2001 really gets a bad rap....

[ToyfareMark]

Yes the Alliance angle wasnt good, but thats not what I'm talking about. The quality of good to great matches the WWF had in 2001 in my opinion has yet to be topped. There were good matches all year long. Just to name a few.

Jericho vs. Benoit ladder match at the Royal Rumble

The Rumble itself

Steve Austin vs. Triple H 3 stages of hell at No Way Out

Wrestlemania 17 nuff said

Kane vs. Triple H chain match at Judgment Day

Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit ultimate submission match

Austin/Triple H vs. Jericho/Benoit on Raw

Steve Austin vs. Chris Benoit on Smackdown

Benoit vs. Angle cage match on Raw

Shane McMahon vs. Kurt Angle street fight at King of the Ring

Austin vs. Benoit vs. Jericho at King of the Ring

Steve Austin vs. Kurt Angle at Summerslam (despite non finish)

The Rock vs. Chris Jericho at No Mercy

There are more, but I dont want to make this list too long. Anyway like i said...the Alliance angle I believe has made alot of people forget how many good matches we saw in 2001, and its a shame I think. I'd like to know what everyone else thinks.

[Red 'n' Black Reggie]

i genuinely believe that 2001 was the best year of wrestling ever. you had:

benoit and jericho in the main event
(in my opinion)the best wrestlemania ever
one of the best king of the ring tourneys ever
edge vs christian
shane mcmahon actually getting good in the ring
a good royal rumble
an awesome tag-team division (complete with tlc matches)

and much more juicy goodness that i probably forgot.

[Palatial Regalia]

I disagree 2000 was better then 2001. we had WCW's totally awesome undercards.

[Tea & Crumpets]

There are also many forgotten classics. Such as:
Raven/Rhyno at Backlash 01 (One of the few matches of the hardcore division that was actually good quality)
RVD/Jeff Hardy at InVasion
(IMO) RVD/Jeff Hardy at Summerslam 01

[wrath]

Well, if they didn't have their heads so far up their bums they could have had good storylines to go along with it.

[acressl]

'01 had good matches and dumb everything else.

[Sajoa Moe]

TLC 3 on Smackdown.

[krazysane]

Angle Benoit Cage Match, where angle moonsult and benoits headbutt off the top of the cage, awesome stuff.


And lets not forget Torrie Wilsons Debut in the wwf.

[Ben Wyatt]

toyfaremark said:

Kane vs. Triple H chain match at Judgment Day

I just saw this match on dailymotion a couple of days ago and I totally had forgotten how great that match was

[Arturo Classico]

I agree 2001 was a good year of Wrestling. Way better than now but it gets crapped on by people becuase of the second half of the year which had the worst invasion storyline of all time. The Alliance almost killed mainstream wrestling and it was bad, just really bad. I mean the beginning of the year was awesome but the second half of the year was god awful.

[Boomaga]

I'll say that the beginning of 2001 was incredible. 3 Stages of Hell was the match of the year in my opinion, Angle vs Shane was a great matchup and Wrestlemania X7 was my favorite Wrestlemania of the past 10 or so years.

However, once the Invasion began, what could have elevated wrestling to perhaps the greatest storyline of all time and some of the true dream matches in wrestling instead degenerated into McMahon vs. McMahon, that simple. Some good matches came out of it, but I'd say Summerslam is when the entire storyline and company took a downward turn it really hasn't recovered from yet.

[Aaron E. Dangerously]

Ok. when you're able to name the matches that were awesome, you know the year was sucky. A promotion should be able to have so many awesome matches, that fans LITERALLY cannot name all of them from a certain year.

No, I'm not exaggerating. Not about this.

[forgottensinpwf]

Austin vs Benoit was still one of the best matches i've ever seen. piss poor ending, but everything before that was pure gold from both Austin and Benoit.

[iamthegamewjwf]

I agree...2001 was a really good year. Hell...I may be the only one, but I even liked the alliance angle. Of couse it wasnt as good as everyone hoped the WWF vs WCW fued would be, but it was still fun in my opinion.

[j-man]

The Alliance angle was terrible and thankfully cut short, but I think Stone Cold as a heel was one of the funniest things ever. 2001 produced some of the best comedy segments in wrestling history between Stone Cold, Vince McMahon, and Kurt Angle.

[Dynamite Kid]

The Rumble in '01 was, in my opinion, one of the best in history, if only because Kane played such a major part.

Frankly, the existence of the Alliance angle alone should make it a high year. Yes it was a disappointment, but I'm not suer they could have (with the tools at their disposal) feasibly made it live up to expectations. The very fact that it happened in our lifetimes should have us thankful.

[Shy Guy]

krazysane said:

And lets not forget Torrie Wilsons Debut in the wwf.

*remembers grade 3 teacher: if you dont have anything nice to say, dont say anything at all...

[heyguesswhatidid]

forgottensinpwf said:

Austin vs Benoit was still one of the best matches i've ever seen. piss poor ending, but everything before that was pure gold from both Austin and Benoit.

QFT

Angle Vs. Austin at Summerslam might be in my favorite matches of all time. It's sad the ending was so bad.

[ToyfareMark]

aaronedangerously said:

Ok. when you're able to name the matches that were awesome, you know the year was sucky. A promotion should be able to have so many awesome matches, that fans LITERALLY cannot name all of them from a certain year.

No, I'm not exaggerating. Not about this.

If its an average fan who just watches every week, doesnt hang around on boards like this one, and doesnt give star ratings to matches I would agree with that.

But fans like us arent like the fans who casually watch, and we remember good matches for the most part. A good match is a good match period. If a good match has a bad storyline around it...its a shame, but it still doesnt mean that so and so didnt have a good match. Thats just me though.

[fullcollapse]

My major issue with 2001 was WWE went title crazy, they brought in all the belts from the Invasion and even when most of them got unified with other championships the champions reigns were short. Nothing was worse than the WWE Undisputed title picture in 2002 though, the champion changed just about once a month.