10 Best Years To Be A WWE Fan
1. 2000
Nobody can have it all. Apart from the one year everybody actually could.
This is being written in 2020, a time when daily arguments online about wrestling have never felt more pointless, not least because critics of either WWE or AEW are shouted down or patronised by those that deem the words worthless anyway. The narrative seems to be that anybody disliking something will never be satisfied.
It's bullsh*t, because longstanding fans know when they're satisfied and when they're trying to find things to be satisfied about. 2000 spewed forth premium f*cking satisfaction.
With the mainstream head-over-heels in love with the product, business boomed in line with genuine creative flair and an-ring quality approaching the work Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels tried and failed to draw with.
Head writer Chris Kreski used storyboards to keep everybody on track. The Rock, Triple H, Mick Foley, Edge & Christian, Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle, The Radicalz, The Hardy Boyz, Too Cool & Rikishi and countless others worked up to the quality storytelling. The Undertaker's new coat of paint was briefly exhilarating even if his literal new coat looked a bit daft, with just about every plot from January through to October being given both matches and promos that felt as good as the game had ever been.
The wheels fell off in the Autumn, but the good stuff was potent enough to fool everybody for another year or so.