thecrusherwi
El Dandy
the Financially Responsible Man
Brawl For All
Posts: 7,683
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Post by thecrusherwi on Aug 12, 2021 12:27:27 GMT -5
2002 felt like the year the wrestling I grew up with died. Within two years time, WCW and ECW were gone and the WWF changed it's name. Then in quick order Austin and Rock were done as full timers. Still, they had maybe the greatest collection of wrestling talent ever assembled, yet seemingly no idea what to do with it all. There were definitely some great things and the product was better than it is today, but it was such a steep decline from what it had been a couple years before that it was frustrating to watch.
From a fan perspective, 2002 felt like the hangover from the all-night party that was the Monday Night War/Wrestling Boom. After a 4-5 year run of everyone loving wrestling and talking about it constantly, 2002 is when it settled back in to being decidedly not cool. For those of us wrestling lifers, it was strange for everyone to go back to making fun or wrestling and wrestling fans in such quick order. It was like getting lurched right back into 1995 - in both popularity and in product quality.
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MolotovMocktail
Grimlock
Home of the 5-time, 5-time, 5-time, 5-time 5-time Super Bowl Champion 49ers-and Wrestlemania 31
Posts: 14,007
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Post by MolotovMocktail on Aug 13, 2021 1:51:35 GMT -5
It would soon be apparent that not having WCW and ECW to provide competition would ultimately be an issue, but you can't deny that at this time, the WWF/E had arguably the most stacked roster in pro wrestling history:
-Hulk Hogan -Steve Austin -The Rock -Kurt Angle -Ric Flair -HHH -Shawn Michaels -Undertaker -Kane -Brock Lesnar -Big Show -Edge -Christian -Chris Jericho -The Hardy Boyz -The Dudley Boyz -Rob Van Dam -Booker T -Chris Benoit -Eddie Guerrero -And that's just scratching the surface of guys who could be considered main event and upper midcard.
They legitimately could do a brand split with two solid rosters (and they actually had a good kayfabe explanation for doing so). As some of these guys left, the cracks started showing, but at the time, even though the Attitude Era was clearly over, it was still an exciting time to be a fan.
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alexm
Mike the Goon
Posts: 33
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Post by alexm on Aug 14, 2021 17:09:32 GMT -5
I thought it was ok, still in disbelief they had screwed up the invasion and at the end that they thought Katie Vick was a good idea.
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Post by Mike Strike on Aug 14, 2021 17:48:37 GMT -5
We were like this close to DX vs. NWO actually happening. Boy, were the gods not kind that year.
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bob
Salacious Crumb
The "other" Bob. FOC COURSE!
started the Madness Wars, Proudly the #1 Nana Hater on FAN
Posts: 79,149
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Post by bob on Aug 14, 2021 18:04:46 GMT -5
WWE really should've been a lot better in 2002
they had most of the stars from WCW and ECW working for them, but they buried almost of all them because Vince is petty as hell
RAW was in the year 1 of the reign or terror ----- RAW was miserable
Smackdown was much more interesting, which admittedly isn't saying much.
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Post by sungod2020 on Aug 17, 2021 18:37:26 GMT -5
Here's another moment in 2002 that screams they were trying to re-create the Attitude Era - the ill-faded Austin/Flair feud. While Austin's feud was Mr. McMahon as the evil boss stacking the odds against the Texas Rattlesnake was well received and brought alot of memorable moments, his feud with Flair was nothing more than a re-hash. Flair didn't even come off as heelish in the feud.
This should've been a sign at that point that Austin was spinning his wheels. Not to mention he was burnt out physically and while he still had the pop from the audience, his star has faded. He felt out of place during that time and after he put over Brock Lesnar(which was the original plan), I can't see how much longer he could've lasted if he didn't walk out and quit. I certainly can't see him make it to Wrestlemania XIX and have that final showdown with The Rock given his physical state he was in.
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Post by Cry Me a Wiggle on Aug 17, 2021 18:52:57 GMT -5
There was no real stability in 2002. The tail-end of 2000 was a sign of things to come with the booking getting significantly worse (corresponding to when Stephanie's writing team took over), 2001 was obviously a legendary blunder with the InVasion, but it was 2002 that showed a stark lack of any commitment to direction or build that would become the status quo of any WWE storyline or angle until the present day.
In just one year you had :
-Vince McMahon bringing in the nWo to take out co-owner Ric Flair and destroy the company -Hogan almost immediately turning face -The Raw/Smackdown Brand Split -Austin leaving -The whole company's name being changed -Flair's co-ownership abandoned but the Brand Split remaining -The nWo disbanded -The concept of GMs introduced -Super face Triple H turning heel -The Undisputed Championship, which had been the sole champion of both brands, being split into two between Raw and Smackdown -The title status quo changing with of the mid-card titles consolidated into the Intercontinental Championship, which was then unified with the World Championship, and the Women's Championship being made exclusive to Raw
Like, I know WWF moved at a breakneck pace during the Crash TV days, but at least you had a certain structure that everything still adhered to. The internal logical of the promotion and two brands changed on a week-to-week basis, with McMahon and crew hitting the reset button more often than not. Instead of storylines reaching their natural conclusion, Vince McMahon would just come out and tell us they were over. It was scattershot nonsense, but they were still riding the wave of the Attitude Era, plus the exciting additions of all of the ex-WCW and ECW wrestlers joining the roster. The rot had set in, but it would take years for it to really be noticeable.
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Post by dgenerationmc on Aug 17, 2021 19:05:23 GMT -5
Here's another moment in 2002 that screams they were trying to re-create the Attitude Era - the ill-faded Austin/Flair feud. While Austin's feud was Mr. McMahon as the evil boss stacking the odds against the Texas Rattlesnake was well received and brought alot of memorable moments, his feud with Flair was nothing more than a re-hash. Flair didn't even come off as heelish in the feud. This should've been a sign at that point that Austin was spinning his wheels. Not to mention he was burnt out physically and while he still had the pop from the audience, his star has faded. He felt out of place during that time and after he put over Brock Lesnar(which was the original plan), I can't see how much longer he could've lasted if he didn't walk out and quit. I certainly can't see him make it to Wrestlemania XIX and have that final showdown with The Rock given his physical state he was in. Had the match with Lesnar actually happened in 2002, the smart play would've been to use it to write Austin off TV for awhile. Maybe even for the rest of the year and have him come back at the Rumble fresh and ready to call it a career at Mania.
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Post by Bob Schlapowitz on Aug 17, 2021 21:04:08 GMT -5
Here's another moment in 2002 that screams they were trying to re-create the Attitude Era - the ill-faded Austin/Flair feud. While Austin's feud was Mr. McMahon as the evil boss stacking the odds against the Texas Rattlesnake was well received and brought alot of memorable moments, his feud with Flair was nothing more than a re-hash. Flair didn't even come off as heelish in the feud. This should've been a sign at that point that Austin was spinning his wheels. Not to mention he was burnt out physically and while he still had the pop from the audience, his star has faded. He felt out of place during that time and after he put over Brock Lesnar(which was the original plan), I can't see how much longer he could've lasted if he didn't walk out and quit. I certainly can't see him make it to Wrestlemania XIX and have that final showdown with The Rock given his physical state he was in. And they've tried to rehash that feud with others approximately 287 times since then.
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Cranjis McBasketball
Crow T. Robot
Knew what the hell that thing was supposed to be
Peace Love and Nothing But
Posts: 42,050
Member is Online
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Post by Cranjis McBasketball on Aug 18, 2021 2:09:12 GMT -5
It was the year creativity in wrestling basically ended for me. The name change represented a shift from stories and characters to random and mediocre shit. There have been some highlights since like Punk, Bryan, Shield etc....but few and far between. The decline has coincided with Vince's growing senility. I was a huge WWF fan. I hate WWE. This is pretty much it for me too. I really have nothing else to add. Exactly my sentimonies.
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msc
Dennis Stamp
Posts: 4,486
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Post by msc on Aug 18, 2021 12:56:29 GMT -5
I actually did a YouTube video years ago about WWE in 2002 - it got copyrighted by the WWE.
imo if you look beyond the infamous stuff (hi Katie Vick and getting rid of all the titles!), then there was a lot to enjoy in that year:
The Smackdown Six Brock's Rise. Undertaker's renaissance as WWE Champ A focus on pushing midcarders which they've never done to that extent again. Some underdog pushes just because fans liked them. Shawn's comeback Hogan v Rock Eddie Guerrero going from jobless rehab man to semi-main eventer inside 12 months. The many, many great matches. Booker T and Goldust. Summerslam 2002. The only real Lance Storm push in the WWF/E. Womens wrestling suddenly being taken quasi-seriously in WWE for first time since Alundra Blayze or even Wendi Richter. etc
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Ozman
Samurai Cop
Chi-Town!!!
Posts: 2,389
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Post by Ozman on Aug 18, 2021 20:16:34 GMT -5
My watching history is a bit weird. Started watching as a young child in 1985 (during the first Saturday Night’s Main Event). Kept watching until late 1995. When Shawn & Diesel won all the titles, I lost interest. I stopped watching wrestling all together in February of 1996 when I gave up on WCW (had no idea that the NWO was literally right around the corner).
I came back to wrestling when I heard that Owen Hart died on the news (Raw Is Owen was the first live wrestling show I watched since February of 1996). I’ve pretty much been watching non stop since late 1999/early 2000. That pretty much means I missed out on the first half of the Attitude Era (even though I’ve gone back and watched it all on the WWE Network).
As far as 2002 goes, I have fond memories of it mostly because of the early dominance of Brock Lesnar.
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