Award Description:

To be given to the worst move made by a promotion this past year. This 
could
include giving somebody a push, demoting someone, firing someone hiring
someone, or anything of a promotional nature.

Previous Winners:

  1991: WCW loses Ric Flair
  1992: WCW bans off the top rope moves under Bill Watts
  1993: WCW tapes 13 weeks of TV at one time in Orlando, Fla.
  1994: WCW lets Hulk Hogan control his scenarios
  1995: WCW gives Hulk Hogan too much control
  1996: WWF lets Scott Hall and/or Kevin Nash go
  1997: Sting doesn't wrestle for the entire year
  1998: WCW sues Ric Flair, causing nearly five month absence from television
  1999: (Tie) WCW lets big names go / WCW signs musical acts for Nitro
  2000: WCW gives Benoit, Guerrero, Malenko, and Saturn requested releases

**2001**: WWF botches seemingly surefire WWF/WCW interpromotional storyline

264 first place votes
255 second place votes
253 third place votes

 45 19 11  304   WWF books subpar invasion angle
 25 33 26  276   WWFE devotes too much energy to doomed XFL
 29 18  7  213   Booker T vs. Bagwell first WCW match booked on RAW
 20 20 11  182   WWF buries WCW repeatedly
  7 12 11   93   WWF doesn't hire big name WCW wrestlers
  6  9 10   77   WWF books too many title changes
  8  6  7   72   WWF promotes Stephanie McMahon to head of creative team
  2 12 11   68   WWF pushes Stephanie & Shane McMahon / lets them wrestle
  4  7 11   63   WCW, Battledome "collide"
 10  3  1   61   WWF buys WCW
  5  7  7   60   WWF abandons push of Chris Jericho & Chris Benoit
  6  7  2   55   WWF signs Buff Bagwell
  4  7  6   53   WWF lets Undertaker stay in topcard / make others look bad
  8  3  1   51   ECW declares bankruptcy
  4  5  8   51   Stephanie McMahon cuts questionable promo on 9/14 SmackDown!
  4  7  4   49   WWF fires Kat, lets Jerry Lawler resign
  3  8  0   39   WWF doesn't secure television time for WCW
  4  5  1   37   Vince McMahon bullies Bob Costas in HBO interview
  2  4  7   36   WWF pairs Triple H with Steve Austin instead of turning face
  5  1  3   34   WCW promotes Jimmy Hart's DJ Challenge seriously
  3  5  2   34   WWF turns Steve Austin heel
  1  5  6   32   WWF ignores different preferences of old WCW audience
  3  2  5   31   WWF tones down "attitude"
  3  2  5   31   WWF buries Lance Storm
  3  2  5   31   MECW is formed, dissolves in two months
  5  1  1   30   WWF pushes Austin/Undertaker feud too soon after WrestleMania
  4  1  3   29   Time Warner waits too long to sell WCW
  4  1  2   27   Genichiro Tenryu books self-serving style
  3  3  1   26   Vince McMahon rehashes Montreal angle...repeatedly
  1  6  1   25   WWF books Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley as ECW owner
  2  1  5   23   WWF books X-Pac to two title wins
  1  4  2   21   WWF doesn't let WCW/ECW workers do highspots
  2  3  0   19   WWF books Steve Austin to belittle entire Alliance
  2  2  1   18   WWF doesn't keep federations separate from each other
  1  1  5   18   New Japan moves too far towards shoot style
  2  1  2   17   WWF halts Rob van Dam push
  2  1  1   15   WWF airs Excess
  0  1  5   13   WWF underutilizes Mick Foley
  1  1  2   12   WCW releases Crowbar
  0  2  3   12   WWF buries Booker T
  1  0  3   11   WOW utilizes 1980's/GLOW style
  1  0  3   11   AJPW books Keiji Muto to Triple Crown win
  1  1  1   10   WWF turns Kurt Angle heel so soon after title win
  0  0  5   10   WWF signs Kronik
  1  0  2    9   WWF books Chyna vs. Ivory
  1  0  2    9   WOW uses very few wrestlers with any wrestling experience
  0  1  3    9   WWF encourages highspot-heavy style, injuries mount
  1  1  0    8   All Japan works with New Japan
  1  0  1    7   WWF leaves status of women's title unclear for months
  0  1  2    7   WOW attempts pay-per-view too early
  1  0  0    5   WWF uses WCW and ECW stars as jobbers
  1  0  0    5   WWF signs Rob van Dam
  1  0  0    5   WWF pushes Rob van Dam
  1  0  0    5   WWF pushes Rhyno
  1  0  0    5   WWF hires Paul Heyman
  1  0  0    5   WWF has too many titles that mean nothing
  1  0  0    5   WWF fires Chyna
  1  0  0    5   WWF doesn't push Hurricane enough
  1  0  0    5   WWF creates "Desire" music videos
  1  0  0    5   WCW fails to elevate talent at the right time
  1  0  0    5   WCW US Championship is nearly forgotten
  1  0  0    5   SportsLine shuts down WrestleLine
  1  0  0    5   Billy Gunn becomes Billy G. for a week
  0  1  1    5   WWF hires, fires Kronik within month
  0  1  1    5   WWF doesn't use Kanyon enough
  0  1  1    5   WWF books Kurt Angle to WWF Championship win in hometown
  0  0  2    4   WWF sends Sean O'Haire to OVW
  0  0  2    4   WWF opens Tough Enough II to independent wrestlers
  0  0  2    4   WWF lets Sunday Night Heat program languish
  0  0  2    4   WOW pays for nationwide syndication
  0  1  0    3   Yuki Ishikawa closes down Battlarts
  0  1  0    3   WWF turns most former ECW workers heel
  0  1  0    3   WWF continues to give Jim Ross a paycheck
  0  1  0    3   WOW falsely announces Egypt tour
  0  1  0    3   Too many title changes
  0  1  0    3   Goldberg yells at Triple H at game show
  0  1  0    3   AAA debuts dozens of crappy gimmicks
  0  0  1    2   iGeneration Wrestling attempts to recruit former figure skater Tonya Harding and boxer Mia St. John
  0  0  1    2   WWF underutilizes younger WCW talent
  0  0  1    2   WWF only pushes former WWF Alliance members
  0  0  1    2   WWF keeps WCW/ECW around
  0  0  1    2   WWF keeps D'Lo Brown off television
  0  0  1    2   WWF gives away too many big matches on "free" TV
  0  0  1    2   WWF gives Spike Dudley too much TV time
  0  0  1    2   WWF doesn't forgive Jeff Jarrett
  0  0  1    2   WWF buries Raven
  0  0  1    2   WWF books Triple H to win over Kurt Angle
  0  0  1    2   WWF books Test to championship victories
  0  0  1    2   WWF airs live SmackDown! two days after terrorist attacks
  0  0  1    2   WOW tries to cram all of their wrestlers on the PPV card
  0  0  1    2   WOW repeatedly books 18,000-seat Great Western Forum
  0  0  1    2   WCW gives major stars huge contracts to sit upon
  0  0  1    2   WCW fails to give Goldberg a program with Steiner; instead, 
                 jobs him out to selfish, untalented, heatless midcard tag 
                 team
  0  0  1    2   ECW cancels Living Dangerously PPV
  0  0  1    2   Chyna promotes her Playboy spread

REJECTED - did not occur in eligible time period

  0  1  0        WWF moves to TNN
  0  1  0        WCW makes fun of Jim Ross on Nitro
  0  1  0        Giving birth to Stephanie McMahon

RYAN HALL: Vince, take the book off Steph and do yourself and us a favour.

HIRO: The WWF definitely mishandled the Invasion angle as well as Kurt
Angle's sudden heel turn.

TEDB512: The fact that Tough Enough 2 is open to indies means they're
depending on it as a major future talent source. Ugh.

VIKRAM BIRRING: First of all, wasted talents. Booker T, Taz(no extra z
from me), D'Lo, TAKA, Sho Funaki, Tajiri, Essa Rios, Jerry Lynn, Raven,
Christian, Mike Awesome, Chavo Guerrero, Dean Malenko, among others. The
fact is there is so much talent that some wrestlers are bound to be left
out of the shuffle.  That is why more than one company is a good thing.
Well, there is always Japan.

STEPHEN TISZENKEL: WCW's desperate and embarrassing promotion of Jimmy
Hart's DJ Challenge should go down in history right next to the AWA's
moving their shows to an empty TV studio. Both were shameful and
frighteningly amateurish ploys that marked the last gasp of a dying
promotion. To a lesser extent, the same goes for the Battledome thing. By
the way, there are just so many awful promotional moves to choose from
this year. Can't I pick more than three? I had to give the last slot to
"WWF tones down attitude," which I guess is the root of a bunch of other
worthy candidates.

CHIP BOOTS: Vince's interview with Costas was an opportunity to make real
progress.  Vince blew it.

CHRIS BIRD: Hey, remember when Jim Ross begged us to write to our sports
sections and DEMAND that they cover the XFL fairly? Imagine if we'd done
that and all the sports sections started covering the XFL fairly and
suddenly WWFE had to deal with columns saying how bad it sucked!

SEAN FLYNN: This year was tainted for me as everytime something good would
happen I found myself waiting for the Undertaker to get involved and muck
it up somehow.  This ties in to my third place vote for burying Booker T,
as I just knew eventually he would be squashed by the Overeater.

CANZ: WWF buying WCW and ECW will mark the downfall of American Wrestling
when Vince doesn't have any more ideas to steal, talent to buy, or anyone
to one-up in terms of filth.

MIKE JOHNSON: 1.  Vince making JR plead with fans to save the XFL was the
ultimate in this laughing stock football league.  Bad telecasts, REALLY
bad football, the Jesse Ventura-Rusty Tillman "feud", the record-breaking
low ratings, oh did I mention the football sucked?

DONNY L: Without a doubt the worse thing this year was right after
WRestleMania, the WWF went with there chicken S way of booking and pushed
the Taker and Kane instead of someone new or still with some talent.

SIMON GRIER: I enjoyed Austin's heel work, but the ratings should show
what the casual fans thought of losing their two favourite babyface
characters in one night, and it was thus a poor move promotionally. The
matches in WWF are too bland, and all the workers should have more freedom
to hit good spots. I was hoping W/ECW talent would freshen things up, but
they just had to adapt to WWF style and looked out of place. WCW had one
money feud left by its last days - Goldberg and Steiner. Instead of going
with it though, Goldberg was jobbed out to Totally Dud, a team who were
undeserving to the max. Probably the last in what could be an encyclopedia
of WCW mistakes in the decade or so of its pitiful existance. Rest in
Peace.

JOHN C.: Buff Bagwell in the first WCW match on Raw? What were they
thinking?

CHRIS GRIMM: And here we see the biggest reason, if you ask me, that the
Alliance failed.  Did the WWF botch a "Can't Miss" storyline?  Only sorta.  
Fact is, they barely even ran the storyline.  Fact is, as soon as ECW came
on board, the brandname disappeared and it became just another bigass
faction:  "the Alliance".  Except for title belts, the letters WCW were
never even mentioned after that point.  (And ECW seemed regulated to Paul
Heyman's hat...)  The XFL was a terrible idea from the start, and I can
barely express how glad I am to never hear about that abomination again.  
Finally, the WWF has had an easy upper-midcarder in their ranks for years,
but D'Lo Brown has completely disappeared, due to an accident in a match
against Droz two years ago.  Come on, Vince, do you realize you might
actaully have a talented version of the Rock on your hands and you're
wasting it???

BLAZEJ SZPAKOWICZ: 1. WWF completely botches the invasion angle. This
should have been the biggest angle of all time, as everyone keeps pointing
out. It wasn't. Not even remotely. Screwing something this easy up on such
a grand scale is a work of sheer genius (or idiocy. You decide), and the
WWF deserves everything they got as a result. Such as this award. 2. WWF
fails to hire top WCW names. This was probably the main contributing
factor to number one. Leaving all the WCW wrestlers people might actually
care about out of the invasion, while certainly cost effective, just
wasn't very clever, was it? No wonder the invasion bombed. 3. WWF makes
Stephanie McMahon head booker. 'Nuff said.

CHRIS LENING: The Invasion bombing will probably win, and probably rightly
so, as it could have been some of the best TV ever, and instead, it
wasn't. I took the nomination of Benoit and Jericho being depushed to mean
the WWF's moving away from the unbelievably great month of TV prior to
King of the Ring, which might be my favorite point of the year
wrestling-wise. Ultimately, when the WWF took away the near-guarantee of
an excellent match or two every show, to make way for the Invasion, I went
elsewhere to find my wrestling. And Tenryu as booker gets third, as he
took a promotion I've heard some of the most glowing praise about, and
turned into a place so bad I don't even want to bother watching their
shows. New Japan had most of the better matches featuring Toshiaki Kawada
anyway.

ROB EVANS: Everyone says that the WWF botched the invasion angle, when in
reality they merely didn't sign the stars that would have made it
plausible.  Then again, WCW destroyed much of their star power, which is
why they sucked and were sold.

BEE MONTEVERDE: I kinda enjoyed the XFL. Too bad the media was so
biased...You want a WCW face people would recognize?
J-e-double-F-J-a-dub-R-e-dub-T!

RAGEROCKRR:  God it was a close call with a lot of categories for my
votes.  But this one was near impossible.  There were at least twenty
other nominees in this category I was tempted to vote for.  Perhaps the
WWF isn't as good a promotion as we once thought it was.

JUSTIN SHAPIRO: There are so many good ones here! I didn't even get to use
"WWF abandons push of Chris Jericho & Chris Benoit before King of the Ring
PPV."

THE CUBS FAN: Remember the rumor/joke going around, when Vince and Ed went
to WCW and didn't exactly put on a popular product, that they were sent
there by the WWF to destroy it's competitor? The (other) Vince sure
finished the job.

MATT SPAULDING: Want to know why ratings dropped after X-7?  Because heel
Austin didn't have a strong face to oppose him who could get him over as a
heel.  Triple H could have been that guy, but they kept him heel for
reasons I still can't figure out.