhyno and Tazz. |
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#25 | |
Get a poke on
Posts: 35,234
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Like I said, the guys on the roster, the match quality and the overall presentation right down to the crowd was great. I prefer watching stuff from then that I've already seen to most of what currently comes out in either of the televised promotions. So without a doubt I'd rather be watching that unfold live. I'd just have to do so at peace with the fact that it failed to live up to expectations. |
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#26 | |
Get a poke on
Posts: 35,234
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Quote:
In my opinion, the build towards the invasino with Shane buying the company was awesome, and paced right. Then they went hog wild. I would have liked to have seen it stretched out longer so that it didn't become declared until Summerslam, and didn't really heat up in ring until Survivor Series. They should have terrorized and made an impact longer, before getting in the ring. Then it could have taken them through Mania. ECW would be better utilized as a third party, and only a small crew of guys (RVD, Tazz, Rhyno, Dudleys, Raven). They'd also be better used later down the road, after the novelty of WWF vs WCW was fully absorbed. Then after existing for a while, sure, they could have struck a deal with WCW, but instead of being absorbed it should have been more of an "alliance." Oh, and Stone Cold should have stayed face after turning back. He never should have jumped sides. If anyone should have, it should have been The Rock, or HHH upon returning. As for the WCW stable that "invades", less is more. OH FUCKING WELL |
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#27 |
Shelly Martinez = Ratings
Posts: 23,615
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Yeah, I thought it started very well too. It seemed more rushed than anything to me, like they got to a certain point and said, "Oh shit. Where do we go from here?" (Kind of like The Legacy thing was until last week.)
I like the idea of a small ECW crew, and for them being used later. They kind of got lost in the shuffle, except for those previously mentioned. Again, the whole thing seemed very rushed. I liked Stone Cold's role in it, jumping sides and all. But I do like the idea of Rock or HHH. It could have been interesting with either of those three. So basically I agree with everything you said here. Word. ![]() |
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#28 |
Get a poke on
Posts: 35,234
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It's not that Austin wasn't interesting. It was jsut that he had done the heel thing that summer, and from a kayfabe point of view him leaving WWF wasn't the most interesting.
The Rock hadn't played heel in a while, and as a silver spoon WWF guy he hadn't experienced WCW. He could leave to spite Vince for favoring Austin that year. Makes far more sense, and seems far more interesting to me. Rock was never buried or held down by WCW. And HHH of course makes a ton of sense too because a) he's a god amongst heels, b) he was returning and would have great momentum and heat for jumping ship. |
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#29 | |
That's Not My Name
Posts: 9,086
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Triple H was out injured until January, when the Invasion was over... he missed the entire thing.
Rock was part-time and working on The Scorpion King. He could have maybe turned heel upon his return around SummerSlam time, but I suppose they wanted to keep him face to help the promotion of the movie. Quote:
Check out No Mercy 2001, in which RVD is in a WWE title main event just a couple of months after his debut, and is the most over guy on the card with that night's crowd. |
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#30 |
Stupid Sexy Flanders
Posts: 1,728
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I'm a little late to the party, but one part of early 2001 that I really liked were the two Austin/Benoit WWF title matches in Canada on back-to-back shows in late May. The "Screwjob Part 2" schtick they did in Calgary on Raw was pretty dumb (Vince at ringside yelling at the timekeeper to ring the bell when Austin locked the sharpshooter on Benoit), but that match was very entertaining.
The rematch on Smackdown in Edmonton was even better...one of the hottest crowds I can remember seeing on TV, with so many near falls and tap outs that it was genuinely unpredictable. Benoit wailing on Vince with a chair was awesome, too...it's one of those matches that I wish would show up in the war room thread some day. One of my favorite TV matches ever, really. Then there was the classic cage match on Raw between Angle and Benoit that was right before the Austin/Benoit/Jericho match at KOTR. Great match with some great bumps (Angle missing the moonsault from the top of the cage, Benoit's flying headbutt from the top, etc.), and Austin was good on commentary, too. |
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#31 |
Doin' It Right
Posts: 35,461
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You just gave me some great ideas for the next War-Room session
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#32 | |
Posts: 61,533
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On RVD, in hindsight (always easier), I think he should have won the 2002 Royal Rumble. Had Chris Jericho defend the WWE Title against RVD in the main event of WrestleMania X-8, and have a special attraction of Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock & Triple H vs. The nWo (Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash & Scott Hall). The nWo, although a 2002 thing, was another angle that fizzled out way sooner than it should have. |
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#33 | |
Scottish Champions 2009
Posts: 744
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Quote:
![]() I loved the first half of 2001. So many amazing matches and the best PPV of all time (WM17). I just wish that Rock faced Austin for the title at Summerslam when he returned so he could get his payback on Austin. Just a shame he had to wait till Survivor Series. |
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#34 |
That's Not My Name
Posts: 9,086
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I've always touted WM X-Seven as the best PPV of all time, but to be honest, watching it out of context and analysing the actual card itself, a lot of it was tremendous, some of it was fun, but there was a fair share of dud, and a lot of underwhelming matches too.
If I stopped to think about it for a while, I'm sure I'd come to the decision that there have been better PPVs since, at the very least one. Maybe none that equalled the value of it in its time and place, the pinnacle of the Attitude era capped off by its two biggest stars, and the whole excitement in the biz at that time... but viewed standalone, I no longer think WM17 is the best PPV of all time. (Even though I'm loathe to appoint its successor by name without giving it some consideration.) |
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#35 |
That's Not My Name
Posts: 9,086
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Another 2001 gem... Raven vs Rhyno, Backlash.
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#36 |
That's Not My Name
Posts: 9,086
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#37 | |
Get a poke on
Posts: 35,234
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Quote:
Yea, I'm aware of that. What I meant to imply was not only would they have been wiser choices, but it was also under the premise that the invasion started later and lasted longer, which I thought I suggested earlier. |
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#38 |
He's Here
Posts: 60,735
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I'd say the best part about 2001 was Buff Bagwell.
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#39 | |
EATER OF HOT POCKETS
Posts: 14,340
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#40 | |
EATER OF HOT POCKETS
Posts: 14,340
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