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Is 2000 as good in retrospect when one takes off the 'WWF Attitude' tinted specs?
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00:00The year 2000 was one of the most successful in WWF history.
00:04We were knee-deep in the Agenera as wrestling was cool again,
00:07and as for the World Wrestling Federation,
00:08they were flying after finally putting the sword to WCW.
00:12Didn't really have to worry about them anymore.
00:14That didn't stop the runaway freight train it had become,
00:17says 10 things you learn, binge-watching Raw from 2000.
00:21Number 10, the war takes a turn.
00:23So we just talked about this, and it is true.
00:262000 saw a huge change in fortunes,
00:28given where we had been two years prior.
00:30Nitro was such a mess, the WWE was able to try new things,
00:34knowing they were going to win the ratings war.
00:36And while some attempts were awful,
00:38plenty more did stick, and the fans loved it.
00:40The WWF also threw their weight behind soap opera stories,
00:44which brought us to everything between Triple H,
00:45Kurt Angle, and Stephanie McMahon.
00:47That meant we now had a damn love triangle.
00:50I do point this out just because you can see with this story
00:52that we were starting to be far more patient with things,
00:55and do not forget,
00:56the only reason this narrative did stop is because Hunter didn't like the idea
01:00that Kurt Angle would steal his girl.
01:02His ego was hurt.
01:03It did make for great TV, though,
01:05and the company, as we know, was never going to look back.
01:08Number 9, the radicals weren't given a chance.
01:11A huge story in 2000 was the news that Chris Benoit,
01:14Dean Malenko, Perry Saturn, and Eddie Guerrero
01:16had negotiated their release from WCW,
01:19and were headed to the WWF.
01:21This was massive.
01:22While they had never reached their potential in world championship wrestling,
01:25most people knew they deserved more,
01:26so surely that was about to happen now?
01:29And the answer is sort of.
01:30Each guy would take their own path.
01:32During their very first match they had under Vince McMahon,
01:35they lost.
01:36Yep, couldn't let this idea go that they were WCW guys.
01:39Then got words as Eddie got injured,
01:41and honestly,
01:42go see where these four were after a few weeks,
01:45we didn't keep this momentum going at all.
01:47If we focus on Saturn and Malenko 2,
01:49they never really overcame this either.
01:50I mean,
01:51Dean soon became James Bond,
01:53and Perry fell in love with a mop.
01:55There's stories behind both of these,
01:57but still.
01:57I'm sure you've seen how some fans react today
01:59when so-called WWE guys go to AEW.
02:03Well,
02:03this was 10 times more crazy than all of that.
02:06Number 8,
02:06the 24-7 title concept can work.
02:09Yep,
02:09the 24-7 title was awful.
02:12If it weren't for our truth,
02:13who knows how bad it would have gotten.
02:15But WWE did have a reason for trying to bring it back.
02:17It had worked very well before.
02:20In 2000,
02:21Crash Holly had made this his entire gimmick,
02:23and it was great.
02:24He would always find a way to scurry away with his championship,
02:27and we actually thought about the creative bits.
02:29Go watch the spot where Gerald Briscoe is asleep.
02:32It is genuinely funny.
02:33You also get Pat Patterson and a bunch of other guys
02:35going out of their way to have fun with this.
02:37And why we didn't use it as our example,
02:39I do not know.
02:41The modern version felt like an afterthought.
02:43Truth definitely borrowed from the way Crash cared about his title,
02:46but he really was given nothing else to work with.
02:48Hence why today,
02:49as I am talking to you,
02:51that belt doesn't exist anymore.
02:53Number 7,
02:54Secret Tag Team Death.
02:55So we know that Vince McMahon was never much of a tag team guy,
02:58and often pushed two people together to break them up.
03:01That's what he did.
03:02In 2000 though,
03:03by choice or by accident,
03:05we actually had a bunch of good teams.
03:07We all remember the Hardys,
03:08Dudleys,
03:08and Edge and Christian tearing it up.
03:10But there was also the APA,
03:12Too Cool,
03:12Kyan Tied,
03:13TNA,
03:13Right to Censor,
03:14and a load more.
03:15I'm not to say all of these were capable of having barn burners,
03:18but the overall level was alright.
03:20New Age Outlaws were around for a while too,
03:22before Road Dogg and X-Pac joined forces,
03:24when the roadie decided to move on to K-Quick.
03:27Well yeah,
03:28sure,
03:28that was a bit weird.
03:29The point is,
03:30you may not be able to name as many teams in other years,
03:32where WWE seemed to be doing okay.
03:35I mean,
03:35take 2021.
03:37Everybody then was saying,
03:38man,
03:39this scene needs more bodies.
03:41Well,
03:41you can go back to the year 2000.
03:44Number 6,
03:44The Bizarre Post-Mania Raw.
03:46So this was the year when at WrestleMania,
03:48we had a McMahon in every corner.
03:50Stephanie and Shane were also doing this,
03:52because they wanted to put Daddy Vince out of business.
03:54And then we got to the following Monday,
03:56and yep,
03:57all of this was totally ignored.
03:59Well,
04:00no,
04:00it was worse than that,
04:01because the chairman of the board hugged his family like nothing had happened.
04:04This also led to the birth of a new corporation,
04:07but the flub was going on.
04:08Swerve was Vince screwing over The Rock to align himself with Triple H,
04:12but the problem there was that we'd already seen it.
04:15McMahon and Austin had been doing this for ages,
04:17but we really didn't need a round two with different competitors.
04:20It was just pushing things into a feud that didn't need it,
04:23because I tell you,
04:24The Rock versus Triple H was enough.
04:26If you were around at the time,
04:27though,
04:27you know the deal.
04:29We just had to talk about the McMahons as much as possible.
04:325,
04:33The Senseless Rikishi Turn.
04:34This was the era of let's do things because it's fun to do things.
04:38So,
04:38yep,
04:38one day we took Rikishi who was so over as the happy dancing guy,
04:42and turned him heel.
04:43Why?
04:44I'm not saying we shouldn't have moved him to the main event his big quiche had gotten crazy over,
04:48but deciding he was the guy who ran over Stone Cold?
04:52I don't know,
04:53man.
04:53It also brought us to that infamous line of,
04:55I did it for The Rock.
04:57And yeah,
04:57this didn't work.
04:58Nobody wanted to boo him,
05:00and by the time we got to Triple H taking credits,
05:02the whole thing was messy.
05:03We did try a few with Steve Austin,
05:05but once again,
05:06the audience didn't want to jeer Rikishi,
05:08so he was set to fail in many ways.
05:10When it didn't click,
05:11we didn't try again in another guise.
05:13We just moved him back to exactly where he was.
05:16This was a silly,
05:18silly move.
05:184,
05:19Foley over Sean.
05:20It feels mad this was in the year 2000,
05:23but at one point,
05:23Sean Michaels was the WWF commissioner.
05:27This was mostly as the company was still paying him,
05:29so wanted HBK involved.
05:31Plus,
05:31they were keen to move on from Sergeant Slaughter,
05:33who had this role prior.
05:35If I were to guess,
05:35I don't think Michaels was much into this,
05:37as he basically disappeared towards the start of the year,
05:40when we did get a new appointment in June,
05:42Mick Foley.
05:43Difference was obvious,
05:44as Foley embraced this with so much glee,
05:46he has often said since,
05:47it was some of the most fun he's ever had in wrestling.
05:50Having a babyface authority figure was also a welcome change,
05:53and some of the skits Mick did with Edge,
05:55Christian,
05:55and Kurt Angle were just the best.
05:57Who knew fun,
05:58could be fun.
06:00He added so much to the show,
06:01that when eventually WWF decided to get rid of him,
06:03everybody was baffled.
06:05But once again,
06:06during this period,
06:07yeah,
06:08they did that a lot.
06:09Number three,
06:10sticking with Jericho.
06:11If you've read any of Chris Jericho's books,
06:13you know the deal here.
06:14After quite the debut,
06:16he fell foul of WWF management,
06:18was basically made to start again.
06:20He went from a potential feud with The Rock,
06:22to having to have a good match with X-Pac,
06:24or lose his job.
06:25I would assume somebody backstage was still a fan,
06:27because on the April 17th,
06:292000 Raw,
06:30end of the show,
06:31this was only done to get more hate for the game.
06:34The decision was reversed due to dodgy refereeing,
06:37as Chris flew back down the card.
06:39The reaction should have told those in charge,
06:40that Jericho was clearly ready to go,
06:42however.
06:43It,
06:43because this wasn't the plan,
06:44we moved on as fast as we could.
06:46Watching now,
06:47though,
06:48yeah,
06:48we easily could have gone all the way with this.
06:51It would have worked.
06:52Number two,
06:52Triple H was awesome.
06:53Tell you what you want about Juan Paul Levesque.
06:56In the year 2000,
06:57he was one of the best wrestlers on the planet.
06:59His feud with The Rock was great,
07:00but he also had bangers with Jericho,
07:02Kurt Angle,
07:03Chris Benoit,
07:04and even Takamishinoku.
07:05Hunter just wanted to work.
07:07He would bump his ass off when needed to,
07:09and looked incredible as he turned into an action figure.
07:11Plus,
07:12he was a right dick on the mic,
07:14which was perfect.
07:15He was a heel.
07:16Even if you can't stand the man,
07:17you'd be hard pressed to argue against what he was doing in this 12 month period.
07:21He was just on fire,
07:22and the only thing that halted this was that quad tear.
07:25Before that,
07:27I tell you,
07:28it's quite amazing.
07:29Number one,
07:30the lack of Steve Austin.
07:31Having Stone Cold on Raw would have been better in 2000.
07:34He was the biggest star ever.
07:36You can't pretend he wouldn't have helped.
07:38With that said,
07:39The WWF was far more prepared for his absence through injury than many assumed,
07:43because for 12 months Raw was mostly pretty good TV.
07:46Episode zipped along as we made sure to get new people over,
07:49and of course,
07:50The Rock used this to become the ultimate star.
07:52We've mentioned Triple H already,
07:54and The Undertaker still had a great aura to him.
07:56The main event scene was solid.
07:58It could be why Austin didn't start smashing it until the 2001 Raw Rumble.
08:02He needed to fit back into the pack before doing what he always did,
08:06taking over.
08:07Now,
08:08please do make sure to leave a comment below,
08:09and let me know what you thought about Raw in 2000,
08:12because it is a pretty damn good show.
08:13Like the video,
08:14share the video,
08:14and subscribe.
08:15You see that video on the screen right now,
08:17it is yet more talking about wrestling from yesteryear.
08:20My name is Iver of WhatCulture,
08:22and thank you for joining me as always,
08:24and I will talk to you again very soon.
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