The final months of 1999 saw both WWF and WCW lose momentum, with the Big Show winning the WWF title at one of his worst in-ring periods and even defending it in the lower card against the Big Bossman in a terrible feud, and the in-ring product of WCW declining rapidly under Vince Russo's tenure as booker, coupled with a series of nonsensical storylines. On the first Raw of 2000, Big Show lost the title to HHH, ending Big Show's month and a half reign, and returning the title to the main event. HHH would feud hold the title until King Of The Ring, with the exception of a month between Backlash and Judgment Day where Rock was champ, having epic feuds with Mick Foley and The Rock. He'd lose the strap to The Rock once again at King Of The Ring. HHH's WWF title reign in 2000 cemented him as the company's top heel throughout 2000. WCW to start 2000, however, became more of a mess. Bret Hart was the heel champ as leader of the final WCW incarceration of the NWO, NWO 2000, and was scheduled to defend the belt at Souled Out against Sid Vicious. However, he suffered a stroke that ended his in-ring career, so Russo's plan was to put Tank Abbott in the main event and have him become the new champion. However, WCW president Bill Busch thought this was a bad idea, and rightfully so, as Abbott wasn't over, had no charisma and mic skills, and couldn't work a good match. As a result of this, Russo was let go and Kevin Sullivan was put in his place. Sullivan booked his arch-nemesis Chris Benoit as Bret's replacement and had him winning the belt at Souled Out. Benoit won the title at Souled Out, however, he asked for his release after the event and received it, along with Perry Saturn, Dean Malenko, and Eddie Guerrero. The four would debut a couple weeks later in the WWF as the Radicals. In WCW, all four were in a good position in the midcard, however, they felt there would be more opportunities for them in the WWF as it became clear they'd never break the glass ceiling in WCW. This move also clearly gave the WWF, the promotion known for a focus on the entertainment side of things rather than the in-ring aspect, the better in-ring product, as the Radicals would have some awesome matches in the midcard along with Kurt Angle and Chris Jericho, who also jumped ship from WCW last year. The WWF tag division would also feature some classic matches, mainly the ladder and TLC matches involving Edge and Christian, the Hardy Boyz, and the Dudley Boyz.
To start the Kevin Sullivan era, the championhip was vacant. Sid won the belt on Nitro on January 4, defeating Kevin Nash. Sid would remain champ throughout the Sullivan era, and would turn heel after the Uncensored PPV to feud with Hogan over the belt. Was Sid as champ a success? No. Sid was a weak draw as champion and was very limited in the ring, which showed in the main events. The Sullivan era also led to a return of the nepotism that was rampant in WCW in 1999, as his good friend Prince Iaukea was the cruiserweight champion for the vast majority of the Sullivan era, despite not being over and wrestling a very bland style compared to the other cruisers, and all the younger talent who gained momentum in the Russo era took a back seat to the veterans, as Sid, Jarrett, Flair, Luger, Hogan, and Sting would be featured in the main storylines all year long. Those weren't the only problems, as the storylines in the undercard were very lame with Saturday Night regular Al Greene getting a makeover and becoming The Dog, who did everything dogs do such as chewing clothing, drinking from toilets, and even howling at the moon, Terry Funk and Dustin Rhodes feuding, with a rubber chicken being used as the main weapon throughout the feud, and Stevie Ray turning heel on Booker T with Big T, forming Harlem Heat 2000, which actually resulted in Booker losing the "T" in his name and receiving Leave It To Beaver music as his theme. All of this, along with a decrease in ratings, led to Sullivan getting let go two weeks after the Uncensored PPV. Unfortunately, Vince Russo is hired back as the booker, along with Eric Bischoff. Things would actually be decent for the first couple weeks until a disastrous move occurred.
On the April 26 edition of Thunder, David Arquette would win the world title from DDP in a tag match that featured Jeff Jarrett and Eric Bischoff (DDP would actually celebrate with Arquette despite losing his belt!). I understand why Russo did this, as WCW was a floundering promotion in need of publicity. however, this made WCW come off as a joke. Also, giving an actor the world title sends a message to the locker room that it doesn't matter how hard you work and how many dues you paid over the years. Also, the ratings declined once again after this event and Arquette would actually hold the belt until Slamboree, where he'd lose it to Jeff Jarrett after turning heel. Arquette wrestled in the main event... things would stay bad over the next month, with the shows being paced erratically and title changes happening nearly every show, until late June. Russo would take a leave of absence, and Terry Taylor took his place. This started the main event push of Booker T. For years, he was stuck in the midcard and tag division, and like most others, couldn't break the glass ceiling. Taylor, knowing that WCW was in desperate need of new stars, pushed him rapidly over the next month. Booker finally won the WCW world title at Bash At the Beach from Jeff Jarrett. However, this wasn't the original plan at all.
Hulk Hogan was scheduled to face Jeff Jarrett at Bash At The Beach for the title, after defeating Billy Kidman at the Great American Bash. And the thing is, that due to Hogan's creative control clause, if he were booked to lose the match, he wouldn't wrestle the match at all, meaning that he had to win, or else the fans were screwed of their main event! Russo, who now returned, would actually outsmart Hogan. He booked Hogan to win the title by pinning Jarrett, who laid down for the pin. Russo then came out later in the show, cut a shoot promo on Hogan, and mentioned that the belt Hogan won was the Hogan Memorial Belt, and that Jarrett was still the actual champ with a new WCW title. Russo than made Jarrett vs. Booker for the belt. Hogan never appeared in WCW again.
Shortly after Bash at the Beach, though, things really went downhill. Lance Storm was stuck in a neverending feud with General Rection and the Misfits In Action, Mike Awesome would become the Fat Chick Thriller and later That 70s Guy, Vampiro and Sting had a never ending feud as well, Kronik and the Harris Brothers would have a very boring feud, Goldberg, after a failed heel turn, would redo the streak angle, Allan Funk would become Kwee Wee, a guy infatuated with pink, and Stacy Keibler would be the subject of a pregnancy angle, which would lead to some terrible segments involving David Flair trying to find out who the father was. The only real highlight was that Booker T was WCW's top babyface, even though he'd be subject to some bad booking of his own, as he dropped the title for short intervals before winning it back, even to Russo himself, but Booker was pretty much bulletproof at this point. In early October, Russo was sent home during an Australian tour, and the booking was handled by a committee of Ed Ferrara, Terry Taylor, and Johnny Ace. at Mayhem, Booker would lose the title to Scott Steiner, who would hold the title until WCW's final Nitro, losing it to Booker T. Things would stay the same pretty much until the new year.
At King Of The Ring, The Rock became the new WWF champion. This basically cemented Rock as the top babyface in the absence of Stone Cold Steve Austin. Rock would remain champion until No Mercy, where he lost the title to Kurt Angle. Austin returned in October 2000, feuding with Rikishi, who ran him over at Survivor Series 1999 because he did it for The Rock. Rikishi, who turned heel, feuded with Rock and Austin at the end of 2000, putting them both over, and then going back to the midcard.
While 2000 was a very successful year for the WWF, it was WCW's worst year ever, with them losing $60 million that year, several booking changes, and some very bad storylines. The events of 2000 ended up having a negative impact on wrestling in the future though, as WCW went under in March 2001, and WWF peaked in popularity in 2000.
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