WWF 2001 Year - Discussion Thread

I wouldn't go so far as to call it one of the greatest years but it certainly started out well and had its moments. Everything from the Rumble to Wrestlemania was gold. After that, they lost it. BUT, they had the right idea with pushing Benoit and Jericho. Then Benoit got injured, the Invasion started getting bigger, and they abandoned the Jericho push.

And while the Invasion was certainly interesting, it was ultimately a failure. That's why the night after Survivor Series, Austin turned back face, Lawler came back, Flair came out, and Angle was heel again. It's like they tried to forget it ever happened. The best part about the whole thing was the Jericho push that resulted, and the forgotten Jericho-Rock classic from No Mercy. But really, after the Invasion, it took them awhile to get their footing back.

Again, it's not to say this time period post-Invasion and during didn't have some memorable moments, but as a whole, it was a mess.

Since it's about praising as well...the Royal Rumble-No Way Out-Wrestlemania 17 was an amazing three PPV combo. Even Backlash, Judgment Day, and KOTR were decent-to-good, to an extent (largely in part of the Jericho-Benoit force that was being pushed). It's a shame they'll never release the Austin/Triple H vs. Jericho/Benoit tag team title match on DVD because that match is the definition of a lost classic.

It was pretty cool seeing WCW invade for the first time, too, when there was still hope. And watching ECW and WCW align to take out the WWE was one of those dream storylines never thought possible five years before, but there it was and it was pretty surreal.

One of the best years? I wouldn't go that far since the Invasion was such a huge part of that year and didn't go so well, but the parts of that year that were worth watching, were phenomenal.

2001 was great up until Wrestlemania X-7, then it just became okay. Once the InVasion quickly flopped it became brutal. Sure the PPV's were decent but there was no direction at all.

2001 Sucked for me being a WCW fan.....At FIRST it was kinda exciting..and then seeing what Vince did to the wrestlers was very disheartening. I actually quit watching after Invasion and didnt come back till 2002 for the nWo. Then I quit again after then Benoit incident.

My favourite year since I've been watching, I LOVED the whole Invasion angle, absolutely loved it, and I often find myself watching alot of old 2001 stuff from time to time. What I loved about it, was partly because I was still fairly young and really got emotionally caught up in the storylines, something that seldom happens in this day and age obviously. I remember feeling legitimate hatred towards Stone Cold for throwing Kurt Angle's gold medals into a river... feeling so very concerned for Kurt's health when Austin piledrived him on the concrete... feeling authentic elation when The Rock returned and sided with the WWF... feeling sick, physically sick the night of Survivor Series that year thinking that it could be my last night watching a WWF event. Just amazing, brilliant memories for me. That's why I hate it when the "Internet fans" look down on the kids of today who cheer for their Cena's and Batista's and Rey Mysterio's, and boo the Jericho's, Edge's and other IWC Gods; because I remember exactly what it was like to be that kid and how much fun I had watching wrestling back then.

2001, thumbs up all the way from me.

The start of 2001 was fantastic. WrestleMania X-7 was the climax of the Attitude era, and still one of my favourite PPVs of all time (even though when I look at the card now, apart from the main event, the TLC match, and the McMahon streetfight, everything else was pretty much just thrown together randomly a couple of weeks before the show)...

But after WrestleMania was where wrestling all went downhill. Austin's heel turn didn't really work, and he was overshadowed by HHH. Rock was out for a while, and so the top feud became Undertaker vs Austin for the millionth time, and the results weren't good. I really believe that Backlash that year should've been headlined by Austin and HHH against the Hardys.

Then we had the Benoit/Jericho push which was terrible for ratings... Pushing new guys finally was an interesting concept, but it didn't work out in practise. And the only way to push Benoit was to put him in loads of long, hard-hitting matches that got him injured. And those matches entertained the smarks but turned the average viewer off, and did nothing for the King of the Ring buyrates.

The invasion was always doomed because of the lack of big names, but when they destroyed DDP right from the start, it was done.

The "My Sacrifice" video that they started playing towards the end of the invasion era was amazing, though. I still get goosebumps watching it.

2001 was awesome, sure the invasion bit isnt too popular but it wasnt THAT bad i guess. In that vid you posted, that chokeslam outside the ring was absolutely awesome!

I loved 2001. It was my best time of Wrestling.
Some of my faveourite matches are from 2001.

At the time I thought it was rather exciting. The Invasion Angle that is. You just really didn't know what was going to happen and who was going to show up. At least the initial hype was intriguing.

Then as stated; when Austin Turned heel it just made zero sense. Considering his history with WCW and all of that it was just so stupid to me even then.

Like I said, at the time I could say that I enjoyed the Angle. Now a days I can watch the Invasion PPV and the main event from Survivor Series and that's about it. That year as a whole wasn't bad but I can't call it one of the best. Maybe it had the most potential.

My thoughts exactly