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Rasslin' Ring 2001 Year-End Review
When it
came to wrestling, last year sure blew. ECW and WCW folded
up for good, and hundreds of wrestlers were scattered to the
four winds. The WWF had the biggest storyline in history gift-wrapped
for them, and they accidentally left their present on the
Greyhound to Walla Walla. The implosion of the WWF's main
competition is still being felt throughout the industry, with
some of the larger indies scrambling to gain a bigger audience
and more of a share of their territory, while some other organizations
backed by some big interests are looking to compete with the
WWF. Now that 2001 is in the books, here is some of the best
of the year that was:
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Wrestler of the Year © 2002 WWF
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Wrestler
of the Year: "Stone Cold" Steve Austin
It's weird
the way business has been in the WWF for the last two years.
When Steve Austin was hurt, The Rock, Triple H, and Mick Foley
had to carry the company. When The Rock left, Triple H and
Steve Austin had to carry the company. When Triple H got hurt,
Stone Cold had to do it on his own. He made fans that loved
everything about him turn on him and hate him within a month,
and then got all his fans back within a night after the Alliance
crumbled to pieces. In fact, some of his performances were
the few palatable things about the infamously-botched Invasion
story.
Look at
what Stone Cold came back from--neck surgery that was supposed
to prevent him from moving comfortably again, let alone taking
bumps in the ring. The man got all his ring rust out of him
in two months and got back to main event performances like
the phenomenal best-of-three-falls match at No Way Out. He
went to the main event of Wrestlemania a supreme babyface
and walked out the most hated man in wrestling for allying
with his ultimate nemesis Vince McMahon and later Triple H.
He helped bring The Undertaker back to the main event, he
helped guys like the Hardy Boyz, Spike Dudley, Chris Benoit,
Chris Jericho, and Kurt Angle get a leg up by simply interacting
with him. He became even more hated the moment he jumped ship
to WCW to lead the Alliance, and when he came back home to
the WWF in November to feud with Vince McMahon again, it was
like he never skipped a beat.
In short,
Steve Austin could do no wrong this year, and he has the natural
veteran skill as well as the talent in the ring to back it
up. Although we'll probably all want to kill him at the end
of 2002 for the "What?" phenomenon, it's obvious that 2001
was the Year of the Rattlesnake.
Top
5 Wrestlers of 2001
1) "Stone Cold" Steve Austin
2) Kurt Angle
3) Rob Van Dam
4) Chris Jericho
5) Booker T
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Match of the Year © 2002 WWF
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Match
of the Year: "Stone Cold" Steve Austin vs. Triple H (2 Out
of 3 Falls, No Way Out)
On paper,
it was a shoo-in for the title, as it offered every fan what
they wanted. The first fall was a standard wrestling match,
which was to benefit the somewhat-technical wrestling skills
of Triple H. The second fall was a street fight with no holds
barred, which was to benefit the brawling style of Steve Austin.
Irony of ironies was that each man won the fall that was least
expected of them. After Triple H introduced a sledgehammer
and several other objects of moderate destruction into the
ring, a cage was lowered for the deciding third fall, and
thankfully enough, we got a clean finish for Triple H. Wresting
is a business where wrestlers often aren't talented enough
to tell a story on their own. That's why they have to hire
TV writers. When you get two veterans out there that can tell
a story with just their athletic prowess for thirty-five minutes
and keep the crowd in suspense for your match (in the middle
of the show, no less), that's when you know you have gold.
Top
10 Matches of 2001
1) Austin vs. HHH (No Way Out, February 2001)
2) Jericho & Benoit vs. Edge & Christian vs. Hardy Boyz vs.
Dudley Boyz (Smackdown, TLC III, June 2001)
3) Jeff Hardy vs. Rob Van Dam (Invasion, July 2001)
4) Edge vs. Christian (No Mercy, Ladder Match, October 2001)
5) Benoit vs. Angle (Backlash, Ultimate Submission Match,
April 2001)
6) Austin vs. Angle (Raw, January 2001)
7) Austin vs. Benoit (Smackdown, June 2001)
8) Undertaker vs. HHH (Wrestlemania XVII, April 2001)
9) Austin & HHH vs. Jericho & Benoit (Raw, May 2001)
10) Ric Flair vs. Sting (Monday Nitro, March 2001)
Honorable
Mentions:
McMahon vs. McMahon (Wrestlemania XVII, April 2001)
Angle vs. McMahon (King of the Ring, June 2001)
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Moment of the Year © 2002 WWF
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Moment
of the Year: Vince & Shane McMahon on WCW Monday Nitro
Before
1996, it was taboo on WWF television to even mention that
there might be other wrestling organizations out there, let
alone mentioning them or their wrestlers by name. Even when
Ric Flair was carrying around the WCW championship belt for
a short while, it was only referred to as the "real" world's
championship. However, as soon as Vince McMahon heard Ted
Turner was saying stuff about him and the WWF, he decided
to go on the attack with the infamous Billionaire Ted skits.
Then, you had Tony Schiavone and Eric Bischoff giving away
the results of taped Raw broadcasts, followed by references
to WCW by name in WWF publications.
However,
there has NEVER been a situation where the boundaries between
rival promotions crossed as it did on March 26, 2001. WWF
and WCW are like Marvel and DC Comics, Coke and Pepsi, McDonald's
and Burger King. For them to be even discussed in the same
breath on TV was odd, let alone them appearing on each others'
television shows. Despite the fact that we all knew Shane
McMahon's ownership of WCW was a work, the last 15 minutes
of Nitro that aired on TNT were weird because it started with
two of the McMahons debating over who owned Vince McMahon's
biggest competition in North America, and it ended with a
commercial for Wrestlemania.
Top
10 Moments of 2001
1) The McMahons appear on Nitro (March 2001)
2) ECW invades and aligns with WCW (July 2001)
3) The final Monday Nitro match: Flair vs. Sting (March 2001)
4) Live September 13 Smackdown--first WWF show after September
11
5) Austin gives McMahon and Angle cowboy hats (July 2001)
6) Angle storms the Alliance on a milk truck (August 2001)
7) HHH chokes out Undertaker sitting on a chair (March 2001)
8) Christian turns on Edge in Canada (September 2001)
9) Sara's stalker is revealed as DDP (June 2001)
10) Stone Cold rips off Stephanie's blouse (January 2001)
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Inspirational
Wrestler of the Year © 2002 WWF
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Inspirational
Wrestler of the Year: Al Snow
I've always
liked Al Snow the wrestler. Despite the number of lame gimmicks
he's been put through, he's always done his best to both put
the gimmick over and work a good match. He's a natural comedian
and thankfully it's been capitalized on in recent years in
his transition from lunatic to mellowed weirdo. Also this
past year, I got a chance to watch the Al Snow shoot interview,
in which Snow reiterates his dedication for the business by
putting over lame gimmicks, putting up with assholes in the
locker room, and taking what might be considered a step down
by going to promotions that respected him as opposed to staying
in the WWF when they didn't.
However,
this year we all got to like Al Snow as a person. Despite
what Mick Foley's had to say about the guy in both of his
books, we got to see for three months what a wrestler was
like without the spotlights and arena crowds. We got to see
Al Snow explain to a bunch of people that what they thought
pro wrestling was is definitely far from reality. We got to
see Al Snow teach people, show them the ropes of the business
and become attached to them to the point where he was genuinely
sad to see them leave. We got to see the proud moment for
Al Snow when Maven and Nidia took the podium and reaped the
rewards of their success.
Not only
did all of us wrestling fans get to see that, but MTV Tough
Enough had enough crossover appeal with the mainstream that
people that weren't wrestling fans were tuning in to watch.
In that, I think the face of pro wrestling was changed for
the better. Wrestlers weren't muscle-bound idiots that decked
each other repeatedly in the head with folding chairs or knew
how to fall to make the action look fake. Wrestlers were guys
that did what they did because they loved it, they did it
through physical pain in order to make a dream come true,
and they have hearts and souls just like real people.
In a business
full of guys that believe their own hype, allow their egos
to run amuck, and are more interested in dollar signs than
their conscience, it's nice to see a pro give something back
so special like this to these select few that get the opportunity
to learn.
The 15 Minutes of Fame Awards
These
awards are given posthumously at the end of the year in hopes
that we never have to hear from these people again.
Chyna
Although
she has a little more name recognition than Sable did after
bolting from the WWF after her Playboy centerfold, Chyna joined
the ranks of those who though they were worth too much and
didn't get re-signed by the WWF. For five months, the Women's
Championship remained in limbo around the waist of someone
whose feminity can definitely be questioned. Yes, Chyna may
have movie, TV, and other offers ahead of her on the horizon,
but are we really going to care?
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Idiot
of the Year
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"He
Hate Me" Rod Smart
The running
back for the former XFL's Las Vegas Outlaws franchise became
the symbol and catchphrase of the XFL on its TV debut on NBC
last February. However, as the XFL's rules, customs, and demeanor
became more of a joke around the country, so did Smart's catchphrase.
He was one of the few to find some sort of life in the NFL.
He was signed to the Philadelphia Eagles practice squad in
October, and then was placed on injured reserve before the
playoffs. Maybe "He Hate" turf toe...
Gold
Russ
The less
said about this guy, the better...
Russell
Ray is employed with an international pharmaceutical company
in Indianapolis and is the commissioner, ring announcer, and phone hotline reporter for
Wild Championship Wrestling Outlaws, a local independent wrestling organization. Send him the fan mail he richly
deserves (and the hate mail he deserves even more) to Russ316@msn.com.
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