Scott's Blog of Doom

The Captain Hindsight Retro Review of WWF Invasion 2001

By red29 (redw29@gmail.com)

With the decade nearing a close and since I have been collecting wrestling DVDs at a pace like the movie 2012 is real and it is my job to archive professional wrestling for all of mankind, I wanted to take a look back and re-watch the pay-per-views of arguably the biggest storyline flop this decade– the Invasion. So I fired up the Amazon Marketplace and found new original copies of the Invasion (very easy actually), Summerslam, Unforgiven, No Mercy and Rebellion (hey, why not?) shows. I’m still shopping for Survivor Series 2001 and may have to settle for the future Anthology version much to my chagrin (the extras and non blurring may change my mind though).

Since we just had Survivor Series, a full eight years has passed. This got me thinking; a lot of readers in their early twenties probably don’t remember much about this. Heck, with five TV shows a week and sometimes two ppvs a month, can any of us really recall exactly how everything went down eight years ago? I am not going to pretend to be an expert on this subject. I recommend everyone read Scott Keith’s books as he details this pretty extensively. Here’s a brief overview leading up to this show:

On March 26^th, 2001 Shane McMahon announced on the last Nitro he had bought WCW out from under his father’s nose. This worked pretty well on paper since Shane and Vince had a match days away at Wrestlemania X-Seven (17 for those non-edgy). The internet was abuzz with what could possibly come out of this. Wrestlemania X-Seven had a less then inspiring WCW appearance. They showed Shane’s new troops sitting in a skybox, looking bored and not very intimidating. The roster didn’t set the world on fire either. Guaranteed contracts are the suck. There was no Goldberg in the skybox, only a Chuck Palumbo for example. The cast of WCW guys was underwhelming to say the least. Two months go by and WWF.com has polls up on what to name the new WCW show (they could not find a station to take it). Everyone is excited at the long term possibilities of intra-brand feuds and storylines. No one wanted the Monday Night Wars to go away. There was little drama without competition. Lance Storm shows up on RAW, followed by others in the next couple weeks. Things finally kick off almost three months after the last Nitro when Booker T interferes in the main event at the King of the Ring, breaking bones in Steve Austin’s hand (for real) when he slammed Austin through the announce table. Booker T would attack Vince the next night and the Invasion was on.

This brings us to the infamous Tacoma shows. On July 2^nd, the WWF decides to give the last 20 minutes of RAW to WCW. They had their own announcers, ring aprons, everything. They even trotted out Buff Bagwell to challenge for Booker T’s title. I asked the renowned Inside Pulse and The Wrestling Press writer Charlie Reneke, who attended both the RAW and the Smackdown taping the following day, to add a little perspective to what he witnessed live:

“On Monday for RAW, the crowd was incredibly hostile all night. There were dozens of signs all over the Tacoma Dome that said "WCW Sucks!" and various other things. The fans booed everything related to WCW.

When they started to change the apron around for the WCW match, the fans completely, universally started to boo everything, and many fans just outright decided to walk out before the match started. During the Booker/Buff match, the fans hate-hooed everything, then started to break out in chants. "BORING!" became "THIS MATCH SUCKS!" and finally "RIOT! RIOT!" I've experienced playful jeering during wrestling shows before. That's not what this was. Even after the show the fans were agitated in the parking lot, and it got a bit intense.

The next night they taped Smackdown in the same venue. As the fans filed in, the anti-WCW signs were even more dense. About twenty minutes before the show started, it got quiet enough in the arena that some guy was able to scream "WCW SUCKS!" loud enough for everyone on our side of the building to hear it. Believe me when I say, that guy got the pop of the night. The fans were equally hostile towards all the matches. When Billy Kidman beat Shane Helms for the Cruiserweight title, it was the first semblance of a pop the whole angle had up to that point, but then the fans remembered to boo and did so.

I still don't know what they were thinking. For years the WWE had trained its fans to believe that WCW was the bad guy in the Monday Night War. Why would they then put them over as the babyface faction during the Invasion? The fans didn't buy it one bit. Still, it was nice to be a part of history and watch the biggest wrestling angle ever get blown in person. Blown opportunities seem to be my thing at live shows. I was there when Brock botched the shooting star press at Wrestlemania. But it pales in comparison to watching the WCW Invasion get blown right out of the starting gate.”

Two weeks before the Invasion pay-per-view, ECW came into the fold and teamed up with the WCW unit to form the Alliance (or Coalition – they had a bunch of names until after this show). The theme for the weekly shows before the ppv was which Steve Austin would show up? The old one or the cool heel who sang songs and tried to cheer Vince up. That leads us up to the show.

July 22^nd, 2001

From Cleveland, OH. Also the same arena where the WWF was for the last Nitro and Shane’s announcement. Continuity!

This PPV features the ugliest ego-centric DVD cover of all time. I mean, you have potentially the biggest professional wrestling angle of all-time and the cover is a split face of the owner and his son? Ah, to be a McMahon I guess. This features one of the better PPV intros with FDR’s speech from WWII: “I have seen war and I hate war”. The set here is your normal Titantron and a gigantic V ramp as both sides come out different entrance areas to reach the ring.

Cue the WWF scratch logo. Cue the camera pan of the slobs at WWF New York.

JR and Michael Cole are your hosts, giving WCW/ECW (technically not called the “Alliance” until after this PPV) no support from the commentator booth. Would it have killed them to let Paul Heyman do a little bit of color? Sure his shtick would have been over the top, but the alternative was a lot of Michael Cole as Jerry Lawler was on hiatus again. I really loathe Michael Cole.

Match 1

Lance Storm and Mike Awesome vs. Edge and Christian

Lance does his “If I could be serious for a minute” shtick, which I always enjoyed. Edge is the 2001 King of the Ring. Awesome was the first invader to win a belt, taking the hardcore belt from Perry Saturn weeks back. He is not the champ here though. Awesome and Christian start things off as Awesome works him over from corner to corner until Christian takes control with a drop toe-hold and tags in Edge. Irish whip is reversed into a clothesline for Awesome and he tags in Storm. Shoot-off leads to a big headscissors takedown for Edge on Storm. Edge follows with a dropkick off the top rope. Edge gives Awesome a dropkick off the apron as well. Storm charges and Edge dumps him over the top rope onto the waiting Mike Awesome, and then gets on all fours so Christian can launch himself over, except Christian clips the top rope and bites it outside. You know Christian, Undertaker can do that with no hands. He is taller though I guess. Edge brings Storm back in and gets a backbreaker for a one count. Tag to Christian and we get a double team hip toss for another one count. Christian charges and Storm puts him on the top rope but Storm gets pushed off, leading to Mike Awesome crotching Christian and then Christian falls outside. Awesome works over Christian now with whips into the barricade and ring. Good heel work. Back in, Lance Storm whips Christian baseball slide style into the ring post. Cool spot, read about the same move in Bret Hart’s book. Tag to Mike Awesome who begins Christian’s face in peril heat segment. Nice standing splash for two. Storm in now and the heels get a double forearm on Christian coming off the ropes. Christian gets a big crossbody on Storm off the ropes and tries for the tag but Storm gets his tag first and Awesome cuts him off. Awesome slings Christian down over his shoulders hard and bridges for two as Edge saves. Irish whip into a big diving clothesline gets two. Storm back in and he works Christian over. Backbreaker and then a tag to Awesome, who climbs. He hits the Awesome Splash (frog splash) as Edge breaks the count. Whip to the corner and Awesome climbs up and brings Christian with him to set up the top rope powerbomb but sadly he is back body-dropped out of it. Crowd was gasping as Awesome pulled him up too. Double KO as both go men go for tags. Hot tags made as Edge takes Storm down with clotheslines and a spin kick to Awesome. Dropkick to Awesome and an Edge-O-Matic on Storm gets two. Sunset flip attempt for Edge as Storm grabs Awesome for leverage but Christian breaks it up, leading to Edge rolling Storm up for two. Storm gets a small package but the ref is distracted so Christian comes in and rolls them over, putting Edge on top. This gets a close two count. Tag made now to Awesome and they try for a double backdrop but Edge flips out and Christian dives off the top rope for a double clothesline. Action is super fast now. Edge goes for a spear and Storm leapfrogs him but Awesome eats it. Then Storm goes for a Superkick, but Christian ducks and Edge takes it. Christian takes Storm over the top rope and Awesome goes for the pin off the Superkick and gets two. He calls for the Awesome Bomb and goes for it but Christian comes back in and spears him and Edge lands on top for the three count. (10:10)

**** Wow, this really heated up with a very fast final couple of minutes. Very entertaining. Awesome was really game here but this would be his last PPV appearance. I always liked his talent and was hoping he got a decent push with the Invasion angle.

Funny backstage bit where Vince explains to Regal how he needs to be like George Washington vs. King George’s redcoats and smear Raven out later tonight. Prior to every match, there is a clip of Vince and Shane talking to their guys. I didn’t include each of these for redundancy purposes.

Video package for the ref match “highlights” the WCW guys refusing to count pins and submissions leading up to the ppv. For those wondering, a coin toss was used to determine which refs worked each match for the show.

Match 2

Nick Patrick vs. Earl Hebner

Mick Foley is the referee here. Both guys have a team of fellow referees with them. Hey, it’s Teddy Long. I guess they need to get this logistical issue out of the way right now, otherwise the refs could conceivably just mess with every match the rest of the way. Bell rings and Patrick gets a nice girly slap to Hebner’s face. Hebner attempts to stomp a mudhole in the corner. He drags Patrick out of the corner and gets a two count. More old man punches and knee strikes as the action spills outside and the groups of refs almost converge. Mick breaks it up and sends them back into the ring. Earl gets more offense in and gets a ten-punch in the corner. Low blow by Patrick and a baseball slide sends Hebner outside. This leads to a brief skirmish and Mick throws the WCW refs out of the match. Back in and Hebner gets a pseudo spear/shoulderblock combo thingy for the pin (2:50)

After the match, Patrick gets in Mick’s face and gets knocked down for his WCW loyalty. Mr. Socko makes an appearance. The crowd revels.

DUD – More of an angle then a match obviously. But at least they got it out of the way so all the refs could go back to being easily distracted and easily knocked out by the softest of splashes the rest of the night.

Recap of Debra being abducted by DDP on Smackdown and the “old” Stone Cold giving chase. Now we go to Debra who is in the back with Undertaker’s wife Sara, who, um… :thinksofsomethingnicetosay: seems really nice. Woof.

Match 3

Sean O’Haire and Chuck Palumbo vs. the APA

Both teams are tag team champs but the belts are not on the line here. Video recap of them firing up the jobbers over the last couple weeks and hey, its K-Kwik! Future TNA Champion. Match starts quickly as the heels rush to the ring. Inside the APA get a double team slam on Palumbo. Suplex by Bradshaw and O’Haire charges in to break a count. This results in Bradshaw getting trapped in the heel corner and O’Haire is in to slug away. O’Haire hits a big clothesline off a shoot-off, but Bradshaw is up with a big back suplex and a tag to Faarooq. Irish whip into a back-elbow gets a one count on O’Haire. O’Haire takes control with a low blow and they slug it out and Palumbo is in. Shoot-off and Faarooq hits a big shoulderblock and makes a tag. Bradshaw lays out punches and I’ll give the WCW guys credit, they are selling really well. Charge into a corner by Palumbo but Bradshaw catches him and turns it into a fallaway slam. He goes for powerbomb but O’Haire breaks with a big kick. O’Haire hits an overhead suplex after he distracts the ref and then Palumbo is back in. Heel psychology! Although to be fair, O’Haire told the very easily distracted Teddy Long that Faarooq was up to no good so he ran over to him minding his own business on the apron. Someone missed a cue. Back to the action and a big DDT by Bradshaw on Palumbo. This knocks both men out of course and we have a crawl to the corners. Lukewarm tag to Faarooq as Palumbo moves him to the heel corner and O’Haire clotheslines him out of his boots from the apron. Outside the beating continues and Faarooq is rolled back in for a two count. Tag to O’Haire and the heels hit a double back-elbow. Big knee smash into the face of Faarooq gets two. O’Haire off the ropes is countered into a big spine buster by Faarooq and it’s a double KO and crawl to the corners again. Slightly warmer hot tag and Bradshaw hits a big powerslam off the ropes for two. Shoot-off and Bradshaw goes for another fallaway slam but is kicked in the face by O’Haire. This gets two as Faarooq breaks and all four guys are in the ring. O’Haire gets a dropkick to the back of Bradshaw, who was in a bearhug. Faarooq dumps O’Haire but walks into a Superkick from Palumbo but Bradshaw is right there off the ropes for a stiff Clothesline from Hell, and it gets three. (7:17)

**1/2 Perfectly acceptable tag team wrestling. The WCW guys bounced around like crazy, while pulling off some nice heel maneuvers. The APA was certainly pretty stiff in there but these guys held their own. Better then I expected.

Match 4

Billy Kidman vs. X-Pac

In a backstage bit, Kidman gets a pop for saying X-Pac sucks. Oof, this could get ugly. X-Pac gets a very mellow reaction. Maybe if the beginning of the X-Factor music didn’t suck so hard, people would be more excited. Kidman gets the better pop. This is also champion vs. champion as X-Pac is the light heavyweight champion and Kidman the cruiserweight champ. The announcers make sure to note that usually X-Pac would be booed out of the building at this point but the crowd is pro-WWF. We’ll see. X-Pac sucks chants come out early and the crowd just turns on Waltman before they even exchange two moves. As Charlie puts it – a lot of hate-hooing for him. Lock-up and a push off. Another lockup and they trade wrist locks and X-Pac wins out. He mugs for the crowd who hate-hoo him again. Shoot-off and X-Pac get s a shoulderblock and they trade hip toss attempts before Kidman dumps him, spins around his back and slaps the back of his head. Drop toe-hold by Kidman into a rest spot. Really, two minutes in and we grab a headlock? Ok, they’re calling moves. Off a shoot-off, X-Pac presses Kidman who turns it into a big headscissors. Enziguri follows as X-Pac is booted outside. Kidman slides out and catches X-Pac into a pseudo bulldog to the floor. Back in an Irish whip and another headscissors by Kidman but he charges and the veteran X-Pac (quote JR) tosses him over the top rope in a big spill. Springboard splash to the outside by X-Pac. He mugs for more booing. Back in a nice spinning heel kick gets two. Crowd boos a freaking extended sleeper sequence next. It’s a veteran move per JR. Then they do another standing sleeper spot off a whip. Sheesh guys, you are cruiserweights. Kidman hulks up and grabs X-Pac off the ropes into his own sleeper but X-Pac counters into a sideslam. X-Pac goes up and tries a somersault splash which Kidman moves out of the way from. Now a slug-off and Kidman gets a spinning elbow and a big dropkick. Off the ropes Kidman gets a sit-down powerbomb. Into the corner for a 10-punch for Kidman. X-Pac pushes him off and rolls him up, using the ropes for leverage. Uh, you’re the good guy Pac. Just terrible. YOU CANT POWERBOMB Kidman sequence is countered into an X-Factor. That gets two. Kidman goes up and dives but X-Pac counters into his own X-Factor midair, which gets a close two. That was interesting. Bronco buster is countered with a foot in the crotch by Kidman. Crowd gets on their feet for the Shooting Star Press and pop huge for the pin. Uh, I thought the WWF were the good guys? (7:12)

** Pretty average cruiserweight match. X-Pac acted like a complete doosh for most of the match. Some okay spots but could have been much more.

Backstage we get Torrie and Stacey putting down the WWF women. Torrie grabs and rubs her breasts to show what the crowd will miss out on. Ah the WWF in 2001.

Match 5

Raven vs. William Regal

Lock-up and a slug-out in the corner. Irish whip gets a pushdown from Regal and then a double underhook suplex. Raven briefly bails but comes back in for more Regal offense. A European uppercut gets a one count and then a couple subsequent two counts. That spot has been overdone at this point and come on, it’s a freakin’ uppercut. Regal continues the assault outside and on the apron. Back in, Regal is tossed over the top rope and Raven gets a baseball slide kick to the face. Side Russian leg sweep onto the barricade by Raven. Nice spot. Back inside Raven hits some shoulders to the gut in the corner and then goes for a clothesline off the ropes after sending Regal into the corner. Regal forgot to bounce there and it looked bad. Back up, Regal gets a vertical suplex and Raven goes back to the ribs. Forearm off the top rope for Raven and he goes back up again but this time Regal slaps his stomach as he comes down. Okay, then. Small package out of nowhere gets two for Raven. Nice running bulldog by Raven gets two. Full-nelson suplex is reversed and Raven goes for a sunset flip which is rolled through. They trade rollups and then Regal gets a back-elbow for two. Even flow DDT is reversed into a northern lights suplex. Another DDT attempt but Raven is driven into the turnbuckle. Whip into a shoulderblock by Regal leads to a double KO as Raven crawls to the floor which results in the ref leaving the ring to tell him to get back in. Why not count him out? While Raven is tended to by the blind ref, Tazz scurries down the huge entrance ramp, hits a Tazz-plex on Regal and then leaves. Raven comes back in with the Raven Effect (Even flow DDT) for the pin. (6:34)

* This was pretty dull outside of the leg sweep.

Match 6

Shawn Stasiak, Chris Kanyon, and Hugh Morrus vs. Big Show, “The One” Billy Gunn, and Albert

Albert is the IC champ here. Billy Gunn is the motivational partner of the Big Show apparently. I don’t remember his “1” phase or his rip-off of The Who as his entrance theme. WCW guys get one combined entrance. Bell rings and all three WWF guys get a gorilla press slam in a neat spot that heats the crowd up. We start with Chris Kanyon and Billy Gunn. Gunn gets a nice electric chair spot out of the corner. Gunn has his working shoes on tonight as he bridges up off a pin attempt and gets a backslide. Tag to Stasiak and the crowd chants “MEAT”. Kudos to Cleveland for that. Back-elbow by Gunn in the corner sends Stasiak off of him, leading to a neckbreaker for Gunn. Both guys are spent and go for slow tags and Albert is in first. He destroys Stasiak and all six guys get in the ring and the action goes outside. Camera completely misses a Big Show leap over the guardrail. I’m guessing it missed Morrus since the three WCW guys are back in the ring shortly for Albert. Baldo Bomb on Stasiak is broken up. Kanyon distracts the ref in the corner, as Morrus gets a big DDT. Lukewarm tag to “The One” Billy Gunn now and he gets the Fame-Ass-er on Morrus. Gunn goes for another move but Stasiak is in and hits a reverse DDT on Gunn. Morrus covers up for the three. After the bell Big Show comes in and sucks all the heat out of the heels by chokeslamming everyone and then hitting the Alley Oop on Kanyon. (4:23)

¾* No replay of Show’s big dive at all. This was short and forgettable. Why couldn’t WCW lose here and in turn have O’Haire and Palumbo go over earlier?

Apparently on Sunday Night Heat, Chavo Guerrero beat Scotty 2 Hotty so WCW is up 4-3 now. We hear this backstage from Shane for the first time all ppv. Where is this match on the DVD?

Match 7

Tazz vs. Tajiri

Tajiri is still WWF here. These guys fought for the ECW title in 1999. Tajiri rushes the ring and gets a spin kick and a back flip splash for two. Hard chops in the corner but Tazz catches Tajiri in a release suplex. Tazz takes over but Tajiri flips out of a suplex and fires off more chops and kicks. Off the ropes, Tazz hits a big clothesline. Shoot-off into a kick from Tajiri but Tazz hits a snapmare to keep control. More brawling and Tazz locks on an armbreaker, but Tajiri gets the ropes. Whip to the corner with Tajiri leaping but Tazz grabs his legs on his shoulders and slams him down hard. Shoot-off and Tajiri gets the springboard back –elbow for a big pop. He looks to dive outside but stops and Tazz just grabs his leg and pulls him to the floor. Tajiri goes shoulder first into the stairs. Back in and a whip in the corner turns into the Tarantula on the ropes, which Tajiri has to break. With Tazz on his knees, Tajiri comes off the ropes with a big dropkick right to the face. This gets two as the crowd bought it as the finish. Back up, more stiff kicks but Tazz catches him in a hooked leg overhead suplex. Tazz bends over to pick him up but it’s the MIST! Buzz saw kick finishes for Tajiri. (5:43)

**3/4 Good stuff for five minutes.

Backstage Rob Van Dam interrupts the Hardy boys and cracks Matt with a chair. Then we go to WWF New York where Hardcore Holly rips a WCW shirt off a fan in the autograph line. I actually have two signed autographs somewhere on the same kind of glossy photos for Kane and Chris Jericho. If I remember correctly, they showed up at some store opening of a friend’s relative. Those things are worth dollars today I bet.

Match 8

Rob Van Dam vs. Jeff Hardy ©

Hardcore Championship Match

This is the only belt on the line for this pay-per-view. Crowd is pretty split at the start as Jeff gets a nice pop. Jeff charges the ring and misses a leg drop off a shoot-off as RVD misses a splash. Crowd chants for RVD very loudly. Stalemate after all that tumbling gets a cheer. Jeff gets a dropkick on RVD as he poses. Whip to the corner but Jeff leaps behind RVD and hits another dropkick, this time to the back of the head. It gets two. Shoot-off, leapfrog by RVD and Hardy gets a compactor for two. Back up Hardy gets an atomic drop. Jeff charges but RVD ducks and hits a back splash for two. Double underhook front suplex, head first by RVD. Rolling Thunder follows for two. Reversed Irish whip sees RVD jump to the top turnbuckle but Hardy pushes him off and he sails into the barricade. Most of the crowd is standing for this one. Big baseball slide by Jeff to the recovered RVD. Jeff does his barricade run but he loses his balance quickly and RVD tries to run as well and they just kind of stumble into each other and to the ground. Now we brawl into the crowd and RVD hops up on one of the boards separating the seating areas, gets his balance by grabbing a terrified four year old’s head and hits a back flip onto Hardy. Poor kid was scared as soon as they hit the crowd. That gets two. RVD milks it for the crowd and puts Hardy back over the barricade. Still outside he hits a suplex to the barricade, followed by a spinning heel kick onto the dangling Hardy from the apron. This gets two. Outside the ring still RVD actually bows to the chanting fans. Ugh, YOU ARE THE HEEL. RVD gets hung on the apron and Hardy flips over him and hits the MDK bomb for a ‘Holy Shit’ chant. I’d second that emotion. Big ladder out now and Hardy climbs but RVD pushes it over so Hardy does the delayed jump onto the ramp way. RVD grabs a chair as this is still a hardcore match but Hardy punches the ladder into his face. He chairs RVD on the back as they climb towards the gap in the entrance way for their big spot. Hardy goes for another chair shot but RVD hits the Van Daminator sending Hardy sprawling off the staging in a nice spot. It was made better by a little ramp that the camera barely caught, which broke Jeff’s fall nicely. RVD fetches Jeff and hits a spinning leg drop for two. Back in the ring, RVD hits a running Van Daminator with the chair. He goes for the split leg moonsault but Hardy gets his legs up. Hardy up with a huge DDT as RVD bounces off his head. This gets two two counts. Hardy grabs the belt and hits a back suplex onto RVD’s neck for two. RVD blocks him initially from climbing but Hardy hits a jawbreaker and climbs. RVD rolls out of the Swanton Bomb attempt, puts the belt on Hardy’s chest and hits the Five Star Frog Splash for the title (12:24)

**** Great hardcore match without any wussy weapon shots. Little sloppy at points but the crowd ate this up. RVD was borderline annoying with getting himself over though. This ended up being face vs. face essentially and at times it made Hardy look terrible.

Match 9

Torrie Wilson and Stacey Kiebler vs. Lita and Trish Stratus

FIRST EVER Bra & Panties Tag Team match

It’s evolution baby. This is the natural progression of the Bra & Panties match. Mick Foley is again our guest referee. He is mesmerized by Torrie coming to the ring. Lita is really over here. The heels get some of the saddest slaps I’ve ever seen in before the bell rings. Trish and Torrie start and Torrie gets a dropkick and then a real slap on Trish in the corner. Trish with a big clothesline from the corner on Torrie and then a vertical suplex. Near “fall” attempt as Stacey breaks up Trish trying to take Torrie’s shirt off. Heel psychology! Lita in now and none of the WCW gals want to face her so they argue about it on the apron. Stacey in and Lita just rips her shirt off. Shoot-off and Stacey bails outside and Lita chases her around the ring, but Torrie kicks Lita down from the apron and the heels take over. This leads to Lita losing her shirt. Snapmare by Lita on Stacey now. Lita goes up top and misses a splash and Torrie tags in. Trish in now too and she gets a couple of boob clotheslines. Torrie steps on Trish hair and rips off her shirt. Torrie goes for Trish’s pants too but it’s a BRA & PANTIES reversal as Trish flips her into a normal pinning spot and rips Torrie’s pants off. Trish whips Torrie into the corner and Lita hits Poetry in Motion, then rips off Torrie’s shirt and she’s eliminated. Trish hits a running bulldog on Stacey and they rip her pants off and its over. (5:04)

***** Best Bra & Panties tag team match ever at this point. Although there was some pretty spotty selling from Stacey. First she covers up embarrassed when her top is off, then she has no problem with her minor cleavage and runs around, and then after she loses the pants she covers up top again. In all seriousness, this was entertaining for 5 minutes of women’s wrestling. I don’t really have an abacus for Bra & Panties Tag Team matches so lets call it pass or fail. This passes.

Match 10

The Dudley Boys, Rhyno, Booker T and D.D.P. (w/ Shane McMahon, Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley, and Paul Heyman) vs. Kane, The Undertaker, Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle and Stone Cold Steve Austin (w/ Vince McMahon)

The Inaugural Brawl

Stephanie McMahon is arguably at her all-time most annoying here as the owner of ECW. The predator-type hair, the shrieking, and the awful puss face while dancing to Booker T’s entrance music. This would make Vicki Guerrero blush. Intros alternate between teams so to not give anyone an advantage pre-match. DDP is out last for team WCW. The brawl starts before Stone Cold even comes out. His pop is HUGE. The action starts with 5 on 5 outside the ring. Austin brings Rhyno into the ring and the bell rings. Austin quickly low blows Rhyno (um, heel?) and hits a running knee. Shoot-off and a Lou Thesz press. Diving elbow gets two for Austin. Austin puts Rhyno on the top turnbuckle and chops him four times. Stone Cold climbs and hits a superplex. That may be the quickest superplex in wrestling history. What the fuck were the WCW/ECW guys doing while this was happening? It was in the corner closest to theirs! This get a two count as D-Von breaks the count. Jim Ross comments that that was the match there, and it was over if not for that. Man, that sure makes Rhyno seems like a pussy, no? Jericho in now and he chops at Rhyno and hits a flying forearm. Rhyno finally takes over and clotheslines Jericho and gets him isolated in the heel corner. Booker T in now and he chops at Jericho. Jericho with chops of his own. He REALLY liked to chop in 2001 and into his title reign. Running bulldog gets two as Rhyno breaks and hits his own man. Jericho hits a springboard dropkick to send Rhyno out and then a dropkick off the top to Booker T for two. Angle is tagged in and he slugs away on Booker T. Crowd is really into him at this point. Irish whip leads to a spin kick from Booker T and he tags in D-Von. Spinning back-elbow from D-Von but he misses a splash in the corner and Angle tags Kane in. Sidewalk slam to D-Von gets two with DDP breaking it up. Bubba saves D-Von from a Chokeslam but then Kane hits a big back suplex. Shoot-off and Bubba runs back in and they hit a tag-team neckbreaker. Now Bubba gets an actual tag and they slug it out. Kane hits a flying clothesline off the top and tags in the Undertaker. Taker punches Bubba around but Bubba gets a back-elbow off a charge and tries to take over. It lasts about one more move before Undertaker gets a big leg drop for two. Taker goes old school as again apparently none of the heels want to run to the next corner and throw him off. Sheesh. Taker cleans out the heels but DDP hits a hotshot on Taker. Rhyno in and he takes it to Taker in the corner. Now a tag to DDP who does more of the same. Boy they are tagging briskly tonight. Clothesline gets a two count. Shoot-off and DDP gets a big DDT for two. Wow, DDP getting some good offense in here. Booker T is tagged back in and hits a spin kick on Taker. Jim Ross then mocks the Spinarooni as a “devastating move”. Spin kick gets two. Both guys up and off the ropes Taker and hits his big flowing DDT, a move that pretty much everybody has as a running grapple in the Smackdown vs. Raw videogame series. Rhyno breaks up the pinfall. Stone Cold finally back in and Austin gets an eye poke on Booker and stomps a mudhole in the corner. They save a botched grapple with Stone Cold bouncing back off the turnbuckle with a big clothesline. Stunner is countered and Austin throws Booker outside the ring and into the crowd. Austin then suplexes him back to ringside and rolls him back in the ring. Quickest crowd brawling ever. That was literally the extent of the spot. Jericho in now for slaps of course. Walls of Jericho attempt but DDP runs in so Jericho puts the move on him. Lionsault is avoided by Booker and he ends up hot shotting Jericho off the ropes and tags D-Von in. Bubba in for more slaps on Jericho. Both Dudleys in and they try for a tag team Irish whip but Jericho gets a clothesline and spin kick for our first double KO. Crowd claps and cheers on the WWF as Angle gets tagged in and hits a belly-to-belly on both Dudleys. Bubba Bomb off of DDP interference and D-Von is back in for a leg drop. Taker breaks the cover. “Paul E. sucks” chant from the crowd. Well, a couple vocal guys in the front row at least. Rhyno in and he hits a big belly-to-belly on Angle. Austin breaks the count and flips off the ref to a big pop. Angle is your WWF Superstar in peril as the Dudleys work him over. Booker T in and he gets the Axe kick and Spinarooni for two. DDP tagged in and hits a spinning powerbomb(!) for two. Holy moveset, Batman. Austin broke up that pinfall attempt and stalks around the ring while the crowd chants for him. In the ring, Whazzup drop from D-Von. DDP in for more and hits a facelock slam and then continues to work the front facelock on Angle. Angle moves DDP towards the WWF corner while still in the facelock for a big hot tag to Austin but the ref didn’t see the tag. The heels drag Angle back to their corner. Diamond Cutter by DDP is called a neckbreaker by Cole. Ok Cole, that was fucking terrible. JR saves it somewhat by calling the move correctly then. The action breaks down now as Rhyno mistakenly goars Booker T. Action spills outside the ring leaving Undertaker and DDP. Chokeslam to DDP and Taker calls for the Last Ride. Charles Robinson (WCW ref on the outside for those reading this in the year 2025) breaks this up as Taker is not the legal man and Robinson ends up taking the Last Ride. DDP bails on the match and Undertaker follows him through the crowd. Austin is being looked at by the medical staff outside for his knee. They don’t really follow up on this. The Dudley Boys double-team Kane and just idle around for a bit before they grab a table and set it up against the barricade. Kane fights back and chokeslams D-Von through the announcer’s table. It’s 3 on 1 here with Rhyno and the Dudleys taking control over Kane. They double suplex Kane through the OTHER announce table. Rhyno wanders by the regular table on the barricade (from five minutes before) and Jericho reappears and spears him off the apron through that table. That looked like it hurt. Angle and Booker T are the legal men apparently and both are down in the ring. Bubba back in the ring and both Booker T and him double team Angle before Kurt comes alive with a German suplex to Booker T, Angle Slam to Bubba and then the Ankle lock on Booker but he kicks out of it and bumps the ref. Vince tosses the championship belt in to Angle but Shane jumps in and grabs it and kills Vince with it. Angle clotheslines Shane out of the ring and then tosses Bubba. Angle Slam to Booker T and the straps come down and Booker T taps to the Ankle lock, but there is no ref. Stone Cold revives the ref with Booker still in the hold but Austin kicks Angle in the head, then hits the Stunner and puts Booker on top for the pin. Crowd is NOT pleased there. Afterwards Stone Cold, of course, poses in each corner with the belt and beats down Angle a bit more. Austin poses with the WCW/ECW owners and calls for beers to celebrate. Um, you’re the heel remember? He did this same shit at the previous Wrestlemania. It confused the crowd more at WM17 then it did here. Well, at least he then flips the crowd off at the end as they booed him. (29:03)

***3/4 It’s pretty hard to mess up a 5 on 5 match with such star power and this did not disappoint. No rest holds and very few dead spots until everything spilled outside. Not enough Austin though. The heels did a very good job of keeping a brisk pace, tagging in and out quite frequently. Couple of bonehead logic miscues by them but hey, its wrestling logic. All the tagging made the review read kind of crappy but I wanted to capture everything.

Extras:

Rob Van Dam Invades: Kayfabe interview and backstage bits from the ppv with RVD. He talks about being overly confident and does a lot of his catchphrases. I was hoping for highlights of when he first showed up in the WWF or something. Silly me.

Prepare for Battle!: Just clips of multiple wrestlers looking in the mirror, checking makeup, warming up and getting ready for their entrance music to hit.

Parting Words: Well not really words. Just very short clips (I’m talking 5 seconds) of guys walking out to the backstage area after their match. No commentary or parting words. Bait and switch!

Aftermath Interviews: Post match comments from a bunch of guys. Interestingly enough, the Kurt Angle one wouldn’t load and gave me the XBOX 360 screen. Typical ten second interviews about how the guys should have won or how they did win. Boring.

Bottom Line: I’d like to give Cleveland their props for putting on a good show. They were really into it and that helped a lot. You don’t see that kind of sustained heat nowadays. Three matches are ***1/2 or better and worth checking out. The rest is RAW or Smackdown filler that was pretty lame. The extras on the DVD are awful – would it have killed them to have the match from Heat? I’m going thumbs in the middle but leaning up. For $10 you can get it new in all its non-blurred WWF graphic glory. For archiving purposes, it’s a recommendation to check out and add to your collection.

Up next: Summerslam 2001

Related Posts:

• Invasion
• Name the I-C champs!
• Booker gone for real
• Festival of Fights
• More Best of Decade

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Tags: 24, Batman, Booker T, Bret Hart, Chris Jericho, Coalition, DDP, DVD, ECW, Edge, Gmail, Goldberg, Jeff Hardy, Lita, Michael Cole, Monday Night Wars, Nitro, Raven, RAW, Rob Van Dam, RVD, Shane McMahon, Smackdown, Steve Austin, Sting, TNA, TV, Undertaker, Vader, Vince McMahon, WCW, WCW Sucks, Wrestlemania, WWE, WWF

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 29th, 2009 at 1:21 am and is filed under Rants. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.