Kayfabe!: Guest Booker With Jim Cornette - The Invasion
Posted by Mike Campbell on 08.26.2009
Jim Cornette books the InVasion angle of 2001...
KAYFABE!
GUEST BOOKER WITH JIM CORNETTE
Before I officially start this review, I’d like to thank Kayfabe Commentaries, for sending this, and other, DVDs to be reviewed.
For those who aren’t familiar with the concept, the Guest Booker series is a type of shoot interview. Instead of your standard interview, the concept is how the subject would book a certain territory, angle, etc. Previous releases have included Raven booking Hall and Nash had they decided to go to ECW rather than WCW and Gabe Sapolsky booking the WWE’s revival of ECW in 2006. This is the latest edition of the series, which features Jim Cornette booking the infamously botched WCW InVasion of the WWF in 2001. Which is said to be the most requested booker and the most requested subject.
Before beginning, Jim Cornette gives us some background on himself and his qualifications as a booker. He gives his opinions on being a booker versus being a wrestling writer. And it’s not a Cornette interview without some colorful language and a few tangents. If there’s one thing Cornette has a gift for, it’s storytelling and that really shines through in this DVD.
When the InVasion actually happened in Summer of 2001, Cornette was in Louisville, KY working with Ohio Valley wrestling. He gives some background on how he discovered OVW when Danny Davis was running it and how he convinced Jim Ross to invest in OVW as a developmental territory. This veers into a discussion of Jim Ross as head of talent relations versus Johnny Ace and how much better Ross was.
After about an hour of background, and general hilarity, from Cornette, we get down to business with how he’d have done things. As far as the talent roster goes, he’d have taken everyone from WCW except for Goldberg, Luger, and Zybyszko. Goldberg because of financial reasons, the fact that he was injured, and Cornette questioned his dedication to the business. He opted to not take Larry and Lex because of their long-standing grudges with Vince. He’s leaving ECW alone and signing Jerry Lynn and Nova as a team, because of their talent, Balls Mahoney because Jim always had a soft spot for him, and RVD for his charisma. Cornette also makes sure that, despite being a fantasy booking, he wants to keep things somewhat reality based. On that end, I disagree about him including Jeff Jarrett, since he’d opted not to include Luger and Zybyszko due to Vince having grudges against them, and that was the same reason that Vince didn’t keep Jarrett.
Believe it or not, Cornette actually keeps the booking of the angle very to-the-point without a lot of long tangents. He keeps WWF and WCW as separate brands, sort of like how RAW and SD were designed to be, when the brand split was created. That way it gives WCW a chance to be taken seriously by the fans and to also be run like a wrestling company ought to be run. WWF Raw is Monday nights, WCW Nitro is on Thursday nights, and they alternate PPV shows each month. Each PPV or TV only has one or two matches and angles. There are other WCW and WWF only storylines going on as well. Cornette also, for the most part, includes younger talent instead of only focusing on Austin, Rock, Sting, etc. I won’t go into everything in depth, because then there’s no reason to actually get this (and I think everyone who’s even slightly interested in the concept of fantasy booking and/or shoot interviews absolutely should).
I will talk about my favorite of the angles he had going on though. It starts with Vince forcing Terry Funk to wrestle Kane (the IC champ) so Vince could get payback for Funk supposedly no-showing on him a long time ago. However, Funk double crosses Vince gives Kane a small package and won’t let him go, and steals the IC title. Vince forces him to defend it at the September PPV, but Funk has a sick horse and no shows. Vince can’t fire him since he’s got the belt and Vince needs to get it back. This leads to the next PPV with Funk vs. Eddie Guerrero, and Eddie seems to have it won, but when he goes for the Frog splash his foot slips and he lands on his head (which Cornette assures us that Eddie is good enough to be able to work) and Funk winds up winning again. Funk finally loses the title in November to HHH. Funk wins a match in December, and the Undertaker Tombstones him so Vince can get revenge for Funk’s double cross. Funk gets the last laugh though, in January, he sticks a flaming branding iron on UT’s ass. It culminates with Terry Funk being attacked by two masked men (druids perhaps?), which is the straw that breaks the camel’s back, and the big blowoff to the whole WWF/WCW issue is finally started.
The blowoff takes place at WrestleMania, in the form of a WWF vs. WCW series of 16 matches where whichever side wins the majority stays around. It appears to end tied at eight apiece, and Vince declares that WCW didn’t win the majority, so he gets to fire them all. Flair reminds Vince that after Flair beat Vince, he won five minutes with Eric Bischoff (who’d betrayed WCW to become Vince’s assistant) and Flair beat him too, which means WCW actually won and Vince can’t fire them. From there, they all merge into one big WWF.
One of the few criticisms that I can levy at Cornette’s philosophy is that he tends to go a little too much into the shoot direction. It’s nowhere near as bad as Russo in WCW, but there were a few things that exposed the business a little too much. The feud starts with five promos, Vince about buying WCW, Bischoff basically being a Vince kiss ass, Flair standing up for WCW, Austin standing up for the WWF wrestlers, and Undertaker being neutral. The promos themselves are very good, and you can picture each person saying exactly what Cornette has them saying. But there’s a line in Flair’s promo about Vince deciding whose hand goes up and whose shoulders stay down that rubbed me a bit wrong. He also had an angle where Brock Lesnar injures Ric Flair. The angle is that Vince wanted to give Brock a WWF tryout and who better than a veteran like Flair for him to test his skills against? It winds up with Brock injuring Flair’s shoulder. But there’s no payoff to the angle, Brock goes back to developmental and then goes to the full time WWF roster and that’s it
In closing, this us tremendously entertaining on almost all levels, Jim Cornette’s re-booking of the InVasion is quite well done and logical for the most part, and Cornette is as entertaining as always, and not afraid at all to tell us exactly what he thinks about anything. Cornette also answers a question that I’d always been wondering about for a very long time. One of Jim’s favorite sayings is “Wouldn’t you know who won the pony?” but he’s never explained it beyond saying that it’s an old wrestling story. He finally tells the story here, it’s about a promoter who wasn’t doing well, so he ran a show and promised to give away a pony to one of the fans. They packed the house and did the drawing for the pony and, of course, it was actually his own son who won the pony.
The 411: This was my first guest booker experience and it won't be my last. The GB concept itself is really interesting to watch if you're a fan of armchair booking. Coupled with Cornette's entertaining personality, and you have a real winner.
I'm sorry I love Cornette but the idea of Terry Funk at the age of 473 being the rallying point is pretty damn ridiculous.
Posted By: Jake Fury (Guest) on August 26, 2009 at 08:51 AM
Remember that shitty new WCW logo? Ugh . . To quote the Angry Video Game Nerd, What were they THINKING????
Posted By: C (Guest) on August 26, 2009 at 09:10 AM
Pure Genius. Nothing like Terry Funk leading the invasion. GTF outta here with this garbage.
Posted By: -Chris (Guest) on August 26, 2009 at 09:15 AM
I respect the hell out of Cornette, but that Terry Funk deal is nonsense.
They are going to have the oldest guy on WCW's roster roll up Kane and refuse to let him go. This makes Kane look awful as a monster and breaks kayfabe, illustrating to marks that during the whole WCW vs. WWE Invasion, Vince is booking the outcomes. Of course that is happening, but viewers will have to suspend their disbelief during the angle to be successful. Funk no shows over a horse? Vince is a slave to the belt? Branding the Undertaker's ass? This is what starts the companies feuding with each other? Bischoff is loyal to WWE?
It all sounds pretty shitty actually.
Posted By: Tim Haught (Guest) on August 26, 2009 at 09:55 AM
Sounds well worth a watch, even though most of the booking you have outlined from Cornette sounds terrible.
In a nutshell I think:
- WCW should have remained separate, in the Smackdown slot, until Survivor Series
- Survivor Series should have been WWF teams against WCW teams
- kept separate again until the Rumble
- The Rumble is won by Goldberg
- Goldberg wins WCW title at No Way Out
- WM18 main event is title for title Stone Cold V Goldberg
- summer 2002 sees Stone Cold put in "impossible" situations by WCW who needs their title back
- they eventually get their title back at King of the Ring
And from there they just continue on in the way which Smackdown and Raw did when the roster split came in. Seperate, but with interaction when it's needed to fire things up. WCW is never killed in my scenario.
Posted By: Guest#4694 (Guest) on August 26, 2009 at 10:04 AM
I don't buy the fact that Terry Funk plays a dominate roll in WCW, where he wasn't actually one of the faces of WCW at that time or a few years before.
Put Flair in Funks place, it would make more sense with him being the face of WCW.
Vince could have given Brock a Goldbergian type push where he goes undefeated, especially since Goldberg wasn't apart of the intial Invasion, poking fun at WCW's most dominate "wrestler" at this time.
I would have paid Sting whatever he wanted to have Crow Sting vs. Undertaker, with both not caring to much about the WWE vs. WCW feud, but simply to finalize who was the man in the later 90's.
Posted By: Hip Hop Jorge (Guest) on August 26, 2009 at 10:45 AM
that doesnt sound "virtually perfect" it sounds like complete and utter fantasy land and no buys...I mean im sorry maybe im missing the point but terry funk? He was a curtain jerking hardcore champ in the dying days of WCW...in fantasy land is taker supposed to be a different person and be willing to job or do any sort of program with funk? I dont even know if I can agree with seperate PPVs, because youre risking taking a b league squad mentality of ppvs to your fans with the WCW PPVs...I was a WCW fan and I even say that....NO NO NO THIS IS ALL WRONG. The invasion angle was way too rushed they didnt have the star power..what they needed to do (as in the strands of reality to) was call hogan (who showed is willingness and overness with the E crowd to participate).
You get HOGAN...bc you cant get sting or Goldberg and you have hogan appear at Wrestlemania (when this all was taking form) and destroy the main event...which at the time was Austin vs Rock...You have him come in instead of Vince toward the end and either help Austin and Austin defects there..or just beat both guys down...I have both guys get beat down by hogan as he calls for the rest of the WCW entourage...so you have your ddps you bagwells and whatever young gun they could sign representing WCW on the grand daddy of them all as we fade to black...
Posted By: b (Guest) on August 26, 2009 at 11:13 AM
I don't like the sound of his ideas which is quite disappointing, however Cornette could read the phone book out and it would be more entertaining than any show ROH has done.
Posted By: Quimby (Guest) on August 26, 2009 at 11:40 AM
Great read. Is this an actual DVD and if so how can I get it?
Posted By: Stanton75 (Guest) on August 26, 2009 at 12:26 PM
NVM I found it.
Posted By: Stanton75 (Guest) on August 26, 2009 at 12:34 PM
The Invasion angle was good the way it was. I enjoyed it. The only people who didn't like it were WCW and ECW fans.
Posted By: MBD (Guest) on August 26, 2009 at 12:42 PM
Terry Funk?!?!?!! He's the driving force for the Invasion? Hell of a swerve.
Posted By: Guest#4075 (Guest) on August 26, 2009 at 01:15 PM
Just to be clear here, folks. Terry Funk isn't the main player in the angle, not by a longshot. Cornette uses damn near everyone is some capacity at one point or another.
Posted By: Mike Campbell (Registered) on August 26, 2009 at 01:50 PM
The first mistake of the Invasion angle was that WCW were initially portrayed as faces, but the pro-WWF audience didn't buy it. So they went heel. What's the best way to get the crowd heat on heels? Have them win. But they got squashed, again and again and again. The only guys who got wins were transplanted WWF guys like Austin, and as entertaining as his heel run was, NO-ONE bought it. What Vince needed (but didn't seem able to justify the expense) was a WCW heel contingent of Hogan, Nash, Hall, Sting, Goldberg, Flair, Page and all the guys he did bring over. Give them their own show but work in a sort of contractual obligation clause where WWF wrestlers had to appear on the WCW show. better yet, make it the ex-WCW guys like Benoit, Jericho, Big Show and Guerrero. And have them get taken apart whenever they wrestled on the WCW show - beaten up badly. This could in itself create tension in the WCW show where guys like Goldberg and Sting don't see the necessity of the constant beatdowns. It could have played out over years rather than months, and could have eventually culminated in a showdown at a specific non-Big 4 PPV.
Posted By: APinOz (Guest) on August 26, 2009 at 10:48 PM
"Each PPV or TV only has one or two matches and angles."
Sorry, don't quite get that line. Do you mean one or two segments that cross brands, or are related to the overall Invasion?
Posted By: Smitty (Guest) on August 26, 2009 at 11:10 PM
Just to be clear here, folks. Terry Funk isn't the main player in the angle, not by a longshot. Cornette uses damn near everyone is some capacity at one point or another.
Posted By: Mike Campbell (Registered) on August 26, 2009 at 01:50 PM
No, he is.
- It starts with Vince forcing Terry Funk to wrestle Kane (the IC champ) so Vince could get payback for Funk supposedly no-showing on him a long time ago.
- However, Funk double crosses Vince gives Kane a small package and won’t let him go, and steals the IC title.
- Vince forces him to defend it at the September PPV, but Funk has a sick horse and no shows. Vince can’t fire him since he’s got the belt and Vince needs to get it back.
- This leads to the next PPV with Funk vs. Eddie Guerrero, and Eddie seems to have it won, but when he goes for the Frog splash his foot slips and he lands on his head (which Cornette assures us that Eddie is good enough to be able to work) and Funk winds up winning again.
- Funk finally loses the title in November to HHH.
- Funk wins a match in December, and the Undertaker Tombstones him so Vince can get revenge for Funk’s double cross. Funk gets the last laugh though, in January, he sticks a flaming branding iron on UT’s ass.
-It culminates with Terry Funk being attacked by two masked men (druids perhaps?), which is the straw that breaks the camel’s back, and the big blowoff to the whole WWF/WCW issue is finally started.
All this sounds like a bad way to use Funk as 4 short years later he can barely walk, if it were Flair, Sting, Booker T, or even Jeff Jarrett I would understand. It seems like Vince is feuding more with Funk than WCW because supposedly Funk No-Showed him years ago, also booking Funk to no show a PPV over a sick horse and Cow-Branding Undertaker! Lame Lame Lame! Oh and a random beat up by two masked men takes Funk out. WTF is that?!. I suddenly understand why TNA is being booked like it is and it's NOT Russo.
Posted By: The Dutch (Guest) on August 26, 2009 at 11:30 PM
"Sorry, don't quite get that line. Do you mean one or two segments that cross brands, or are related to the overall Invasion?"
Both, more or less. WWF and WCW are two seperate entities. Each TV or PPV only has one or two segments (promo, angle, or match) that's specific to the WWF/WCW feud, the rest of the shows are speficically for WWF or WCW stuff.
Posted By: Mike Campbell (Registered) on August 26, 2009 at 11:43 PM
Some of you might want to watch the DVD.
Posted By: Guest#5752 (Guest) on August 26, 2009 at 11:44 PM
"It seems like Vince is feuding more with Funk than WCW because supposedly Funk No-Showed him years ago, also booking Funk to no show a PPV over a sick horse and Cow-Branding Undertaker!"
It may seem like that from reading this, but I stated before that, that I wasn't going to in depth on everything. I only did the rundown of the Funk stuff because it was my personal favorite of the angles that he was running.
JC uses just about everyone at some point or another. The only one who's really used prominently is Vince.
Posted By: Mike Campbell (Registered) on August 26, 2009 at 11:52 PM
Why would WCW need more months to build as this had over 10 years in the making?
Posted By: Guest#8917 (Guest) on August 26, 2009 at 11:54 PM
I love Corny, but god love him Terry Funk is not the right catalyst for it.
Posted By: Doc (Guest) on August 27, 2009 at 12:13 AM
I respect the hell out of Cornette, but that Terry Funk deal is nonsense.
They are going to have the oldest guy on WCW's roster roll up Kane and refuse to let him go. This makes Kane look awful as a monster and breaks kayfabe, illustrating to marks that during the whole WCW vs. WWE Invasion, Vince is booking the outcomes. Of course that is happening, but viewers will have to suspend their disbelief during the angle to be successful. Funk no shows over a horse? Vince is a slave to the belt? Branding the Undertaker's ass? This is what starts the companies feuding with each other? Bischoff is loyal to WWE?
It all sounds pretty shitty actually.
Posted By: Tim Haught (Guest) on August 26, 2009 at 09:55 AM
Kane doesn't need anyone else to make him look awful, never has and never will. Funk may be damn near 70 years old, but he still performs better than Kane
Posted By: JWestmoreland (Guest) on August 27, 2009 at 12:32 AM
"This is what starts the companies feuding with each other?"
No. That's the beginning of the end of the feud. That's what starts the blowoff.
Reading comprehension is your friend. :)
Posted By: Mike Campbell (Registered) on August 27, 2009 at 01:14 AM
Terry Funk is not central to the booking. Kane, even in 2001, was not the linchpin in anybody's plans. That was merely the reviewer's favorite angle. Yeah, the branding and druids were over the top. A desperate Funk grabbing Percy would work though.
Because you want to keep the WCW viewers, you have to book them face. I mean, you already have the WWE viewers in your pocket. Also Vince is much better as a heel than face.
So you have start Invasion when a long series of shows was booked in the South. Those fans show the rest how to react.
I would have booked a meglomanic Vince going after Shane and his new purchase. I would have had four factions - WWF, WCW, wrestlers caught in the middle, and later ECW.
The wrestlers in the middle are those who care only about competing for titles (Austin), those squeezed out because they have history with both sides (Benoit, Jericho, Guerrero), those disgusted by the tactics of their original faction, and guns for hire (APA). Small, no unity, individually vulnerable to group beat downs, but as a group fairly high up (many main eventers and upper mid-carders).
As WCW is slowly losing, ECW is brought in to balance the odds. They are led by Heyman who was hired by a desperate Stephanie. This removes one of the big objections.
While I characterized WCW as face and WWF as heel, I am going with shades of grey. The WCW faces don't see when their heel compatriots use underhanded means to help them out. Some in the WWF fight out of loyalty while being disgusted by Vince. They try to keep their heel allies away from their matches.
The overall heel/face dynamic allows the re-use of classic story line spots. Austin fighting impossible odds. He neither has to turn heel nor align with Vince. Vince essentially has the Corporation again, but with a stronger (or at least larger) opponent. Diamond Dallas Page gets to escape through crowds.
Some can switch sides. Heel WWF would appeal to Edge and Christian, especially as Vince buddies up to them to strengthen his group. The heel tactics and this rivalry eventually drive off the Hardy Boyz - first to the unaligned, then to WCW. Jericho gets to rip on everybody. Benoit gets to be a tough bastard whose style (Canadian Crippler) matches the desperate situation he is in.
ECW does not stay with WCW though. Heyman is a slippery conniver and Vince buys his services, at least for a while.
Finally, a desperate WCW makes a final stand. While they have been losing overall, they have been losing as plucky faces who won't stay down. They eventually barely win Survivor series and a time slot of their own.
Separation is not complete and there are further clashes as things die down.
Posted By: Guest#1889 (Guest) on August 27, 2009 at 03:38 AM
Terry Funk branding Undertaker's ass...
riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight...
Posted By: Starr (Guest) on August 27, 2009 at 04:19 AM
1) Great column and tease for the DVD.
2) Anyway who wants to talk Invasion should check the archives for the excellent "In Defense of the Invasion" article from a few years back.
3) Personally my biggest complaint of the Invasion was the immediate jobber-dom of DDP to the Undertaker.
He was as popular with the mainstream as Austin but when you look at WCW's booking they considered him Austin's wrestling equivalent. Taker no-sold him and just beat him six ways to Sunday (even jobbing to Taker's wife). DDP never recovered and if you're going to treat the multi-time world champ like that who's going to get a fair shot?
It's a shame too. When DDP was initially revealed as the stalker the crowd was red-hot and it's one of my favorite mark out moments ever.
Posted By: Save.Us_Y2J (Registered) on August 27, 2009 at 05:26 AM
Do any of you even KNOW who the hell Terry Funk is? Have any of you ever seen anything other than his last run in WCW? The Funk vs. Vince PROMOS alone would have made the entire Invasion worthwhile.
But, that aside, those of able to actually COMPREHEND the written English language understood that Mike Campbell was spotlighting just ONE of the stories in the WWF vs. WCW feud as fantasy booked by Jim Cornette.
Posted By: Truth Detector (Guest) on August 27, 2009 at 05:39 AM
If Cornette was such as "reality based" booker ...
** NO EDDIE: Eddie Guerrero was in drug rehab and, subsequently, FIRED during the InVasion angle.
** NO HHH: The Trips was out with a quad injury from May 2001 to January 2002, completely sidestepping the InVasion.
... Not to mention what was previously said about Jarrett.
Posted By: Stuart (Guest) on August 27, 2009 at 06:44 AM
Please do a review of Greg Gagne's Fantasy Booking. It was pretty entertaining and informative. Of course, once you got down to booking, a lot of it was delusional (as far as his idea of him on the national scale).
Posted By: What (Guest) on August 27, 2009 at 07:00 AM
Cornette is too stuck in the Midnight Express days. He is boring and just cause he yells and complains about everything the Smarks love him. I would not download this crap for free, let alone buy his booking!
Posted By: T-Mac (Guest) on August 27, 2009 at 08:55 AM
Absolutely horrible. Why would Eric Bischoff turn on WCW? Anyone that pays attention knows Eric is WCW. And Terry Funk?
Look, the Invasion didnt work for 2 simple reasons:
1. No Goldberg
2. No nWo (Hogan, Bishoff, Hall, Nash)
It really is as simple as that.
WCW -vs- WWF leading into Survivor Series where the nWo and Sting take on Austin, Rock, Jericho, & Benoit with the WWF quartet winning. The nWo gets you through the summer, the WWF wins out at Survivor Series.
Then, leading into the Royal Rumble, Ric Flair promises to shock the world at the Rumble and walks a debuting Goldberg into the Rumble and Goldberg absolutely dominates it and goes on to Wrestlemania to win the WCW title which he loses a year later to John Cena at Wrestlemania ultimately ending the WCW/WWF war and making them into two distinct brands.
Posted By: miles (Guest) on August 27, 2009 at 09:25 AM
Anyone can re-book an angle after the fact. The main reason this angle failed was that Vince did not want to buy out the Guaranteed contracts of guys like Flair, Sting, Nash, Goldberg, etc. They were making big time money (maybe even more then Vince paid to purchase WCW).
Posted By: Matt (Guest) on August 27, 2009 at 09:50 AM
Either this article was written poorly or Cornette is just way too old skool. Based on this article, Cornette sounds like a complete and utter boob who is truly living in a fantasy world which is disappointing because I tend to enjoy his points of view.
As others have stated, Eddie Guerrero and Triple H couldn't have possibly been around at the time and those are only the minor quibbles. Funk branding Undertaker? That's silly even by today's WWE standards. It'd work in the 80s which is apparently the decade Cornette perpetually lives in.
Honestly, maybe there's more to this and these "highlights" are actually the worst parts but putting Funk in even a remotely high profile role sounds like a horrible decision.
I want to believe that this Guest Booker is much better than Mike Campbell is painting it to be.
Posted By: Ron Mexico (Guest) on August 27, 2009 at 11:18 AM
"The Funk vs. Vince PROMOS alone would have made the entire Invasion worthwhile. "
Are you serious? Did you hear any Funk promos post-2000?
"But, that aside, those of able to actually COMPREHEND the written English language understood that Mike Campbell was spotlighting just ONE of the stories in the WWF vs. WCW feud as fantasy booked by Jim Cornette. "
And that ONE story is horrible and idiotic.
Posted By: Hollyric (Guest) on August 27, 2009 at 01:13 PM
since everyone else is throwing their hats in the ring for this one , let me add mine.They should have had 3 teams face off in [god help me] a Team challenge series type of venue. With each team consisting of 6 main players and one alternate. The angle starts off with Shane mcmahon challenging vince to a winner take all deal, with Paul heyman cutting in and doing an awesome shoot style promo on the Mcmahons. This sets up the teams with Paul Heyman announcing his team first. 1. E.C.W. champion Tazz 2. t.v. champion Rob Van Dam 3and4. Tag champions the Dudley boys 5. Raven 6. Rhyno and the alternate being Tommy Dreamer. The W.W.F. going next and picking 1. W.W.F world champion Steve Austin 2+3. W.W.F. tag champs Undertaker and Kane 4. Intercontinental champion Edge 5. Chris Jericho 6. Kurt Angle . Shane Mcmahon comes out and only introduces 4members of his Team 1. W.C.W. Champion Booker T 2. U.S. champion D.D.P. 3+4 W.C.W. tag champs cronic and alternate Buff Bagwell. Shane then announces his last 2 will appear at the King of the Ring. In The Main event of K.O.T. they book Vince Mcmahon , Steve Austin and Kurt Angle in a six man tag against Shane Mcmahon Booker T and Buff Bagwell . Austin and Angle defect to w.c.w. and leave Vince mcmahon in a bloody heap after a 5 on 1 beating. after this the rock and the big show join team w.w.f.
The matches for the team challenge are set for weekly on Raw and it will be single elimination with all titles on the line[ Only tag teams are eliminated as a team. First match is Undertaker and kane against kronik Squash as kronik is eliminated and the w.c.w tag titles are meged with the w.w.f.tag titles. after a few weeks the secondary titles are all merged with Undertaker and kane as the unified world tag champions rob van dam as the unified Intercontinental, u.s. and e.c.w t.v. champion . The last match in the series is an elimination chamber match with the winner getting all3 world titles and having their company being the only one left. The participents are W.W.F world Champion steve austin and E.C.W. world champion Kurt Angle from W.C.W. [almost like in reality] . W.C.w world champion the Rock the undertaker and Chris jericho from the W.W.F. and Rob Van Dam from e.c.w. The final 4 Are austin, angle, the rock ,and jericho in what turns into a tag team battle with the rock getting his ass whiped by all 3 men eventually. Rock Bottom on Angle and angle is gone. Small package from the rock to Austin [with help from jericho] and austin is out. mcmahon comes out to the ring to celebrate with the Rock and jericho only to hit the Rock with the unified world title one lionsault later [and a ring the fucking bell from mcmahon] And the unified world champion is Chris jericho. Suck on that terry funk
Posted By: jeff albertson (Guest) on August 27, 2009 at 02:38 PM
the invasion didnt work because there was no david aRquette..Duh
Posted By: old school fan (Guest) on August 27, 2009 at 02:42 PM
"he lands on his head (which Cornette assures us that Eddie is good enough to be able to work)"
Better if HHH landed on his head & broke his neck, now THAT'S fantasy booking!
Posted By: Guest#4344 (Guest) on August 27, 2009 at 07:34 PM
Keep everything the same, injuries and rosters, no adding Goldberg or the NWO or Sting...
King of the Ring
Benoit was injured so putting him over is out of the question. The speculation that if either Jericho or Benoit were to win they would take the Belt to WCW gains more ground as Jericho wins after Booker T makes his debut by attacking Austin (this really happened).
Jericho automatically has a cloud of suspicion over his head because of how he won the belt...
The next night on Raw in MSG Jericho introduces Booker T as the first WCW wrestler to step foot in MSG. Jericho asks him what his intentions are. Stone Cold comes out and claims conspiracy, challenging Jericho to a rematch. Vince comes out and says that will not happen and tells booker T that if he wants to make an impact here's his chance, Jericho and Austin will be forced to team against Booker T and Diamond Dallas Page.
During the match, Jericho turns on Austin and celebrates with DDP and Booker T.
In the weeks following the Invasion pans out like it did, just with Y2J as the leader, and without Austin turning.
At Invasion, the main event would be Austin, Taker, Kane, Angle, and Big Show vs. Jericho, DDP, Booker T, RVD, and Rhyno.
Big Show turns and joins with WCW.
This brings Vince out to beg the Rock to come back. The Rock does and is plugged into a program with Chris Jericho.
Kurt Angle and Stone Cold form a bad ass team opposite of the pussy guitar playing one they were shaping up to be. Booker T and RVD and Rhyno all team in variations against the two of them.
Big Show and DDP then feud with Taker and Kane.
Summerslam would look like this:
WWF Title- Rock vs. Jericho
WCW Title- Stone Cold vs. Booker T
Hardcore- RVD vs. Angle
Both Tag- Taker and Kane vs. DDP & Show
Jericho and Booker T and retain, so does RVD.
Taker and Kane win the tag belts.
Unforgiven features...
WWF Title- Jericho vs. Austin vs. Show
WCW Title- Angle vs. Booker T vs Rock
Tag Title- Taker and Kane vs. Dudleys
The world title matches are made triple threats at the advantage of each promotion. Shane added Big Show to the match, prompting Vince to add the Rock to the other match.
Rock wins the WCW title and Jericho retains.
No Mercy
WWF title- Jericho vs. Angle
WCW title- Rock vs. RVD
Angle almost wins and Rock retains.
Survivor Series is the blow off, winner takes all...
Team WWF:
Stone Cold
The Rock
Kurt Angle
Taker
Kane
Team WCW:
Chris Jericho
Big Show
Booker T
RVD
DDP
The match comes down to what the storyline started with, Austin and Jericho, Austin beats Jericho and winst the winner take all battle. WWF is victorious and the Titles get Unified the next month. With Austin winning setting up the Austin Triple H blow off that was being hinted at before the injury...
Posted By: Kirk (Guest) on August 27, 2009 at 07:35 PM
Since this is fantasy booking:
They should've used the Big Show/Shane match at Backlash to take Show off TV for a while. Booker helps Shane win the match.
Taker wins the belt off of Austin due to interference from Booker T, setting off the feud between those two.
The following month at KOTR instead of Austin vs. Jericho vs. Benoit, it's Taker vs. Jericho vs. Benoit with the real story being that Jericho and Benoit are suspicious of each other for signing with WCW. Taker wins the match but a Benoit/Jericho feud develops out of it.
Same show, Austin and Booker have a match that isn't sanctioned by the WWF because Booker isn't a WWF contracted worker. Booker picks up the win due to interference from Shane, officially turning WCW full-on heel in the process. Shane and Booker decide to try to hurt Austin post-match. Show emerges but ends up turning on Austin and joining WCW.
Edge still win KOTR.
The night after KOTR, Shane introduces his business partner -- Eric Bischoff. This sets the stage for Invasion's main event, which is still a ten-man tag team match between WWF and WCW. WWF's participants are Austin, Taker, Benoit, Jericho, and Angle against WCW's Big Show, Booker T, DDP, Mike Awesome, and a mystery partner.
(at this point, yes, I realize Benoit was out with a neck injury but it's fantasy so whatever)
In the weeks leading up, WCW gains traction through a variety of ways. Saturn & Malenko, still WWF wrestlers, win the tag titles off of the Dudley Boyz. They then reveal they have jumped ship to WCW with WWF's tag titles. Vince, furious at this, sends his tag division after them -- mainly the Dudleyz and APA.
William Regal, WWF Commissioner, becomes suspicious after this event that all former WCW employees could be potential risks. He discounts himself because of his position of power, but becomes increasingly paranoid. He targets Eddie Guerreo (yes, out IRL due to his drug issue but again...fantasy) after seeing Eddie converse with his nephew, Chavo. Regal begins tormenting Guerreo, questioning his loyalty until Guerreo finally snaps and attacks Regal. The two are set to wrestle on the RAW leading up to Invasion but the match never takes place, as Regal is viciously assaulted by WCW wrestlers. Eddie reveals he was WWF through and through until Regal targeted him, at which point he felt forced to join WCW. A match is set between the two at Invasion for Regal's Commissioner position.
Another minor subplot is that ex-Raven lackey Kanyon decides to use the Invasion to torment his former boss, Raven. Raven consistently repels Kanyon's attacks but a match is set between the two at Invasion. If Raven loses, he not only becomes Kanyon's personal lackey but his WWF contract is void and he signs a WCW contract.
Invasion is set...
Posted By: Guest#6268 (Guest) on August 27, 2009 at 08:10 PM
Continuing from the last fantasy booking post...
Invasion takes place with Kanyon cheating to beat Raven, sending Raven back to the company he tried to escape. Eddie beats Regal to become WWF Commissioner despite being a WCW employee. In a match for the WWF Tag Team Titles, Saturn & Malenko beat the Dudleyz due to a miscommunication between the Dudz and the APA. In the main event, Team WCW's mystery partner is revealed to be the one and only Ric Flair. Despite being a heel, Flair probably still gets cheered. WCW wins when Jericho turns on Team WWF, knocking the Undertaker out with a chair to allow WCW Champion Booker T to pin him. Show closes with WCW standing tall.
Following night, Eddie turns over his position of WWF Commissioner to Eric Bischoff, but not before booking himself in a WWF Title match with the Undertaker. Eddie and Taker wrestle in the main event but it ends in a big brawl, which allows Jericho to again lay out the Undertaker although he gets chased off by Benoit.
This sets up two matches for Summerslam: WCW World Title - Booker T vs. Austin, and WWF World Title - The Undertaker vs. Jericho.
Ric Flair, despite garnering cheers, becomes a target for McMahon. He ends The Rock's suspension so The Rock can take out Flair. This backfires when Rock ends up showing respect for Flair, drawing Vince's ire. A match between the two is set for Summerslam, regardless.
Summerslam: Raven ends up beating Kanyon in the undercard, thinking he's out from under WCW's thumb. Bischoff reveals that while he might not be Kanyon's lackey, he's still a WCW employee. WCW U.S. Champion Mike Awesome attacks Raven. Saturn & Malenko lose the WWF Tag Titles to the APA after the Dudleyz interfere. All tension between the APA and Dudz seems resolved. The Rock ends up beating Flair after the Dudleyz again interfere, although the Rock ends up running them off and shakes hands with Flair. Austin beats Booker for the WCW Title, infuriating Bischoff, but WCW gets the last laugh as Jericho ends up winning the WWF Title off of Taker.
Unforgiven: The Rock & Flair beat a now heel Dudley Boyz. Chavo & Eddie win WCW's Tag Titles then challenge the APA to a match the next month at No Mercy. Raven thinks he's beaten Awesome for WCW's U.S. Title but is again screwed by Bischoff in a Dusty finish. Jericho beats Benoit to retain the WWF Title. Austin also retains, but in controversial fashion as a WCW ref is knocked out during the match a WWF ref runs out, counting a 3 despite seeing DDP's foot on the ropes.
Posted By: Guest#5325 (Guest) on August 27, 2009 at 08:27 PM
Finishing up where I left off:
No Mercy: Guerreos lose to APA from interference by former WCW Tag Champions, O'Haire & Palumbo, although not the titles since only WWF's were on the line. Raven beats WCW undercard talent to face Mike Awesome at Survivor Series for U.S. Title. Jericho barely escapes from the Undertaker thanks in large part to half of WCW's roster. Austin/DDP II takes place as a Last Man Standing Match -- Austin wins. Rock and Flair beat the Dudleyz again in a TLC match. The big match here is Vince vs. Bischoff for the first time (not counting Bischoff's lame attempt on WCW PPV a few years back), with Vince putting Smackdown on the line to get Bisch in the ring. Bischoff steals the win as Flair helps him due to the animosity between Flair and Vince. This drives a rift in the Flair/Rock friendship. Smackdown becomes WCW Nitro.
Survivor Series is set for another big ten-man tag match, although this time Bischoff has his eyes on the entire WWF. Vince wants it all on the line, but Bischoff refuses. He says he's not dumb and he's not putting his company or WCW Nitro on the line but...he's willing to leave the WWF forever if his team loses. Vince is too tempted by the offer to ignore and agrees to put the WWF on the line if WCW is willing to never be seen on WWF TV again. Bischoff, being WWF Commissioner, adds another interesting stipulation to the match -- it will be a War Games match. The teams are Team WWF: Vince McMahon, The Undertaker, Steve Austin, Kurt Angle, and The Rock vs. Team WCW: Eric Bischoff, Chris Jericho, DDP, Ric Flair, and yet another mystery partner.
The RAW before Survivor Series the partner is revealed to be Sting. The newfound Rock/Flair feud intensifies.
Survivor Series happens and the WWF wins, with Vince making Bischoff submit. But this sets up two interesting plot points: Austin is still WCW Champ and Jericho is still WWF Champ. It's revealed December will be WCW's first PPV: Starrcade. Rock vs. Flair II, Austin vs. Sting for the WCW Title, Raven vs. Awesome for U.S. Title. Flair, Sting, and Raven all win capping off their feuds. Rock and Flair make peace after their match. Due to Jericho being WWF Champ, he is the only WCW wrestler that still appears on WWF programming. He holds onto the WWF Title until Wrestlemania through various shenanigans, using whatever underhanded tactics he can, until a returning Triple H defeats him. He then finally is cast away to WCW, appearing on the next episode of Nitro but is shunned by the rest of WCW's roster for abandoning them after Survivor Series. A Jericho/Sting program for the WCW Title ensues.
Posted By: Guest#9374 (Guest) on August 27, 2009 at 08:45 PM
Google google
Posted By: Max (Guest) on October 11, 2010 at 10:00 PM
Thanks- I turned it off after the Flair promo bit but you've made me revisit it.
Posted By: Rick (Guest) on May 25, 2012 at 07:30 PM
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