Hey i am back for another post. I am going to list the top 10 most underrated wrestlers of the 2000-2009 decade. Now i have received some messages from a group on my facebook to discuss this topic so if anybody from the IWC(internet wrestling community) wants to be critical, well go right ahead.
10.Lance Storm(2000-2004)
Yes i had to put him on number 10. In 2000, Lance left ECW for WCW over a pay dispute. When he soon arrived, he captured the WCW united states,hardcore, and cruiserweight titles and held them all at the same time(nobody has ever held 3 belts at once again until Kurt Angle in 2007) and many speculated that he would get the world title. he had a match against Booker T and he did not win the title, but he became a big factor during the rest of his WCW run. when WWE brought WCW, Storm quickly joined the alliance and captured the intercontinental championship.Soon in 2002, he has formed the un-americans stable with Test and Christian on smackdown and captured the tag team titles two times. Now in many fans minds, he should have been ready for a world title match but he was sent back to raw on a trade and in 2003, he was rarley on television after he lost the tag team belt.
9.Shelton Benjamin (2004-2008)
Ok. now this wrestler is on my list for many reasons.As soon as Shelton Benjamin was drafted to raw and beat triple H in a one on one match, he SHOULD have got his push right there because he beat him again the next week. But he couldn’t because Chris Benoit was the world champion that time. However, he did went against Randy Orton for the intercontinental title at Bad Blood 2004 in a great match but failed to win..he eventually got a match against chris jericho and won the belt. On both of the money in the bank ladder matches in 2005 and 2006,Benjamin did alot of memorable spots that will not be forgotten. and during a match against WWE hall of famer Shawn Michales, he took the best sweet chin music i have ever seen, Benjamin went for a springboard and jumped to only get caught with the superkick in mid-air. He did pick up the intercontinental title numerous times and eventually the united states title, but i never understood why he was not pushed for any world title until ECW in 2009..
8.Rob Van Dam(2001-2006)
Yes he is mr. monday night and mr. ppv, Rob Van Dam. when ECW came into the alliance in 2001, he was the most over wrestler and the only non- heel wrestler on the stable because the fans were aware of him in ECW. While he was with the stable, he captured the hardcore championship numerous times and had memorable matches with jeff hardy. On one smackdown in late 2001, he challenged the alliance leader Steve Austin to a match and did the unexpected and beat Austin in the match. His first shot at the WWE championship was at no mercy in 2001 against Kurt Angle and Austin but failed to win. Latrer in 2002, he wrestled his first wrestlemania and defeated William Regal for the intercontinental title and went on to feud with the returning Eddie Guerrero.This feud was very unique because both of their finishing moves are the frog splash. They both traded victories and he would FINALLY get his chance at the world title picture by entering the king of the ring tournament. he would loose to Brock Lesnar in the finals but he went to unify some belts..RVD is the last person to have held the european and hardcore championships and also he would compete in the very first elimination chamber( i was in that arena that night and i never forgot it)..From 2003-2004, he would get some shots for the world title but would not win it..he did became the world and WWE tag team champion with Kane,Booker T, and Rey Mysterio. Now my question is that how someone with great mic skills and great wrestling ability would only get a shot about 3 times a year in that time period. In 2005, RVD got injured and would get sidelined for a year and in 2006, he returned and won the money in the bank ladder match. He would also defeat Cena for the wwe championship(yes the match where the full scale anti-cena crowd has emerged).Two later on ECW on syfy, he would also be the new ECW champion making him the only wrestler to hold both the WWE and ECW world championships at the same time.However, he and Sabu got arrested and he had to drop both the titles which got the fans agry at arenas and the internet.No matter what anybody says, RVD proved that he was “the whole f’n show” from the moment he went out the curtain, until the bell rings.
7.Matt Hardy (2002-2005)
Now you can like him or hate him because of his reputation on the internet, but i always thought that Matt Hardy was the better technical wrestler than his brother.In 2002, Matt was traded to smackdown and he soon went to a new gimmick. Matt Hardy Version 1.0. This would include him bringing up his mattitude slang. Also everytime he made his entrance, the first thing you would see on the screen on your tv, would be the WWE.com website on his on server and when he came out, it was like watching youtube on your tv. Plus it would show some facts on the side screen about him. Now he would eventually team with his best friend Shannon Moore and he got more tv time. He would win the cruiserweight championship from Billy Kidman in no way out 2003. And at wrestlemania, he would defend his belt against Rey Mysterio and win. He also feuded with him for the few months.And in june 2003, he would wrestle him again but this time it was the main event on smackdown for that title on the line in which he lost. he then went on for a short small feuds with Chris Benoit and Zach Gowen, but he has not got a chance for the world title. So he then was sent to raw in order to be with his girlfriend Amy “lita” Dumas. Soon he would get a shot but his pushed stopped in 2005 due to him being fired for acknowledging that lita had an affair with Edge. When the news broke out, several fans would boo her out the arenas at raw and house shows. I liked matt i just wish he was pushed more.
6.Booker T (2001-2005)
Can you dig it…sucka!!!!. yes Booker T lands in number 6. the night he debuted as the 4 time wcw champion, he attacked Steve Austin at the main event of the King of the Ring PPV. Also he has injured his hand in the process. Then the invasion started and he lost the WCW title to Kurt Angle and won it back the next week.With this victory, he became the 5 time WCW champion.After dropping the belt to The Rock, he started to be used less during the invasion. He however, won the tag team belts with test in 2001 and wrestled the main event at survivor series that year. For a few months in 2002, he was put in the midcard level and got his first wrestlemania match against Edge. After that, he didnt get any wwe title matches but he did won the hardcore championship in a UK tour event. This was also the time when you ask yourself, how can someone like him have so much success in WCW, but yet he didn’t get a push for a world title until the end of the year?. Well that is WWE politics for you. in 2003, he feuded with Triple H, which to me was his best feud since Steve Austin back in December 2001. During this feud, Triple H would make some controversial marks to Booker T(still searching for the video). He has lost the match but did put on a great show. His next step was for the intercontinental championship.He and Christian went for the belt back and fourth. in 2004, Booker T was drafted to smackdown. He turned heel when he stated that smackdown was for the minor leagues and raw is the place where the big boys play. he also mentioned Big Show and John cena in his promo as well.Right there was when i THOUGHT that he should have got the push. he had a match against the Undertaker, and eventually won the United states championship. He then finally got a shot at JBL’s wwe championship once in survivor series, and again in a fatal 4 way in Armageddon in that year but failed to get the title. in late 2005. He would go on to feud with Chris benoit in a best of 7 series for the united states championship. This series was some of the best matches on smackdown ever. And this series was the first step to his major push in 2006.
5. John Morrison(2007-2009)
John Morrison is one of the best pure athletes in wwe history but yet just like alot of the wrestlers, he was not used right most times. In 2007, he became the ECW champion. A few weeks later, he went from johnny nitro to John Morrison. The first thing you would notice is that he resembled the late Jim Morrison. he had the look of a 70’s rock star and he wrestles of a mix between shawn michaels and rvd. The whole summer he held the title until the beginning of september(he was suspended for 30 days for being one of the 10 wrestlers caught using steroids). After that, he and the miz would capture the tag team belts and they would have a weekley show on wwe.com called “the dirt sheet”. The show was well received by fans and they would eventually win the world tag team titles in 2008. When the team split in 2009, Morrison was sent to smackdown with a decent push but he wouldn’t win the big one. However, he beat Rey mysterio for the intercontinental title in which that was the best match i have seen from Morrison. He has all the tools to be a future world champion. Lets not see that happen in that other wrestling company at orlando where hogan is being the emperor.
4. Montel Vontavious Porter(MVP)(2007-2008)
MVP came into wwe in 2006, but his best years are from 2007-2008. he had great mic skills and he was not bad in the ring.his first wrestlemania was against Chris benoit. and he later won the united states championship against him on judgment day on that year in a 2 out of 3 falls match.(quick note, MVP is the only wrestler in the world to have won two straight falls in this type of match)MVP later gave credit to benoit for improving his ring skills in a 2011 interview. Also in 2007, he feuded with Matt hardy and later became tag team champions(while he was a US. champion,) and the defended it several times until Matt got injured. in 2008, MVP became the longest united states champion in WWE history. He would loose the belt to matt hardy and after that, he was put back into the mid card level.He would only get one shot at the world title but he lost in unforgivin 2008 in a scramble match. After that, his loosing streak began and it was just sad for someone with so much momentum to be de-pushed very fast.
3. Molly Holly (2002-2004)
I bet nobody expected a WWE Diva to be on this list. Molly Holly was The hurricane(Shane Helms) manager from 2001-2002. When the WWF changed to WWE due to a lawsuit, she returned to raw a few weeks later, changing her entire look in the process. She went from a Blonde, to a autumn brown(i like blondes damnit lol). she also had a new gimmick. She was a self-righteous prude diva, meaning that she was appalled by the other WWE Divas continually using their “assets” and degrading themselves. During this gimmick, she would often refer to herself as being “pure and wholesome.” This led to a feud with the then-Women’s Champion Trish Stratus, which culminated in her winning the championship at King of the Ring in June 2002.During the feud, Jerry Lawler also began to poke fun at Molly, which Holly later revealed it genuinely hurt her feelings. Molly Holly, however, initially did not mind the storyline when Stephanie McMahon approached her with the idea. The feud with Stratus continued for several months, and Molly later brought in Victoria as an enforcer to help deal with Trish. She would finally drop the title back to Stratus at Unforgiven in September 2003. At wrestlemania 20 in 2004, she lost her belt to Victoria in a hair vs hair match. She had her head completely shaved bald(in which she later revealed that it was her idea). She would eventually leave the WWE because it was reported that she was beginning to become disenchanted with WWE, who began to focus on looks rather than wrestling ability. She also hated that her character had become a villain, but that is not the direct cause of her leaving the company. Holly, however, stated that all of the a forementioned reasons are incorrect, but she would like to keep the real reason she left WWE private. Now she is also the innovated the move “the molly-go-around” and if she was in the wwe right now, The divas divison will not be all about dancing around in the ring.
2.William Regal(2006-2008)
This guy is a tremendous wrestler and even though his fighting style is old school he still has some classic matches. William Regal has been in the spotlight before but through the years he’s been down graded to a fool and has not been on TV much or competed in the championship matches. He has been king of the ring but its time for this guy to get a WWE championship or World Heavyweight Championship around his waist. He was even kept out of the list of WWE’s best Talkers. In 2008, he became the general manager of raw. on one episode, he cut of the live feed on one of the main event matches in which caused an outrage with many WWE fans at home. Now i dont think any heel will go that far again. in 2009, he was sent to ecw where he feuded with christian. he had many title match opportunities But he never won it. in my eyes, william regal is one of the best wrestlers to have never won a wwe or world heavyweight title.
1.Christian (2003-2005.2009)
in 2003, The rock and Christian had a backstage segment and christian stated that he will be the new people’s champion. The next week, he won the IC title. and on that monday, he has cut his long hair and referred to his audience as his peeps. now at that point i knew that his push started. he feuded with booker t and rvd for that belt and he would team with chris jericho until wrestlemania 20 where they both went against each other and christian picked up the victory in that great match.later in that year, his mic skills started getting better every week and he would have a short feud with shawn michales. in 2005, he competed in the first money in the bank ladder match but did not win, then in june, he would get a shot for the wwe championship but didnt win. so he was sent to smackdown and he didn’t win the belt either. christian was the heel that time and he started to get a cult following and his fanbase on the web was starting to take notice to him, i think if he never left wwe in 2005 for tna, he would have been world champion within a few weeks. he returned in wwe in 2009 but he didnt win the money in the bank, However, he did win the ecw championship, but many fans felt that it was not enough and i had to agree with them because he deserved a wwe or world title at the time he returned.Christian is also one of those guys just like cm punk,dolph ziggler and many more, want to see holding the belt. he did in 2011 but both of his reigns were short. lets hope soon again he can hold it longer than a month