Ranking The Biggest Rivalries In Wrestling Every Year 1990-2020

20. 2001 - WWE Vs The Alliance

wwf invasion
WWE.com

For better and tragically worse, there was no rivalry more pronounced in 2001 than the one between WWE and what remained of the fallen WCW and ECW.

The company had unknowingly bid farewell to their second golden era with the magical WrestleMania X7, and a panicked attempt to pay off the longest outstanding money feud in wrestling was wrecked by a year spent forgetting that the rivals were no longer actually rivals.

Dominating television and pay-per-views from July through to November, the series saw almost every match divided up between WWE and Alliance, often with no other story beyond that determining why wrestlers were fighting. A sinkhole that captured opportunities and expectations, it was wrapped up by Survivor Series with a 10-man tag featuring eight that were already WWE mainstays before the opposition buyouts.

 
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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