10 Worst WWE Moments Of 2001

Nobody will forget where they were when news filtered in that the WWF had purchased remnants of WCW in 2001. It was one of the most shocking moments ever, and it turned pro wrestling in the United States into a one horse race overnight. Paul Heyman's ECW was dying a painful death at roughly the same time, so the road towards complete monopolisation was clear for Vince McMahon and his family.

Financially, the resultant WCW invasion angle reaped huge rewards for the company. The titular Invasion pay-per-view that July pulled a monster buyrate, padded company coffers further, and likely led to high fives all around. Creatively, things weren't so rosy. The roster become over-saturated following a more balanced 2000, the WWF was dropping clangers weekly with the WCW/ECW crew, and they were even mucking about with some established top stars too.

2001 had highs those in the fed likely thought they'd never come down from, but it also had lows so creepy crawly that they probs had fans shaking their heads after digesting some of it back home. Incoming stars were repackaged with insanely ill-advised gimmicks no-one asked for, the McMahon family melodrama still ruled the roost even though there was a chance to move on from it, and one infamously regrettable angle is still a bone of contention for many. 

Then, after earning positive PR in the wake of the world's 9/11 nightmare, the WWF immediately scuffed some of that goodwill by displaying typical inward arrogance.

These are the worst of the worst moments from a year of money, industry domination and creative calamities.

And the award for least convincing English accent goes to...whichever WWF staffer was asked to play the role of the "Duchess Of Queensbury" for Backlash 2001. Being fair, the company almost certainly went for the cheap in-house option rather than hiring in an actual actress for the gig. It could've worked too, but the billed match between William Regal and Chris Jericho proved to be bland.

It was maybe one of the most disjointed bouts of the entire year, which was unexpected. Hell, even this writer didn't think he'd dislike it so much when sitting down to re-binge some of '01's content for this piece. After all, everything else Regal and Jericho touched was gold. You know the drill: 'Y2J' pee'd in William's tea (which led to some astonishing facial expressions), and they worked some top bouts on other pay-per-views.

Backlash was the outlier of the feud. On paper, it was going to be a relatively simple night. The so-called "Duchess" would keep interrupting to change the rules of the match just as it looked like Jericho might win. Everything would be stacked in Regal's favour, but that made the match more suited to free television like Raw or SmackDown than a full on PPV.

Jim Ross was onto something when he openly doubted whether or not this "Duchess" was qualified for the job or the genuine article. Sherlock Holmes has nothing on good ol' JR, folks. Not 2001's worst offender in terms of an attempt at storytelling by any means, but this just wasn't good.

Mediocrity from performers who are usually anything but and might've been ranked as some of the absolute best in the world at the time always stings.