{"id":68127,"date":"2020-05-09T12:58:07","date_gmt":"2020-05-09T16:58:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonprowrestling.com\/?p=68127"},"modified":"2020-05-09T12:58:07","modified_gmt":"2020-05-09T16:58:07","slug":"wwe-most-valuable-players-2000-2004","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2020\/05\/09\/wwe-most-valuable-players-2000-2004\/","title":{"rendered":"WWE Most Valuable Players Since 2000: Part One (2000-2004)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\">The MVP award, known by many a sports fans as the most valuable player, is an award acknowledged as the top guy of their profession with a season that is considered a symbol of exceptional workmanship and praise by all. In <strong>WWE<\/strong>, the top guy of their respected brand is considered to be the MVP. Whether it is being a box office draw for the company, showcasing in-ring work, or amassing championship accolades, the MVP exemplifies it all.<\/p>\n<p><em>Disclaimer (Spoiler Alert): Due to the controversial events involving wrestler, Chris Benoit. It is noted that in this article, Benoit is mentioned for his wrestling ability and the stories that progressed him in his career at a certain time of great success. The writers and editors of Last Word on Pro Wrestling, absolutely do NOT condone the actions of Chris Benoit.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>2000: The Rock<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-68152 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprowrestling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/05\/The-Rock-2000.jpg\" alt=\"WWE MVP\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/05\/The-Rock-2000.jpg 480w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/05\/The-Rock-2000-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/05\/The-Rock-2000-80x60.jpg 80w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/05\/The-Rock-2000-265x198.jpg 265w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>Key Accolades:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"p1\">2000 <strong><em>Royal Rumble<\/em><\/strong> Winner<\/li>\n<li class=\"p1\">Won his 4th and 5th WWE Championships at <strong><em>Backlash<\/em><\/strong> and <strong><em>King of the Ring<\/em><\/strong> Respectively<\/li>\n<li class=\"p1\">Voted as <em>Wrestling Observer Newsletter&#8217;s Box Office Draw Award<\/em> Winner<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"p1\">The Rock was put in a situation to succeed in every aspect in the year 2000. <em>Royal Rumble<\/em> winner, <strong><em>WrestleMania<\/em><\/strong> main event for the second consecutive year, and two WWE Championship reigns during that year. The Rock main evented 12 out of a possible 14 pay per views, 11 of those involving the WWE Championship at the time. This was the start as well as the middle of Rocky\u2019s rise as the top guy in one of the company\u2019s best years.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Runner Up: Triple H<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p1\">Triple H was considered the wrestler of the year in 2000, winning the <em>Wrestling Observer\u2019s Lou Thesz Award<\/em> and rightfully so. Triple H was a true workhorse, entering the year as the top guy wearing the WWE Championship. His feud with <strong>Mick Foley<\/strong> set the tone for the year as the best rivalry that WWE put on that year and it rightfully won the <em>Wrestling Observer&#8217;s Rivalry of the Year<\/em>, which Triple H won another two times in his career. His matches were consistently great with the likes of Foley, The Rock and <strong>Chris Jericho<\/strong>, and it showed that Triple H was indeed \u201cThe Game.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>2nd Runner Up: Kurt Angle<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p1\">Kurt Angle, on the other hand, had one of the best rookie years in WWE history. He had a successful debut at <em><strong>Survivor Series 1999<\/strong>. <\/em>He simultaneously wearing both the Intercontinental Championship and European Championship. Furthermore, he won the 2000 <em>King of the Ring<\/em> and ended the year as WWE Champion surviving a huge Hell in a Cell match involving The Rock, <strong>Stone Cold Steve Austin<\/strong>, Triple H, <strong>The Undertaker<\/strong> and <strong>Rikishi<\/strong>. For only being a full year in the business, it was a great sample size of what the Olympic Gold Medalist could really do moving forward.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>2001: Kurt Angle<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"FULL-LENGTH MATCH - Raw - Kurt Angle vs. Steve Austin - WWE Championship Match\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Jx0h45jm9Ts?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>Key Accolades:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"p1\">Entered 2001 as WWE Champion and won his second WWE title during that year\u2019s <strong><em>Unforgiven<\/em><\/strong> Pay Per View.<\/li>\n<li class=\"p1\"><strong>WCW<\/strong> Champion<\/li>\n<li class=\"p1\">Unites States Champion<\/li>\n<li class=\"p1\">Voted As <em>Wrestling Observer Newsletter\u2019s Most Outstanding Wrestler<\/em><\/li>\n<li class=\"p1\">Saved the WWE from the Alliance at <em>Survivor Series<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"p1\">Acknowledged by <em>Wrestling Observer<\/em> as <em>Most Outstanding Wrestler of the Year<\/em> in 2001, Angle dropped classic after classic in that year alone against the likes of Triple H, <strong>Chris Benoit<\/strong>, <strong>Shane McMahon<\/strong> and Stone Cold Steve Austin. This was only year two of his WWE career. As gifted as he was in the ring, Angle was a great overall character. He crossed the lines of being a heel comedic wrestler, with Angle being delusional and not knowing that the crowd actually disliked him. He went on to become universally liked and showed the elements that would make him revered today. Entering the year as WWE Champion, Angle was becoming the big fish in an ocean that was the WWE roster in 2001. His constant work ethic and growth were key for moments that still fans remember to this day (i.e. &#8220;The Milk Truck&#8221; parody in Sacramento).<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Runner Up: The Rock<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p1\">The Rock\u2019s 2001 was a tricky one. At <strong><em>No Way Out 2001<\/em><\/strong>, he defeated Kurt Angle to win his sixth WWE Championship, earning the right to enter the main event as WWE Champion at <strong><em>WrestleMania X-Seven<\/em><\/strong>; on that night, he dropped the title to Stone Cold Steve Austin. However, on the Raw after Mania, he would be written off of television due to the shooting of <i>The Mummy<\/i> prequel <i>The Scorpion King<\/i> that would keep him off television until late July. The Rock would be a key player for Team WWE vs The Alliance, racking up two WCW Championship reigns (World Title) and even had a tag team title reign with enemy Chris Jericho and ultimately got revenge on Austin winning the winner takes all <em>Survivor Series<\/em> Matchup.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>2nd Runner Up: Stone Cold Steve Austin<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p1\">Despite a failed heel turn, Austin would have two reigns as WWE Champion, winning his 5th at <i>WrestleMania X-Seven<\/i>. He held the WWE Championship for the longest time in his entire career (175 Days). 2001 would see him turn heel, joining Mr. McMahon &amp; Triple H. He turned face again, aligning himself with Team WWE. Austin turned heel again, aligning himself with the WCW\/ECW Alliance. Finally, he turned face again after <i>Survivor Series 2001.<\/i> Despite the turns, Austin\u2019s quality of matches was up to par with the likes of his 1997 run in the company, facing off against the likes of The Undertaker, Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, The Rock, and Kurt Angle.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>2002: Brock Lesnar<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-68153 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprowrestling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/05\/Lesnar-2002-e1589038450454.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong><i>Key Accolades:<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"p1\">2002 King of the Ring Winner<\/li>\n<li class=\"p1\">WWE Champion (Youngest holder of the Championships history at 25 years and 44 days of age)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"p1\">Brock Lesnar in 2002 was on the rise. 6\u20193\u201d 295lbs, NCAA Division 1 Wrestling Champion out of the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, a pure athlete and physical presence. Dubbed as \u201cThe Next Big Thing,\u201d Lesnar was on a fast track dominating the likes of The Hardy\u2019s, Rob Van Dam, and Hulk Hogan leading to him facing off against WWE\u2019s golden boy at the time The Rock and winning the WWE Championship at <i>SummerSlam 2002.<\/i> He would have a convincing first reign going against The Undertaker in a feud that would end at<i> No Mercy 2002,<\/i> in a Hell in a Cell match. Lesnar would lose the WWE Championship at <i>Survivor Series 2002<\/i> in controversial circumstances as then-manager Paul Heyman would betray Lesnar. Despite the end of his title reign, 2002 was the stepping stone for the excellence that would be Brock Lesnar.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Runner Up: Triple H<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p1\">January 7th 2002, Madison Square Garden, Triple H would make his long-awaited return to WWE after tearing his quadricep back in May of 2001. The stage was set and the emotion was at an all-time high. \u201cThe Game\u201d would go on to win the Royal Rumble in Atlanta that year, then would main event WrestleMania X8 vs. Chris Jericho winning the Undisputed WWE Championship. He would hold the title for about a month losing to \u201cHollywood\u201d Hulk Hogan at that year\u2019s Backlash. Triple H would continue his rivalry with Chris Jericho culminating at Judgment Day 2002 in a Hell in a Cell match. Then, Triple H would take part in a blood feud with a returning Shawn Michaels for a good chunk of 2002. Triple H would win his first and second World Heavyweight Championships and this would be the era of <i>Monday Night Raw <\/i>that fans and analysts would call \u201cThe Reign of Terror.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>2nd Runner Up: (tie) Shawn Michaels &amp; Hulk Hogan<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p1\">The second runner up was a difficult task. Between these two its a matter of who had the best come back story in WWE at the time. On one side you had \u201cHollywood\u201d Hulk Hogan, \u201cThe Immortal,\u201d \u201cThe Icon,\u201d returning to World Wrestling Entertainment for the first time since 1993 as a member of the New World Order faction. Hogan would be part of one of WWE&#8217;s biggest rivalries (on a financial standpoint) vs. The Rock at WrestleMania X8. Hogan would exchange his nWo Black and White for that \u201cOG\u201d Red and Yellow as he would win his 6th WWE Championship, at the time tying Stone Cold Steve Austin &amp; The Rock for most reigns in WWE history.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Then on the other hand, you have Shawn Michaels. \u201cThe Showstopper,\u201d \u201cThe Heartbreak Kid,\u201d after four years being away from active competition Shawn Michaels&#8217; first match back was a successful victory over Triple H at <i>Summerslam 2002.<\/i> Michaels would then have another \u201cfirst\u201d in WWE history as a competitor and winner of the 1st ever Elimination Chamber, which gave him his 4th World Championship in his career, and his 1st World Heavyweight Championship.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>2003: Brock Lesnar<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-68154 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprowrestling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/05\/Brock-Lesnar-2002-e1589038488552.jpg\" alt=\"WWE MVP\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong><i>Key Accolades:<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>2003 Royal Rumble Winner<\/li>\n<li>2x WWE Champion<\/li>\n<li><i>Pro Wrestling Illustrated Match of the Year vs. Kurt Angle (16 Sept 2003)<\/i><\/li>\n<li><i>Pro Wrestling Illustrated Feud of the Year vs. Kurt Angle<\/i><\/li>\n<li><i>Wrestling Observer Newsletter Feud of the Year vs. Kurt Angle<\/i><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"p1\">If 2002 was the stepping stone year for Brock Lesnar, 2003 was the breakout. Despite in storyline being thwarted by Kurt Angle after <i>Armageddon 2002, <\/i>that didn\u2019t stop Lesnar from winning the <i>Royal Rumble<\/i> to become the #1 contender for the WWE Championship. Lesnar would go on to main event <i>WrestleMania XIX <\/i>against Angle and would win his 2nd WWE Championship. He would hold the title until Vengeance 2003, where Angle would take the title from him in a triple threat match (involving Big Show). Lesnar would become the chaser which would culminate on the 16th of September 2003 episode of <i>Smackdown <\/i>winning a 60 Minute Ironman match 5 to 4. Lesnar would hold the title for the remainder of the year and be <i>Smackdown\u2019s <\/i>top heel at the time re-aligning himself with then General Manager, Paul Heyman.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Runner Up: Kurt Angle<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p1\">Kurt Angle entered the year as WWE Champion. With Paul Heyman on his side and his Team Angle associates Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin riding with him, Angle established himself as <i>Smackdown\u2019s <\/i>\u201cfinal boss\u201d in early 2003. <i>WrestleMania XIX <\/i>would be Angle\u2019s last match until June of that year as he was recovering from a neck injury. Angle would win the WWE Championship for the 4th and final time of his career defeating Lesnar and Big Show in a Triple Threat Match. Angle would hold the title for the remainder of the summer losing the title back to Lesnar in the aforementioned Ironman match on <i>Smackdown.<\/i><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>2nd Runner Up: Triple H<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p1\">As mentioned as 2002s runner up, this would be the start of Triple H\u2019s reign of terror. \u201cThe Game\u201d in his 2nd World Heavyweight Championship reign would beat the likes of Scott Steiner, Booker T, Kevin Nash &amp; Goldberg before losing it to Goldberg at that year\u2019s <i>Unforgiven <\/i>event. Triple H would win his 3rd World Heavyweight Championship at <i>Armageddon 2003,<\/i> in a Triple Threat Match involving Goldberg and Kane.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>2004: Chris Benoit<\/strong><\/h3>\n<figure id=\"attachment_44381\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-44381\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-44381\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprowrestling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2019\/04\/wwe-latest-news-chris-benoit-death-wikipedia-john-cena-628458-e1555474504607.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-44381\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: WWE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong><i>Key Accolades:<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"p1\">2004 Royal Rumble winner<\/li>\n<li class=\"p1\">World Heavyweight Champion<\/li>\n<li class=\"p1\">World Tag Team Champion (with Edge)<\/li>\n<li class=\"p1\"><i>PWI #1<\/i> ranked wrestler<i> in 2004<\/i><\/li>\n<li class=\"p1\"><i>PWI Wrestler of the Year<\/i><\/li>\n<li class=\"p1\"><i>Wrestling Observer Newsletter Most Outstanding Wrestler<\/i><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"p1\">Looking at the events of 2007, this choice to many is a controversial one on numerous levels. However, 2004 was a banner year for the career of Chris Benoit. Benoit would enter the <i>Royal Rumble <\/i>that year as the #1 entry, then to win the Rumble match, following up to challenge for the World Heavyweight Championship at <i>WrestleMania XX <\/i>and win in a Triple Threat Match involving then-champion Triple H and rival Shawn Michaels. Benoit would successfully defend the title against the likes of Triple H, Shawn Michaels, and Kane before losing the World Heavyweight Championship to Randy Orton at <i>SummerSlam 2004. <\/i>Benoit would be a pivotal part of the main event picture throughout the remainder of 2004 entering into the next year.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Runner Up: Eddie Guerrero<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p1\">Guerrero\u2019s path to the WWE Championship wouldn\u2019t be the easiest by any means. His year started off rocky with a rivalry with his former ally, his nephew Chavo Guerrero Jr. However, on the 29th of January 2004 edition of <i>SmackDown, <\/i>Guerrero would win a 15 man over-the-top-rope battle royal to be the #1 contender to then-WWE Champion Brock Lesnar at <i>No Way Out<\/i>. Eddie would go on and win his first (and sadly) only WWE Championship in Daly City, Calif. in the famous Cow Palace arena. Guerrero would hold the title for 133 days losing to JBL in a Texas Bull Rope Match at that year\u2019s <i>Great American Bash <\/i>event.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>2nd Runner Up: John \u201cBradshaw\u201d Layfield<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p1\">Exit Bradshaw, the beer-drinking, foul-mouthed, a** kicking attitude, enter John \u201cBradshaw\u201d Layfield. A stock market genius, a corporate man, and a self-professed \u201cwrestling god.\u201d JBL would kick off a near year of dominance at <i>Great American Bash<\/i> defeating Eddie Guerrero in the aforementioned Texas Bull Rope Match, which would be the start of a 280-day reign as WWE Champion, a reign <i>SmackDown <\/i>wouldn\u2019t see until the likes of AJ Styles surpassing a year in 2017. JBL would defeat the likes of Guerrero, The Undertaker &amp; Booker T throughout 2004 as he would enter the following year as champion.<\/p>\n<p><em>Stay tuned to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprowrestling.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/a>\u00a0for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world.\u00a0<\/em>WWE fan? You can check out an almost unlimited array of WWE and NXT content on the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/watch.wwe.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">WWE Network<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The MVP award, known by many a sports fans as the most valuable player, is an award acknowledged as the top guy of their profession with a season that is considered a symbol of exceptional workmanship and praise by all. In WWE, the top guy of their respected brand is considered to be the MVP. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2484,"featured_media":68154,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-wwe","category-wwe-universe"],"modified_by":"Alex Richards, LWOF Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2484"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68127\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}