[Mr. Rager]

Looking back, this could've easily been the biggest post-Attitude era year.

-The nWo run (minus Hogan) on RAW was amazing with HBK backing them. Their brief angle with HHH got me soooooo pumped. But Hall has to be a drunk, and Nash ended up crippling himself (shocker). Always figured it would culminate into a DX Vs nWo feud, with Bischoff backing them.

-I remember watching that episode where Flair became Austin's manservant. And that next week, Austin left and they scrapped that angle. Austin taking his ball and going home also left a huge hole in the roster

-Not to mention The Rock left for a good bit of the year.

Thoughts?

 

[Kingleviathan]

Looking back, this could've easily been the biggest post-Attitude era year.

-The nWo run (minus Hogan) on RAW was amazing with HBK backing them. Their brief angle with HHH got me soooooo pumped. But Hall has to be a drunk, and Nash ended up crippling himself (shocker). Always figured it would culminate into a DX Vs nWo feud, with Bischoff backing them.

-I remember watching that episode where Flair became Austin's manservant. And that next week, Austin left and they scrapped that angle. Austin taking his ball and going home also left a huge hole in the roster

-Not to mention The Rock left for a good bit of the year.

Thoughts?

-The nWo angle should have been permently killed after Starrcade 1997, bringing the angle to Raw in 2002 was a big mistake.

-Austin left because they wanted Brock Lesnar to beat him in a squash match and Austin didn't think it would help anyone.

-The Rock at this point had already made the decision to leave wrestling and make movies so this was always going to be his final wrestling run.

I don't think 2002 had more potential than any other year.

 

[wee bru]

I think 2002 was a great year regardless of the setbacks you mention. I also happen to think that Summerslam 2002 was the single best wwe ppv there has every been. I preferred this year to the majority of 2001 because it delivered in the ring. You had really good, technical, fun bouts.

 

[game3525]

No doubt 2002 had a ton of potential. Rock and Austin leaving really put a hole in the rosters since they were both suppose to be the focus of each brand. Them leaving put a ton of pressure on guys who were better served as supporting players like Triple H, Kurt Angle, and The Undertaker.

 

[dave 1981]

There is no doubting that 2002 had HUGE potential because they had a roster that consisted of Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, Hulk Hogan, The Undertaker, Triple H, Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, Brock Lesnar, Shawn Michaels, Booker T, Kane, Rob Van Dam, The Big Show, Diamond Dallas Page, Edge, Christian, The Hardyz, The Dudley Boys, Christian, Raven and Rey Mysterio with John Cena, Batista and Randy Orton all starting out as well but where they went wrong was by splitting the roster in two.

A lot of people will say that the roster was way too stacked and had to be split into two but there were so many people who were not even used in 2002 even after the brand extension that they didn't really need it too happen and because of it WWE missed out on so many feuds and matches that year which could have been HUGE. What WWE needed to consider then was that The Rock was working part time because he was also making films and also Hulk Hogan's contract was expiring in 2003 added to the fact that there were already problems with Stone Cold Steve Austin in early 2002 so as strong as the roster was as a whole once they were seperated they were not as strong as it appeared.

 

[Chrissy Benny Wah]

2002 lived up to it's potential. The only reason it's looked upon as anything even approaching average is because it came right after the WWF's two most profitable years.

All things considered, 2002 was a fucking awesome year.

 

[mr.redskins]

-The nWo angle should have been permently killed after Starrcade 1997, bringing the angle to Raw in 2002 was a big mistake.

-Austin left because they wanted Brock Lesnar to beat him in a squash match and Austin didn't think it would help anyone.

-The Rock at this point had already made the decision to leave wrestling and make movies so this was always going to be his final wrestling run.

I don't think 2002 had more potential than any other year.

I disagree on the NWO part. NWO coming back made things juicy with the original 3 guys who started it. That year was probably my FAV one and the year b4 with WCW vs WWF . When Hogan left NWO thats when it got stupid . Bad idea for Hogan to have gone bad too good.

 

[game3525]

There is no doubting that 2002 had HUGE potential because they had a roster that consisted of Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, Hulk Hogan, The Undertaker, Triple H, Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, Brock Lesnar, Shawn Michaels, Booker T, Kane, Rob Van Dam, The Big Show, Diamond Dallas Page, Edge, Christian, The Hardyz, The Dudley Boys, Christian, Raven and Rey Mysterio with John Cena, Batista and Randy Orton all starting out as well but where they went wrong was by splitting the roster in two.

A lot of people will say that the roster was way too stacked and had to be split into two but there were so many people who were not even used in 2002 even after the brand extension that they didn't really need it too happen and because of it WWE missed out on so many feuds and matches that year which could have been HUGE. What WWE needed to consider then was that The Rock was working part time because he was also making films and also Hulk Hogan's contract was expiring in 2003 added to the fact that there were already problems with Stone Cold Steve Austin in early 2002 so as strong as the roster was as a whole once they were seperated they were not as strong as it appeared.

No, splitting the roster was the right idea the time. The product was getting stale by early 2002, and the brand split was in theory a good idea to split up the roster and create new feuds. The problem, like with everything with the WWE was execution and also bad luck having Austin and Rock gone when they needed them the most.