10 Things You Learn Binge Watching Every WWE Raw From 2000

WhatCulture

Is 2000 as good in retrospect when one takes off the 'WWF Attitude' tinted specs?

Transcript

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.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended