WWE: 25 Best Wrestlers of the 2000s

There will always be a debate among wrestling fans as to who are the greatest of all-time. The arguments become even more heated when breaking the criteria down to a certain time frame. It was this time last year that wrestling fans put together their lists for the best wrestlers between 2000 and 2009. Now that 2011 is almost here, I felt that we should include these last twelve months into the argument.

While I expect the disagreeing comments as if they are already on their way, understand that this list is focused squarely on the period of January 1, 2000 to today. There are some people that certain individuals would not put into the list. This is because I have a soft spot for the workers and unsung heroes of WWE. I understand that without good pieces to compliment them, a bunch of mega stars do not make anything memorable (insert comment about Miami Heat here).

Also, there may be some people that are left off and shouldn't be, in your mind anyway. You may recall some champion from the past 11 years that you want to see get some love. Despite the fact that 20 of the 25 wrestlers on this list were WWE or World Heavyweight Champion at some point in the period, it isn't about championships. These 25 superstars have helped to mold the identity of WWE since the new millennium.

NOTE: The championships won by the superstars will be listed alongside of them, but any championships held prior to January 1, 2000 were not included in the slides. Also not included are championships held outside of WWE.

Honorable Mentions

John "Bradshaw" Layfield

1x Intercontinental Champion

1x World Tag Team Champion (with Faarooq)

1x United States Champion

1x European Champion 

17x Hardcore Champion (all within 2002)

JBL has probably the best gripe for not being on the top 25. However, despite that all of this happened to Layfield within his mid-30s, including a gimmick change, JBL was never the face of the company. When he was WWE Champion on Smackdown, they had to edit him awkwardly into the Smackdown! intro. Considering that he had it for 280 days, that shows how little impact he truly had on the company. Like I said, people, gold doesn't mean everything in this list.

Sheamus

2x WWE Champion

2010 King of the Ring

Sheamus deserves at least a nod for his ever expanding resume. He has only been on WWE television since late June 2009, yet he has been vaulted into the main event. While he needs parlay his King of the Ring victory with HHH's return to gain some credibility, there is no doubt that Sheamus will be in the top 25 by the end of the next decade.

25) MVP

2x United States Champion

1x WWE Tag Team Champion (with Matt Hardy)

Montel Vontavious Porter burst onto the scene in 2006 as a coveted free agent and the "highest paid man in Smackdown history". His gimmick was fantastic and, while his move-set wasn't flawless, it just seemed to work. It was interesting to see MVP without the United States Championship belt, since he seemed to hold it forever. He never got that main event push that much of the fan base wanted, but it was the fact that he helped legitimize the United States Championship in WWE, as well as his fan favorite status no matter what, that squeezes MVP onto the list. Then again, maybe there is some sympathy for having him just leave the company. I digress...

24) John Morrison

1x ECW Champion

1x World Tag Team Champion (with The Miz)

3x Intercontinental Champion

4x WWE Tag Team Champion (three with Joey Mercury, one with The Miz)

Tough Enough III Winner

John Morrison is the only man on this list to have competed in Tough Enough and is the lone winner of a season to still remain with the company. Originally as Johnny Nitro, Morrison was a three-time tag team champion with the team of MNM. He was also a great mid-card wrestler, winning the Intercontinental Championship as well. It wasn't until his move to ECW that his career got the boost that it needed. Nitro became John Morrison and the rest is history.

Morrison is still young at just 31, but Morrison represents that great high-flying mid-carder that we all want to see climb to the main event. There's another guy that we felt that way about. It worked out for him. He is later on in this list.

23) Lita

4x Women's Champion

Lita was a great spin on that "girl next door" image. She could get down and dirty with the boys while also making it look sexy. Lita was a four-time Women's Champion, but is known mostly for doing things that most women wouldn't dare try, let alone do well. Her managing abilities with Essa Rios, The Hardys and Edge also stick out. Whether it was in the ring or at ringside, Lita always put on a show and she always made you remember what she did in the ring.

She also left a great mark in women's wrestling that will likely never be filled entirely. Any comparison as a Diva to Lita is a great honor and, if there was ever someone to step into her shoes, now would be the time for them to show.

22) Shelton Benjamin

3x Intercontinental Champion

2x WWE Tag Team Champion (with Charlie Haas)

1x United States Champion

Benjamin is just one of the many great collegiate wrestlers that we saw in the 2000s. As a member of Team Angle, Benjamin was given instant heat and major guidance. Benjamin only won tag team gold twice as a member of The World's Greatest Tag Team, which seems wrong. They may have not been the world's greatest, but they were a damn good one at that.

The Gold Standard was never afraid to try something to win and seemed to dominate the mid-card for a while in his WWE tenure. His major flaw was his inability to talk or gain any charisma. His main gift to the wrestling fan was moments of extreme in a wrestling world that was turning PG. His spots in Money IN The Bank matches made the match as hyped as it is today. While ECW was failing as a brand, Benjamin was putting on great matches and going unnoticed. It is no wonder that Benjamin was released.

21) Kane

1x World Heavyweight Champion (current)

2x Intercontinental Champion

1x Hardcore Champion

5x World Tag Team Champion (twice with The Undertaker, once each with Rob Van Dam, The Hurricane and The Big Show)

1x WCW Tag Team Champion (with The Undertaker)

Money in the Bank winner

Kane deserved more respect in the last eleven years. While he was linked to his brother, The Undertaker, often, his stock as a singles competitor suffered. Kane would always have a great showing at Royal Rumble, only to lose in the end. He got a push after losing his mask, but even that fizzled away. The sheer presence for a man that seldom talked for a while was amazing. Wrestling fans are glad that Kane got to enjoy a world championship for more than a day. He also helped make WWE wrestlers into potential movie stars with his movie, See No Evil.

He may have been given some awful storylines (Katie Vick, raping Lita and creating a lovechild, fighting a masked imposter Kane), but it was nice to see that they'll send off Kane with at least one great run for one of the scariest monster heels of our generation.

20) CM Punk

1x ECW Champion

3x World Heavyweight Champion

1x World Tag Team Champion (with Kofi Kingston)

1x Intercontinental Champion

2x Money In the Bank Winner 

Punk made straight edge awesome, even if the kiddies loved a certain "charistmatic enigma" who dealt drugs. CM Punk tried to make his own faction, but couldn't get the momentum to make it work. Regardless, his career in WWE, which started in 2006, has had more success than most people have gotten in their entire careers. It seemed as if Punk single-handedly carried ECW for a while. Punk is the only multi-time Money In The Bank match winner (keep in mind that I said match, since someone else won a second briefcase after the MITB match took place).

There hasn't been much that CM Punk hasn't done, but it isn't as if Punk has gotten stale. Despite being with one gimmick for his entire WWE tenure, fans still love and respect CM Punk, heel or face. 

19) Big Show

1x ECW Champion

3x World Tag Team Champion (once each with Kane, Chris Jericho and The Miz)

2x WWE Tag Team Champion (once each with Chris Jericho and The Miz)

1x United States Champion

1x WWE Champion

3x Hardcore Champion

BIg Show has seen and done it all. When you are a seven-foot man that weighs over 400 pounds, is there any question as to why? If you take away his runs with tag team gold with ShowMiz and Jeri-Show, however, there isn't much left. Sure, Big Show wasn't around for the entire decade, but his pushes seemed few and far between. He was built as dominant and still lost in the end. Are we supposed to believe that this gigantic man would lose most of the time?

The reason that Big Show isn't higher is the fact that his character seemed more of a sideshow than a credible wrestler. He fought a professional boxer and a sumo wrestler at WrestleMania. 

18) Brock Lesnar

3x WWE Champion

2002 King of the Ring

2003 Royal Rumble Winner

Lesnar had every inkling of being higher on this list. As a three-time WWE Champion and one of five men to ever be King of the Ring and win a Royal Rumble (others are Bret Hart, Stone Cold Steve Austin, HHH and Edge), Lesnar was exactly what he was billed as: The Next Big Thing.

He was a fantastic wrestler and was always so dominating. Even if he lost, he never jobbed to anyone. In my personal opinion, I don't feel that Brock Lesnar was okay with the idea of losing his WWE Championship belt to Eddie Guerrero. It is because of this that he suddenly made the leap to the NFL. Eventually, Lesnar would join UFC and the whispers of a WWE return would surface. News flash: he isn't coming back...

17) Jeff Hardy

2x World Heavyweight Champion

1x WWE Champion

1x European Champion (last champion in title's history)

3x Hardcore Champion

4x Intercontinental Champion

1x Light Heavyweight Champion

5x World Tag Team Champion (with Matt Hardy)

Jeff Hardy has a lot of accolades that many may not have realized. He won practically any championship around during his tenure in WWE. However, his departure from the company and drug use harm his place on the list. A good wrestler is the face of a company and shows it in his activities. Hardy's troubles put him in a negative light. Plus, he always sucked with a microphone in his hand.

16) Rey Mysterio

2x World Heavyweight Champion

2x Intercontinental Champion

4x WWE Tag Team Champion (once each with Edge, Rob Van Dam, Eddie Guerrero and Batista)

3x Cruiserweight Champion

2006 Royal Rumble Winner

Rey Mysterio is the ultimate underdog to all and the ultimate overrated wrestler to many. There is no denying the fact that he is a fantastic wrestler and would belong on this list anyway. His moves are not as lethal as they used to be (how bad could a splash from him possibly hurt?) but it is the attitude that he has always presented that has molded a great career for him.

When his friend, Eddie Guerrero, passed away, it was Rey's time to shine in the spotlight. While many criticize him for this, understand that wrestling would have not been the same without that push. We all knew he probably should have never been world champion, but the fact that he was has changed the landscape of the company.

15) Eddie Guererro

1x WWE Champion

4x WWE Tag Team Champion (twice with Chavo Guerrero, once each with Tajiri and Rey Mysterio)

1x United States Champion

2x European Champion

2x Intercontinental Champion

WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2006

Of course he was going to be next to his friend.

Eddie Guerrero, as I've said in a previous piece, should have been a world champion long before he was. While nobody was certain of the bad health that his heart was in, it was known of his struggles with drugs and alcohol. At some point, two and two just needs to be put together.

Without the WWE Championship reign, Eddie had a fantastic career and was always one of those guys who would make anyone look good in a match. The only Hall of Fame member on this list, Eddie was scheduled to win the World Heavyweight Championship had he not passed away.

14) Chris Benoit

1x World Heavyweight Champion

1x WWE Tag Team Champion (with Kurt Angle)

3x United States Champion

4x Intercontinental Champion

3x World Tag Team Champion (twice with Edge, once with Chris Jericho)

2004 Royal Rumble Winner

I had to put him next to his good friend, as well.

Chris Benoit will never be included in WWE record books or many classic videos. This does not take away from the fact that the man was high of a performer than you could have asked for when he debuted with The Radicalz. When Benoit left WCW he was actually their world champion, but this did not translate into immediate success for Benoit. WCW never acknowledged the championship being given to Benoit, but they are the only ones. Benoit would eventually get his big gold belt.

Personal life or not, you knew when his music hit that Chris Benoit was going to give you one hell of a fight. Benoit never needed to talk much or have a crazy gimmick or storyline. He was your classic man who could wrestle and beat the hell out of anyone.

13) Booker T

1x WCW Champion

1x WCW Tag Team Champion (with Test)

1x World Heavyweight Champion

3x World Tag Team Champion (once each with Test, Goldust and Rob Van Dam)

1x Intercontinental Champion

3x United States Champion

2x Hardcore Champion

2006 King of the Ring

Booker T, to me, represents the WCW Invasion which shaped the beginning of the decade. While he had five WCW title reigns at the old company, this is a list of WWE accomplishments.

Without names like Goldberg, Sting, and many others that fans wanted to see in the invasion, Booker T fit perfectly. Booker T was given the strength of the entire storyline for a while until Stone Cold Steve Austin stepped in as Alliance leader. After all of that, Booker T was a solid performer, but it was a shame that it took his annoying King Booker gimmick to get him a world championship once again.

12) Rob Van Dam

1x ECW Champion

2x World Tag Team Champion (once each with Kane and Booker T)

1x WWE Champion

1x WWE Tag Team Champion (with Rey Mysterio)

4x Hardcore Champion

1x European Champion

6x Intercontinental Champion

Money In The Bank Winner

RVD was one of the big surprises from the Invasion story. While I don't think that many people didn't know who he was, he became an immediate fan favorite. Regardless of the entire Alliance getting heat, RVD was face in the fan's minds from the very beginning. Van Dam gave innovative moves and almost forced his opponent to step his game up as well. When he became a world champion contender was when RVD revitalized ECW. While it was far from the ECW that we all knew and loved, the early days were pretty great and we can thank RVD for making it as relevant as it was for that time.

11) The Rock

2x WCW Champion

4x WWE Champion

2x World Tag Team Champion (once each with The Undertaker and Chris Jericho)

2000 Royal Rumble Winner

The Rock. Outside of the top 10.

Before you all feverishly type your comments, understand how much The Rock actually wrestled from 2000 until now. He started off winning the 2000 Royal Rumble, which really, he didn't. His feet hit the floor first, people.

He then won a WWE Championship at Backlash, which included a Stone Cold Steve Austin sighting, just to lose it at Judgement Day, where there was an Undertaker appearance. The Rock won the belt three times between the beginning of 2000 and WrestleMania X-7. He then left for the last six months of 2002 before semi-retirement in 2004.

10) Batista

4x World Heavyweight Champion

2x WWE Champion

3x World Tag Team Champion (twice with Ric Flair, once with John Cena)

1x WWE Tag Team Champion (with Rey Mysterio)

2005 Royal Rumble Winner

Batista may have been the kind of guy that you hated to see be invincible, but there was do denying his abilities and that he was destined for the main event. He was a main event mainstay after his tenure with Evolution.

His gimmick began to wear thin on me... and then it took years after that before he turned heel and wanted the spotlight on him... literally. We had all taken Batista for granted and once he turned into a guy that we all paid attention to, he left WWE. I think his gimmick was more along the lines of how he truly felt toward the end of his tenure.

9) Shawn Michaels

2x World Tag Team Champion (once each with Triple H and John Cena)

1x WWE Tag Team Champion (with Triple H)

1x World Heavyweight Champion

We all thought that Shawn Michaels was done. He had had a fantastic career, but it had run its course and he had to hang them up due to injuries. Then he was back. He didn't have a lot of gold, but he won in the first Elimination Chamber, which has become the most popular cage-type match in WWE. He reformed DX with HHH, but it was his matches with select people, mainly The Undertaker and Chris Jericho, that would be some of the best in the decade and rival as some of the best ever.

8) Trish Stratus

7x Women's Champion (most all-time)

1x Hardcore Champion

Diva of the Decade

Do you hear that noise? That's the sound of me alienating my audience. How dare I place a Diva in front of The Heartbreak Kid?

Well, it's very simple. Think of one male wrestler from 1988 until 2010 (the time when Michaels was wrestling). Now think of one female wrestler from 2000 until 2006. More than likely, Trish Stratus is your girl.

She literally was the women's division while she wrestled. Initially thought to be a sexy valet, Trish became better and, pretty soon, seemed like she should have been doing this years prior. Her title of Diva of the Decade is appropriate. Without her, the demise of the Divas that we experience now would have likely happened earlier. If there was a Mount Rushmore for women's wrestling, I would start etching Stratus into that rock right now.

7) Edge

12x World Tag Team Champion (seven with Christian, two with Chris Benoit, and once each with Randy Orton, Chris Jericho and Hulk Hogan)

2x WWE Tag Team Champion (once each with Rey Mysterio and Chris Jericho)

5x World Heavyweight Champion

4x WWE Champion

4x Intercontinental Champion

1x WCW United States Champion

2001 King of the Ring

2x Money In The Bank Winner (2005, 2007)

2010 Royal Rumble Winner

The Rated-R Superstar has so many accolades and awards that it would make anyone else's resume look mediocre. However, can anyone truly see Edge as the face of this company? He is a nine-time world champion, but how many times did he win, only to lose it via injury later on? His medical issues have ruined his legacy, unlike our number one wrestler.

6) Kurt Angle

1x WCW United States Champion

1x WCW Champion

1x World Heavyweight Champion

4x WWE Champion

1x European Champion

1x Hardcore Champion

1x Intercontinental Champion

1x WWE Tag Team Champion (with Chris Benoit)

2000 King of the Ring

Angle made mincemeat of WWE in his tenure with the company. Not only did Angle take the WWE Championship at a time when HHH and The Rock were at their all-time peaks, but he held the European and Intercontinental Championships at the same time. He even held tag team gold at one point. While he was on top of the company, he still had no problem helping a young man named John Cena became a household name.

5) The Undertaker

2x WCW Tag Team Champion (with Kane)

3x World Heavyweight Champion

1x WWE Champion

2x Hardcore Champion

3x World Tag Team Champion (twice with Kane, once with The Rock)

2007 Royal Rumble Winner

18-0 WrestleMania record

"The Deadman" began the 21st century as "The American Bad Ass", which seemed cool for like a minute. Eventually, we all kind of realized that it was weird that a dead man would be reborn as a patriotic biker, only to die once more and begin to wear MMA gloves.

Regardless, The Undertaker, as rare as his appearances have become, has used his time to put on fantastic matches. At this point in his career, seeing Taker often would ruin his place as a phenomenon.

"The Streak" should never break, by the way. Why not hold onto one good record in wrestling?

4) Randy Orton

1x World Heavyweight Champion

1x World Tag Team Champion (with Edge)

6x WWE Champion

1x Intercontinental Champion

2009 Royal Rumble Winner

When I first saw a guy named Randy Orton in 2002, I thought that it might be David Flair part two. Man, am I glad I was wrong.

I am convinced that Evolution was created for Orton and for no other reason, which I am glad for. He needed that time to become something relevant. He became the youngest World Heavyweight Champion, which seemed like such high praise. Then, we saw Orton become The Legend Killer. Eventually, he became The Viper, which I hated at first. I also hated "Voices" as his theme, but that grew on me too. If anything, Orton grew into his character. He is a perfectionist, which is a good thing to see. He will never truly be satisfied because, after all, wrestling fans never are.

Orton is a face of this company at a time where Cena is in his prime, which is incredible.

3) John Cena

2x World Heavyweight Champion

2x World Tag Team Champion (once each with Batista and Shawn Michaels)

7x WWE Champion

1x WWE Tag Team Champion (with David Otunga)

3x United States Champion

2008 Royal Rumble Winner

Speaking of the ex-employee (wink, wink)

I don't need to argue why he is a face of this company, so I'll just talk about his current state.

The storyline has been completely ruined by Cena running around without so much as one altercation with security. We know he isn't really fired, but lie to us a little!

2) Triple H

5x World Heavyweight Champion

6x WWE Champion

3x Intercontinental Champion

2x World Tag Team Champion (once each with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels)

1x WWE Tag Team Champion (with Shawn Michaels)

2002 Royal Rumble Winner

Regardless of his place within the McMahon family, HHH belongs here. He is one of the great champions that this company has ever seen and that WHC belt looked so great on him. I'm not sure how much else HHH will do once he returns to rip up Sheamus's weird King of the Ring outfit, but I do hope that he becomes the new face of the company once he retires. Vince is getting old, Shane is gone, Linda is mad she lost an election and Stephanie keeps having babies. Keeping HHH around as a superior in the company is a good move. 

Who knows? Maybe he is the RAW GM...

1) Chris Jericho

8x Intercontinental Champion (has nine total reigns - most all-time)

First-ever Unpisputed Champion

3x World Heavyweight Champion

2x WCW Champion

4x World Tag Team Champion (once each with Benoit, The Rock, Christian and Edge/The Big Show)

1x WWE Tag Team Champion (with Edge/The Big Show)

1x European Champion

1x Hardcore Champion

Y2J embodies the 2000s in WWE. You may forget, but I bought his DVD and you can see that people came to events just to see him, championship or not. He may not have even wrestled that night, but he put butts in the seats and helped sell pay-per-views. No other guy deserves this championship because no other guy means more to this business than Jericho. Often regarded as an unsung hero, especially in the current landscape, Jericho has always been that injection that the business needed (no, that wasn't a steroid joke).