10 Things You Learn Binge Watching Every WWE SmackDown From 2001

1. It’s Easy To Forget ALL Of Austin’s Turns

Stone Cold Steve Austin WCW 2001
WWE Network/Peacock

It's pretty easy to forget many of the story beats following Austin’s heel turn at WrestleMania X-Seven.

Technically, 'Stone Cold' turned no less than four times that year. He went from babyface to heel at ‘Mania, heel to baby before Invasion, baby to heel at Invasion, then eventually returned to being an anti-hero again by the end of 2001. It was exhausting to keep up as creative stumbled around.

Seeing Austin don WCW t-shirts and come out to that less-energetic Disturbed entrance theme is flat out strange looking back. It's understandable that 'Stone Cold' had to move with the times, but fans still weren't done rooting for him and didn't know what to make of him sporting WCW colours.

This wasn't what most live crowds wanted from Austin at all. The WWF didn't seem convinced by any of it either, which must be why they flip-flopped Steve between baby and heel (and vice versa) too many times throughout the year.

What did you think of SmackDown back in 2001? For more WWE, check out Flawed Wrestlers Who Became GREAT Human Beings and WWE 2K24: 25 More Screenshots You NEED To See!

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.