10 Worst Years To Be A WWE Fan

4. 2002

Goldberg Universal Champion
wwe.com

Everybody lost a lot in 2002.

Stone Cold Steve Austin lost his mind. Endless creative frustration reached an explosive conclusion and a walk-out. Having already lost one top star to Hollywood before all of it reached a head, Vince McMahon lost his mojo back when he still cared about having it. His admittance and acknowledgements of the product sagging from glory days prior was encouraging, even if he was losing grip on how to arrest the slide. Raw and SmackDown lost sizeable portions of their audiences, despite Michael Rapaport's enunciated assertions in Network documentaries. WWE lost its F after losing in court. The major WCW hold-outs from 2001 lost their lustre. By the end of the year, infamous company rivals the New World Order and Eric Bischoff had been put through the company wringer to such an extent that it was as if they'd never existed as opposition in the first place. Kane lost the biggest push of his career because his opponent wore his mask and pretend-f*cked a pretend-corpse.

Typically, the only person emerged from the wretched annum a winner was the one doing the humping. Triple H loved his work, and he'd love it even more the following year...

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett