10 shocking moments from WWF (WWE) 2000

By the time 2000 came around, the WWF had managed to cement its dominance over WCW in the Monday Night Wars. Many look back on 2000 as the greatest year of WWF television, with a highly stacked roster and a creative, innovative writing team.

After a couple of years of crazy backstage segments and morally questionable story angles, 2000 was arguably the year the company refocused on the in-ring action, delivering more 5-star matches in the midst of all the chaos.

Also Read: 10 shocking moments from WWF (WWE) 1999

Out went Vince Russo to destroy WCW from the inside and fans were treated to a more balanced product.

That's not to say the year was without its shocking moments. Here are 10 of the best:

#1 The World Wildlife Fund sues WWF

The name change from WWF to WWE in 2002 is seen by many as the symbolic death of the Attitude Era, sending the company on a downward spiral that it still hasn't recovered from. What you might not be aware of, however, is that the name change was a result of a lengthy legal dispute between Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation and the World Wildlife Fund.

Back in 1994, the two companies came to an agreement in which Vince and co. would be allowed to keep the WWF acronym, but try their best to not refer to themselves as 'the WWF' on TV.

This is why, when you look back at footage of mid to late 90s episodes of RAW, the wrestlers constantly say things like "The World Wrestling Federation Champion" or "I am the greatest performer of the World Wrestling Federation". It was a compromise that ran for a good few years before the Wildlife Fund started to notice that Vince was letting the enforcement of the agreement slip.

Other than constant references to 'The WWF' on commentary and in the ring, the company tended to use the WWF logo for most of their merchandise. This led to a further legal challenge until the Wildlife Fund officially sued Vince McMahon in the year 2000.

There were, of course, many other reasons why the fortunes of WWE took a sharp decline around 2002/3, but if you've ever wondered where the name change all started, now you know.

#2 The Rock wins the Royal Rumble

Unlike today, the Royal Rumble match used to be traditionally used as a way to tell the fans which Superstar would be having the most impactful year over the subsequent 12 months. In 1995 and 96, Shawn Michaels stepped into the spotlight. A year later in 97, and then again in 98, it would be Stone Cold's time to announce his arrival.

After a temporary blip in 1999, where Vince McMahon ended up defeating the 29 other Superstars, it was time for The Rock to cement his position as the top dog by winning the Rumble match in 2000.

This was the year the WWF finally gave up on their attempts to keep The Rock a heel. The crowd appreciated his fun, entertaining approach to the product so much that the writers had no choice but to change their plans. The Royal Rumble victory was a great place to start and kicked off a fairly decent feud between him and Big Show.

The two men were the final competitors in the match and despite Rock being announced as the winner, Big Show was convinced he had actually been eliminated before him. This led to a match at the next PPV in which Big Show won, only to see Rock inserted back into the Wrestlemania 2000 main event in a fatal four way.

Today's fans might also remember a promo the Rock put with the Big Show, in which he claimed that the Rumble was the moment his career turned around and that it could have been Big Show making the millions in Hollywood instead of the People's Champ.

#3 Austin returns at Backlash

Sometimes, no matter how great a wrestling match is, the action in the ring can get overshadowed by a memorable, shocking moment like a return or dodgy officiating. This was very much the case when The Rock challenged Triple H for the WWF Championship at Backlash 2000.

Many see this as the main event Wrestlemania 2000 should have had, as opposed to the messy fatal four-way bout. The odds were very much stacked against The Rock with Vince and Shane McMahon all backing The Game, along with Brisco and Patterson.

Just as it looked like Vince's master plan had come to fruition, Stone Cold Steve Austin made a shocking return to the WWF after an absence due to injury. He went out attacking all of Vince and Triple H's cronies with a chair and helped Rock defeat the Game for the title.

In many ways, Austin's time at the top of the WWF was beginning to slip by this time. Fans still loved the Rattlesnake, but due to a series of neck injuries, he could no longer afford to hold the company on his back. Even so, he still had a role to play for the WWF, most notably as Vince McMahon's favorite nemesis.

#4 Triple H 'retires' Mick Foley

Despite The Rock still proving why he was the company's most valuable asset, 2000 was also the year of Triple H. With Austin taking most of the year out, Foley being forced to take a step back due to injuries, and The Undertaker missing the first half of 2000 as well, it fell to Triple H to plug the gap and it's safe to say he achieved this like an expert.

A defining moment of The Game's ascension was his rivalry with Mick Foley, culminating with their match at No Way Out inside Hell in a Cell. The two had put on one of the WWF's greatest matches of all time at the Royal Rumble when their street fight arguably stole the show from the Rumble itself.

The feud dated back to the year before and led to the in-ring return of Cactus Jack, Mick Foley's more extreme gimmick who he needed to harness in order to match the aggression of the Game.

Due to the intensity of the feud, the stipulation for No Way Out was that if Foley lost, he would be forced to retire from the WWF. Despite Triple H picking up the win, Foley's retirement was short lived, making a return at Wrestlemania 2000 in the main event.

#5 The Undertaker returns as the American Badass

The Undertaker is one of the most beloved and respected performers ever to compete for the WWE. His legendary 'Deadman' gimmick is probably the most well-received character the fans have ever seen, managing to stay popular in a variety of different eras and cultural backdrops.

When Taker took a leave of absence from the WWF back in 1999, many were anticipating his return. What they didn't expect, however, was that Mark Calloway would come back to the screen as a totally transformed version of The Undertaker.

Instead of the long black coats and gothic imagery, Taker dressed in biker clothing, using a motorbike to come to the ring. Out went the old funeral match music and in came Limp Bizkit's 'Rollin'.

Fans are still split as to whether the American Badass gimmick was an example of clever versatility on Calloway's part or an unnecessary blight on the otherwise perfect career on a legend.

The gimmick was not without its moments, for example, the Wrestlemania 17 match against Triple H amongst others. For what it's worth, however, the WWE doesn't tend to talk about the image change very much today, which perhaps tells us a lot about how the company themselves view the whole affair.

#6 The debut of 'The Radicalz'

The fall of WCW is a topic that would take up the lion's share of a book on professional wrestling. Everyone has their own opinions on where it all went wrong for Bischoff and company, but one of the more persuasive points was that far too much attention was placed on the main event scene, with no long-term plan for developing new stars.

Jericho's move to WWE in 99 was a direct result of this, and a year later in 2000, four more of WCW's mid-card ranks jumped ship as well. On January 31, the WWF fans were treated to the arrival of the faction known as the Radicalz. The group was made up of Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, Perry Saturn and the late, great Eddie Guererro.

Over the years, WCW's loss very much became WWF's gain as Guerrero and Benoit, in particular, consistently put on some of the greatest in-ring matches of the first half of the 2000's decade.

The rest of the year was a bit of a rollercoaster for Guerrero, suffering an injury in his very first match and ending 2000 as one of the most popular members of the roster alongside Chyna.

#7 Jericho wins the WWF Championship - sort of

Chris Jericho's WWF debut in 1999 was one of the best received of all time. Fans were well aware of his talents from watching him compete on WCW, and now he would be given the chance to compete on a bigger stage.

Y2J's next couple of years were a little mixed, however, never really achieving the heights people thought him worthy of. He even had to suffer the disappointment of having the Wrestlemania main event taken from him in 2000, a spot that was later given to the returning Mick Foley.

Due to the fan support him behind him, Jericho received one of the biggest pops of the year when he defeated WWF Champion Triple H on an episode of RAW in April 2000. The victory was overshadowed by a fast count from referee Earl Hebner, forcing him to reverse his decision and award the championship back to The Game later that night.

The WWE does not officially recognise this as a title reign for Jericho, but judging by the approval fans gave to the victory, Vince and co must have realised that Jericho deserved a shot at being champion at some point, something he would later achieve in the following few years.

#8 Rikishi's confession

Back in the glory days of the Attitude Era, it was still possible to make a huge name for yourself as a semi-humourous, 'entertainer' character who never saw consistent main event action. This was the case with Rikishi, a popular Samoan wrestler who managed to ride the wave of mass fan approval to the point of rubbing shoulders with the company's very best.

In 2000, Rikishi became involved in one of the major storylines dating back to the 1999 Survivor Series. During a backstage segment, Austin was run over by a car as a way to get him off TV long enough to tend to his growing list of injuries.

The storyline effectively became a mystery angle throughout most of the year until it was finally revealed that Rikishi himself had been behind the wheel.

From a storyline perspective, this was Rikishi's way of helping The Rock reach the top of the company as he had seen a long list of Samoan Superstars fail to get adequate pushes throughout the history of the business and did not want the same thing to happen to Johnson.

It later transpired, of course, that Triple H was really the mastermind of the whole plot, encouraging Rikishi to act on his behalf. As memorable as the storyline is, you still get the impression even now that there wasn't a whole lot of planning behind it.

Rikishi's involvement felt more like a convenient way to drag the feud between Austin and Triple H out a little more but at least for Rikishi, it did elevate him to a position he had not previously enjoyed in the WWF.

#9 Patterson and Brisco meet in Evening Gown match

Two individuals who don't often get the recognition they deserve, at least from an on-screen perspective, are Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco. If Austin-McMahon was the defining feud of the Attitude Era, Pat and Brisco had their part to play, and more often than not, their involvement even helped to elevate some segments.

In 1997, when Vince was transitioning himself into the evil Mr. McMahon character, Patterson and Brisco became his two 'stooges', constantly following the boss around and sucking up to him at every given opportunity.

They would also interfere in matches, normally to keep Austin away from the WWF Championship. Their mic skills were a little shaky, but if anything, this helped build the heat on the three of them, all the while making Austin more and more popular.

In 2000, Brisco and Patterson found themselves feuding for the Hardcore Championship. Having this belt on WWF television was always a great excuse for chaotic, car-crash scenes and when Patterson won the belt from his former ally, becoming the oldest Hardcore Champion in WWF history, things took a turn for the even more bizarre.

After the two were found brawling in the women's locker room over the belt, a match was booked in which the two stooges would face each other in an evening gown match.

This gimmick first made famous by Sable and Luna, was traditionally a way to feature the female talent and fulfill various fantasies held by the male viewing audience. Given that the stipulation is to strip your opponent down to their underwear in order to win the match, Patterson and Brisco were probably not the two most wanted to see in this type of environment.

Unfortunately for us, the match did go ahead and ended with neither man leaving as the champion. Crash Holly was instead given that honour and the rest of us were left with some pretty traumatic memories.

#10 Austin takes revenge

As previously mentioned, a signature feud of 2000 was the Austin car incident which began at the previous year's Survivor Series. Having been written out of the Triple Threat main event at 99, Austin's return precipitated a series of events leading up to The Rattlesnake finally getting his revenge.

Initially, it was revealed that Rikishi was the man who ran Austin over, acting out of love and concern for The Rock. Austin briefly feuded with Rikishi, attempting to run him over during a No Holds Barred Match at No Mercy. Rikishi then split off and feuded with Rock while the real perpetrator of the whole incident was later revealed to be Triple H.

At the culmination of nearly a year's worth of booking, Austin met Triple H at the Survivor Series PPV in 2000 in a No DQ match. As expected, the whole affair was chaotic from the very start with both men immediately employing weapons and announce tables to their advantage.

As the action spilled out to the backstage area, Triple H found himself at the mercy of The Rattlesnake as the car Triple H was sitting in was caught in the grip of Austin's forklift truck. In scenes many still relive today, the car was lifted 30 feet in the air and dropped onto its roof. Austin was then seen walking away in celebration as the match ended in a no contest.

This was a great way to end the feud, as a simple pinfall or submission would not have been adequate revenge from Austin after experiencing attempted murder. This was clearly a time when the writers really thought things through, and the PPV was made all the better for it.