World Wrestling Federation – Survivor Series 2001 – 18th November 2001
After months of disappointing, poorly booked and lacklustre programming the decision was finally made to pull the trigger and conclude the thoroughly mediocre Invasion angle. The main event is a ‘winner takes all’ Survivor Series tag bout – pitting Team WWF (represented by The Rock, Chris Jericho, Undertaker, Kane and Big Show) against an Alliance team (featuring Steve Austin, Kurt Angle, Shane McMahon, Booker T and RVD). As ever, putting so much talent in the main event has restricted the quality of the undercard – but there is still plenty of Alliance vs WWF ‘inter-promotional’ bouts to be had. The pick of those is surely the Hardy Boyz and the Dudley Boyz doing battle again – this time in a Steel Cage Match to unify the WWF and WCW Tag Titles. There’s also Edge and Test locking horns to unify the WWF Intercontinental and WCW United States titles, a battle royal for immunity (regardless of who wins the main event) and the vacant Women’s Championship on the line after Chyna’s release was finally confirmed. Jim Ross and Paul Heyman are in position to call a high-stakes evening from Greensboro, NC.
Christian vs Al Snow – WWF European Title Match
Jim Ross points out that Christian won the European Title in a ‘non-televised match’ in October. That’s how many titles there were at this point, and how little the majority of them meant. They could change hands without being broadcast and nobody cared. Here it’s being used as a prop to make the newly turned heel version of Christian seem relevant even though he very obviously lost his feud to Edge last month at No Mercy. Al Snow is back on TV because he needed visibility whilst being one of the coaches on Tough Enough.
Al Snow uses that annoyingly catchy Mercy Drive song that Maven ended up having as his theme music. He looks to have the better of Christian when it comes to straight wrestling and it takes a cheap shot in the corner from the champion to put him in charge. He blocks Snow’s capture headbutt sequence and nails him with an inverted tiger suplex for 2 in a surprisingly cool sequence. Finally Al does get to hit his capture headbutts, and blocks the inverted DDT from Christian into a superkick for 2. Rydien Bomb gets another nearfall only for Christian to pop back up and level him with the inverted DDT second time of asking. SNOW PLOUGH NAILED! He hit that with brutal authority but unfortunately Christian landed too close to the ropes. Amazingly the champion recovers quickly enough from that that he’s able to run away…then hit the Unprettier to win at 06:30
Rating - * - This wasn’t a horrible match by any means, but it was almost overwhelmingly pointless – and the total lack of psychology, story-telling or any kind of depth made it impossible to care about. Snow was busy on Tough Enough teaching young trainees about slowing down, telling stories in the ring and so forth – then gets a match on ppv and works a total spotfest where neither man sold a single move their opponent threw at them. There was some cool stuff, but when Christian bounces up from getting dropped on his head in the Snow Plough, RUNS away, then wins within 25 seconds it’s tough to go any higher on a rating.
Steve Austin arrives (late), and enters the Alliance locker room into a storm of accusations that he is the WWF mole in the Alliance camp. RVD, Kurt and Booker all want to be the leader of the Alliance with Austin’s commitment to the cause under question.
Vince and Linda, who are somehow married happily married again, point out how high the stakes are tonight. Michael ‘my t-shirt is two sizes too small’ Cole barges in concerned about his job, so Vince pacifies him by saying he has an ‘ace’ up his sleeve – and it will be six WWF guys against four Alliance representatives in the main event. Alliance Commissioner Regal interrupts on his way to the ring. He doesn’t believe their ‘hogwash’, and looks forward to humiliating Vince and Linda on Alliance Raw tomorrow night (surely it should be Nitro – but that would involve putting anything WCW did over).
William Regal vs Tajiri
Much like at Rebellion in the UK, here we have the former WWF Commissioner facing his ex-Lt. Commish. Tajiri wants revenge after Regal tapped her out to the Regal Stretch in an intergender match on the lead-in Smackdown.
An angry-looking Tajiri batters Regal with kicks…which the Alliance Commissioner makes little attempt to block. He walks through a barrage of strikes and goes to his British style – muscling the Buzzsaw off his feet into a Finlay Roll. Tajiri absorbs a flurry of elbow smashes to apply the Tarantula, into a nearfall following the Handspring Elbow. Regal HANGS Tajiri in the ropes, despite having blood pouring down his face from a messed up nose injury which meant he basically had a nose bleed in every match for months until he finally took some time off to get it surgically repaired. He wins with a Tiger Driver at 02:58. The Alliance is 3-0 (including Heat) on the night.
Rating - * - Far too short to mean anything, but what was here was pretty enjoyable. Tajiri looked like he wanted to beat the crap out of Regal – and despite his pretentious character nobody was in any doubt that, in the ring, Regal was happy to stiff it out with anyone. In three minutes there was plenty of stiffness, some nice little spots and plenty of blood from Regal’s problematic nose.
Torrie Wilson comes out to check on Tajiri, so Regal gives her a Tiger Driver too.
In his locker room Test lectures Janet the costume lady for not putting oil on his biceps right. Real-life girlfriend (at this point) Stacy Keibler strolls in to admire him
Test vs Edge – WWF Intercontinental vs WCW United States Title Unification Match
A couple of weeks before Survivor Series WWF Commissioner Mick Foley cut an awesome promo where he said what every clued-up wrestling fan at the time had been thinking – there are so many titles and so many arbitrary title changes in the WWF at the moment that outside of the WWF and WCW World Titles (plus arguably Van Dam as Hardcore Champion through sheer match quality) they are all pretty much meaningless. To make that point, at Rebellion just two weeks earlier Test was half of the WWF Tag Champions, Edge was Intercontinental Champion and Kurt Angle was WCW US Champion. That means, just to set up this match alone (with Test as IC Champ and Edge as US Champ) there have been THREE changes. Test cheated to beat Edge for the Intercontinental belt, Edge beat the Alliance’s Kurt Angle in an impromptu King Of The Ring final rematch to take his United States belt, and I believe Edge also contributed to Booker T and Test losing the WWF Tag Titles to the Hardy Boyz the previous week. The winner of this will unify these two belts, meaning after tonight the losing faction’s belt will be absorbed into the winners (i.e. if the Team WWF wins then we’ll have an Intercontinental Title with no United States belt, and if Team Alliance win then the IC belt will go in favour of WCW’s US Championship).
Edge is quicker than Test and spends the opening minute using that to evade his lumbering strikes and repeatedly knock him off his feet. Eventually Test does connect with the US Champion with one of his heavy-handed shots and it instantly turns the match in his favour. He clobbers Edge around outside the ring but returns inside and again gets caught out because Edge is so much quicker and more athletic than he is. The King Of The Ring hits a neckbreaker…then sprints at Test one time too many and is launched into the air then down over the top rope. He wisely slows the pace to a halt, clamping Edge into a chinlock in the middle of the ring. The United States Champion escapes and takes to the air with a missile dropkick…but is pretty beaten up now and when he tries to go aerial again Test catches him with a powerslam for 2. Test ducks a flying crossbody and muscles his opponent up the ropes to the second turnbuckle. Sunset flip bomb blocked…but the Alliance representative makes the mistake of trying to play Edge’s game with a jump off the top rope! Edge counters him with a mid-air dropkick and looks to build some serious momentum as he follows it with a spinning heel kick then the faceplant. Pumphandle Slam COUNTERED to the Edge-O-Matic! TEST SPEARS EDGE…for 2! Edge tries a Spear in return, but collides with the turnbuckles and falls back into the PUMPHANDLE SLAM! Again the WWF man kicks out! He counters a powerbomb with a rana and sprints across the ring into the SPEAR! Edgecution blocked…full nelson slam blocked…Edge showcases his speed once more and rolls Test up for the victory at 11:18.
Rating - *** - I’m sometimes pretty harsh in my reviews when it comes to Test. But the reason he was always viewed as a guy with such potential, and the reason why WWF gave him countless pushes and chances even though he ultimately always failed to get over is matches like this. Sure he’s a big guy who can be clumsy at times, but unlike a lot of the big and muscular workers the WWF likes to push he always worked f*cking hard and was very carry-able when put in there with the right opponent – which he had on this evening. This one also shows how quickly Edge was improving as a singles worker. He’d had some disappointing, spot-reliant matches in his feud with Christian – but here tonight concentrated on telling a decent story which made for a measurably better viewing experience. The story was a simple one, with Edge’s speed played off against Test’s power…but they stuck with it throughout, the crowd bought into it which meant that they were getting bigger pops for their nearfalls at the end than Edge and Christian were getting for diving off ladders at No Mercy.
Kurt Angle chats to his friend Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley – who is seriously stressed out with the Alliance team bickering and Edge winning the first title unification match. If she loses tonight she will lose a lot of money and be a ‘regular person’. Angle reassures her that Austin isn’t a WWF mole, and says that he’ll ‘make sure’ Austin doesn’t screw them tonight…(a promise he kept)
Team Xtreme hang out backstage. Lita is worried about Matt acting weirdly – but Matt says it’s because he’s worried about their jobs. He psyches them up by pointing out that if Lita wins the Women’s Title and the Hardyz unify the WWF and WCW Tag Titles tonight them they’ll remain in employment regardless of who wins the main event. Trish Stratus suspiciously emerges from the same locker room that Matt came from and wishes Lita good luck for later…
Hardy Boyz vs Dudley Boyz – WWF vs WCW Tag Title Unification Steel Cage Match
Yes, it’s these guys again. Almost two years after their legendary Table Match at Royal Rumble 2000, and through multiple ladder and TLC Matches and countless Tag Title reigns between them these two now meet again in a match to unify the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling Tag Team Championships. The Dudleyz actually won the WCW belts from the Hardy Boyz the previous month and, given their history of violence in ECW, will consider themselves favourites to win this particular instalment in their epic rivalry.
There have been so many pointless title changes that both the on-screen graphics and The Fink get the title holders the wrong way round (so the Dudleyz are introduced as WWF Tag Champions, whilst the Hardyz are called WCW’s equivalent). Ridiculously they work this as if it’s a standard tag match inside a cage. The early advantage goes to the Dudleyz as they overwhelm their smaller adversaries with first Jeff, then Matt are subjected to lengthy beatdowns. Finally the Hardyz realise it’s a cage match and they don’t have to watch each other get beaten up…and storm the ring together to rock both opponents with a Poetry In Motion. Matt hits an AVALANCHE RUSSIAN LEG SWEEP on D-Von, as on the other side we have a TOP ROPE BUBBA BOMB! The Dudleyz flapjack Matt into the cage…but when they try to do the same to Jeff he catches himself on the cage! Bubba drags him back into the DUDLEYVILLE DEVICE! ‘What a Rush’ – Paul E. 3-D II gets a nearfall on Jeff before his brother saves the match for the North Carolina natives. BODY AVALANCHE INTO THE CAGE from Bubba Ray to Matt! With him incapacitated the Dudleyz try to channel their inner Hardy – and both climb opposite turnbuckles with Jeff in their sites! D-Von misses a headbutt…and Bubba misses a senton bomb in quick succession! Matt appears to have been busted open by that body splash into the cage, but joins his brother as they now climb to opposing turnbuckles for a leg drop/frog splash combo. D-Von tree of woe’s Matt from the top of the cage, then turns into the Wassup Headbutt on Jeff! Stacy Keibler flirts with outside official Nick Patrick to get the keys to the cage door – and opens it up to pass a table into the ring for the Dudleyz to use. Matt lunges in to save his little brother from a 3-D through the table then climbs all the way to the top of the cage with Bubba Ray in hot pursuit! Matt escapes the cage – which leaves his brother alone with the WCW Tag Champions. Jeff makes a desperate climb to the cage…and has it won. Matt wants him to leave…but Jeff can’t resist a high spot! SWANTON BOMB OFF THE CAGE MISSES…JEFF GOES THROUGH A TABLE! Matt is furious and watches helplessly as Bubba covers Jeff to win the match and unify the titles at 15:44
Rating - *** - Once they’d stopped pretending it was a regular tag match this was pretty good. Unfortunately that rendered the first five or six minutes so pointless they were borderline unwatchable. In the end these four showcased some really cool stuff, and worked hard to minimise the amount that the cage limited their work. The finish looked spectacular, but it led to an utterly weird split angle for the Hardy Boyz where Matt was portrayed as jealous and egocentric – even though it was very obviously Jeff’s ego that cost them the match here.
Commissioner Foley complains that he has been ordered to spend the night at WWF New York rather than attend the ppv live in Greensboro. He points out that the Commissionership is a joke because he has to answer to Vince McMahon anyway…
Scotty 2 Hotty prepares for the Immunity Battle Royal…only to be jumped by Test – who assumes his spot in the match.
Immunity Battle Royal
This match sees representatives of both The Alliance and the WWF competing in a standard multi-man Battle Royal – with the prize of a year’s immunity from being fired at stake. Representing The Alliance are the Impact Players (Lance Storm and Justin Credible), Tommy Dreamer, Raven, Shawn Stasiak, Dallas Page, Stevie Richards, Billy Kidman, The Hurricane and Test. The WWF’s entrants are the APA, Crash Holly, Funaki, Perry Saturn, Billy Gunn, Chuck Palumbo, Spike Dudley and Albert.
In an awesome moment very few would have cared about, Raven and Stevie Richards send up their ECW past by getting into each other’s faces during the WWF’s introductions. Stasiak is eliminated before the match even starts, but somehow that is legal. Tazz comes out seemingly representing himself having apparently quit the Alliance by choking out Paul Heyman on Smackdown. Hurricane, cape and all, finds himself eliminated by Bradshaw hitting a Clothesline From Hell over the top rope. Saturn and Faarooq are the next to go, with WWF guys fighting WWF guys and Alliance guys fighting each other too in the race to survive elimination. DDP, former WCW Champion, is innocuously eliminated by Chuck Palumbo…as Chavo Guerrero and Hugh Morrus run in as more wildcard entries representing themselves having been fired by the Alliance. They dispose of Raven…before Guerrero gets tossed out by Gunn. Tazz eliminates Tommy Dreamer and Crash at the same time…as on the other side Lance Storm ejects Spike. Tazz is eliminated after getting distracted by Paul Heyman…with Test leading the charge to eliminate his former tag partner Albert. FALLAWAY SLAM TO THE FLOOR from Bradshaw to Kidman! The final four are Storm, Bradshaw, Test and Billy Gunn. Lance has his work cut out trying to get JBL to sell for him…so Test tosses them both out. Test then turns round and knocks Billy out with the Big Boot to win immunity at 07:39
Rating - ** - As far as battle royals go this wasn’t actually that bad. They kept it short, there were some entertaining spots, plenty of fast-paced action and some entertaining odd-couple commentary cracks between JR and Paul E. on commentary.
The ‘WWF Desire’ video, showing highlights of the last year of WWF action set to ‘My Sacrifice’ by Creed is included on the home video release. I’d forgotten what a striking piece of television this was.
Booker T confides in Shane McMahon that he doesn’t trust Steve Austin. Shane does his best to assure him that Stone Cold isn’t the WWF mole.
Trish Stratus vs Jacqueline vs Lita vs Ivory vs Mighty Molly vs Jazz – WWF Women’s Title Match
This was Jazz’s debut, with Regal hyping her up as a mystery entrant sure to bring victory to the Alliance here. She’s a former ECW worker, but wasn’t massively prominent there so gets very little reaction to her entrance. The Women’s Championship was formally vacated once Chyna’s release was confirmed. With the credibility of the division in the gutter following her treatment of the belt there is pressure on these women to restore some kind of prestige now. To this day I couldn’t tell you why Ivory is representing the Alliance by the way.
The silence that greeted Jazz’s entry is shattered as she sprints to the ring and DESTROYS Lita with a spear. Jacqueline and Molly aren’t as exciting as Lita, but they are considerably more crisp and reliable in their delivery when they share the ring together. Ivory and Jackie share the ring next, with the veterans of the WWF women’s division going back and forth in pinning combinations. Trish is as over as Lita it seems, and gets a big pop when she comes in to drop Ivory with a flapjack. It breaks down to an Alliance vs WWF brawl, with Jacqueline dropping to her knees in an assist for Lita to level Jazz with a Poetry In Motion clothesline. They set it up on Molly too…only for Jackie to NAIL Lita! Poison Ivory on Trish! MOONSAULT from Lita to Ivory! Trish back drops Lita to the floor, and trips Jazz out on top of her too. Stratusfaction beats Ivory at 04:22
Rating - * - Some of this was a little sloppy, and it was incredibly rushed considering the show is barely 90-minutes old and there’s only one match left…but some of the action was decent and it’s impossible not to feel happy when you see the sheer emotion on Trish’s face when she is announced as the winner. Her journey from titillating valet, to wrestler, to Women’s Champion obviously meant a great deal to her. I said at the top of the match that the reputation of the division had been tarnished by Chyna’s treatment of the belt. In turn, Trish’s evident joy at winning it goes a long way to restoring some of that lost prestige.
Vince McMahon walks along the line – looking his troops in the eye (or man-breasts in Big Show’s case). He delivers a spirited, but perplexing motivational speech where he veers between calling them all losers to urging them to channel the WWF greats that have gone before them. He also implies that the presence of a WWF mole (i.e. Steve Austin) on the Alliance team was just a hoax…
SIDENOTE – It’s time for our main event – the conclusion of the ‘Invasion’ angle and the final climactic battle between the WWF and WCW. You’ll notice that the WCW side features WWF Champion, and the man who spear-headed the demise of WCW as part of the groundbreaking Attitude Era in Steve Austin, a man who never wrestled in WCW in Kurt Angle, an ECW (who hated WCW more than anything) talent, and one of Vince McMahon’s own children. A seriously sorry state of affairs for what could have been the greatest angle professional wrestling ever produced.
SIDENOTE – As a piece of fantasy booking, I put together what I’d have liked my dream ‘squads’ for this climactic showdown would have been. For arguments sake I went for a super-duper-uber epic three team (i.e. 15-man) conclusion with a team representing WWF, WCW and ECW. My WWF squad (lead by Vince McMahon) was Steve Austin, The Rock, Undertaker, Kurt Angle and Chris Jericho. My WCW guys (with Eric Bischoff at the helm) were Goldberg, Hollywood Hogan, Kevin Nash, Dallas Page and Booker T. The ECW team (obviously fronted by Paul E.) was the hardest to pick from but I went for the three established WWF ECW guys in Tazz and the Dudley Boyz – and put them with Rob Van Dam (the only guy to actually become a star out of the Invasion angle) and Tommy Dreamer as the heartbeat of ECW. I figured there is no way the WWF or WCW guys would put the ECW guys over as a credible threat in an even fight – so I’d also want run-ins from the likes of Raven, Sandman, Sabu, Terry Funk, and the bWo to help Team Extreme. I know this is far-fetched fantasy booking…but I’d like to point out that every single person I’ve mentioned would wind up under some form of WWE contract in the next few years (hence I didn’t put Sting on the WCW team).
Steve Austin/Kurt Angle/Booker T/Rob Van Dam/Shane McMahon vs The Rock/Chris Jericho/Undertaker/Kane/Big Show
With ratings in the toilet, dissension amongst talent repeatedly finding it’s way onto internet dirtsheets, and with people like Mick Foley going on the air and openly slating the product, there wasn’t a whole lot of choice but to bring the Invasion angle to an end. Unfortunately it had been so shoddily booked there were very few credible opponents left for Team WWF to fight – meaning it was a hard sell to get this ppv to draw – and we have an Alliance team that only actually contains two of the original ‘invaders’ in Booker T and RVD. By this stage it was basically a complete WWF vs WWF angle. Vince (who at one stage wanted to book himself into this match too) is fighting for his company’s very existence against his two children. There is tension on the WWF team with The Rock and Chris Jericho unable to get along whilst they’ve been feuding over the WCW’s heavyweight championship…but there is now plenty of mistrust on the Alliance side too after Vince implied that there was a mole in their midst – and that it was Steve Austin (which didn’t make sense, but then again, the way he turned heel and joined the Alliance in the first place didn’t compute either so). There is, at least, plenty of history between the men who compete. The two captains (Rock and Stone Cold) engaged in an epic battle with a controversial conclusion at WrestleMania – with Rock still desperate for revenge for that night. Kurt Angle will be looking for payback on Rock after the Great One took the WWF Title from him at No Way Out and cost him that Mania main event slot. Undertaker and Booker T have feuded recently, Booker will want revenge on Rock for taking his WCW Title from him, Shane and Big Show go way back – and there is plenty of heat both in and out of kayfabe between Chris Jericho and Rob Van Dam. If this had been booked as a WWF vs WWF angle from the get-go it would actually be pretty cool. Unfortunately the blatant false-advertising of this as an Invasion leaves you with an extremely bitter taste in the mouth from the get-go!
There’s no wasting time with Rock and Austin steaming into each other before the introductions are complete. The Rock enjoys a positive start to the match, although the majority of his offence is punctuated by Shane McMahon diving in to break his pinfalls. RVD tags in with Jericho to a loud pop which Y2J presumably hates. He lays in a spinning heel kick on Mr PPV and it’s perfectly clear neither man is pulling many of their strikes. Shane is in the ring again moments later to break up an early Walls Of Jericho attempt. Kane and Angle come together next with Kane’s power visibly getting the better of Kurt’s wrestling prowess…until McMahon lunges in again to help out the Olympian. It’s the same story again as he dives into the ring to save Booker after he is slapped about by Undertaker (as usual). Eventually Shane-O’s constant interference comes back to bite the Alliance, as he tries to choke Taker over the ropes – but actually causes him to ricochet backwards, out of the path of an oncoming Steve Austin. It takes all five members of Team WCW/ECW to put the Deadman down again naturally. Big Show is tagged in for the first time in the eleven minute duration of the match thus far – going on a rampage and tearing through the whole opposition team by himself. ANGLE SLAM ON SHOW! AXE KICK by Booker T! FIVE STAR FROG SPLASH! MACHO ELBOW BY SHANE! It takes four finishers, but Show is the first man eliminated (by Shane) at 12:39. The Rock replaces Show and smacks McMahon to the ground…then invites his team-mates in to return the favour on the WCW Chairman. A Kane Chokeslam, a TOMBSTONE from Taker, and a Lionsault from Jericho eliminate Shane at 14:30.
The Alliance try their hands at isolating Jericho, with Van Dam letting it slip and allowing the Canadian to creep into a vital tag to Kane. The Machine somehow absorbs a Five Star Frog Splash…and looks set to finish RVD off until Booker heel kicks him for a save. Van Dam eliminates Kane with a springboard martial arts kick from the top rope at 18:18! The Phenom replaces his brother to beat up all four opponents at once (seriously, I’m not making this up). Kurt gets a Last Ride…but as he gets distracted fighting off Booker and a steel chair Austin snakes in for a STUNNER! Undertaker is eliminated at 20:00 – meaning the Alliance have a 4-on-2 advantage now…and the two are Rock and Jericho, who don’t remotely get along. The odds get a little better when Rock sneaks an elimination on Booker at 22:35…but the three has barely registered before RVD is in the ring pouncing on the current WCW Champion. Y2J in, whipping through Rob with a swinging neckbreaker for 2. He misses the Lionsault and gets RVD’s foot in his face with a spinning heel kick. Split-legged moonsault gets knees…and Jericho plants Van Dam with the Breakdown – eliminating him at 24:49! It’s 2-on-2 at the conclusion of the Invasion angle, without a WCW or ECW competitor in sight. Stone Cold is in, hoisting Jericho into a superplex, then powering him into a vicious overhead throw as they intensely grapple for position. The remaining Alliance members take turns beating Jericho up, cutting him off from his partner entirely as the clock passes the half hour mark. Eventually he does get a tag, and Rock comes in to put the SCORPION DEATHLOCK (he’s WCW Champion) on Angle…who almost immediately taps at 31:56!
Both JR and Heyman are confused about why he would submit so quickly, but there’s no time to waste as Austin bundles in with Jericho. Y2J looks for the Walls only for Stone Cold to rake the eyes. Austin’s mouth is bleeding badly from somewhere but he still manages to get his braced knees up to block the Lionsault. He manages to roll Jericho up, eliminating him at 34:32 – so we’re down to the final two: Austin vs Rock. The Rock looks to have it won as he lines up the People’s Elbow…but he walks into the BREAKDOWN FROM JERICHO! He’s so annoyed about being eliminated he vents his frustration on Rock! Undertaker is back in the aisle hurling abuse at Jericho for that as Rock struggles to stay alive in the fight. He is tossed out of the ring, and the WWF Champion escorts him all around ringside drilling his head into as many inanimate objects as he can find. The Rock refuses to stay down though – and launches him over the announce tables then dives over them himself to tear into the Rattlesnake with punches. Austin puts Rock in a Sharpshooter, with Heyman imploring Earl Hebner to call the match in the spirit of Survivor Series ’97. When he refuses to tap Austin picks up his title belt to use as a weapon…and is promptly put back into the SCORPION DEATHLOCK! Steve uses a low blow to escape…then walks into a STUNNER by The Rock! Both men are down…and WCW referee Nick Patrick runs in to assault Earl Hebner! ROCK BOTTOM BY AUSTIN! FOR 2! That pisses Austin off so much he decks Patrick and decides he likes Hebner more! Stunner blocked…and Hebner is bumped again! STONE COLD STUNNER! But there’s no referee to count the fall! Kurt Angle sprints back, grabbing the WWF Title as he goes. ANGLE HITS AUSTIN WITH THE BELT! HE’S THE MOLE! ROCK BOTTOM! WWF WINS! It’s over at 44:46
Rating - **** - The damage to the Invasion angle had been inflicted by WWF’s crap booking long before this match ever took place. In no way was this an inter-promotional match, but if you treat it as a Survivor Series-style tag main event alone, this was a lot of fun. The Rock/Austin conclusion was great and got nuclear heat from the crowd, and I actually quite liked the idea of having Angle as the WWF mole. By and large Survivor Series matches are treated as afterthoughts, and get nowhere near enough time to allow the guys to express themselves. At 45-minutes in length this didn’t suffer from that problem, meaning we got plenty of entertaining moments. Shane being a little b*tch drew early laughs, Big Show’s multiple finisher elimination was both logical and entertaining, and I loved how they worked the Rock/Jericho tension in alongside Undertaker and his ‘locker room leader’ gimmick too. Not everything worked as there were some moments of dreadful sloppiness, Undertaker was (as usual) booked to look completely superhuman meaning everyone around him looks like a joke, whilst Booker, Kane and RVD were almost entirely irrelevant to the plot and pretty much jobbed out along the way – but in the best part of an hour they did a lot of things right.
We have contrasting shots of celebration and despair in the WWF and Alliance locker rooms, and Vince McMahon marches onto the stage raising his arms in victory as the show ends.
Tape Rating - *** - If you look at this as the conclusion to the Invasion angle it makes you extremely cross – but judged as a wrestling pay-per-view on its own merits, it’s actually pretty decent. Piss-poor as the booking that got us to this point was, the main event takes up most of the show and is mostly an enjoyable watch, the only matches that got any time on the undercard (Hardyz/Dudleyz and Test/Edge) were solid too, and from a historical significance standpoint, the first Women’s Title for Trish Stratus is a pretty emotional moment. If you’re able to look past the overwhelming sh*ttiness of the Invasion angle and watch this like any other wrestling show, this will actually surprise you
Top 3 Matches
3) Test vs Edge (***)
2) Hardy Boyz vs Dudley Boyz (***)
1) Team WWF vs The Alliance (****)
So the Invasion is now officially over, in the books and written off as a creative and commercial failure. Outside of the buyrate for the initial Invasion pay-per-view (before fans realised Vince had no intention of putting WCW and ECW over as a serious threat to his beloved World Wrestling Federation) there simply isn’t any way in which this creative endeavour could be seen as a success. PPV buyrates and TV audiences plummeted, the quality of their shows tanked, prestigious and historic championship belts were dealt colossal damage with title changes happening on pretty much every show, WWF guys, led by the likes of Undertaker and the Acolytes, had no intention of allowing their counterparts from WCW look good – roundly demolishing them in matches, whilst the creative team simultaneously buried them storyline-wise, Vince never showed any desire to get his wallet out and bring in the WCW guys people actually WANTED to see in inter-promotional dream matches like Goldberg, Sting, the nWo and even Bischoff, and despite an influx of new talent – arguably only two people emerged from the Alliance angle as bigger stars than when it started; those being Rob Van Dam and Shane ‘Hurricane’ Helms who stumbled onto a comedy gimmick which saw him with job security for several years that most of his WCW peers could only dream of.
In fact, by the end, this angle was so wildly unsuccessful that even this, the climactic pay-per-view was pretty much meaningless. Despite being billed as Winner Takes All, at this stage most of the actual invading talent had largely been written out or crushed anyway – and any of the Alliance members that were left were safe before the main event began anyway. Austin was still WWF Champion, and basically reverted to his old character the following night on Raw. RVD wasn’t going anywhere as he was Hardcore Champion. Christian was safe as European Champ, the Dudley Boyz (and by association, the Duchess Of Dudleyville, Stacy Keibler) were unified Tag Champs, Test had immunity etc. Booker T was off TV for a couple of weeks but returned at Vengeance the following month, William Regal saved his job by joining Vince’s ‘Kiss My Ass’ club in a repulsive segment, and Jerry Lawler returned to commentary making it seem like the Invasion never existed. The rest of the talent they picked up that the WWF deemed worthwhile (Lance Storm, Hurricane, DDP, Billy Kidman etc) gradually filtered onto television in dribs and drabs through the next few months whilst the rest were sent to development or slummed it on Heat until their inevitable release.
Ironically, all the talent people wanted to see as part of the Invasion angle would eventually sign with the WWF anyway, as their Time Warner deals ran out and Vince started growing increasingly desperate as buyrates and ratings never recovered from the unmitigated disaster of his booking through 2001. First it was Hogan, Nash and Hall under nWo colours, then Eric Bischoff as part of the brand extension. Scott Steiner debuted at Survivor Series 2002. Goldberg followed after WrestleMania the following year, and in 2004/5 Vince and the WWE realised that there was still drawing power and mileage in ECW after their ‘Rise & Fall Of ECW’ DVD sold crazy numbers and led to a full-scale reunion pay-per-view (One Night Stand 2005)…which was so successful it spawned a sequel, got the likes of Sandman and Sabu WWF contracts and a chance to make some decent money cashing in on the ECW legacy, and eventually spawned a revival on SyFy as a third brand (until Vince repeated history, buried all the ECW guys, put all his WWF projects over like Big Show and Bobby Lashley, and then got shocked when it didn’t draw – so ditched it again). At time of writing (June 26th 2014) he hasn’t been reported as officially signed, everything is pointing to even Sting signing a WWE deal too. If only Vince had the nerve to stand up to locker room vets clinging to their spot, had the creative grapefruits to book the invaders as a serious force, and the courage to get his wallet out and get some serious WCW guys like Bischoff, Goldberg and the nWo in sooner.
The Invasion angle will forever be remembered as a failure on the grandest scale.