WWF InVasion
July 22, 2001
Cleveland, OH
When Vince McMahon bought WCW it was obvious wrestling was going to change forever. Fans hoped that it would be in a good way. Afterall, the WWF had been doing amazing business for years behind Vince’s booking and the year 2000 alone received critical acclaim in the ring (compared to ’98 and ’99, where despite the great business there was some horrible wrestling out there).
Now it’s not Vince’s fault that he couldn’t get all of the big players in WCW. Because of the outlandish deals with Ted Turner, there was no Sting, no Goldberg, etc. The biggest names the WWF received were Booker T and Diamond Dallas Page. To be honest, with the WWF hype machine behind each of them both could have been major players and the disappointment of no top WCW guys could have been at least lessened. And while the WWF completely missed with Page with the whole stalker of Undertaker’s wife angle, the WWF actually did a really good job with Booker T for the most part. Booker came in at King of the Ring 2001, dropped Stone Cold on his head through a table (which probably was a big reason he didn’t get the super push, as he legitimately hurt Austin here) and actually looked like a big deal. He was clearly the wrestling leader of this pack. The only thing that went wrong really was that match against Buff Bagwell that was pretty awful. Why they couldn’t just put Booker against someone like Chris Jericho orKurt Angle early on is a mystery to me. We really needed to have “authentic” WCW guys? The failure of the Booker-Bagwell match changed the angle big time, but it should be pointed out that Booker T was the leader of this Alliance team heading into the PPV.
When ECW entered the picture, it seemed really cool for one night until we realized these were all WWF guys sans Rob Van Dam and Tommy Dreamer. For the record, as underrated as Rhyno was at the time, it should have come as no surprise that Rob Van Dam would be crazy over. RVD in the main could have helped. Nonetheless, when Stephanie McMahon was introduced as owner of ECW…well, it should have been obvious that this angle just wasn’t going to be what we were all hoping for.
Still, InVasion posted one of the biggest buyrates in WWF history, so despite the mess of booking, WWF vs. WCW and ECW was the main draw here. So let’s see how it goes.
The Card
Lance Storm and Mike Awesome vs. Edge and Christian
One of the issues with the InVasion: some guys turning when their role was working out so well. Not sure, it looked like an Edge face turn was in the works, but we loved Edge and Christian as a heel team.
Christian nearly kills himself early on by not getting enough height jumping over the top rope onto Storm and Awesome.
One reason J.R. is amazing on commentary: he sees the botch and after explaining how important InVasion is, explains that Edge and Christian have pre-match jitters. Just really smart.
If there was ever someone who had all the physical tools but who’s mic skills held him back, it was Mike Awesome. His frog splash was just incredible.
Christian really works as a face-in-peril.
Edge and Christian win when Edge pinned Awesome in 10:10. Awesome went for an Awesome Bomb on Edge, but Christian speared him and Edge landed on top for the win. Good opener for sure. During the match, Michael Cole and J.R. really put over this match as one of the most important ever due to it being the opener for the InVasion. The effort is great. Problem is, as we’ll see later, those words were very overblown and made Cole and J.R. look stupid.
Pretty funny promo with Vince and William Regal as Vince wants Regal to be like the Americans during the Revolutionary War. Not only is it funny on the surface because Regal is British, but it’s also funny because the idea that the WWF is the underdog here is ridiculous.
Nick Patrick vs. Earl Hebner
Mick Foley is the Special Guest Referee
Vince had access to so much talent now that we needed referees to wrestle. Great.
In all those wrestling magazines, how many “dream WWF vs. WCW card” articles had Patrick vs. Hebner on there?
We get an referee brawl on the outside! Foley throws the WCW referees out.
Earl Hebner pins Nick Patrick in 2:50. Patrick argues with Foley, allowing Hebner to tackle him for the three. This was awful but at least short. What was Vince thinking here?! 2-0 WWF. Foley blasts Patrick afterward and gets Mr. Socko on him.
Tough Enough commercial! Weird that the first one was 14 years ago.
Ugh, stalker DDP was so awful.
Sara (Taker’s wife) calls Taker Mark when talking to Debra. That was pretty unexpected.
The APA vs. Sean O’Haire and Chuck Palumbo
WWF vs. WCW Tag Champs here. I do like how the APA were like the midcard leaders on-screen. O’Haire and Palumbo were only the tag champs in WCW as WCW was finally trying to use their younger talent. They definitely had potential though.
Fun fact: Faarooq is a former WCW World Champion. I thought that could have been a fun little turn during the InVasion storyline.
The APA win when Bradshaw pins Chuck Palumbo in 7:17. Clothesline From Hell takes out Palumbo after Palumbo “hit” Faarooq with a superkick. This was okay I guess. I do think the wrong team won, but then again the WWF never went with Palumbo and O’Haire. 3-0 WWF, which seems ridiculous at this point.
Billy Kidman vs. X-Pac
Kidman was the WCW Cruiserweight Champion and X-Pac was the WWF Lightheavyweight Champion.
X-Pac is booed out of the building. And you know, that’s a good example of the WWF NOT changing someone’s alignment just because they’re team WWF. Not that they could at this point anyway.
It should be pointed out that it was a really good idea for the WWF to put the WCW Cruiserweight Title on Kidman. I considered Kidman to be in the top tier of WCW Cruiserweights, and in fact he was the last guy to get to that point in 1998.
Weird dynamic here as I think the fans want to cheer for Kidman…but can’t quite bring themselves to do it because he’s a WCW guy.
Another weird dynamic: X-Pac’s trying to wrestle a riskier, high flying style but can’t quite do it (he had stopped after his neck injury in the mid 90s). It really makes for a mess of a match unfortunately.
Billy Kidman pins X-Pac in 7:12. Kidman hits the Shooting Star Press and the fans pop. And rightfully so, that move is awesome. So much for not cheering Kidman. Give X-Pac credit too, he let Kidman kickout of an X-Factor and jobbed to Kidman’s best move. Still not a good match though.
3-1 WWF! The Alliance is on board!
DDP quote: “Debra is sweet but she’s no Sara.” Yeah, like we don’t know DDP is married to Kimberly. Come on now.
Torrie Wilson and Stacy Keibler feel disappointed for the fans that they’ll have to settle for seeing Trish and Lita in their panties. I mean, it’s win-win either way, but I do agree Torrie and Stacy are hotter.
William Regal vs. Raven
Before watching this I could predict that this would be a huge clash of styles.
And that’s exactly what we get. Face Regal wasn’t really working either.
The timing for everything is just off. A clothesline from Raven is timed incorrectly. A bulldog from Raven, same thing. It’s not actively bad, but it is noticeable. Crowd is completely quiet as well.
Raven pins Regal in 6:34. Tazz runs in and hits a T-Bone Suplex to Regal…and Raven hits a sloppy Evenflow DDT for the win. 3-2 WCW.
Big Show, Billy Gunn and Albert vs. Sean Stasiak, Kanyon and Hugh Morrus
I know the WWF was quite low on Big Show at this point, but Show on the WCW team would have made a lot of sense and helped the star power issue.
Nice Meat chants for Stasiak.
Morrus, Stasiak and Kanyon win when Morrus pins Gunn in 4:23. Match can be described this way: WWF guys destroy WCW guys, WCW gets a cheap win. What a joke. Also, the Big Show destroys the WCW guys after the match too. Real waste of Kanyon here too. But we’re tied!
Oh, sorry, WCW/ECW is up 4-3 now. Apparently Chavo Guerrero Jr’s victory over Scotty 2 Hotty counts. Way to ignore than when the WWF was up 3-0.
Tazz vs. Tajiri
Tazz is ECW, Tajiri is WWF. Isn’t it crazy how just two years prior this was an ECW PPV World Title Match?
By the way, I would have put Tajiri in X-Pac’s spot here.
Tajiri pins Tazz in 5:44. Tajiri gets the Green Mist and kicks Tazz in the face for the win. Fun little match here where Tajiri took a lot of Tazz’s offense. Too bad it wasn’t longer. 4-4.
RVD takes Matt Hardy out with a chair right in Jeff Hardy’s face. Pretty awesome segment.
Hardcore Holly berates a WCW fan at WWF New York. Also a funny segment.
WWF Hardcore Championship
Jeff Hardy© vs. Rob Van Dam
Really…the first match on this card that really makes of sense. RVD vs. Jeff Hardy in a battle of the daredevils.
I wish after RVD just took Matt Hardy out that Jeff ran down to take out RVD.
HUGE RVD chants.
A really creative start, including Jeff legdropping RVD in a way where RVD ends up crunched like an accordion.
With all the hotdogging he’s doing, I can’t help but think RVD would have made for an awesome WWF heel. Of course, he’d be cheered, but who cares!
Seeing RVD in the WWF for the “first” time was crazy. All these crazy moves that worked in ECW…worked in the WWF too! For example…a moonsault off the barricade in the crowd. This was true for Tajiri as well, but it really got RVD over big time.
Spinning heel kick off the apron onto a hanging Jeff Hardy on the barricade. Years later people would complain it was the same old shit with RVD, but in 2001 on a global stage: holy shit.
Jeff Hardy with a sunset flip powerbomb from the ring onto the floor! RVD just gets slammed on the floor. Sick spot.
In one of my favorite spots ever, Jeff beats RVD down with a chair, leading RVD to beg from his knees for Jeff to stop. In a split second, RVD hops to his feet and hits the Van Daminator and sends off flying off the stage. Just wow.
RVD takes a DDT and a German Suplex and sells it the only way RVD can. Great stuff here.
RVD pins Jeff Hardy to win the title in 12:24. Jeff misses the Swanton…and RVD hits the Five Star Frog Splash for the win. A really fun spotfest that seemed revolutionary at the time. Great match. The first (and ultimately, only) match on this supercard that really felt it belonged.
5-4 WCW/ECW!
Bra and Panties Match
Trish Stratus and Lita vs. Torrie Wilson and Stacy Keibler
In the funniest moment of the entire event Mick Foley comes out to referee. That was pretty good.
There’s a pretty good story surrounding this: Torrie and Stacy tried to seduce the Hardyz.
Lita and Trish win in 5:03. There’s actually some decent fighting in this, although clearly that’s not the purpose. Fun of course. Oh and we’re tied!
The Inaugural Brawl
Team Alliance (Booker T, Diamond Dallas Page, Rhyno and the Dudley Boyz) vs. Team WWF (Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Undertaker, Kane, Kurt Angle and Chris Jericho)
One of the big selling points of this match was that the old Stone Cold was coming to InVasion. After being a cowardly heel for four months, Austin’s return to being a bad ass was nothing short of amazing. Just listen to that crowd reaction on RAW. It’s crazy. Honestly, if you told me that really sold the show instead of the actual InVasion I actually might agree.
Obviously Austin’s pop is amazing, but Angle gets a big one too. One positive of the InVasion: Kurt Angle getting to that next level.
I can’t help but think that this InVasion could have worked with DDP as the top heel. He’s getting great reactions and he’s a huge name of course.
The match is about 20 minutes of back and forth and while it isn’t bad it is pretty boring overall. Crowd is really into it though.
The match takes a strange turn to get to the finish. Kurt Angle is your Team WWF member in peril, but oddly he’d never make the hot tag as Undertaker just runs in to attack Page. A huge ten man brawl breaks out from that.
Stone Cold hurt his knee! Oh no! Also, everyone else gets taken out somehow. Angle suddenly begins to kick serious ass and the crowd is electric for him.
Team Alliance wins when Booker T pinned Kurt Angle in 29:30. Angle has Booker T locked in the Ankle Lock and tapping, but Stone Cold comes in and hits Angle with a Stunner and turns on the WWF. Booker gets the pin, but it’s Austin who celebrates with Shane, Stephanie and Heyman. Man what a stupid decision that turned out to be for the storyline and Austin’s career (although it helped make Kurt Angle). Match was good I suppose, but it seemed a bit boring at times and the finish sucked.
The angle really could have worked if they went with Booker vs. Rock and Page vs. Austin, but Page apparently pissed too many people off, including Undertaker and it never worked out for him. Booker did go on to fight Rock but after getting beat twice he dropped to the midcard. As for Austin, this was his last chance to regain that babyface level only he and Hogan (and I guess Rock) ever reached, only it was thrown away with this re-turn. When Austin turns face again in December the crowd reaction for him isn’t the same as it once was.
As for this show, I feel like only one match really delivered and that was RVD vs. Jeff Hardy. Yes the opener was good and the Bra and Panties Match was fun, but everything else really left you disappointed. What a shame.
Final Grade: C