2001: The Year Professional Wrestling Died

By: Stuart Carapola

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

The year 2001 began with a wrestling landscape rich with competition, featuring three national companies locked in a weekly ratings battle for a massive and devoted fanbase. By the time the calendar turned, only one promotion remained standing, fan interest had plummeted, and a steady decline began that continues to this day. This book chronicles how an entire industry, a true pop culture phenomenon, seemingly collapsed overnight.

Follow the final, dying breaths of both Extreme Championship Wrestling and World Championship Wrestling, from their last pay-per-view events to the day the lights were turned out for good. The narrative explores how these once-mighty wrestling empires, which had fostered legions of stars and redefined the business, became mere punchlines in the victor's history books. It is a detailed account of the end of an era, told through the lens of the key events that sealed their fates.

The story then pivots to the aftermath and the bungled InVasion angle that promised to be the biggest storyline in wrestling history. Discover how this dream feud was squandered through a combination of corporate ego and a refusal to present the incoming talent as a credible threat. This book examines the criminal misuse of the WCW and ECW legacies and how the focus shifted from a historic war between companies to an internal family squabble.

Finally, delve into a detailed analysis of what went so wrong and how the industry is still feeling the effects decades later. Without any competition to keep it sharp, the victorious WWF was free to change its philosophy, alienating the very audience that propelled it to victory in the Monday Night Wars. This is the definitive story of 2001, the year professional wrestling as we knew it died.

Horrendous AI/virtual voice ruins it all

In addition to the God awful narration, this is really just an opinion piece made into book form. There are not a lot of outside sources to base these personal opinions being presented as factual information. I feel like a child wrote certain parts of the book.

On the topic of opinions, 2002 was more of the year when wrestling began dying. When the WWF voluntarily chose to rebrand to WWEntertainment, popularity began to collapse and hasn’t recovered. Fans didn’t want a program now marketed as strictly entertainment. Fans didn’t want the “fake” title shoved in their faces. The fans wanted the sport part of wrestling along with the entertainment. Most went to MMA or simply moved on with their lives.

Using world wrestling entertainment as the company name has been a disaster when it comes to bringing in newer generations of fans. Middle aged men make up the vast majority of the audience now. A complete rebrand, along with genuine competition, is the only way to save it. The obscene amount of revenue the company takes in now WILL eventually dry up. It’s inevitable.

Absolute garbage

The AI is horrible and tough to deal with. The writing sounds like it was done by a 15 year old that has a heavy anti-WWF/E bias. They did not keep a level point of view. Avoid this at all cost. I want my $5 and time back.