10 Reasons Why WWE Peaked In The Year 2000

8. Steve Austin's Return Late In The Year

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uTj5wMtyLM One of the most anticipated things in 2000 was the return of Steve Austin. He was written out of storylines in November 1999, had major neck surgery soon after and was out of action for nearly one full year. Aside from a chair swinging return at Backlash 2000, we didn't get to see the top star in the business for a long time. There were a lot of questions about him when he came back. Would he still have to be really cautious in the ring or would he be able to take more bumps than he did before? There were also questions of how long he was going to last. Remember, he was 35 years old when he came back from the injury. His in-ring return was announced for No Mercy in October. The return angle for Austin wasn't that great where they said Rikishi was the one that ran over him with a car at Survivor Series 1999. That led to the infamous Rikishi "I did it for The Rock" heel turn promo that was really cheesy. Austin did get a feud with Triple H out of it to end the year, though. Austin also was the best performer alive in 2001, so he did return better than ever and continued to whoop ass Stone Cold style. It turns out he would only wrestle until WrestleMania 19 in 2003. A shame that his career was cut short.