Shining a Spotlight 06.23.11: The Invasion Part II

In his excellent Death of WCW, RD Reynolds notes the irony that arguably the most incompetently run company in wrestling history managed to make an invasion angle work with only two guys. That WWF could fail to make an entire company invading be a good thing was seemingly incomprehensible to people. But as we’re about to see, WWF would meet that challenge and surpass it massively.

An overlooked reason why the tide of the Monday Night War shifted from WCW to WWF was how Eric Bischoff ran “Nitro.” After nearly two years on constant victories, Bischoff became convinced that the ratings were the key as to who was winning the fight. So when WWF began to take over in 1998, Bischoff, instead of being smart and concentrating on the PPVs which generated money, started to “hot shot” major main events on “Nitro.” The biggest example was the first Hogan-Goldberg title match, a bout that would have done huge numbers for a PPV. Instead, Bischoff gave it away for free in hopes of a one-week victory in a war that had changed dramatically. This would continue throughout the last several years of WCW as they threw out anything week after week in desperation. Sadly, this would be something WWF would end up inheriting with the company that came up big-time in 2001.

A comment made by people in last week’s first installment of the Invasion look back was that not bringing in Hogan, Hall, Nash, Steiner and others wasn’t that bad a move as those egos would have been too much to handle. The fact that when WWE did bring them in starting in 2002, they all did badly backs this up and I agree it would have been a problem. However, that’s ignoring the fact that without any real big names, WCW was seen as incredibly weak from the start by WWF fans. Yes, adding those guys would be troublesome but at least the big names would have been something for WCW to use to make themselves bigger. As it was, they just seemed much smaller than in their dying days and that meant things were going to get even worse.

Following the Tacoma RAW disaster, WCW got another shot at the July 5th “SmackDown” with Booker defending against DDP but this match didn’t go over much better than the Booker/Bagwell match. The Undertaker raced to get at DDP and was lured outside where WCW guys beat him down. This did give WCW a bit more of an edge but the writing was on the wall for how things were about to change.

The Alliance

Few wrestling programs have gone from highs to lows as amazingly huge as the July 9th, 2001, RAW. It kicked off with one of the most amazingly brilliant twists imaginable, one that had everyone excited as hell, figuring they were about to witness something truly remarkable. But in the same hour, we got another turn that deflated all that excitement and sent the entire Invasion on a downspin it never recovered from.

Kane was scheduled to take on Mike Awesome and Lance Storm in a handicap match but Chris Jericho announced he wanted a piece of the invaders and it became a tag match. As Jericho had old partner Storm in the Walls of Jericho, Rob Van Dam and Tommy Dreamer suddenly came out of the audience to attack both men. It appeared the cavalry came out as various WWF wrestlers ran into the ring. However, fans realized it was only certain men: The Dudleyz, Tazz, Justin Credible, Rhyno and Raven. The group stared down Awesome and Storm but then turned and began to beat the hell out of Jericho and Kane as the fans realized they were watching a massive ECW reunion. At ringside, Jim Ross demanded to know what was going on and Paul Heyman indulged him by removing his headset and walking into the ring. Taking the mic, Heyman proceeded to rip into how he’d been made a talking head stooge and forced to call on a WWF-WCW battle like it was a big event. However, Heyman stated, in all of this, both sides had forgotten “the Tribe of the Extreme” and now, ECW was back and ready to take both sides on.

This was a huge moment for fans to witness, a brand new twist to the Invasion. The idea of ECW, the company that had changed the landscape of wrestling in the ‘90’s striking at both sides was tremendous and fans were really excited at seeing them cause havoc for both WWF and WCW. It seemed the perfect way to spice things up for the next few weeks as we saw Vince and Shane confronting each other backstage on how they’d both lost guys to the ECW defection and making a big tag match for that evening, each giving five guys to take on the ten ECW guys. Expectations were high as the wrestlers came to the ring…at which point the WCW guys teamed with the ECW guys to beat the WWF guys down hard. Shane and Heyman hugged as their guys high-fived each other. Vince came out, demanding to know what the hell was going on and was answered by Shane stating that ECW and WCW had gotten together to form the Alliance. They then brought out the new owner of ECW: Stephanie McMahon.

Oh, boy, where to start here…

First of all, the idea of ECW taking it to both sides was something truly exciting to think about. Yes, the promotion’s status has been massively overinflated by fans but there’s no denying its impact on wrestling and that it had its legion of fans, fans who would have been thrilled to see it coming out to challenge both sides. To suddenly drop all that in less than an hour was jarring to fans, a stunning blowing of potential storylines and programming that reeked of desperation. Also, taking a terrific mind and presence like Heyman and neutering him by having him play second fiddle to Shane and Stephanie was ridiculous. His promo with the ECW guys was terrific, rip-roaring and take no prisoners while the man was known for being so independent and not caring what others thought of him. But to make him the flunky of the siblings was an insult to the man personally and his on-screen character as well.

But that wasn’t even the real issue. No, the real issue was that the entire Invasion, what was supposed to be the epic clash between WCW and WWF, was now turned into yet another part of the never-ending McMahon family feud. It still stuns me that Vince could so hugely misjudge the fanbase, to assume that what WCW needed was to have a McMahon in charge and for ECW as well. It’s true that Stephanie comes off a nice heel on TV, a great spoiled brat character but putting her “in charge” of ECW was not a smart move by Vince as it took nepotism to a level Aaron Spelling would find extreme. Then and there, a majority of fans saw the truth they’d been denying themselves: That Vince was never going to give WCW near a good shot, just humiliate it to show who’d won and press his own intentions.

The following “SmackDown” continued things with the Alliance bosses boasting of how they’d put Vince out of business and WCW would rule. A fun scene had Heyman coming to Commissioner William Regal’s office, offering him a job with the Alliance and Regal angrily chewing him out. Meanwhile, Austin was playing his guitar for Vince backstage with Vince in agony listening while Angle ran around in a goofy little cowboy hat. Vince brought Angle to the ring and proceeded to do a great promo where he declared he wanted “the old Stone Cold” back, the Austin who didn’t give a damn about anyone, the man who’d be willing to tear Vince apart, even asking the crowd “if you want to see Stone Cold beat the hell out of Vince McMahon, gimme a Hell yeah!” Austin seemed stunned at Vince’s words before leaving the ring and heading out of the arena. The main event of the night had Taker and Angle taking on Shane and DDP, with the Alliance beating down both men and any WWF guy who came to help, finally selling themselves as a real threat.

The July 21st “RAW” began with Austin shown at a bar downing drinks. The matches seemed going against WWF at first with the Dudleyz turning on Spike and putting Molly through a table but picked up when William Regal faced Tazz and, after teasing jumping to the Alliance, Regal’s aide Tajiri attacked Tazz and put him in the Tarantula for Regal to beat him up. There was a funny bit with Angle meeting Raven backstage, Raven doing one of his bizarre poems and Angle finally saying “what the hell are you talking about?” before agreeing to a match. Edge took on Mike Awesome with Edge and Christian doing a nice mocking of Awesome and partner Lance Storm. Angle would end up chasing off Raven and various Alliance members to get a big pop from the crowd. Things built up to the Alliance in the locker room with Heyman charging them up with a big speech. The WWF locker room was shown with Undertaker standing up to the WWF guys with how Austin wasn’t present and they should fight for themselves. Things got truly epic when Classy Freddie Blassie was brought in sitting in a wheelchair, telling the WWF wrestlers “Gentlemen. There comes a time when every man must fight for what he believes in,” then rising from his chair and encouraging them all to get up and stand up for themselves. At the bar, Austin was shown seeing this on TV, throwing his pool cue and balls aside and storming out and I have to admit, this did give me goosebumps.

It built to the main event as Undertaker and Kane fought Rhyno and DDP, the match turning into a brawl as the Alliance stormed in but then the WWF locker room charged to the ring for a huge brawl. The Alliance seemed to have the edge when the cameras showed Austin pulling up to the arena in his truck, beating up a few guys before entering. With the crowd going nuts, the glass broke and Austin came down to hit six Stunners in a minute as Kane and Undertaker chokeslammed Chuck Palumbo and Sean O’Haire, leaving WWF standing on top. The “Smackdown” was the go-home shoe to the Invasion PPV with various bouts between the two sides. Meanwhile, backstage, Vince was thanking Austin, handing him the guitar to play a song and Austin smashed it over Vince’s head. When Angle went to check on Vince, the owner said he was actually quite happy to see the Rattlesnake back to his old self. The main event was Angle and Austin vs Booker T and Rhyno when the screens showed Austin’s wife Debra begin kidnapped by DDP and stuffed in the trunk of a limo. Austin raced to help her and was jumped by a half-dozen guys while the limo took off, Austin soon in pursuit, leaving Angle to be smashed through a table in the ring.

The Turn

This of course led to the “Invasion” PPV on July 21st, the turning point of the entire angle…and not in a good way.

It kicked off with various side battles: Edge and Christian beat Awesome and Storm; Earl Hebner beat Nick Patrick with Mick Foley as the special referee and the less said of that the better; WWF tag champs the APA fought WCW champs O’Haire and Palumbo with the APA victorious although neither title was on the line; WCW got a win as Cruiserweight champ Kidman beat Light Heavyweight Champion X-Pac; Raven beat Regal after Tazz interfered; Chris Kanyon, Shawn Stasiak and Hugh Morrus beat Big Show, Billy Gunn and Albert although Big Show did beat down the WCW guys afterward; Tajiri beat Tazz; Rob Van Dam defeated Jeff Hardy in a good match to win the WWF Hardcore Championship; and Trish Stratus and Lita beat Torrie Wilson and Stacy Kiebler in a bra and panties match officiated again by Foley. So WWF clearly had the advantage in this show, the crowd firmly on their side, not really giving the WCW side a break, which should have been a sign something was up. But no one could have imagined what was to come.

The main event was “The Inaugural Brawl,” a ten-man tag team match with the Dudleyz, Rhyno, Booker T and DDP facing Undertaker, Kane, Jericho, Angle and Austin. As you can imagine the whole thing was a huge brawl, multiple spots and feuds going around. It culminated with Angle trying to lock Booker’s leg but getting kicked into the ref, taking him out. Vince got the WWF championship belt but Shane grabbed it from him and hit Vince with it. Shane got into the ring to try and hit Angle but Angle ducked and pounded Shane, sending him and then Bubba Ray out of the ring. He hit an Angle Slam on Booker and slapped on the Ankle Lock. Austin pushed the ref back into the ring, seemingly to make the submission count…then grabbed Angle and hit him with a Stunner. As everyone stared in confusion, Austin put Booker on Angle to make the pin and then celebrated with Shane, Stephanie and Heyman.

This was a huge moment for fans but not in a shocking way but more in a “um, this makes no sense” way. The following night’s “RAW” tried to give an explanation as Austin did a promo on how he’d never felt appreciated by Vince and thought the Alliance gave him the respect he deservd. This, of course, made no sense considering that Austin’s hate for WCW was infamous ever since his firing back in 1995. Given how Austin had spent the last several months sucking up to Vince and what WCW had done to Debra, the sudden turn made even less sense (despite the “it was all planned” explanation). If nothing else, this seemed to be the final proof (if any way needed) that Vince had no faith whatsoever in WCW, that he thought they needed the guy who’d been on top of WWF the last several years in order to make them a viable force. Even the doubters had to acknowledge this was not the dream encounter they’d hoped for but rather WWF being shown as the ultimate power all along. It also showed that careful planning was not something being done but rather, Vince was ironically following the WCW method of making things up as they went along and hoping something stuck.

That night tried to give WCW a bit more push as Lance Storm beat Albert to win the Intercontinental title and RVD continued his rise beating Matt Hardy. The ending of the show had Austin helping the Dudleyz beat up Angle and put him through a table. A major moment occurred earlier in the night however, as a rarely humbled McMahon came out, apologizing for trusting Austin and realizing he had to pull out all the stops to beat the Alliance. Thus, he was lifting the “suspension” of the Rock made back in April (which was the excuse for Rock to shoot The Scorpion King).

That week’s “SmackDown” did offer some twists. It opened with the Alliance in the ring, boasting of their greatness and they were “the home of the gold.” Booker T, on Stephanie’s command, gave the U.S. title to Kanyon as Austin bragged about being on the winning side. Angle came out to a massive pop as he pointed at his medals to declare “This is my gold…and this is Pittsburgh, PA, my hometown!” He challenged Austin to a match for the WWF title but Austin dodged and instead pushed Booker to put the WCW title on the line instead (which Booker wasn’t happy about). During the show, Shane came to the ring to play a video of all the times Vince had double-crossed the Rock and beat him down, telling the Rock he couldn’t trust Vince and the Alliance would treat him well. The main event between Angle and Booker was a good battle as, with the ref down, Angle went for the ankle lock but Austin ran to the ring to Stun him and then run out. Booker foolishly wasted time with the Spinaroonie, allowing Angle to slap on the lock, forcing Booker to tap and making Angle the WCW World Champion.

So now, you had two WWF guys as the champions of the two “sides,” three McMahons going at it and for the most part, the Alliance made to look weak and nowhere near as important as WWF was. The following week would see things taken to another level by the return of a huge star who would bring one of the better parts of the entire Invasion…but only served to highlight the weakness of the entire thing.

For this week, the spotlight is off.