WWF: 2000 began with the Royal Rumble, a Vince Russo-booked event where David Arquette won the World Title by superkicking Bret Hart out of the ring after it appeared the two had agreed to go over the top rope together. What a shocking swerve!

In the rumble, Mick Foley participated three different times! Once as Mankind, once as Brother Love, and once as Outback Jack. Foley then was signed away by the WCW (more on him to come).

Arquette would then hand the title over to Russo, who would book himself to win ALL the titles, then throw them out, claiming that the belts "didn't mean anything anymore." (Jim Duggan would dig the belts out of the trash and defend them on indy cards all over the country as "Gillberg.")

The only belt that survived was the Women's Title, won by Valorie Venus when she beat Lana Star to take her place in Terra Ryzing's stable alongside Max Moon and Perry Saturn.

The main storyline involved the Canadian World Order, led by Bret Hart, with such outstanding athletes as Lance Storm, Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, the Rougeaus, etc. They battled weekly with the Real Americans, with the Lex Express, Lex Lugar leading the way. Other top stars for the Americans included Sgt. Slaughter, Cpl. Kirschner, Mr. USA Tony Atlas, and Olympians Brad Rheingans, Kurt Angle (who was orginally wrestling as The Patriot until losing the mask in a match) and Mark Henry.

The feud reached a major double turning point at Winterslam in December. As the CWO were gleefully jolly-stomping Lugar after a match, the familiar red and yellow colors of the Immortal Hulk Hogan flashed into the ring. After finishing off the North-of-the-borderers with a dazzling display of dropkicks, the Hulkster helped Lugar to his feet. After reveling in the cheers for awhile, Hogan leveled Lugar with a devastating clothesline, then called the CWO back to the ring for more deviltry to the poor Lex Express. Hogan grabbed the mike, yelling "Hit my music, brah!" The ring filled with debris as the fans' ears were filled with the lyrics: "I am a real Can-a-di-an..."

The lights dimmed, the music stopped, and a single spotlight lit up the entryway. The crowd noise swelled as the man from the islands stepped up..."Finally, the Rock has come back to the WWF...."

"If you smelllllllllalalalla (pause) what the Rock, Don Muraco, is cooking!" And we were left with a panicked CWO, and the end to easily the most exciting PPV of the year.

WCW: WWF refugees made a big impact on the Southern promotion, after Ted Turner backed out of an attempt to buy the Northerners.

Mick Foley became the Heavyweight champion after a 60-minute best-of-three technical extravaganza, by pinning Hak with La Magistral. Tony Schiavone was heard to exclaim that Mick Foley would be the savior of the WCW, and possibly the biggest attraction the promotion had ever seen.

Actually, it looked for awhile that the savior of the floundering WCW would come in the form of an ex-NFL football player who was wildly over with the fans despite a lack of ability and experience. Steve "Chief Wahoo" McMichael sold out many shows while squashing such lesser lights as "Thunderfoot" Jerry Lynn night after night. However, Wahoo left the business after his wife, the lovely Sable, decided on an acting career and a divorce.

One WWF refugee that wouldn't last long was Jim Ross, who was forced to do color commentary on Nitro under a mask as "Mr. J.R." He was fired when, during a show in Oklahoma, he used his own barbecue sauce to spell out the word "DIET" on Mark Madden's chest.

By the end of the year, the tag team titles belonged to the Dog Pound, Big Poochie (Kevin Nash) and The Dog (Al Greene), after they knocked off the Natural Born Disasters, Earthquake (Mark Jindrak) and Typhoon (Sean O'Haire).

Arn, Lars, and Ole Anderson had a tearful reunion in a Charlotte ring, where they inducted C.W. Anderson as the newest member of the legendary Four Norseman. They feuded for the better part of the year with the West Texas Rednecks (Curt Henning, Muta, Madusa and Vampiro).

Indies: The number three promotion was clearly the AWF out of Minnesota. Despite losing their cable TV slot, they had a promotion-record buyrate for their October-to-Delobe-her. In the main event, "Innovator of Violence" Ric Flair won the main title in a gruesome Exploding Terry Funk match when his opponent, Terry Funk, exploded.

There were many other indy feds in action during the year, most of them in Memphis, and most of them filled with overweight WWF rejects.

Overall, a great year for the sport of kings. King Jerry Lawler anyway.