No Mercy '01

Legacy Review

No Mercy '01

October 21, 2001 from the Savvis Center in St. Louis, MO

 

Commentary: Jim Ross and Paul Heyman

 

The Invasion angle lurches on, now being featured on its fourth PPV. Fortunately, it's almost over. After dethroning Steve Austin for the WWF Championship in a huge feel good moment on the post-9/11 Unforgiven, Kurt Angle dropped it back to Austin on Raw a couple of weeks after largely thanks to the defection of WWF Commissioner William Regal to the Alliance. Tonight Angle is getting one more shot, but in a twist in a Triple Threat match that's also including easily the hottest member of the Alliance, (thumb point it with me) Rob Van Dam. An extra layer tonight is there's rumors that either Austin or RVD might be switching sides to the WWF and Vince in particular had been making moony eyes at RVD lately. Of course, by this point no one really cared about the whole interpromotional battle anymore as it had been so one sided and juiceless. There's a great intro video for the show highlighting the motivations of the three guys in the main event. Simple and effective.

 

WCW Tag Team Championship: The Hardy Boyz (c) (w/Lita) def Lance Storm & WWF European Champion The Hurricane (w/Ivory and Mighty Molly) in 7:41- The signature title hotshotting of the Invasion angle continues apace. The Hardyz dethroned Booker T and Test for the titles on Smackdown a couple of weeks before this, the third change for these titles since August. Hurricane has actually defied all odds and held on to the European title for two PPVs now, but that would end the next night on Raw at the hands of Bradshaw. Since the last PPV Ivory has been paired with Storm, while Molly Holly dumped Spike Dudley to accept Hurricane's offer of a spot in the Alliance Justice Gang. JR and Heyman actually mention the real life history between the Hardyz and Hurricane, who all grew up together in North Carolina. Jeff and his baseball cap starts with Hurricane. I should also point out WWF is trying out some new WCW ref shirts for this show, a dull all grey pullover that's just bleh. Lockup and they do a nice bit of chain wrestling. Hurricane hits a shoulderblock and poses. That also knocked Jeff's cap off. I don't know why he bothers with that. Another counter exchange and Jeff hits a hiptoss. Matt tags in and the Hardyz double slam Hurricane for 2. Storm blind tags in and the Alliance team give Matt a double team cutter for 2. Hurricane insists on a fist bump instead of a regular tag from Storm, which naturally annoys super straight laced Storm but he does it anyway. Matt hits a double clothesline and tags out. Hurricane seems to try a crossbody but Jeff literally knocks him out of the air. Jawbreaker on Storm. Ivory grabs Jeff's leg to let Storm push him out of the ring. Hurricane loads up for a dive but Matt cuts it off with a clothesline, then baseball slides Storm. Holly gets in the ring and helps Hurricane up. Hurricane goes up top and crossbodys everyone else on the floor! The cape really does add something for that, it looks great. Dropkick from Storm on Jeff for 2. Another Alliance double team for 2. Backbreaker from Hurricane for 2. Jeff hops up the corner and hits Whisper in the Wind on Storm. Hurricane tries to cut him off Jeff fights him off and gets the tag. Clothesline off the top from Matt on Hurricane. Diving clotheslines on both Alliance guys. DONNYBROOK! Poetry in Motion hits on Storm. They go for it on Hurricane but he dodges and half nelson cradles Matt for 2. Matt hits the legdrop off the second rope for 2. Storm breaks up a Twist of Fate attempt and Matt eats a double superkick. Jeff just breaks the pin up. Jeff hops the middle of the top rope and uses his legs to pull Storm over to the floor. That was different. Molly tries to come in but Lita spears her! Ivory comes in and dumps Lita out. Jeff takes Ivory down and gives her the crotch legdrop. Storm half crab on Jeff. Lita hits Storm with a flying headscissors off the top rope to break it up! Matt hits the Twist of Fate on Hurricane. Jeff follows up with the Swanton Bomb and Matt covers for the pin to retain. They got as much in as they could for the time they got, they definitely have a better match in them. I would have given the women their own match instead of being so involved here. **3/4

 

RVD arrives at the arena and gets accosted by Regal. Regal asks RVD if he's going to apologize to Austin for frog splashing him last week, and if he has anything to do with Vince McMahon. RVD answers both questions by saying he's only in it for himself. Regal tells him not to do anything he might regret later.

 

Elsewhere, a limo is arriving. A "long, black limousine, as the country song says" according to JR. That's preposterous. Everyone knows the only vehicles in country songs are broken down pickup trucks. Anyway, Vince comes out of the limo for his first appearance on TV in a while. He immediately demands interviewer Michael Cole put his jacket on for him. Vince says he's here tonight to "make an impact". He's buying TNA!

 

Test def Kane in 10:05- JR mentions this is the arena that Kane made his huge debut in almost exactly four years ago. Kane's first six months or so in WWF is still one of the greatest initial runs we've ever seen. Jump start with Kane taking early control with the usual power stuff. Test tries to slug back but Kane powerslams him for 2. They have a miscommunication where Kane goes for a press, but Test reads it wrong and flings himself throat first into the top rope instead. After a reset Kane does the press and drops Test down to the floor. On the floor Test gets the bell and whacks Kane with it, right in front of WCW ref Nick Patrick. Once again JR gets all over Patrick for not calling a DQ when a WCW guy uses a weapon. Back in Test pounds Kane down in the corner. Delayed suplex from Test for 2. Kane punches back and hits a short clothesline. Test dodges an elbow drop and hits a diving back elbow off the second rope for 2. Side suplex from Test. He goes up top but Kane dodges the big elbow drop. Hangman's neckbreaker from Kane. Big boot. They have another spot that I'm not sure they were on the same page for where Kane clotheslines Test in the back in the corner. Back suplex from Kane for 2. Test twists Kane into a pumphandle attempt but Kane side suplexes him for 2. A 360 clothesline sends Test back to the floor. Test pushes Kane into the post and and gives him the swift, high big boot style kick that was his finisher now. Cover back in for a long 2. Kane ducks another big kick attempt in the ring. Chokeslam! Kane's slow to cover and Test just kicks out. Stand up slugfest. Powerslam from Kane. He goes up top. Test dodges the top rope clothesline. Pumphandle powerslam and Kane just kicks out. Test's top rope elbow hits for 2. Frustrated Test goes out and gets a chair. Kane dropkicks it into him! Now Kane takes the chair. Patrick takes it away! Cue another JR rant. Kane goozle on Patrick! And Test! Test low blows to get free, big kicks Kane again, and gets the pin. After the bell Kane chokeslams Patrick a couple of times to let off some steam. Then comes back in and powerbombs him because why not. It's only Nick Patrick. There was a couple of rough patches but they got some damn nice near falls down the stretch. ***

 

In the back Coach is at Austin's locker room looking for a word. Debra answers the door and says she'll check. Austin refuses to talk to Coach, but then cuts a whole promo anyway behind the door that we can clearly hear but Debra repeats it all to Coach anyway. Debra also makes sure to tone down Austin's language to PG level. Pretty funny stuff, even with Debra involved.

 

Lingerie Match: Torrie Wilson def Stacie Keibler in 3:09- Be still my heart. To repeat what I've said before, Torrie is fine, but Stacie is freaking hot as hell. These two were "best friends" when they came into WWF from WCW together, but fell out when Torrie started dating Tajiri and flipped to the WWF side. Stacie's been paired up with the Dudleyz by now as well, which will carry her WWF career for quite a while after the Invasion angle is done. One amusing thing here, WWF's actually lowered a cover, I don't know what the technical term is, under the lighting rig to soften the lighting for this match. Like how the screen always used to go misty when Kirk found a woman he liked in TOS right before violating the Prime Directive with her. Torrie takes her robe off immediately but Stacie still has hers on when the match starts. Needless to say the wrestling is secondary in this. Stacie does a couple of cartwheels off of whip attempts which is cool. After that she finally gets her robe off. Both ladies' outfits are fine but nothing that pushes the boundaries. It's not the Attitude Era anymore. Stacie gets a riding crop or something out of her gear and spanks Torrie with it, then spanks ref Jack Doan when he protests! Doan likes it a little too much. They do the mandatory roll around that Doan gets squashed on. A Torrie sunset flip leads to a nice sequence of cradle reversals. Stacie goes up onto the second rope and about gives me a heart attack with a sexy hip swivel. Torrie connects with Tajiri's handspring elbow and gets the pin. Pretty inoffensive actually. The outfits are understandably going to get all the attention, but the wrestling was borderline competent so no real reason to complain and better that usual for these type matches. NR

 

Vince interrupts Angle's promo to wish him luck. Angle's not too happy with Vince because of the rumors he's trying to get RVD over. "It's true, it's....VAN DAM true!" 

 

Ladder Match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship: Edge def Christian (c) in 22:12- As soon as Edge and Christian broke up you knew this was coming due their history with the TLC matches. This is in the period where ladder matches were starting to get overexposed after being kept as a special, rare thing for so long. Already this year there had been Benoit/Jericho at the Rumble, TLC II and III, Benoit/Angle as part of Three Stages of Hell at Judgment Day, and Jeff Hardy/RVD just two months ago at Summerslam. Christian upset Edge for the title at Unforgiven, and has since flipped from WWF to the Alliance because that's where all the heels are supposed to be. They meet on the ramp and the fight is on. It's all Edge early on as he knocks Christian around the ringside area. Backdrop from Edge in the ring. He kicks Christian's leg out of his leg in the classic Owen Hart spot. Christian grabs the ropes off a whip and slides out, then snaps Edge over the top rope. Christian gets the ladder and starts to bring it in. Edge baseball slides the ladder into Christian! He tosses Christian over the barricade and we get a bit of crowd brawling. Edge makes good use of the wall usually used for Blues games, then backdrops Christian back over the barricade. Edge props the ladder up against the ring and slingshots Christian into it. He then takes one of the backup ladders that are now being placed around the ring and sets it up between the stairs and the barricade. Christian eye rakes and flapjacks Edge onto that ladder, then drags Edge up onto that ladder bridge. Edge punches back and Christian falls crotch first onto the ladder rungs! Ouch. Edge starts to bring a ladder in the ring. Christian legdrops the ladder to snap it into Edge's face! Christian is the first to set a ladder up in the ring and starts to slow climb. Edge tips the ladder over, but Christian lands on his feet and clotheslines him. He squashes Edge in the corner with the ladder. Christian goes under the ring and gets a chair. That was their TLC specialty. Christian goes to give Edge a chairshot from the top rope. Edge blocks it and flips Christian over onto the ladder! JR starts whipping out his "how do you learn how to fall" lines. Edge lifts Christian up on his shoulders and drops him onto the ladder. Edge wedges the ladder in the corner. Christian reverses a whip and Edge goes ribs first into the ladder. Neckbreaker from Christian. He slingshots Edge up into the ladder. Christian brings a second ladder into the ring and sets it up to climb. Edge sets up the first ladder and also climbs. He slams Christian down off the ladder! Now Edge slowly starts to climb. Christian cuts him off, climbs the other ladder and reverse DDTs Edge down. Christian goes under the ring and gets more chairs. He sets Edge up for a one man conchairto. Edge pushes a chair into Christian's face to cut that off, then goes out and gets a third ladder. He props that ladder up horizontally on the chairs, places Christian on it, and goes up top. Big splash onto Christian on the ladder propped up on chairs! I think I got it all. Edge starts dragging himself up one of the ladders in the middle. Christian pokes him with ladder #3 to knock him back down. Christian then sets that ladder up at a 45 degree angle to the other two ladders. He starts to climb, but Edge is also climbing the top rope. Spear off the top to knock Christian off the ladder! Both guys climb the third ladder that's at an odd angle to the other two. Slugfest on the ladder. The ladder tips and both guys fall down to the floor! Christian is back up first and climbs. Or tries to. He gives it another go. Here comes Edge with a chair! He sticks the top right into Christian's crotch! Edge climbs up, positions the chairs, positions Christian.....one man conchairto to Christian on the top of the ladders! Christian collapses to the mat dead, Edge grabs the belt and gets the win and title back! Multiple refs are in checking on Christian after that finish, but he's Canadian and probably played hockey at some point, he's fine. It's a good match, but also pretty much the base or floor of what you'd expect from a WWF ladder match. I get selling the damage, but it moved at an almost glacial pace for large sections. So far these two have not had near the magic together as opponents as they did as teammates. Thankfully other than the upcoming UK PPV they'll take a break from each other for a while after this. ***1/2

 

WWF Tag Team Championship: The Dudley Boyz (c) def The Big Show & Tajiri in 9:30- Show's traded in Spike Dudley for Tajiri to be his new odd couple partner as he tries to take these titles from the Dudleyz for the second straight PPV. Neither woman is with her man/men because they're both shaking off the effects of that grueling match earlier. Bubba Ray mocks Show with the belt during entrances. Tajiri starts out with Bubba Ray. D'Von distracts from the apron and Bubba Ray jumps. Tajiri tries a kick combo but Bubba Ray quickly shrugs it off. Double shoulderblock from the Dudleyz. Tajiri ducks a D'Von swing, hits a superkick and standing moonsault for 2. Shows tags in and does some Andre the Giant like backward squashes in the corner. Homaging his dad. The Dudleyz try to double team Show but that doesn't work out for them. Tajiri diving senton onto both Dudleyz! JR says Tajiri has a degree in economics. Heyman: "Is that in dollars or yen?". OK, made me laugh. Show hits D'Von with a side suplex for 2. Tajiri gets fooled by a blind tag and runs right into a Bubba Bomb. I don't know if it's because of the ladder match being before this or what, but the crowd is dead for this match. Tajiri gets beat down in the heel corner and that starts to get them into it a bit. Double flapjack from the Dudleyz as they keep Tajiri in peril. D'Von comes off the second rope into a Tajiri superkick! Bubba Ray distracts the ref and we get the phantom tag spot, followed by the Whazzup Drop on Tajiri. Tajiri counters a Bubba Ray powerbomb attempt into a DDT! Tags on both sides. Show has clotheslines for everyone. Big boot on D'Von. Avalanche for Bubba Ray. Show superkicks D'Von! Not something you saw him do often. Goozle on Bubba Ray. D'Von chop blocks Show to cut off the chokeslam. Tajiri tags himself in on Show and immediately gets slammed off the top rope while Show gets dumped to the floor. Tajiri gets some kicks in and hooks D'Von in the tarantula. Handspring back elbow on both Dudleyz! Tajiri loads up the mist. Bubba Ray ducks and the ref takes the green mist! Show comes in, dumps D'Von out, and chokeslams Bubba Ray. He covers but the ref is still misted. Plus Show's not legal but who's counting that. Rhyno runs in. GORE GORE GORE on Show! Tajiri gets an enzuguri on D'Von. Head kick! The ref crawls over but D'Von just kicks out! Tajiri continues to try, but the Dudleyz maneuver him into the 3D and get the pin to retain. Perfectly acceptable tag team wrestling. **1/2

 

The Undertaker def Booker T in 12:10- Wrestling solo means Taker has the bike back. Man, I still want to see Kane in a sidecar now I got that image in my head a few PPVs ago. As soon as Taker's off the bike Booker jumps him. Extended back and forth brawl on the floor. Taker rolls Booker in the ring and the bell rings to officially start things. Big boot from Taker for a quick 2. Booker ducks a clothesline and hits the flying forearm for 2. Corner shoulderblocks from Booker. Booker's already gotten more from Taker than DDP ever did, I guess that's something. Taker dodges and Booker goes shoulder first into the post. Taker cranks up the bad arm and goes to work on it. Legdrop on the arm into a short arm scissors. Booker tries to fight back but Taker does a nice arm takedown into a Fujiwara armbar attempt. He can't get it on, so goes up to hit old school instead. Big clothesline from Taker for 2. They had a communication breakdown there. Booker started to roll out of the ring after the clothesline, then had to stop so Taker could get the 2 count, then finished rolling out. Taker doesn't look too pleased after that. On the floor Booker whips Takers into the stairs. Booker goes over and gets the bell, but WWF ref Tim White quickly yanks it away. No Nick Patrick here. Taker clotheslines Booker over the barricade and we get some crowd brawling where one guy double fisting beer gets some spilled on him by Booker falling into him. Booker recovers to throw Taker into the post. Back in Booker hits a missile dropkick for a long 2. That was a finisher for him at one time in WCW during his TV title reigns. Hook kick from Booker. He seems to lose his spot after then finally covers Taker for 2. Side suplex from Booker for 2. Kneedrop and Booker loads up for the spinaroonie (which is the one thing of his the crowd reacts to right now) but changes his mind and Taker starts slugging back. He does a nice flipover of Booker onto his shoulder but Booker squirms free and hits a neckbreaker for 2. Booker comes off the second rope into Taker's waiting boot. Stand up slugfest. Taker hits another big boot for 2. Booker hits a side kick for 2. Leaping DDT from Taker. He hits a couple of corner clotheslines. Legdrop for 2. Taker charges the corner but Booker hot shots him onto the top turnbuckle. Another side kick. Taker rolls to the floor and it's spinaroonie time! It gets a bit of a pop. While Taker's coming back through the ropes Booker scissors kicks him for 2! Taker used a rope break there instead of kicking out. Goozle! Booker kicks free possibly low, from the camera angle we couldn't see clearly. Booker hits mounted punches. Tactical miscalculation. Taker uses that to lift him up, hits the Last Ride and gets the pin! It wasn't totally awful, but it wasn't pretty either. Booker's tour of jobbing out to top WWF stars continues as they continue to go with the "break him down to build him back up later" theory with him. All of which means the crowd's been given zero reason to care about him other than the spinaroonie. He still seems to be struggling to adapt to the WWF style too. **

 

WCW Championship: Chris Jericho def The Rock (c) in 23:44- This is WWF vs WWF (for the WCW title) and face vs face. It's an inspired matchup too that's been put together better than pretty much anything since the Invasion started. This whole match is wrapped around the question "Can Jericho win the big one?", due to his failures in WWF Title matches to this point (including the Raw in spring of 2000 where he defeated Triple H for the title but then was screwed by shenanigans and the title change erased). JR runs down the matchmaking in Atlanta for this being Jericho's first ever shot at this title despite being in WCW for years. Long cross ring staredown before the bell. This thing is already intense and the crowd is already eating all of it up. Lockup! Both guys trade headlocks and hammerlocks. After a Jericho shoulderblock Rock gets an armdrag. Then Rock his a shoulderblock and Jericho gets a couple of armdrags. Back elbow from Rock. Jericho gets up and slaps Rock! Takedown and some ground and pound from Jericho as things crank up a bit. He gives Rock some chops. Rock grabs the ropes to fake out Jericho and lays in some of his own ground and pound. Jericho fights out of an early Rock Bottom attempt. Rock fights out of an early Walls attempt. Springboard dropkick from Jericho and Rock goes to the floor. Jericho gives him some ringside knockaround and hits a diving back elbow off the top rope coming back in for 2. Rock tries to slug back but Jericho hits a flying forearm for 2. More chops from Jericho. Rock reverses and hits his own rapid fire chops. Jericho hits a leg lariat for 2, then a pair of backbreakers with a senton follow up. Rock counters the cover with a cradle for 2. Jericho gets right back on Rock with a basement dropkick. Rock comes back with a flying clothesline, but Jericho quickly counters again with a hot shot. Setup slam and Jericho goes up top. Rock hits the ropes to crotch him. Superplex from Rock. Both guys stagger up and Rock goes into full comeback mode with a snap belly to belly suplex and Samoan drop for 2. Jericho counters a whip attempt into a short clothesline. Rock kips right back up! Full smackdown punches in the corner and Jericho flies over the top rope to the floor! Jericho tries to chop back but runs into a clothesline for 2. Vertical suplex from Rock for 2. More chop backs from Jericho. Rock sidesteps him and momentum tosses him back out to the floor. Back in Rock slows things down for a bit with a chinlock. They go to arm drops and Jericho fights back up. Rock dodges a dropkick and slingshots Jericho into the corner. He goes for another superplex. Jericho fights it off and hits a missile dropkick. Now Jericho starts stringing some moves together, including a swinging neckbreaker. He hops up and hurricanranas Rock for 2! Rock reverses a whip and Jericho does a Bret bump. Rock tries a back suplex off the rebound but Jericho flips out. Jericho hits a Rock Bottom! Lionsault! Rock kicks out! Bulldog from Jericho. Uh oh. He's making a mistake. He's going for his own People's Elbow. Rock dodges! Dragon screw from Rock! World's Shittest Sharpshooter! Jericho slowly crawls over and gets a rope break, then falls out to the floor. Rock has eyes for the Spanish announce table and sets it up. He drags Jericho up onto it. Rock Bottom through the Spanish announce table! Rock gives Jericho a nice measured punch before rolling him back in the ring. He's coiled to strike. Roc...NO Jericho fights free! Rock spinebuster! People's......NO Jericho grabs Rock's legs to stop him and hooks on the Walls! Rock almost gets to the ropes, then Jericho drags him back to the middle! Oh hell, Steph's out here. She slides a chair into the ring. Jericho immediately lets go and goes after her. Kick wham Rock DDT. Rock flips Steph into the ring! Rock Bottom on Steph! Jericho grabs Rock from behind and drops him face first into the chair! Cover and Jericho gets the pin to win his first world title! I really like Jericho winning this for his first one, when WCW wouldn't have seen him as world title material in a million years. Jericho brags to Steph that he won it. But wait. Rock's standing behind Jericho with the chair. Everything stops as they stare at each other. Rock points out his skull print on the chair, hands it to Jericho, and leaves. Message sent. Unfortunately, all the goodwill from this will be pissed away in a couple of months when Jericho turns into a weasel heel and partners with his mortal enemy Steph for his Undisputed title run. But all that aside, this match was great if a bit let down by Steph getting involved. ****

 

Recap video for the main event. After Regal turned on WWF to join the Alliance and help Austin get the title back, Mick Foley was pressed back into service by Linda McMahon to resume his role as WWF Commissioner. His first action was to make a triple threat main event for tonight, Austin v Angle again, but also including by far the hottest newcomer from the WCW/ECW fold, RVD. This caused tension in the Alliance between Austin and RVD, with the pot stirred even more with Vince trying to lure RVD to the WWF side. Which, in turn, upset Angle as he'd been the WWF standard bearer for most of the Invasion angle. 

 

Triple Threat Match for the WWF Championship: "Stone Cold" Steve Austin (c) def Kurt Angle and WWF Hardcore Champion Rob Van Dam in 15:16- This should be noteworthy just for the Hardcore title being in the main event, even if it's not on the line. They're making a big deal of this match being no DQ, but that's normal triple threat rules to me. During his entrance Austin completely ignores Angle and gets in RVD's face. Angle runs up and German suplexes Austin! Bell to start. German on RVD! Another German on Austin. Belly to belly for RVD! Austin eye rakes Angle and he and RVD team up to stomp Angle down. Angle falls to the floor and Austin wants RVD bad. RVD is as chill as always. Angle gets on the apron and they both knock him down again, then go right back to posturing with each other. Double bird from Austin. Well that's just how he says hi so I wouldn't read much into that. Angle gets back in and Russian leg sweeps RVD! Austin stomps away on both of them. He gets Angle in the middle of the ring. Double bird kick wh....NO Angle grabs Austin's kick and hooks on the ankle lock. You could clearly hear Austin yell "SHIT!" when Angle grabbed his leg, great little touch. RVD shotgun dropkicks Angle to break it up. He goes into a kick flurry on Austin. Superkick on Angle. Rolling thunder on Angle for 2. Angle rolls to the floor. Austin spinebusters RVD. He starts working on RVD's knee a bit, takes a second to snap Angle over the top rope, then puts RVD in a half crab. Angle runs in and breaks that up. Austin ducks a punch and backdrops Angle over the top to the floor. Now Austin hooks on an STF on RVD! Again Angle quickly breaks it up. He takes Austin to the floor. Austin slingshots Angle into the post. Austin then gives RVD's knee some post shots. Angle tosses Austin over the barricade and they brawl in the crowd a bit. RVD senton off the top rope down onto Austin and Angle on the floor! He hops on the announce table and drops a legdrop on Austin. In the ring RVD swings a high kick at Angle. Angle blocks it and gives RVD a t-bone style suplex! Counter master. RVD's in position so Angle goes up top. The moonsault hits! RVD was closer than usual so he went for height instead of distance and it was freaking beautiful. While Angle's recovering Austin sneaks in and covers RVD for 2. Angle puts a sleeper on Austin. Austin gets free and goes for the Stunner. Angle counters that and tries for his own Stunner. Austin blocks it. Double clothesline! Both guys are down and RVD goes up top. This was a big part of the build, multiple times RVD had a choice to make on who to frog splash. He goes for it, but both guys dodge! The question of who he was targeting forever unanswered. Another Angle German on RVD for 2. Austin hits Angle with the Stunner! RVD breaks the pin up! RVD slams Austin and hits the split legged moonsault. Angle breaks the pin up and Angle Slams RVD! Austin breaks that pin up. He knees Angle in the back to send him back out to the floor. Instead of going after RVD in the ring Austin goes out with Angle to the floor and they chop the hell out of each other. Angle takes some announce table shots and Austin sets the English table up. He drags Angle up. Angle backdrops Austin onto the table! Which doesn't break. RVD dives out with a tope suicida on Angle! Here comes Vince. You knew this was coming. He takes a look at the carnage at ringside. Angle gets back up and chops RVD. Back in Angle continues to pound away on RVD. RVD counters with a leg lariat. He springs up top. Angle runs up the corner and suplexes him off! Austin finally drags himself back into the ring. Stunner on Angle! But Angle falls out of the ring! Austin doesn't care, he looks over, sees RVD hurt, and laughs. He wants RVD to get the hell up so he can finish him. Vince gets in and nails Austin in the back with a chair! No DQ. RVD goes up top. FIVE STAR FROG SPLASH ON AUSTIN! Vince is screaming at Angle to get back in the ring. He does and just breaks the pin up! Rolling Germans on RVD! Three! Four! Angle Slam! Now Shane runs in and tosses Angle out of the ring. Vince attacks Shane and they fly over the announce table! Austin drags RVD up, gives him the Stunner, and pins him to retain. Vince is shocked and pissed. All three wrestlers did their job fantastically, but there was too much overbooking at the end to call this anything more than very good. All the Vince courting RVD stuff didn't go anywhere in this match either, he was clearly only on Angle's side. ***1/2

 

In a small bit of consolation, Angle would defeat Rhyno for the WCW US title the next night on Raw. However, after that he'd turn and join the Alliance before the big Invasion finale at Survivor Series which made zero sense, but it did give us those awesome Austin/Angle comedy bits backstage so I guess it was worth it.

 

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Another Invasion angle PPV that was weak in the long term arcs and overall story department, but had enough good to great wrestling across the card to help make up for it. The match quality floor for these Invasion shows has been very high because at least everyone's working hard. This one also feels mostly like a placeholder before getting to the Invasion wrap up at Survivor Series. Jericho's first world title win is a good moment even if the win was tainted and it'd be quickly all downhill for him after this for a while.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B-