Summerslam '01

Legacy Review

Summerslam '01

August 19, 2001 from the Compaq Center (AKA the Shark Tank) in San Jose, CA

 

Commentary: Jim Ross and Paul Heyman

 

This year's "biggest show of the summer" and #2 WWF PPV is wholly concerned with month #2 of the Invasion angle. At last month's appropriately titled Invasion, team WCW/ECW won the night in both the win/loss record, as well as in impact thanks to the not really shocking and more perplexing defection of WWF Champion Steve Austin to their side, doubling down on his ill-advised heel run. In the month since the WCW/ECW team has taken on the official name of the Alliance, which if nothing else makes my life easier. Like Invasion, tonight's card is almost all WWF vs Alliance matches. There's also been a ton of secondary title changes since Invasion, something that will be a hallmark of the angle, constant hotshotting of the non-top titles between the two "companies" to the point that title changes became almost meaningless. The other big headline for this show is the return of the Rock to PPV for the first time since Wrestlemania after finishing filming of his first movie, The Scorpion King. It won't be his last.

 

Let the bodies hit the floor. Bodies by Drowning Pool, the official theme song of Summerslam, available now on iTunes and Spotify.....er, no, too early. Available on Napster or any other peer to peer pirating software of your choice. Fairly simple and standard stage setup tonight after so many great ones this year, but they have kept the separate entrances for each side in the interpromotional war from Invasion, which I very much like.

 

WWF Intercontinental Championship: Edge def Lance Storm (c) in 11:16- Storm defeated Albert for the IC title the Raw after Invasion to bring the title to the Alliance, and add another title to his career trophy case, what would be his only singles title win in WWF/E. After winning King of the Ring a couple of months ago Edge's singles breakout is now on in full. As usual, Storm gets interrupted trying to be serious for a minute. Has he tried not being serious? Maybe someone would let him finish. Lockup! Storm switches to a waistlock, and they switch around a couple of times before Storm hits a back elbow. Speed run and Edge hits a flapjack, followed by a dropkick and he 360 clotheslines Storm to the floor. Storm tries to attack from the apron but Edge slides under him and drops him face first on the Hardest Part of the Ring TM. Crossbody from Edge off the top for 2. Edge tries a suplex but Storm blocks it, drops Edge on the top rope, then back elbows him off the apron into the barricade. Back in Storm jaws in Edge's face and slaps him. Very un-Canadian. Except for Scott. That guy's a dick (one for my fellow old school South Park fans). Edge ducks under and gets a flash roll up for 2. Front drop suplex from Storm for 2. He keeps Edge grounded with some knees and mocking kicks. Storm dodges a dropkick and goes for a half crab, which has been his match winning submission hold lately. Edge pushes him into the corner and small packages him for 2. Another knee to the gut from Storm for 2. In the corner Storm again goes to mocking slaps and cuts off Edge's comeback with a knee to the gut. Edge tries to work around Storm for a crucifix but Storm blocks it and hits a rolling fireman's carry slam (AKA the first stage of Kenny Omega's You Can't Escape) for a long 2. Now Storm starts laying in knees to Edge's back and cranks back a half STF with his knee in Edge's back. Another comeback cut off with a back kick to the gut. Senton from Storm for 2. Abdominal stretch time. They do some hiptoss counter do-si-dos that put Storm on the apron. Storm tries coming off the top rope, but Edge catches him into a powerslam! Quick slugfest as Edge finally builds come momentum. Backdrop. Leg lariat for 2. Another counter run and Edge reverse DDTs Storm for 2. Storm tries a hurricanrana, but Edge blocks it into a powerbomb! Drop toe hold from Storm into the half crab! Edge slowwwwwwly crawls toward the corner and gets a rope break. He puts a half crab on Storm! Storm knocks the ref down as Christian runs into the ring. Storm dodges and Christian spears Edge! Storm superkick on Christian and he covers Edge. Edge kicks out! Edge blocks a superkick. Counter run into an Edge DDT, and he gets the pin to win the title! It's actually Edge's second IC title win, he had a cup of coffee with it back in '99. Christian hands Edge the belt and they hug, but everyone can see the eventual turn coming. Solidly good match, but kind of a letdown because the great first few minutes made it seem as if something even better was coming. ***

 

I want to appreciate Test's promo explaining his turn to the Alliance, but I can't help but be distracted how Bubba Ray death stares Michael Cole down unblinkingly the entire time Test is talking.

 

The Dudley Boyz and Test def The APA and Spike Dudley (w/Molly Holly) in 7:18- Spike had already broken off from his big brothers before the Invasion angle started, so he stayed with WWF when the Dudleyz went back to the ECW side. Spike and Molly are still in an on screen relationship. Test cost the APA the WWF tag titles to DDP and Kanyon on Smackdown not long before this. Bubba Ray and Faarooq start. Quick Dudley reverse 3D after a D'Von blind tag in. D'Von hits the flying back elbow but runs into a Faarooq spinebuster. Test ends up on the wrong side of an APA beatdown. Bubba Ray has to save him and Bradshaw ends up in the Alliance corner. Bradshaw gives D'Von a stiff shot to the back and hits a DDT for 2. Spike tags in and small packages D'Von for 2. Bubba Ray comes in and hot shots Spike with HUGE elevation. Spike, predictably, goes in peril. Spike tries to DDT Test but gets planted instead. The Dudleyz decide to go ahead and get the tables out because why not. Test presses Spike up to drop him into the table. Spike saves himself with an eye rake and falls on Test for 2. Huge double team flapjack from the Dudleyz on Spike for 2. Spike dodges a D'Von splash off the second rope. Both sides tag with Test and Bradshaw coming in. Hot tag run from Bradshaw. Both Dudleyz go down and it's DONNYBROOK time. Bradshaw ducks Test's big boot and hits a powerbomb. Bubba Ray pulls Bradshaw out of the ring to save the pin. Spike tries for the Dudley Dog on Test but Test blocks it and drops Spike through the table on the floor! Bradshaw Clothesline from Hell on Test! But WCW ref Nick Patrick is in the floor checking on Spike. Shane McMahon runs in with a chair, waffles Bradshaw with a it, and Test covers for the pin. Solid 6 man stuff. The finish seems dumb in a vacuum, but will actually lead to something later in the show. **1/4

 

Matt Hardy and Lita are among the group congratulating Edge in the WWF locker room. That'd be an awkward scene in a few years. Christian comes in and tried to step all over Edge's thunder by saying he just talked to Commish Regal and got a European title shot tomorrow night on Raw against....Matt Hardy. Elsewhere, Sean Stasiak storms into Debra's locker room and asks for advice on how to impress Austin because he's been blowing it lately. He decides his tights are bad luck. "They're pink, there's stars on the front, and it says Mecca on the back. I don't even know what Mecca means!". Pretty funny actually. Sadly it's all ruined by having to listen to Debra talk so much. 

 

Title vs Title: WCW Cruiserweight Champion X-Pac def WWF Light Heavyweight Champion Tajiri in 7:33- The first of two title vs title matches tonight, and to be clear neither are unification matches. We aren't there yet. This is also a WWF vs WWF battle despite a WCW title being involved. Another issue with the Invasion, the titles crossing company lines so often to the point no one cared anymore. Like almost every other title involved tonight, both of these were recently won. Pac, as WWF LW champ, defeated Kidman in a title vs title match for the Cruiserweight title on Raw at the end of July to win back the title he actively tried to ruin back in his Syxx days. The next week, Tajiri defeated him for just the LW title, so this is a rematch of that match. Clear? Excellent. The bell rings and the "X-Pac sucks" chants start right up. They had to put Pac up against at WWF guy, as we saw at Invasion even with a pro-WWF crowd against an Alliance opponent he's going to get booed. Two for three on proper lockups so far tonight. Pac maneuvers around into an armdrag. Tajiri escapes a knucklelock and hits a standing moonsault to a nice pop. He was quickly becoming a big time cult favorite. Pac tries a leg takedown into his usual mocking riding, but Tajiri reverses it and slaps him right in the back of the head. Speed run into more counters and Tajiri gets a hurricanrana that sends Pac to the floor. Baseball slide. Asai moonsault! Oh yeah, this crowd loves Tajiri. As they should. Pac lifts Tajiri, crotches him against the post, and kicks him in the back for good measure. Back in Pac dodges a Tajiri flip in and hits a leg lariat. Surfboard from Pac! I'll give him credit, that's a new one. Tajiri tries another hurricanrana but Pac blocks it into a powerbomb for 2. He sets Tajiri up in the corner and you know what's coming. Pac loads up for the shitty bronco buster. Tajiri gets up and literally kicks Pac in the ass, and Pac FLIES up all the way into the tree of woe! Basement dropkick from Tajiri as Pac dangles in the corner! Nice back kick from Tajiri. Handspring elbow for 2. Tarantula! Crossbody off the top, but Pac rolls through it for a 2 count. They maneuver around on and off the top rope and Tajiri pulls Pac down with a very unique pinning combination hold for 2, almost a reverse surfboard. Tajiri then slingshots Pac into the corner and hits a German suplex for 2. Pac knocks Tajiri back to the floor. Tope con hilo from Pac! Back in Tajiri tries the handspring elbow again, but Pac ducks down and comes back up with an X-Factor! Tajiri kicks out and cradles Pac for 2. Albert saunters his way out but stays in the aisle. Tajiri flips out of a powerbomb attempt and drops Pac with a kick. That gets Albert up on the apron. Tajiri gives him the red mist! But Pac uses the distraction for a low blow, the X-Factor hits again and Pac gets the pin to get the LW title back. Good match with Tajiri being his usual awesome self and Pac looking much more motivated than usual being in there with him, but let down by another distraction finish. ***1/4

 

At WWF New York, Saturn laments the supposed kidnapping of Moppy. I'm stopping right there. Nope. Nope. Moving on.

 

Chris Jericho def Rhyno (w/Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley) in 12:34- This is the feud where Rhyno GORED Jericho through the original "oval" Smackdown set, destroying it forever and bringing on the era of the Smackdown Fist, the greatest weekly TV set ever. But the main feud is really Jericho vs Steph with Jericho now fully into verbally lambasting her every chance he got. Rhyno's standing in since Steph can't wrestle for herself. All of Jericho's best Steph lines are coming out now. "At Summerslam I'm going to take care of that smelly, greasy, nasty animal.....and I'm going to get you too, Rhyno" is one of my favorites. Another lockup! Nothing says we're now post-Attitude Era more than so many proper match starts instead of jump starts. After a roll around and forced break we get an early slugfest that Rhyno wins. Nice extended speed run and Jericho hits a crossbody, followed by some ground and pound and chops. Rhyno tries to toss Jericho over the top but Jericho lands on the apron, goes up top, and drops an ax handle. Flying back elbow from Jericho for 2. He goes for the Walls but Rhyno fights and gets to the ropes before it's on. Jericho backdrops Rhyno to the floor and hits the springboard dropkick. He sets up on top again. Steph gets on the apron and grabs Jericho's foot. Jericho fights her off, but the distraction was enough because as he comes down it's right into a GORE! Rhyno also hit his head on the landing and both guys are down on the floor for a while. Finally Rhyno gets up and drags Jericho back in the ring for a 2 count. He suplex drops Jericho on the top rope. Now Steph slaps Jericho. Rhyno hooks on a body scissors. Jericho fights back up, but Rhyno short arms him up into an airplane spin! Classic. After he's done spinning Rhyno drops Jericho with a cutter for 2. He wraps Jericho up in a butterfly style hold, then when Jericho tries to fight switches to a chinlock. Jericho fights back up with chops, then avoids Rhyno's knee to gut attempt with a roll up for 2. Nice riff on the usual formula there. Kick wham suplex from Rhyno. He goes up top but Jericho dodges what I think was a Benoit-style headbutt. Again both guys are down. Jericho ducks under and gets a backslide for 2. Flying forearm from Jericho. More chops. Jericho goes for the Lionsault while Rhyno was still standing! Through that he cradles Rhyno for 2. Not entirely sure if that was what was planned or not but they made it work. Missile dropkick off the second rope from Jericho. He covers but Steph has ref Tim White distracted. Jericho goes over, blocks Steph's slap and kisses her! Running bulldog on Rhyno as Steph gags. Jericho goes for the proper Lionsault, sees Rhyno dodging and lands on his feet. Back elbow. The Lionsault hits! Rhyno JUST kicks out! Spinebuster from Rhyno. He goes for a Boston crab! Or, his own Walls. Jericho crawls and gets a rope break. Enzuguri from Jericho. Belly to belly suplex from Rhyno! He sets up in the corner to finish it. Jericho dodges and Rhyno crashes in the corner! Jericho hooks on the Walls! He goes high angle, almost a full WCW style Liontamer. Rhyno taps! Steph is beside herself. She looks like me at least 50% of the time during fantasy football season. Another good match in a string of them so far tonight, with some very nice counter work throughout by both guys. That's one thing I do like about this era even with the Invasion angle being a flop, we're consistently getting proper wrestling matches again instead of nonstop around the ring brawls. They also kept the Steph interference to a minimum. ***1/2

 

Commish Regal and the Rock discuss the Rock's health and the atmosphere tonight, pause for Sean Stasiak to Leroy Jenkins himself into a rolling door trying to attack Rock, then seamlessly continue their conversation. That will never, ever, ever stop being funny.

 

Ladder Match for the WWF Hardcore Championship: Rob Van Dam def Jeff Hardy (c) in 16:33- These two tore it up at Invasion in the best match of the night so it makes total sense to let them have at it again. RVD won that match to take the title, but Jeff has since taken it back through Hardcore match shenanigans. Much like how Pac is going to get booed no matter which side he's on, RVD has been an instant hit with the WWF crowd and is already going to be cheered almost no matter what. Jeff does his usual luck defying walk under the ladder on his entrance. Random thought: the Hardcore title graphic always makes me think of someone falling in the Pit stage in Mortal Kombat 2. Very similar CRUNCH sound. Nice mat wrestling sequence and stalemate to start. Even in a hardcore ladder match. RVD swings some kicks. Jeff ducks under and hits the legdrop to the lower abdominal area. RVD needs a minute after that. He keeps selling it between moves for several minutes after which is a nice touch. Another counter run ends with Jeff hiptossing RVD from the apron down to the floor. Springboard corkscrew moonsault from Jeff to the floor! On the announce table side too, not much room. Jeff tries coming off the top rope but RVD dodges and Jeff crashes into the barricade. He drapes Jeff over the barricade and hits a guillotine legdrop. RVD then gets the ladder. I like how the ladder is painted up to look rougher than usual because it's a HARDCORE ladder match. As RVD is carrying the ladder Jeff ambushes him with his barricade run dive! Jeff gets the ladder and gets it in the ring. RVD springs off the barricade into the ladder, snapping it into Jeff's face! Jeff then leaps over the top rope onto the ladder to do the same thing to RVD! Another ladder shot for RVD. Jeff springboard moonsaults onto RVD on the ladder in the corner! RVD does his split legged duck down but Jeff uses that to crunch his legs down into the mat. RVD gets Jeff in the tree of woe and shoulderblocks him. A big "RVD " chant starts up. He props the ladder on the bottom rope in the corner and sets Jeff on it. Rolling thunder onto Jeff on the ladder! Standing switch waistlock and RVD hits a big swing kick. He superkicks Jeff onto the ladder. Guillotine legdrop over the top rope! Heyman mentions RVD's "homicidal, suicidal and genocidal" mentor but doesn't name any names. Jeff shotgun dropkicks the ladder into RVD, who rolls halfway up the aisle off it! While he's recovering Jeff sets the ladder up and climbs. RVD gets up on the top rope, and kicks Jeff off the ladder! RVD sets Jeff up with a slam, then puts the ladder on top of him. RVD super flippy senton onto the ladder! Now RVD sets up to climb while Jeff goes to the top rope. Shotgun dropkick into the ladder! Jeff does a nice dodge of an RVD sweep kick and hits a DDT. He goes up top but RVD dodges the Swanton Bomb! RVD springs up top. Jeff dodges the 5 Star Frog Splash! Jeff sets up and climbs again. RVD climbs the other side. RVD hooks up and suplexes Jeff off the ladder! Another both side climb. Jeff sunset bombs RVD off the ladder! Jeff climbs and gets to the belt. RVD pulls the ladder aside and Jeff dangles by the hook! The usual Jeff Hardy spot. RVD tries to pull him down but Jeff won't let go. Jeff starts swinging back and forth on the hook. RVD goes up top and comes off with a spin kick! He was supposed to hit Jeff to knock him down, but because Jeff was swinging so much he whiffed. Man, that would have been awesome if they'd pulled it off right. Jeff then lets go and falls back down to the mat. Jeff sets up and climbs again. RVD pushes the ladder over and dumps Jeff down hard. RVD climbs, Jeff's too wounded to stop him, and after a little difficulty RVD gets the belt to get the win! It's not quite at the level of their Invasion match and falls more into the "spotty" category for ladder matches, not to mention they blew the big spot for the final run to the end, but it's still another damn good match from these two. ***3/4

 

Shane has a present for Booker T: bookends made from the very announce table Booker Bookended the Rock through. Booker is very touched and dedicates his match to Shane. Then, cage lowering music!

 

Title vs Title Steel Cage Match: WCW Tag Team Champions The Brothers of Destruction (w/Sara) def WWF Tag Team Champions Diamond Dallas Page and Kanyon in 10:17- As mentioned previously, DDP and Kanyon recently won the WWF tag titles from the APA with Test's help, giving them the distinction of being one of only three teams in history to hold both the proper NWA/WCW tag titles pre-sale, from their Jersey Triad days, and the WWF ones (the others being the Steiner Brothers and Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard). The BOD defeated Natural Born Thrillers, the final true WCW tag champs, to take those titles a couple of weeks prior on SD. So each title is being held by the opposite company. "Alliance MVP" Kanyon is also now the WCW US champ, having been gifted that title by Booker T, who came out of WCW proper both the World and US champ but needed to focus on the top title. I'm not sure what looks weirder, DDP wearing a WWF tag title belt, or Undertaker wearing a WCW tag title belt. It's pin or both team members escape the cage rules for this match. Taker slams the door shut behind him and Sara provides the lock and chain for it. As soon as the bell rings the Alliance team tries to climb out. The BOD jump them and the beating is on. Kane pulls Kanyon down from the top of the cage back into the ring. Taker and DDP pair off on the other side as Taker continues to try to get revenge on DDP for stalking his wife. After Taker shrugs off everything DDP throws at him DDP resorts to a low blow, then tosses Taker into the cage. Kane's not concerned as he continues his pounding on Kanyon. DDP even gets a 2 count with Kane right there not bothering to break it up. Soon after that the BOD swap targets and take full control again. Kanyon comes off the top rope right into a Kane chokeslam. Taker continues to toss DDP into the cage all over the place. Kane buckle bombs Kanyon into the upper part of the cage. Taker absolutely murders DDP up against the cage and pauses to pose as the crowd goes nuts. Kanyon manages to get Taker with a clothesline and tries to climb but Kane stops him again. Top rope legdrop from Kanyon and DDP plants Taker with a DDT. Kanyon says "Let's get the hell out of here" and they both climb again. Double zombie situp. Taker climbs on top of the cage and kicks DDP back down. Then he straight up tells Kane "Let him go", letting Kanyon escape because they don't give a shit about him. Kanyon saves his own life and vacates the area. Some MVP. Taker gets a chain, tosses it in the ring, and it's a full two on one beatdown on DDP. Taker wraps the chain around DDP's neck and uses it to toss him into the cage. DDP is enthusiastically selling, I'll give him that. Consummate pro. Taker hooks up for a chokeslam, then decides DDP isn't even worth it. He puts DDP in the corner and tells him "Get your ass out of here now and I'll let you live. You look at her again and I'll kill you". DDP gets onto the top rope before Taker says fuck it, I want to win the match and chokeslams him back down. Last Ride for DDP and Taker gets the pin to claim both sets of titles. That was little more than a dull extended one sided beatdown as part of what has been a completely one sided feud. 1/2*

 

The only plus from that is it would be the end of the Taker/DDP feud and the whole stalker angle for DDP. DDP would suffer a minor injury and miss a couple of months, and when he came back it was with his "That's not a bad thing, that's a GOOD THING" motivational speaker gimmick.

 

Elsewhere, the Rock is in the trainer's room cutting a promo on the trainer checking him out. Mid-promo he casually sidesteps another hamfisted attempt from Stasiak to ambush him. That boy never learns. 

 

WWF Championship: Kurt Angle def "Stone Cold" Steve Austin (c) by DQ in 23:11- Austin solidifying his heel status at Invasion, as well as other circumstances (Triple H and Benoit injured, the company still not confident in Jericho as a top guy, Rock just coming back from a movie shoot), opened the door for the long-brewing face turn for Angle to fully come to fruition. After nearly two years with the company he had proven himself to the fans as the real deal (aided greatly by his Street Fight with Shane at King of the Ring) and was still only getting better. Austin's got a new heel spin on his music. In contrast to all the proper lockup starts we've had tonight this kicks off with a classic Austin mid-aisle brawl jump start. Austin chops Angle against the barricade, sticks the belt in his face, then chops him again. They get in the ring and the bell rings to officially start. Angle tackle into a ground and pound! Big right hands and stomps from Angle in the corner. Austin responds with more chops. Angle pops out of the corner with a clothesline. Crossbody from Angle for 2. Austin hits an elbow to the back of Angle's neck that drops him in a hurry. He then decides to start picking apart Angle's knee. Austin hooks on a stepover toe hold. Angle counters that into an ankle lock attempt! Austin quickly grabs a rope and bails to the floor. Angle follows but walks into a huge Austin clothesline. Back in Angle has a comeback punch flurry but Austin ducks and backdrops him over the top back to the floor. Suplex from Austin back in. A second. He slaps Angle's back almost like he's saying "I can suplex too you son of a bitch". A third Austin suplex for 2. He goes for four. Angle slips out and goes into ROLLLLLLLLLLING GERMANS! Two! Three! Austin back elbows free before four....no, Angle ducks a swing and hits number four! FIVE! Austin grabs the ropes to try to get free. Angle pounds his back to get him back off them. SIX Germans! SEVEN! Angle looks for the Angle Slam but Austin slips free, eye pokes Angle, and pushes him face first into the corner. Angle fights off a superplex attempt. Austin gets up, resets, and hits the superplex! STUNNER! ANGLE KICKS OUT! Austin is FURIOUS at Hebner for not getting to 3. A SECOND STUNNER! But the momentum sends Angle flying out to the floor. Austin gives Angle a trio of posts shots and Angle's bleeding. Austin gets the belt to use but Hebner takes it away. Austin tells Hebner he's #1, then says what the hell one more post shot. He continues to pound on Angle on the floor as Angle's building up a pretty good crimson mask. Cover back in and Angle JUST lifts a shoulder up before 3! Austin tosses Angle out to the floor and runs him into the post yet again. Announce table shot for Angle right in front of JR. Angle manages to get free and push Austin over the barricade. Austin gets up almost amused. He suplexes Angle over the barricade into the crowd! As Austin's getting back over the barricade Angle slaps the ankle lock on him! He can't get a submission on the floor, but he can sure hurt Austin. Angle drags Austin backwards up the stairs by his legs back into the ring, and once Austin's fully back in the ankle lock is back on again! Austin manages to get to the ropes. Both guys take some time to recover. Angle belly to belly suplexes Austin on the floor! Austin is back up swinging. Angle ducks and hits a back suplex on the floor! Back in Angle sets up on the top rope. The moonsault hits! There's a first time for everything. He's slow to cover and Austin kicks out. Off a rope whip they trade some counters and Austin goes deep into his old playbook, hooking on a Million Dollar Dream! Angle ducks and gets a leg takedown with the hold on, but Austin manages to keep it on and now has Angle grounded. Angle fights back up and does the classic walk up the corner Bret Hart counter, but Austin, who should know that one by now, get free before he's pinned. He even still manages to keep the hold on. Fantastic stuff. Hebner goes to arm drops on Angle. Angle fights back up on the third and manages to momentum swing Austin out to the floor. Austin sneaks around and gets back in behind Angle, coiled and ready to finish it off. KICK WHAM STUNNER! Third one this match. AGAIN ANGLE GETS A SHOULDER UP BEFORE 3! Austin is amazed Angle is still fighting and lets Angle drag himself back up on him. Austin paintbrushes Angle's face and goes for another Stunner. Angle counters! Angle Slam! It takes a while for Angle to cover and Austin JUST kicks out. Angle reaches over and grabs the ankle lock but Austin was already in the corner and uses the ropes to push free. Austin decks Hebner! Guess it's time for some overbooking shenanigans. Hell of a flop out of the ring by Hebner there too. Very well done. Angle hits a DDT. Backup ref Mike Chioda runs in and counts 2. Straight low blow from Austin. Chioda reads Austin the riot act for that. Stunner on Chioda! Austin goes out and gets the belt. Here comes ref #3, Tim White. Austin floors him with a belt shot before he can do anything! Angle sneaks behind while he's doing that. Angle Slam on Austin! Cover but every ref in the building is dead. Wait, here comes WCW ref Nick Patrick! He counts one, then calls for the bell. Patrick tells Fink it's a DQ on Austin for murdering three refs. I mean, technically it is the right call. Still a crap finish though. Angle drags Patrick into the ring and hooks him in the ankle lock to let off some steam. Put a proper finish on this match and you could well be looking at an all time classic. As it is it's merely a great match with a shit finish. Austin being able to drag his completely broken down body to something like this and keep up every step with getting closer to prime Angle goes to show, as I've said many times before, he was much more than a guy that could talk, he was legitimately one of the best that's ever been in the ring. ****1/4

 

JR has an absolutey hilarious meltdown on Heyman over the result of that match before we kick into the main event video package. Heyman's amazed silence only makes it better.

 

WCW Championship: The Rock def Booker T (c) (w/Shane McMahon) in 15:18- For the first time the Big Gold Belt is being defended on WWF TV. Ric Flair carried it when he brought it with him to WWF back in '91 as the "Real World's Champion", but it was never defended. It's really nice to see Booker getting a main event slot on a Big 4 PPV even if he and WCW aren't being taken entirely seriously. WCW ref Lil' Naitch Charles Robinson is handling this one. Booker tries to jump before the bell but Rock was ready for him. Rock then slides out to go after Shane and we go down with a cameraman that gets knocked down. Shane leads Rock into the ring where Booker was waiting. Rock pushes Booker into Shane and hits a Samoan drop for 2. Chops from Booker. Clothesline from Rock and he whips out a new move for him, a magistral cradle, for 2. Side kick from Booker for 2. Rock momentum tosses Booker over the top to the floor. Announce table shots for Booker. Rock positions Booker on the table and gives him a straight Greco Roman Nut Punch. JR's monitor went out when that happened. Booker gives Rock a stair shot and crotches him on the barricade. They both hop over and it's crowd brawl time. When they come back across Rock tries to fight back but Booker whips him into the post. "With Kurt Angle's dried blood still on it" is a great JR line. While that's happening Shane unties a top turnbuckle pad. Another Rock comeback is cut off by a side kick back in for 2. Short clothesline from Booker. Kneedrop and Booker starts feeling it. JR has another anti-Spinaroonie rant. There's been wars fought with less hatred than what JR has for the Spinaroonie. Flying forearm from Booker for 2. He grounds Rock with a chinlock. Arm drops and Rock fights back up. After a leverage fight Rock gets a double leg takedown and hooks on the World's Shittiest Sharpshooter. Shane gets up on the apron again. Rock flips him into the ring, but that opens him up for a Booker superkick for 2. Rock counters a corner whip into a short clothesline and slingshots Booker into the corner with exposed turnbuckle. DDT from Rock for 2. I think. From the camera angle I didn't see Booker kick out, but Naitch counted 2. Shane gets a chair and places it in the corner. Booker crawls over and gets it. While Naitch is stopping that, Shane comes in and waffles Rock with the Big Gold Belt! The APA run in! Bradshaw Clothesline from Hell on Shane! There's the payoff for earlier. Booker plants Rock with the Bookend! Rock kicks out! Punch flurry from Rock. Flying clothesline. Snap belly to belly for 2. Booker gets a knee to the gut but runs into Rock's spinebuster! Pad off! People's Elbow! Shane stops Naitch from counting 3. Rock goes out and Rock Bottoms Shane on the floor! Full corner smackdown punches from Rock. Booker manages to hit his own spinebuster. Kick and Booker hits the scissors kick. Spinaroonie! Rock kips up! Rock Bottom! Rock gets the pin and wins the title! I think they did just enough for it to hit being good, but it still had some rough patches and not at all smooth or effortless chemistry. To my eye I think Booker still wasn't entirely comfortable in his new digs yet. It's also let down by the fact almost everyone knew how it was going to go, especially after the screwy finish the last match. ***

 

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Summerslam has been on a good run since '98 and that continues this year. The Invasion angle as we all know was destined for flopsville, but it's still in the earlyish days where something might have been salvaged. And regardless, consistently good wrestling up and down the card can help make up for any manner of long term angle ills and that's definitely what we got tonight. The crowd was hot all night long too. I also want to give a shoutout to Heyman, who did a great job in commentary of openly rooting for his Alliance stablemates, but never crossed the line into being insufferable or annoying about it (looking at you, Don Callis).

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B+ 

Great American Bash '85

Legacy Review

Great American Bash '85

July 6, 1985 from Charlotte Memorial Stadium in Charlotte, NC

 

Well this is a nice surprise. Years ago I reviewed three Great American Bash tour shows that were uploaded to the fantastic Hidden Gems section of the old WWE Network, two from '86 and one from '88. Now WWE has just uploaded onto their WCW Vault channel on YouTube the first ever GAB show from 1985. Previously this show was only available as a hugely truncated one hour VHS release. Now we have the whole show to enjoy, and I will always take more mid '80s Jim Crockett Promotions shows, one of my favorite periods in wrestling history.

 

Starrcade was a huge success the past two years for Crockett and the NWA, even if the '84 show wasn't all that great, so the obvious thing to do was to try to add on some more supercard shows. Since Starrcade was a Thanksgiving show, it made sense to hold one during the middle of the summer, specifically coinciding with the 4th of July holiday. Starting in '86 GAB would become a multi-week tour of shows during midsummer before eventually becoming a yearly PPV, but this first year it's just a single outdoor stadium show. And the NWA wouldn't be putting all its eggs in this basket right away, as they also had a huge joint show with the AWA planned for the fall to try to compete with the WWF's success with the first Wrestlemania, which would end up being the first Superclash. They were also slowly building to what would end up being possibly the greatest Starrcade of all time in November.

 

We get the "presented in the most complete form possible" disclaimer at the start, which is completely understandable under the circumstances. Some skydivers start things off to get the crowd going. #1 misses his spot pretty bad, #2 does better, and #3 sticks the landing right on target. After that is a real nice panning shot of the whole crowd before intros for the first match. I like how there's only a dozen or so rows of floor seats. Yeah it makes the stadium field look awful empty, but I can tell you from experience that if you get that far back on unraised seats at a wrestling show you can hardly see a damn thing anyway. No commentary for this show as it wasn't shown on TV. 

 

"Cowboy" Ron Bass and "Nature Boy" Buddy Landel (w/JJ Dillon) time limit draw- Bass' nickname is "Cowboy" here instead of the more well known "Outlaw" because he's a face. Landel's whole gimmick is he's a delusional heel that thinks he's the real "Nature Boy", and in fact had just had a few title shots against the real Nature Boy so this is a bit far down on the card for him considering. Also ironic that Dillon's managing him when he'll soon be the manager of the Four Horsemen. Red Pants is the referee working the first batch of matches tonight. You know Red Shoes Unno, here's Red Pants Sonny Fargo. He was a regular ref for lower card matches for Crockett in this period. The bell rings and Landel immediately runs around and bails to the floor. When he gets in he tries to hide behind the ref and bails again. After some Dillon advice he manages to attack Bass from behind, triggering off an extended back and forth slugfest. Landel takes a couple of buckle shots and rolls out again. Cautious knucklelock back in. Off a whip Landel grabs the ropes and escapes to the turf one more time. Bass has had enough and chases him down. Post shot for Landel and Bass is very happy with his handiwork. Another cautious knucklelock in the ring and Bass stomps on Landel's foot. He starts working on Landel's arm. ARMBAR. Landel backs him into the corner and hits some chops. Bass dodges in the opposite corner and Landel runs shoulder first into the top turnbukle. Bass identifies the target and runs the shoulder into the corner a couple of more times. He hooks on a hammerlock to try to work the shoulder some more. Landel eye rakes free. Bass hooks on the gut claw! Landell gets himself free and powders again. Back in Landell tries an arm wringer that Bass easily reverses. Bass then delights in some more arm punishment. It's always good to see someone that loves their job so much. Landel gets another chop in and tosses Bass out. Dillon gets a couple of shots in, including the dreaded back rake. Landel gives Bass a shot on the timekeeper's table that actually rings the bell, then chokes him with a camera cable. Back in Landel works a chinlock and asks "Who's the real Nature Boy?". In between chinlocks Dillon gets a slap and chokes in. Bass dodges an elbow drop and gets a flash small package for 2. Landel gets back on the chinlock, then there's a small edit cutting to Landel beating on Bass on the turf again. Bass fires back and knocks Landel around the ringside area. Landel begs off back in. No dice there. Landel then tries to walk. Bass follows, but then chases Dillon after Dillon tries to distract. Landel tries to use that to jump but Bass was ready for him. Bass no sells some punches and they stand off as the bell rings for the 20 minute time limit draw (about 17 minutes shown thanks to the edit). Pretty time limit stally and it didn't have the usual trying for a last second win flurry at the end (which might be more of a plus than a minus), but overall it was an OK opener. **

 

The fight continues a bit after the bell. Dillon tries to get involved but Bass maneuvers him and Landel into colliding, then Bass puts the Claw on Dillon before Landel saves him. 

 

NWA National Tag Team Championship: The Minnesota Wrecking Crew (c) def Buzz Sawyer and Dick Slater- The National titles were the titles in the NWA's Georgia territory that was recently acquired by Crockett after the whole Black Saturday fiasco, the start of Crockett's expansion that would eventually overtax them and lead to their downfall and Turner buyout. The Arn and Ole Anderson team go by both The Andersons and The Minnesota Wrecking Crew (second version) and it's hard to tell what it's supposed to be on any given day, so in the absence of clarity I'm going with the much cooler name. One of the best team names ever. Sawyer and Slater ride in on a golf cart, charge to the ring and attack! It's weird seeing them as faces as both had most of their most prominent exposure as heels (and Sawyer was a pretty big heel in real life by all accounts). Sawyer's got on fur covered boots that honestly look like they could be slippers. Big 2v2 brawl with Slater atomic dropping Arn on the floor while Sawyer takes it to Ole in the ring. Eventually the faces clear the ring and pose while the Andersons try to find an opening. They think they see one and call the play but the faces are ready for them again. Red Pants finally restores some order with Arn and Slater in the ring. They lock up and Arn pushes Slater to his corner so Ole can blind tag in. The Andersons try a corner beatdown but we're quickly all in donnybrooking again. Sawyer bites Arn. The Andersons get whipped into each other and bail for a think again. Reset with Slater now stalling Ole to play some of his own mind games. Lockup and Slater hooks on a hammerlock. Ole gets dragged around by the arm but escapes enough to make a tag. Arn tries a corner floatover but Sawyer turns around and decks him with a forearm. After another short order breakdown Sawyer ducks an Arn crossbody attempt, but Arn bounces the right way and tags out. Sawyer and Ole have a nice short mat sequence before Sawyer starts in some arm work on him. Slater comes in with an elbow off the top rope on Ole. Slam and elbow drop from Slater for 2. He tries for a figure four but Ole tights pulls him down to the mat. The Andersons try a double team. Sawyer runs in to stop them, but takes away Red Pants' attention and the Andersons beat Slater down in their corner. The next couple of minutes are some classic Anderson arm work and cutting the ring in half, keeping Slater in their corner with nice toe holds. They make a mistake when Ole tries to get creative (there's a sentence with multiple future meanings) and goes up top. Slater slams him off! Tag to Sawyer. Sawyer hits a powerslam on Arn for 2. Flying forearm and he covers Arn. Ole elbow drops Sawyer in the back of his head, covers and wraps his head up so the ref can't see it's him, and gets a three count even though Sawyer might have just kicked out in time. It was bang bang. Slater points out to Red Pants the wrong Anderson was making the pin but the Andersons are already half out of the stadium. They even left the belts behind. After a minute or so the ring announcer says the Andersons win....by DQ. Uh, OK? Nothing in the online results on Cagematch or Wiki say anything about a DQ and I can't see any reason for a DQ going that direction so I'm going with the ring announcer goofing on that. A solidly good match that showed off that classic advanced level Anderson tag team strategery. ***

 

Manny Fernandez, Buzz Tyler and Sam Houston def Abdullah the Butcher, Konga the Barbarian and "Superstar" Billy Graham- Tyler is the reigning Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight champion and has his belt on. Fernandez is the reigning NWA Mid-Atlantic Bare Knuckles champion and does not have his belt on. If there even was a belt for that short lived title, I don't remember. Konga is the artist that will later be known as just the Barbarian, mostly in WWF and WCW. Tyler and Graham start. Quick speed run and Graham runs into Fernandez on the apron, knocking himself down. Too bad for Graham he didn't run into Houston, that bean pole wouldn't have even bothered him. Graham backs off and tags Barbarian. They do the same sequence, but Barbarian slams on the brakes before hitting Fernandez. But that allows the faces to knock him around the circle a couple of times. Barbarian gets a chop on Fernandez. Fernandez responds with a back elbow and some chops of his own. Fernandez fakes Barbarian out with a crossbody tease, then hops to the other side and hits the crossbody for 2. Graham tags back in and Fernandez speeds around him, not difficult as Graham was barely mobile by this point, and hits an uppercut. Graham wants a time out. Fernandez responds with a Spaceballs salute. The faces work on Graham's arm for a bit. Graham is easily able to outmuscle Houston once he's in, getting him in the heel corner and tagging in Abby. Abby runs Houston over, which is about the equivalent of a train hitting a sheep. Barbarian hits a slam and legdrop on Houston. Graham comes in with some martial arts shots to the throat. Fernandez runs in to try to stop a triple team, but that only lets Abby squash Houston in the heel corner. Houston gets tossed out and flipped over the guardrail. Fernandez helps him back over and into the ring, but Houston stays in peril. Eventually Houston manages to speed around Graham and hits a crossbody. DONNYBROOK! Houston wraps Graham up in a small package, and gets a shock upset pin! After the bell Houston celebrates like crazy with his teammates for a couple of minutes, clearly unable to believe what he just did. Solid six man stuff, with a good old "monster heels vs quick bumpaholic babyfaces" formula. **1/2

 

Dog Collar Match: Jimmy Valiant (w/Buzz Tyler) def Paul Jones (w/Abdullah the Butcher)- Hebner checks in to ref the next couple of matches. Yes, Hebner was with the NWA for a while before joining WWF. I haven't seen anything close to resembling a decent Jimmy Valiant match during these years and I'm not expecting that to start now. Most of those shitfests have been against former wrestler turned manager Jones too. This was a neverending feud. The crowd was always hot for it though, I can't deny Valiant's offbeat charisma. Not sure why two guys from the last match stayed behind to be seconds but whatever. Naturally we get the usual heel refusing to put the collar on stalling. Jones takes the collar, has a really good and long think about how exactly to apply it....then tries to put it on Abby. Tyler jumps him and forces it on, but while he's doing that Abby lays out Valiant. Once the collar's on the bell rings to officially start things. Valiant is still wobbled and Jones takes advantage to work him over. Valiant's already bleeding and we get plenty of his specialized spasm selling. He's got "FM 100" on his tights. Is that a local radio station that's sponsoring him? Jones goes up to the second rope, then comes down with what I really hope wasn't an attempt at a move because it was weak as shit. He goes up there again. Valiant uses the chain to crotch him! Jones gets out of the ring and tries to run but can't because of the chain. Valiant uses it to pull him into the post. Jones gets back in and Valiant works him over with his crazy over the top punches that make the Rock's look subtle. Jones is bleeding a little. Valiant hooks on the sleeper! Abby tries to get in. Valiant uses the chain to pull Jones into Abby. Elbow drop, cover, and Valiant gets the pin. After the bell Abby attacks Valiant with his Spike of Death but Tyler fights him off with a chair. The usual slow motion, barely come within 6 inches of each other on any strikes crapfest from these two, but at least they kept it short and to the point. 1/4*

 

NWA World Tag Team Championship: AWA World Tag Team Champions The Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering) and The Russian Team (c) double DQ- There's another edit that clips the entrances for this match, so sadly I can't say if the Roadies rode in on their bikes or not. The Roadies are announced as the AWA World tag champs (without their belts though), but the ring announcer makes it clear this is for the NWA titles only. Then he goes and does a full on Lillian Botch, announcing the Russians as Ivan and Nikita Koloff when it's Ivan Koloff and Krusher Kruschev defending tonight, before quickly correcting himself. The Russian Team were a three man unit that defended under Freebird Rules, and Nikita had bigger things going on later tonight. Kruschev is the very not Russian Barry Darsow, the future Demolition Smash, Repo Man and Blacktop Bully. Not all at the same time. Hawk and Ivan start. Hawk easily overpowers him out of the first lockup. Ivan tries a top wristlock but Hawk also fights that off. Ivan tries to counter a backdrop attempt with a kick but Hawk dodges it and hits the backdrop going the other way. Powerslam for 2 and both sides tag. Animal and Kruschev have a little flex off. Lockup and Kruschev picks Animal up and tosses him! Pretty unexpected and impressive power there honestly. Another lockup and this time Animal does the lifting and tossing, with a bit more force. Test of strength that ends in a stalemate. They have a long top wristlock leverage fight that also ends in stalemate. Full speed shoulderblock collisions that are also inconclusive. Very fun sequence there. Kruschev cranks things up a notch by laying in the first strikes between the two and he hits a slam. Animal comes off the ropes with a tackle. He has a bit of trouble lifting Kruschev up, but eventually does and drops him on the top rope. Both sides tag again. Ivan gets a boot up in the corner and goes up top, but Hawk slams him back down. Running chop and fistdrop from Hawk for 2. He hooks on a front facelock. Ivan manages to fight over and get a tag, but Kruschev was standing on the bottom rope so Hebner doesn't allow it! Yes, back when tag rules were actually enforced. To a degree. While Kruschev is arguing that the Roadies swap without a tag! Hebner hilariously makes a big show asking the crowd if there was a tag, then shrugs his shoulders and pretty much goes "whatever". Kruschev decides to argue some more and the Roadies swap with no tag again! Another very fun expectation subverting sequence. Then Hawk does a little biting. The Roadies can heel it up all they want, there's no way in hell the crowd is going to root for the Soviet pinko commies. Hawk press slams Ivan, then Animal tags in and hits a big elbow drop for 2. He chinlocks Ivan literally inches away from being able to tag just to tease him, then drags him back over. Ivan manages to fight back to his corner, but Kruschev isn't there for the tag! He gets back on the apron but just misses Ivan again! I don't know what happened there, if Hawk pulled him down or not, we never saw on camera. Kruschev has finally had enough, getting in the ring and brawling with Hawk. They go around the ring and back in, and while passing Animal Kruschev gives him a shot to finally put the Russians in control. They quick tag to keep Animal isolated. Animal ducks an Ivan punch and hits a back suplex, but Kruschev cuts the tag off. Back elbow on Animal for 2. Animal headbutts Ivan in the gut but again gets blocked from tagging. Tagblocked. Kruschev and Animal double clothesline each other. Tag to Ivan. Tag to Hawk! Hawk runs wild on everyone. Big clothesline on Ivan but the pin is broken up. Everyone in the pool! Hawk hands Ivan to Animal on the ropes, but before Animal can do anything Kruschev hits him with a chair. Hawk gets the chair and unloads chairshots on everyone. Hebner calls for the bell, tossing the match out. No one cares, they're still fighting. Eventually the Roadies clear the ring to stand tall at the end. That was a pretty damn fun match with some very well done mini stories and everyone working hard. You can even forgive the finish as that was the norm in these kinds of interpromotional matches back then. ***1/4

 

Three days after this show, the Rock N Roll Express made their debut with Crockett and in their first night with the company defeated the Russian Team for the World tag titles, kicking off a feud that would last the rest of the year and culminate in a steel cage match at Starrcade. Over the next couple of years the RNR Express would be arguably the top draw in the whole company, even more than Ric Flair or Dusty Rhodes.

 

NWA United States Heavyweight Championship: Magnum TA (c) def Kamala (w/Skandor Akbar) by DQ- Magnum is in his first reign as US champ, and he was someone the NWA and Crockett had a lot of hopes in as a future company carrying babyface. This is a one off stop for Kamala in Crockett as he was mostly working for the AWA and Mid-South at this time. NWA senior ref Tommy Young steps in for this match. He tries some prematch instructions but impatient Kamala takes is as a cue to attack instead. Probably a translation issue. Skandor Akbar is no Kim Chee. Magnum ducks a clothesline and hits a crossbody with a very delayed Kamala reaction. After a few punches Kamala makes a hard left turn out of the ring and out to the turf. Back in Kamala holds his hand up for a test of strength. Magnum comes in cautious and decks Kamala before Kamala can try anything sneaky. Kamala eye rakes and hits a head chop. He drops Magnum on the top rope and lays in some more head chops, followed by a back kick and the classic "I'm hungry" belly pat. Magnum is already bleeding off the chops. This is most definitely the NWA's "blood heavy" period. Kamala bites the cut then hooks on the Titty Pinch of Pain +2. He switches between that and choking. Magnum tries to power up but Kamala head chops him again. Big splash for 2. Chops to Magnum's back and Kamala hits another big splash, then tries to pin Magnum while Magnum's face down. Kamala even hooks a leg! What a goof. More choking and titty pinching follow. Magnum fights up again and punches free. He comes off the ropes but Kamala chops him in the back of the head as he's passing. Magnum fights up again and goes into full resilient babyface comeback mode. Corner dodges and Kamala crashes into the corner. Magnum wobbles Kamala with dropkicks and the third one puts him down. Magnum covers. Akbar comes in and attacks Magnum to draw the cheap DQ. The heels try to continue the punishment after the bell. Magnum slams Kamala! Then belly to belly suplexes him! Sure, do the best stuff after the match is over. He covers and counts a quick three on his own while Young reminds him the match is already over. You're never going to get much out of Kamala and Magnum wasn't really good enough to carry anyone yet, but he certainly tried. *3/4

 

The ring announcer has an important announcement: if you're parking on the other side of Independence at the baseball field, you better go and move your car now or it's going to get blown up by the post-show fireworks being set off from there. I'm paraphrasing a bit. I believe the legal phrase for that announcement is "covering your ass". 

 

NWA World's Heavyweight Championship: "Nature Boy" Ric Flair (c) (w/local TV sports personality) def Nikita Koloff (w/Ivan Koloff)- Nikita Koloff only had about a year of experience under his belt and was still awfully green, but he'd become a big enough heel thanks to his Soviet gimmick to get a test run against The Man here. He's billed as Ivan Koloff's nephew, but in reality was from that great factory for wrestlers in the 20th century, Minnesota. Flair was slightly over a year into his (officially) third reign as champion, a reign that would end up being the longest of all his reigns. We're also still in the period where Flair is a face in his home territory. His big heel turn and the start of the slow formation of the Four Horsemen won't happen until the fall. After Nikita's entrance the ring announcer tells fans to clear the field in a certain section as they have a special surprise happening over there. It's soon clear what it is. A helicopter slowly makes its way in and lands there, and lo and behold there's Ric Flair inside it. That's making an entrance. And in the News 9 WSOC TV News Copter no less! The man spares no expense. A red carpet gets rolled out and fans quickly swarm the area. It takes security a bit to get Flair a path to the ring and there's another edit there. Some local TV sports guy handles the ring announcements, all while holding a rubber chicken. I have no idea if that's some reference to the Russians being chickens or if that's just his gimmick. For some reason David Crockett is reffing this match instead of Tommy Young, wearing khakis and a teal polo. It looks like he walked out of the corporate office straight into the ring. Flair struts a bit after the bell and we're on. Much stronger Nikita easily wins the early lockups. Flair works around into a hammerlock and down for a leg takedown. Quick reset. Nikita cranks a headlock and fights off Flair's attempt to escape with a top wristlock, all while the crowd is distracted by something or other. Flair backs into the corner and hits a big chop flurry, followed by a hiptoss and some more strutting. Nikita responds with his own corner attack and hiptoss. Backbreaker for 2. Nikita hooks on a bear hug. Flair bell rings out. Whip from Nikita and he gets the bear hug back on. Flair jabs free this time. Clothesline from Nikita followed by a choke before he goes back to the bear hug. This time Flair lifts him up and hits an inverted atomic drop! He fires off some more chops. Nikita hits a forearm and yet more bear hug. They're keeping it dead simple for him. Flair goes down into some near falls. He fights back up into the corner but Nikita hits another backbreaker for 2. Flair shoulders Nikita in the gut to get some space. Snap mare/kneedrop combo for 2. More chops. Leg sweep and Flair goes for the knee for the first time. Back suplex. Nikita tries to fight it but Flair hooks on the figure four! Nikita eye rakes free. Flair grabs the leg to try to stay on it, but Nikita hooks him in a front chancery. Flair drops into some more near falls. When he gets back up Nikita switches to a headlock, then hits a shoulderblock. More Flair chops wobble Nikita. Flair hooks on a sleeper! Nikita backs him into the corner and muscles Flair up for a slam. Flair Flip! He falls all the way down to the turf. Nikita runs him into the post a couple of times and Flair does his usual duck near the ring skirt to blade right on camera (the camera's fault, not his). Flair crawls back in bleeding. Nikita bites the cut and covers for 2 with Flair's blood on his mouth. Nice. Clothesline from Nikita, but he takes absolutely forever to cover and only gets 2. Rookie mistake. He goes back for the bear hug but Flair very quickly bell rings free again. He's bleeding pretty good now. Comeback flurry from Flair. Chop and roll up for 2. He ground and pounds Nikita some and struts around again. Suplex from Flair. Elbow drop for 2. Corner chop and jabs. Ivan pulls Flair down in the corner and Nikita lays into him. Crockett goes down somewhere in there. Ivan goes up to the top rope. When he comes down he manages to take Crockett out again, not anyone else. A fan comes into the ring and grabs Ivan! 100% total legit fan run in here. Security very quickly runs in and gets him away. Once they clear out Flair does another Flair Flip, goes across the apron and comes off the top rope with a crossbody that Nikita completely fucks up his end of. After a lot of groping they get in position for Flair to cover for 1. Flair goes to the apron and pulls Nikita over the top rope for some elbow shots. Nikita lifts Flair back into the ring, but Flair falls on top of him and gets a pin! After the bell the Russians take Flair out while the ring announcer asks fans to clear the ringside area. It's still real to everyone, dammit. The face locker room tries to run in and help but the Russians take them all out too and leave Flair laying on the turf to end it. House show loop rematches set up. We're just getting into Flair's peak period, and this is a classic "good match with a broomstick" Flair match as he carried Koloff as well as possible. ***1/2

 

Steel Cage Match for the NWA World Television Championship: "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes def Tully Blanchard (c) (w/Baby Doll)- The TV title might seem like a bit of a come down for Dusty, but this was the hottest feud in the company at the time, which is why it's main eventing over the World title. That and the cage was too much work back then to put up and take down during the show.  Blanchard held the TV title for almost exactly a year before Dusty defeated him in March, then Blanchard managed to win it back again in April. In this period Blanchard looked every bit the surefire future world champion before his personal demons took over and Crockett was slowly grooming him to move up the card. More on that later. Another edit on the tape and we jump from Flair laying on the ground to the cage already set up for this match and both wrestlers in the ring. Tommy Young is back in to ref. This is announced as lights out unsanctioned. There's also an added stipulation that if Dusty wins he gets Baby Doll as his manager for 30 days. Blanchard's been making use of a loaded elbow pad lately, and he refuses to let Young check it. Dusty insists, so Young insists, and finally Blanchard relents. Young gives it every test possible, even standing on it, and says it's clean. Lockup and Dusty gets a quick elbow in. Blanchard dodges another elbow and we get a bit of a strut off. Dusty wins that. Speed run and Dusty hits a slam. Blanchard takes a second to double check the door really is locked, which makes Young also double double check. Yes it is. Remember the NWA didn't do escape rules cage matches like WWF did, they were designed to keep the wrestlers locked in and everyone else out. Dusty gets a leg takedown and drops an elbow. Blanchard pounds away on him on the mat, then tights pulls Dusty into the cage for the first cage shot. Elbow off the second rope from Blanchard. Dusty's already bleeding. Another cage shot for Dusty. Blanchard hooks on a chinlock. Dusty jawbreakers out. Blanchard dodges an elbow drop and hits his own. He grounds Dusty again with an armbar. Dusty comes back up firing off elbows. Cage shot for Blanchard. Dusty gives him repeated shots into the cage and now Blanchard is bleeding. Both wrestlers keep pushing Young away, he's taking as many bumps as anyone. Dusty hits a couple of swinging double ax handles and gives Blanchard the good old cheese grater spot on the cage. Blanchard crawls to the door and tries to open it. Still locked. Blanchard slips out of a suplex attempt but runs into a Dusty clothesline for 2. Dusty hooks on a figure four! Blanchard reverses it and they have a mutual agreement rope break. Blanchard tries to attack Dusty's knee from the mat. Dusty gives him some more elbows and backdrops out of a Blanchard piledriver attempt. Blanchard starts to climb the cage. Dusty follows, headbutts him, and gives him an elbow that drops him down to the mat. Dusty walks the top rope a bit using the cage as a support, then drops down with an elbow that's mostly dodged. Blanchard rolled away but it still hit him in the back. Both guys are down. Blanchard climbs the ropes again and Baby Doll hands him the loaded elbow pad. He puts it on, but never gets a chance to use it because Dusty pulls him down by the tights, plants him with a piledriver, and gets the pin to win the title and Baby Doll's services for 30 days! The face locker room empties to celebrate with Dusty and the last shot before the tape ends is a furiously resisting Baby Doll being drug into the ring. Another good but not quite great co-main event. There's nothing wrong with it, it just never hit the next level for whatever reason. ***1/2

 

The loss wouldn't bother Blanchard any. I mentioned he was slowly being groomed for bigger things. Later this very same month he'd defeat Magnum TA for the US title, kicking off another red hot feud that would end at Starrcade in their legendary I Quit Steel Cage match.

 

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Not a blowaway start to the Great American Bash lineage, but it's still a fun stadium show. Old school shows like this almost always lived or died by their main event(s), and this one delivered well enough in that regard. It's also a good window into what Crockett was doing right at the beginning of their hottest period. Watching this won't exactly change your wrestling life, but still I'm very happy to see this finally liberated out of the vault after so long and I definitely recommend it for anyone wanting to check out some classic NWA action.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B 

Bash at the Beach '99

Legacy Review

Bash at the Beach '99

July 11, 1999 from the National Car Rental Center in Fort Lauderdale, FL

 

Commentary: Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan

 

The new WCW signature at the top of the show is here. Still hate the logo. As always the beach set looks good if nothing else. We've got a two man booth for the first time in forever in WCW because Mike Tenay is off on location to cover the Junkyard Invitational. In one of the most nonsensical moves of a nonsensical era, after fighting over the WCW Presidency for months, Roddy Piper has turned heel and joined Flair's administration as vice president, establishing themselves as the full heel authority figures currently controlling WCW.

 

Ernest "The Cat" Miller (w/Sonny Oono) def Disco Inferno in 8:07- This whole thing started over, I'm sure this will shock no one, a dance contest. I'm guessing Disco turned face for this. Before the match Miller demands another dance off, puts his red dancing shoes on, and goes to town. Disco does his disco and Miller tries to jump him, but Disco was ready. Disco STOMPS ON MILLER'S HAT while whipping him across the corners. Wars have started over less. Miller takes a powder to think about things. Back in Disco dodges a bunch of Miller kick swings and attacks again. Inverted atomic drop. Regular atomic drop. Clothesline on the forehead for 2. Miller swings a back kick and I guess catches Disco with the side because he sells it. Miller tosses Disco out and Oono lays his usual kicks in. Both guys take guardrail shots, and that guardrail is DOUBLE LAYERED tonight so you know it really hurts. Missed opportunity by commentary to point that out really. Back in Miller gets a blatant low blow in. Disco manages a sunset flip for 2 but immediately takes a Miller superkick. Miller does a ton of bragging before covering and only gets 2. Disco dodges a diving chop and bites Miller's hand. Setup slam and Disco hits the dancing elbow off the second rope for 2. Russian leg sweep from Disco for 2. Another Miller superkick hits for 2. Disco tries for the LastChartDanceBuster whatever it's called this minute, but Miller pushes out and hits ANOTHER superkick. Disco pounds Miller down in the corner. Miller eye rakes out and gets his Loaded Red Dancing Shoe of Death that Oono placed in the corner for him. Disco stomps on Miller's foot, gets the shoe, and nails Miller with it! Cover but Oono has the ref distracted. When he turns around Disco only gets 2. Oono distracts again while Miller gets the shoe on. Kick to Disco, cover, and Miller gets the pin. Scary to say, but Disco carried Miller to something "better" than his usual. *1/4

 

WCW World Television Championship: Rick Steiner (c) def Van Hammer in 4:51- This is straight up heel vs heel. Tony calls Hammer a "young star". Yeah, he's only been around since 1991. Barely getting going. Lockup! Rick immediately goes to corner cheap shots. Hammer hits a couple of clotheslines and big boots Rick to the floor. Suplex from Hammer back in. Rick slugs back, drops an elbow on Hammer's side, and eye gouges and chokes for all he's worth. They go to the floor and Rick hits the DDT on bare concrete again. I can't say how much I hate doing that as a transitional move. Rick tries to cover on the floor then shoves the ref away when he won't count. Straight low blow from Hammer on the floor. Rick hits some more punches in the ring that look pretty straight. He keeps Hammer grounded and pounds away on him. Another toss out. Hammer grabs a chair and nails Rick with it. Clothesline off the top rope back in for 2. Hammer lifts Rick up, but Rick bites him right in the groinal area. I'm not joking. Then follows up with, what else, a low blow. And a Greco Roman Nut Punt. Bulldog off the top and it's thankfully over. This was the end of Hammer's latest mini-push, and in fact would be his last PPV match ever. 1/4*

 

Back at the junkyard, Tenay and a referee (with the WCW logo on his shirt taped off because it's UNSANCTIONED) show off the junkyard setup and the "Hardcore Champion" trophy the winner will get. Any bets on that thing not lasting the night?

 

WCW United States Heavyweight Championship: David Flair (c) (w/the Flair entourage) def Dean Malenko in 3:05- From one of the WTFiest of the WTF Files from this period, crazy heel WCW President Ric Flair last week on Nitro stripped Scott Steiner (who's also a heel) of the US Title for no other reason than he wanted to, then presented it to his son David. I get doing this as a heel, but the problem is David Flair had done absolutely nothing in his appearances to far to show he had any natural wrestling talent or charisma whatsoever. It's Erik Watts all over again, but Bill Watts didn't even try to make Erik a champion. Former Horseman Malenko is trying to save the title. Malenko immediately shoves David down out of a lockup. Another lockup and Malenko owns David again. David tries a waistlock but Malenko easily armdrags him down. David is dumb enough to shove Malenko and that really sets Malenko off. After a suplex Ric runs in and immediately gets punched down. Malenko gets the cloverleaf on David and here comes the shenanigans. Arn comes in and beats the ref down. Lil' Naitch takes the ref's shirt off and puts in on himself. Asya gets in Malenko's face and gets slammed and cloverleafed for her trouble. Ric then hits Malenko with the belt. Lil' Naitch puts David on top, counts 3, and this farce is over. The only reason I'm not giving it MINUS FIVE STARS is because they at least kept it really short. DUD

 

Elimination Match: The No Limit Soldiers def The West Texas Rednecks in 15:35- The "country vs rap" war continues. The principles had a normal tag match at Great American Bash, but this is a Survivor Series style 4v4 match. The West Texas Rednecks are made up of leader (and Minnesotan putting on a hilarious southern accent) Curt Hennig along with Bubby Duncum Jr, Barry Windham and Kendall Windham. The No Limit Soldiers are Cruiserweight champ Rey Mysterio Jr and Konnan along with a very miscast Brad Armstrong as BA and WCW newcomer Swoll. Big brother Barry and Mysterio start while commentary goes on about how Swoll must be awesome because former AWA star Brad Rheingans trained him. Let's put it this way, this would be Swoll's only PPV match before retiring at the end of August with only nine recorded matches under his belt. Windham gets a quick start before Mysterio tries to fight back. They do some pretty decent big guy vs small guy stuff and Mysterio hits a moonsault for 2. Got me thinking, get peak late '80s Windham in there with almost any era Mysterio and it could be a really damn good match. Anyway, Windham quickly bails after the moonsault and tags out to Hennig. BA tags in and was fully prepared for Hennig. Things downgrade significantly when we get Duncum and Swoll in there together. Kendall and Swoll is no better. That exchange gets our first low blow of the match, check that one off. Swoll dodges and Kendall crashes into the corner. Mysterio tags in and bumps around for Kendall. Kendall catches Mysterio trying a springboard dive and Mysterio uses his position to leverage him over the top rope in a pretty ugly looking dive. I guess we're going lucha tag optional rules here because Konnan and Hennig come in for a run with each other. Mysterio and Konnan unleash some double teams and Duncum takes the shitty bronco buster. Swoll ducks a Duncum crossbody attempt and covers for what looks like 3 but Nick Patrick doesn't call it that way. Mysterio hits a springboard legdrop, and this time Swoll covers and gets a pin that didn't look like 3 but was counted that way. Duncum is out. Things break down a bit with a couple of the No Limit Soldiers B team beating on Duncum on the floor on his way out. Once things settle back in it's Windham knocking Konnan around and hitting a suplex for 2. After being in peril a bit Konnan gets a tag to BA, giving us a bit of BA on Hennig action. Again, put these two together around 1991 and it could be a hell of a match. Sadly they fall apart some into a really rough exchange. Hennig eventually grabs BA, hits the Perfectplex, and gets the pin to eliminate BA. Kendall has the edge on Konnan until Konnan dodges a kneedrop off the second rope. Rolling clothesline from Konnan. Faceplant. Brother Barry breaks the pin up. Mysterio springboard dropkicks Kendall into an absolutely awful cradle from Konnan, but it gets the pin and Kendall is now gone. Barry Windham comes in and Saito suplexes Konnan for 2. DDT for 2 as again the No Limit B team is beating up on the eliminated Rednecks member. Sleeper from Windham on Konnan. Konnan jawbreakers free, but Windham is still up first and hits a clothesline for 2. Another rolling clothesline from Konnan. He clotheslines Windham on the ropes and they both slowly flop over to the floor. More floor fighting as one of the No Limit seconds literally carries Windham away, and Konnan walks with them for.....reasons. They're both counted out and we're down to just Hennig against Mysterio and Swoll. Windham comes back in while Swoll is pounding on Hennig but Swoll runs him over like he's not even there. Hennig goes to the floor but gets the ire of a Keith Lee looking guy that's on the No Limit B team. Mysterio climbs on Swoll's shoulders, hits a super big splash on Hennig, and gets the pin for the win. That could have turned out fairly good but there were just too many rough and confused spots during the course of the match. **

 

Junkyard Invitational- From the company that brought you such classics as the King of the Road match and Hogan vs the Giant in a monster truck duel on a roof, here comes the Junkyard Invitational. This came about because crazed President Flair decreed that all hardcore matches are now banned "from his arena". So, naturally, they're going out of the arena. This was organized by Hak and everyone in this is here at I assume his request. I feel very certain in saying this whole thing was pretaped. A ref standing on the safe side of a chain link fence blows a horn and we're off. In this we've got Hak, Brian Knobbs, Hugh Morris, Horace Hogan, both members of Public Enemy, Steven Regal, David Taylor, Mikey Whipwreck, Fit Finlay, Jerry Flynn, Ciclope, La Parka and Silver King. I'm not getting deep into this because it's a giant mess with cars and car parts and tires flying around and thanks to the way it's shot it's damn near impossible to see what all is happening. The only real light besides all the trash can fires scattered around the area is a spotlight from the helicopter giving us aerial shots. It's kind of funny someone bothered to bring a chair and trash can considering all the other options that are out there. Even with the pretape and editing they manage to get a cameraman in shot at one point. Despite being "on location" Mike Tenay doesn't chime in for any of this, it's just Tony and Heenan calling the tape from the arena. Guys bump off cars. Guys bump into cars. Guys do short dives off cars. After nearly 15 very long minutes that more resembles a badly shot action sequence in a crappy '80s gang movie than anything on a wrestling show, the culmination starts when Hak puts Finlay in the trunk of a car. Someone else comes up with a forklift and puts the car in the crusher, but Finlay had already escaped before literally dying. While no one's watching him Finaly goes to the gate, something randomly explodes, and Finlay climbs the fence and escapes the junkyard to win. Back to the arena and the crowd is clearly enthralled by what they just saw. DUD

 

In a minor upset, the Hadrcore Champion trophy survived the carnage. At least for tonight. 

 

Handicap Match for the WCW World Tag Team Championship: The Jersey Triad (c) def Chris Benoit and Perry Saturn in 23:17- This is Benoit and Saturn getting their rematch after losing the titles to DDP and Kanyon at Great American Bash, but this time they have to take on the whole Jersey Triad group with Bigelow joining the match. The Triad had been defending with multiple different combinations under Freebird Rules anyway. After a small bit of discussion Saturn and DDP charge in throwing haymakers at each other to start things off. DDP is the first down, but he uses that to muscle Saturn into the corner. Saturn hits a superkick and clears the apron off of everyone. The Triad regroup on the floor. Bigelow and Benoit tag in. Bigelow's power wins first, then Benoit drop toe holds him into the middle turnbuckle and dropkicks him out to the floor. Another think on the floor for the Triad. Kanyon's turn against Saturn. Saturn quickly pounds him down in the corner as commentary alludes to their Flock history in very broad brushstrokes. Kanyon fights off a t-bone suplex with an eye rake. Speed run and Kanyon uses the ref to fight off a German suplex. Benoit chops Kanyon from the apron and Saturn hits the t-bone suplex. Huge clothesline from Benoit. Snap suplex and Benoit stacks Kanyon up in a Liontamer type Boston crab. More chops from Benoit. Double snot blow from Benoit and Saturn! Followed by a double clothesline for 2. The faces keep Kanyon isolated. Backbreaker from Benoit for 2, then he starts working on Kanyon's knee. Wishbone from the faces on Kanyon and Saturn hits a flash basement dropkick. Legdrop off the top from Saturn for 2. The Triad guys maneuver Saturn into DDP crashing him into the barricade on the floor. Now Saturn's in peril. Big delayed suplex from Bigelow. Diving headbutt for 2. Kanyon drops a low blow legdrop on Saturn for 2. Of course the crowd would choose this match, the only one you could likely count on being halfway decent tonight, to get a damn beach ball out. And yes it didn't help that the Junkyard Invitational was just before this. Bigelow wraps up a chinlock on Saturn while the crowd gets it out of their system. Kanyon sets Saturn on top, then goes up himself for what looks like a super elaborate move, but either legit slips and crotches himself or did a great job making it look like he legit slipped. Saturn recovers to superplex him back down and gets the tag to Benoit. Sounds like the crowd is refocused now as Benoit goes on the hot tag flurry, but the numbers pile up on him as DDP hits a clothesline off the top rope. DDP then goes nuts and flops off the top rope to the floor, then climbs up the barricade and shouts as the crowd. I hope he said "Fuck your beach balls!". Slow cover from Bigelow for 2. Now Benoit is in peril and DDP drops an elbow in his lower abdominal area. Kanyon gets a sunset flip with DDP helping him get Benoit over for 2. Kanyon takes his glove off and chops Benoit. Sit out spinebuster. Saturn saves the pin. Bigelow tags in and goes nuts with diving headbutts. The crowd is still randomly chanting "asshole" and booing so I guess there's still some stupid shit going on somewhere. Beniot tries coming back but Kanyon gives him a swinging neckbreaker for 2. Russian leg sweep/elbow drop combo for 2. DDP hooks on a front facelock so I think we all know what's coming. Yup, after a Benoit fight there's the phantom tag spot. Sit out powerbomb from DDP for 2. Legdrop off the second rope from Kanyon for 2. Benoit suplexes Kanyon out of a facelock but Bigelow cuts the tag off. Back suplex from Benoit on Bigelow. He goes for a Saito but Bigelow turns into it and squashes Benoit. Bigelow goes up top and goes for as much of the moonsault as he can still do. Benoit dodges! Both sides tag and now Saturn goes nuts. Belly to belly suplex on DDP. Superkick for Kanyon. DONNYBROOK! Saturn Cactus clotheslines Kanyon AND DDP! Saturn dropkicks Benoit into Bigelow and they both go up top. Saturn big splash. Benoit headbutt off the top! DDP comes off the top rope onto Benoit to break the pin up! Saturn fights off the Diamond Cutter and northern lights suplexes DDP for 2. He lifts DDP up for the DVD. The ref gets knocked down by DDP's legs and Kanyon throws powder in Saturn's face! Wait, he got DDP too! DDP Cutters Kanyon not knowing who it its! Benoit covers but Bigelow just gets Kanyon's foot on the rope. Saturn superkicks DDP into a Benoit German with a bridge. DDP JUST kicks out! Bigelow cuts off any more Germans and everyone's in the pool again. DDP slides what looks like a small trash can in the ring. The ref goes down again and DDP hits Benoit with it. Saturn ducks and Kanyon takes a can shot. Double team Diamond Cutter on Saturn! DDP covers, Bigelow wakes the ref up, and DDP gets the pin to retain. For the second straight month these two teams delivered on otherwise total shit PPVs. In fact this match was pretty freaking awesome, classic tag team action that used the time it got very well and never got bogged down or boring. It's even more impressive given the fact they had to fight against a distracted crowd almost the whole time. ***3/4

 

Boxing Match: Buff Bagwell (w/Judy Bagwell) def "Rowdy" Roddy Piper (w/Ric Flair) in 6:36- Yay. Boxing on a wrestling show. This always goes well [/sarcasm]. Especially when Piper is involved [/notsarcasm]. Bagwell got under Piper's skin by trying to be helpful and interfering in his match with Flair at Great American Bash. Then Piper turned and aligned with Flair right after. Logic. WCW has gotten nearing the end of his 15 minutes of fame "Judge" Mills Lane in for this. A longtime high end boxing ref, Lane rose to national fame when he was the ref for the infamous fight where Mike Tyson bit Evander Holyfield's ear off. He became a bit of a pop culture icon, featuring as the referee in MTV's popular claymation show Celebrity Deathmatch with much use of his catchphrase "Let's get it on!", and recently he'd just gotten his own courtroom TV show, hence the "Judge" moniker. Bagwell takes the mic and says he knew Piper would have Flair in his corner, so he has his own corner....person, his mom Judy. Yes. Really. Sadly it's far from the last we'll see of her in WCW. Bagwell's actually in boxing gear, I guess that's something. Piper's in his normal wrestling tights. Once again I'm just going to breeze through this nonsense. Most of round 1 is back and forth before Piper lands a knockdown punch. Bagwell is quickly back up. I'm no boxing expert but it looks like Piper is wearing gloves that are double his size. Between rounds Flair sprays something on Piper's gloves behind Lane's back. At the start of round 2 Piper immediately pokes that whatever it is into Bagwell's eyes, allowing Piper to dominate most of the round before Bagwell gets a corner flurry for a knockdown near the end. Piper jumps Bagwell before the round 3 start bell. Judy gets in the ring and bites Piper's ear for the mandatory Tyson ear bite reference. Judy then puts the corner bucket on Piper's head and Bagwell decks him. Lane clearly allows all of this by the way. Bagwell goes up, hits the Blockbuster, and pins Piper because who the fuck knows what the rules were supposed to be in this mess. Commentary doesn't even bother to try to explain it. Of all the attempts at boxing matches on wrestling shows, that might have been the worst of them all. MINUS FIVE STARS

 

As we get to the main event I just want to point out that the video recap packages have been ridiculous tonight, often showing long unedited segments from Nitro with no real rhyme or reason and only tenuous connections to the matches. 

 

Tag Team Match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship: "Macho Man" Randy Savage and Sid Vicious (w/Team Madness) def Kevin Nash (c) and Sting in 13:21- Sid made his shock return to WCW at Great American Bash, interfering in the Nash/Savage title match and allying with Savage. Kind of weird for a guy that famously doesn't play well with others. Apparently the rules of this match are anyone can pin Nash to win the title, even his partner Sting. So why the hell make it a tag match, why not just have it a four way? Nice to see Sting survived his vicious mauling by multiple attack dogs at GAB completely intact by the way. After some stalling and Savage's usual very detailed positioning of his women Sting starts with Savage. Savage offers a handshake while Gorgeous George walks over to Nash's corner, apparently joining the other side. Savage is not happy about that. Sting jumps Savage from behind on the floor and knocks him around in the ring. Savage falls back into his corner and tags Sid. We go right into typical slow Sid offense. Two years away from the big leagues, he hasn't changed any. Sting hits a crossbody and both partners threaten to run in but don't. Sting 360 clotheslines Sid to the floor. Sid comes right back in and starts working Sting over again. Savage distracts Nick Patrick so Medusa and Miss Madness can get their shots in. It's not long before Sid grounds Sting, and the match, with a camel clutch. Nash has had enough, coming in and breaking it up. The heels stay slowly working Sting over to keep him in peril. Sting fights back, hits a standing dropkick, and tags Nash in. Nash side suplex on Sid. Corner knees on Savage. Corner clothesline and boot choke. Measured elbows in the face corner. Sting tags back in and knocks Savage around the guardrail a bit. Savage dodges and Sting Stinger Splashes the guardrail. The women push Sting into the post. Sid tags in and once again quickly goes to the chinlock. Sting fights back and does the usual "accidental" head first fall into Sid's crotch. Both sides tag. Nash big boot on Savage. Another side suplex on Sid. EVERYONE IN THE POOL! Including the women. Sting gives Miss Madness and Medusa a double noggin knocker, then hits Sid with a Stinger Splash. Stinger Splash for Medusa. One for Miss Madness. Savage dodges and Nash takes a Stinger Splash! Sid chokeslam on Sting. George gets in the ring while Nash has Savage hooked up for the jackknife and low blows Nash. To the shock of absolutely no one her going into Nash's corner was all a ruse. Sid gives Nash a setup slam, Savage hits the Savage elbow, and Sid allows Savage to pin Nash and win the title. Team Madness runs wild, which honestly booking wise is not the worst call they could have made. Savage had almost nothing left in the ring, but the group had gotten reasonably over as heels. The match, however, was pure trash with zero effort or fucks being given by anyone involved. As always with these types of matches I also have to reiterate my stance that, on principle, I completely disagree with ever having singles titles on the line in tag team matches. 1/2*

 

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- If not for the tag title match this would have gone down as one of the absolute worst shows of all time. The summer of '99 is when WCW really started to slide into a hole so deep they couldn't crawl out of it, and Turner execs were starting to take notice. Changes, once again, were on the horizon.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D- 

Invasion

Legacy Review

Invasion

July 22, 2001 from the Gund Arena in Cleveland, OH

 

Commentary: Jim Ross and Michael Cole

 

Four months after the acquisition of WCW, the Invasion storyline is finally beginning in earnest. Some background first. A lot of fans expected WWF to make WCW its own separate brand and dedicate one of the two weekly TV shows to it, which is exactly what WWF initially tried to do. The problem was, the WCW brand name had become so toxic neither of WWF's TV partners (TNN for Raw and UPN for Smackdown) wanted to touch it. That idea would be shelved until the first "brand extension" the following year, giving each show its own dedicated roster. Instead, WWF decided to go the traditional "company invasion" route. The seeds started to be planted on weekly TV in May, things were ramped up during King of the Ring, and it kicked off fully on the Raw following that PPV. Despite the network's reluctance, WWF tested the waters for WCW on a Raw in early July, rebranding the final part of the show WCW and bringing in WCW commentary, Nick Patrick to ref, the full deal. Unfortunately, it also featured the one and only WWF match for Buff Bagwell and, well, we know how that went. That experiment was never attempted again. Putting Bagwell in that spot might have been deliberate sabotage. In addition, along with Shane McMahon now "owning" WCW, Stephanie McMahon was brought in as an "owner" of ECW alongside Paul Heyman, devolving the whole thing into yet another McMahon family feud story that had been done to death the past few years. Even Linda was still on TV regularly trying to keep Vince in his place, and in his pants. 

 

Tonight, the July PPV is shedding its old Fully Loaded name to become the big WWF vs WCW/ECW show fans had been hoping for. Every match tonight is ostensibly WWF taking on either WCW or ECW in "interpromotional" matches, but as you'll see there'll be a few asterisks involved. This is clearly a show people wanted to see, as it had the most traditional PPV buys worldwide (though not domestic) of any show outside a Wrestlemania. The poster for this show is one of the all time greats, with Shane and Vince's faces melded together. The stage setup is once again fantastic too, with separate entrances for the WWF and WCW/ECW sides. Commentary is a bit odd tonight, as Cole is the one that takes the lead with the play by play and JR has the color commentary role.

 

Edge & Christian def Lance Storm & Mike Awesome in 10:10- There's a hard cut on the Peacock copy after the show intro to Storm and Awesome already in the ring. Music cut? Why not just dub over it? "If I can be serious for a minute....". Storm is rudely interrupted by his fellow Canadians E&C. E&C have a small Stanley Cup like trophy with them that I can't remember what it is. A custom King of the Ring trophy for Edge? Awesome and Christian start with Awesome getting a quick start. Christian drops him with a drop toe hold and tags. Short clothesline from Awesome on Edge. Edge hits Storm with a flying headscissors. Missile dropkick off the second rope. Edge backdrops Storm onto Awesome on the floor! Bad angle from Storm, he went nearly over Awesome and almost landed on his head. Christian goes to launch off Edge's back but catches the top rope with his foot and flops down to the floor! Yeesh. Small "You fucked up" chant for that. Edge gives Storm a backbreaker back in for 2. Storm and Christian have a nice little back and forth on the ropes, then Awesome pulls Christian down off the ropes from the apron to finally get the WCW guys on offense. Awesome runs Christian's back into the ring apron. Storm slides Christian chest first into the ring post! Short clothesline from Awesome. Big splash for 2. After a couple of double teams Storm gives Christian a gutbuster. Crossbody from Christian, but Awesome tags in and cuts the tag off. Jackknife cover from Awesome that Edge breaks up. Flying clothesline for 2. They continue to quick tag on Christian. Big splash off the top from Awesome and again Edge breaks the pin up. Awesome sets Christian up on the top rope but Christian backdrops him back down into the ring. Tag to Edge! Hot tag run. Awesome tries to save Storm from a sunset flip but Christian comes over to take him out. Everyone gets knocked down as Edge rolls Storm up for 2. Storm gets a small package on Edge but WWF ref Mike Chioda is getting Awesome out. Christian comes in and rolls Edge on top. Count and Storm just kicks out! Jawbreaker from Storm. Christian hits a double clothesline off the top as things break down. Edge ducks under a Storm leapfrog and spears Awesome! Storm breaks the pin up. Christian ducks a Storm superkick, but Edge is behind him and takes it. Christian Cactus clotheslines Storm out as Awesome covers Storm for a long 2. Awesome lifts Edge up. Spear from Christian! Edge covers and gets the pin! 1-0 WWF early. Perfectly fine opener. Storm would of course stick around a while as a solid midcard/tag guy, but this would be Awesome's only WWF PPV appearance. **1/2

 

Earl Hebner def Nick Patrick in 2:48- Yup, even the refs are going at it. This is a battle between the senior referee in each company, representing their respective referee locker rooms. Patrick was no stranger to being the biased heel ref after being the NWO's personal ref for a while, but this is something largely new for Hebner. Of course a battle between two refs needs a special guest ref, and in this case it's Mick Foley, the first of two times he'll be doing that tonight. Both guys are, naturally, wrestling in their ref gear and are accompanied by all the other refs from their respective organization. All three of them in WCW's case, including Lil' Naitch. Nose to nose jawing at the start. Hebner shoves. Patrick slaps. Henber fires off with a kick and stomps Patrick down in the corner! Ground and pound roll around! Patrick grabs Hebner's clothes and pulls him out to the floor. Both groups converge like a lumberjack match as Foley quickly gets Hebner back in the ring. Hebner fires back with punches. Or forearms. It's hard to tell. Mounted punches from Hebner! Patrick flops down, then gives Hebner a blatant low blow. Baseball slide dropkick from Patrick! Not gonna lie, that looked pretty good. That sends Hebner to the floor again. The WCW refs stomp on Hebner and the WWF refs save him. Foley tosses the WCW refs out! Patrick doesn't like that one bit and argues with Foley. Hebner tackles Patrick when he turns around and gets the pin! Hebner looks totally blown up after. After the bell Patrick continues to bitch at Foley and gets a punch and good old Mr. Socko for his trouble. Eh, that could have been a hell of a lot worse. I'd even call it fun for what it was, and they kept it short so no harm, no foul I say. *3/4

 

Someone had the genius idea to let Debra and Sara have a segment together. It makes the last match look like a masterpiece. 

 

WWF Tag Team Champions The APA def WCW Tag Team Champions Chuck Palumbo and Sean O'Haire in 6:48- Our first champion vs champion matchup of the whole Invasion. We're still a ways away before any title unifications though. The APA defeated the Dudleyz for their third and final title reign a couple of weeks prior, while Palumbo and O'Haire (known as Natural Born Thrillers in WCW but WWF didn't keep that name) were the tag champs when WCW folded. The WCW team charges right in and attacks. Palumbo gets double slammed in the ring as things settle in with him and Bradshaw. O'Haire comes in to distract and Palumbo clotheslines him from behind. O'Haire/Bradshaw slugfest. A big clothesline from O'Haire puts Bradshaw down. Bradshaw grabs him as he gets back up and hits a Saito suplex. Tag to Faarooq. He hits a back elbow for 2. O'Haire flips out of a suplex and hits a kneelift for 2. Faarooq gets beat down in the wrong corner. Flying tackle from Faarooq on Palumbo and the APA beat him down in their corner. Bradshaw catches a Palumbo crossbody and hits the fallaway slam. O'Haire comes in and kicks Bradshaw in the head, hits a reverse DVD, and puts Palumbo on to cover Bradshaw for 2. Come on ref Teddy Long, you're supposed to be the tag team expert, playa. Letting them get away with anything. Bradshaw DDTs Palumbo and tags out. Palumbo maneuvers Faarooq into a clothesline from O'Haire from the apron. The WCW guys have clearly had the superior teamwork in this match so far. O'Haire knocks Faarooq around ringside a bit, then rolls him back in for 2. O'Haire runs into a Faarooq spinebuster and tag to Bradshaw. Big boot for Palumbo. Powerslam for 2. The WCW guys get a double team as we go into full on DONNYBROOK. Clothesline from Hell on Palumbo! That gets the pin as WWF goes to a 3-0 start on the night. *1/4

 

Chris Jericho tells Vince that WCW isn't a worry because they've never had a real leader and the inmates always ran the asylum, but keep an eye on Paul Heyman because he can do some damage. Intentional or unintentional shoot comments? Afterword in the WCW/ECW HQ locker room Steph does a whole chorus on how much she hates Jericho. Man, he hasn't even started with you yet. Heyman is already in near panic mode after the 0-3 start but Kidman promises to turn things around.

 

WCW Cruiserweight Champion Billy Kidman def WWF Light Heavyweight Champion X-Pac in 7:07- This is the one set of titles that you can easily say WCW's has the clear superior lineage on. The generally pro-WWF crowd wants nothing to to with Pac. As soon as the bell rings the "X-Pac sucks" chants start right up. Armdrag out of the lockup from Pac and he just about gets booed out of the building. Leg takedown from Pac and he rides Kidman to more boos. Speed/counter run and Kidman gives Pac his own leg takedown and riding to some light cheers. Another speed run and Kidman gets his pop up hurricanrana counter in, then hits an enzuguri that sends Pac out to the floor. Running slide from Kidman and he faceplants Pac on the floor! Flying headscissors from Kidman. Pac sidesteps and momentum tosses Kidman over the top to get some space. And more boos. Springboard crossbody to Kidman on the floor. Back in Pac hits a swing kick for 2. Sleeper from Pac. Kidman fights out and mounts Pac's back for his own sleeper. Pac back suplexes out. Kidman dodges a Pac senton attempt off the top rope. Comeback flurry from Kidman. Sit out powerbomb for 2. Mounted punches. Pac counters with a powerbomb and gets some extra rope leverage but only gets 2. Kidman does his flippy powerbomb counter into a faceplant for 2. Kidman comes off the top, into an X-Factor! Kidman kicks out! Pac sets Kidman up in the corner and goes for the bronco buster, but runs crotch first into Kidman's boot. Kidman goes up top. Shooting star press! Kidman gets the pin! Team WCW/ECW are on the board. The match had some moments but mostly never got out of second gear. The crowd shitting all over Pac is always amusing. **1/4

 

Torrie Wilson and Stacey Keibler compare their best assets backstage. Keibler might not be much of an actor at this point, but man she is hot as hell. 

 

Raven def William Regal in 6:35- The first of our asterisks tonight. Raven had been with WWF since the previous fall, but defected back to ECW once the Invasion got going. Mixed reaction for entrenched heel Regal from the pro-WWF crowd. Cole says that Heyman has the ability to convince "normally level headed men" to do what he wants. Yes Heyman is persuasive, but I think that's the first time in his life anyone's called Raven level headed. Lockup! Corner beatdown and clothesline from Regal. Double underhook suplex. Raven escapes to the floor but Regal follows and continues throwing shots. European uppercut for 2. Lots of 2s. Raven goes for....something....but Regal grabs his legs and slingshots him back out to the floor. Back in Raven sidesteps Regal and tosses him out to the floor. Horrendous attempt at a baseball slide from Raven. I don't know if Regal was supposed to block it or what but that was awful. Raven Russian leg sweeps Regal into the barricade. Back in Regal bounces off the corner and has to stand and wait for Raven to hit him with a follow up clothesline. Raven hooks on a chinlock. Regal escapes, grinds Raven down, and hits a suplex for 2. Raven gently nudges Regal in the ribs and Regal sells it like a truck hit him. Ax handle off the second rope from Raven. He goes for a second but Regal counters and hits a running knee. Raven wraps up a flash small package for 2. That sets Regal off with some ground and pound. Bulldog from Raven for 2. Regal counters out of a Raven sunset flip and tries for a Euro clutch variation but neither guy can hold it. Regal then goes for a roll up and again Raven is extremely slow on the uptake. Regal clearly says fuck it and barely touches Raven with a back elbow for 2 while some "boring" chants echo. Regal counters an Evenflow attempt with a suplex for 2. Collision near the corner and Raven flops out of the ring. Run in! IT'S TAZZ! T-bone suplex to Regal. Raven hits Evenflow and gets the pin. WWF's lead is down to 3-2. That was fugly. I don't know where Raven's head was but it sure wasn't in the ring. 1/4*

 

Kanyon, Hugh Morris and Sean Stasiak def The Big Show, "The One" Billy Gunn and WWF Intercontinental Champion Albert in 4:20- The "throw some guys that have nothing else going on together" match. From the "Did that really happen?" files I bring you Albert as Intercontinental champion. He defeated Kane for the title soon after King of the Ring, and will drop it to Lance Storm the night after this show on Raw. The Attitude Era may be over but those secondary titles are still going to be hotshot all over the place for quite a while yet. The WCW team comes out to a rejiggered version of Mr. Perfect's old music. That's a weird fit. The WCW team attacks before the bell, but quickly get pressed by all three WWF guys in an admittedly very good visual. Things settle in with Kanyon and Gunn. Lil' Naitch is the first WCW ref to get a match tonight. Gunn hits an electric chair on Kanyon and they do the bridge up/backslide spot. Stasiak hits Gunn from the apron and Kanyon hits a Russian leg sweep, then a reverse of the same that's essentially a skull crushing finale for 2. Gunn weathers a Stasiak flurry and hits him with a neckbreaker. JR mentions, rightly, that Stasiak's dad Stan was a former WWWF Champion (for all of 9 days as a transition from Pedro Morales to Bruno Sammartino's second reign but still). Albert tags in and it's quickly everyone in the pool brawl time. Albert big boots Stasiak and hits the Baldo Bomb but the rest of the WCW team breaks the pin up. Morris DDTs Albert, but then runs into an Albert powerslam. Tag to Gunn. Fameasser on Morris! While Lil' Naitch is tied up Stasiak hits Gunn with a reverse DDT, drapes Morris on top, and team WCW gets the win to even things up at 3-3. After the bell Show, who was never legally tagged in the whole match, chokeslams Morris and Stasiak then gives Kanyon his short lived "alley oop" move. Too short to mean anything. 3/4*

 

Commish Regal recruits his understudy Tajiri to take Tazz out as revenge for interfering in his match. 

 

Tajiri def Tazz in 5:30- Tajiri came to WWF in May and despite his ECW history is, for now, 100% team WWF. This is his first PPV match. He was already starting to develop a cult following online and that would only get bigger. I certainly became a fan in short order. Tazz had been in WWF for a year and a half, well before the real ECW even folded, but like Raven went back to ECW when battle started. Tajiri charges in but Tazz was ready for him. Leg lariat from Tajiri, followed by a standing moonsault for 2. Corner chops from Tajiri. Tazz grabs him around the neck and tosses him in one of Tazz's 1004 suplex variations. Tajiri slips out of another suplex attempt and pummels Tazz with a rapid fire strike combo, but then runs into a Tazz clothesline. After a bit of back and forth shots Tazz grounds Tajiri and punches him right in the eye. Now Tazz hits some corner chops. When Tajiri tries to come back Tazz straight muscles him down into a cradle for 2. He tries for a cross armbreaker but Tajiri gets a rope break. Alabama slam from Tazz. Slow arrogant cover for 2. Handspring back elbow from Tajiri! He goes for something on the floor but Tazz pulls him down off the apron. Back in Tajiri leaps over Tazz in the corner and hooks in the tarantula! Basement dropkick to Tazz's face for 2. High impact kicks to Tazz's chest. Tazz grabs a swing and gives Tajiri a suplex. Green mist in Tazz's face! Kick to the head and Tajiri gets the pin! WWF goes back up 4-3. Tajiri did his best but Tazz looks on his last legs. *1/2

 

Backstage Matt Hardy is worried his brother Jeff isn't ready for a real hardcore wrestler like RVD. RVD attacks Matt from behind with a chair! Well Matt certainly wasn't ready. 

 

WWF Hardcore Championship: Rob Van Dam def Jeff Hardy (c) in 12:40- RVD was one of the unquestioned crown jewels out of the wrestlers WWF acquired in their WCW and ECW purchases, right in that sweet spot where he had been successful enough to be a name, but young enough to just be getting into his prime. He had wrestled a few matches in WWF back in '97 as part of the original ECW invasion, but his stock has skyrocketed since then. He remains one of my favorites of the era despite my personal disagreement with some of his lifestyle choices (I'm staunchly anti-drug), largely thanks to his unique wrestling style that melds high flying and martial arts sprinkled with a touch of ECW hardcore. RVD looks like he's amazed to be in an arena this big. He still needs to learn to time his thumb point with his intro. He's still got his original ECW music before WWF messed it up and made it worse. Jeff charges in and we're on. RVD shows off his crazy flexibility early, doing a split legged sit down and dodging a Jeff legdrop. Both guys miss sentons. Waistlock counters, mat stalemate, reset as they're clearly evenly matched. The crowd is as hot as they've been all night already. RVD turns to pose and Jeff shotgun dropkicks him in the back! Rookie mistake. Another counter run and Jeff hits another dropkick to the back of RVD's neck. RVD sets up for a monkey flip. Jeff stops and traps his legs into a cradle for 2. RVD fires back with some forearms but runs into a Jeff inverted atomic drop. RVD ducks a Jeff crossbody and gives him a quick standing moonsault for 2! Some "RVD" chants break out in the crowd. Rolling thunder hits for 2. RVD springs up to the top rope. Jeff comes from behind and pushes him off down into the barricade! Small "holy shit" chant for that. Baseball slide from Jeff. He goes for the barricade run dive, but RVD also leaps on the barricade and tosses Jeff into the crowd! Crowd brawl time. RVD leaps on the arena wall for a moonsault! "ECDub" chant as RVD covers for 2. It's already very clear there's no way they can keep RVD a heel for long. He drapes Jeff over the barricade, then gets on the apron and leaps off with a corkscrew guillotine legdrop! Really loud "RVD" chants now. Jeff fights back and hits RVD with a sunset bomb down to the floor! Another "holy shit" chant. Jeff gets a ladder out from under the ring! Oh yeah, business is picking up now. It's almost the full size Jeff Hardy Suicide Ladder too. Jeff climbs up top. RVD goes into the ring, grabs the ladder and shakes it. The ladder collapses, sending Jeff down into the aisle! JR gets out the "HOW DO YOU LEARN HOW TO FALL OFF A TWENTY FOOT LADDER?" line. RVD gets a chair and heads over to Jeff. Jeff pushes the ladder into RVD's face! Chairshot onto RVD! They go up the ramp and RVD begs off. Once he has an opening, RVD hits the Van Daminator, kicking the chair into Jeff's face and sending Jeff off the ramp down into the gap between the two entrance areas! Corkscrew legdrop on the ramp and cover for 2. They go back to the ring with RVD still in control. RVD running dropkicks the chair into Jeff's face in the corner. He goes for a split legged moonsault but Jeff gets his knees up! DDT from Jeff for 2. Release German suplex from Jeff for 2. The title belt is in the ring, I didn't see when that happened. Jawbreaker from Jeff. RVD is in the drop zone. Jeff goes up top. RVD dodges the Swanton Bomb! He places the belt on top of Jeff. FIVE STAR FROG SPLASH! RVD gets the pin and wins the title! Finally, the signature standout match this show needed. We're also back to even for the night in the promotion battle. What a coming out party for RVD, and Jeff held his end just fine too as he continues to get more comfortable with singles work. ****

 

Kurt Angle drops an unbleeped "bullshit" on PPV while Vince is trying to pump him up. Yes, it did happen a few times before the modern era. 

 

Bra and Panties Match: Trish Stratus & Lita def Torrie Wilson & Stacy Keibler in 5:03- Textbook cool down match. At least wrestling wise. In an unusual twist almost everyone in this match is legit gorgeous. Lita's not my cup of tea, but she is for plenty of others so fair dos (I say Keibler > Trish > Torrie but everyone's free to disagree). Trish and Lita have not been getting along, largely because Trish has been making moves on Jeff Hardy and Lita's not much interested in her pushing into their group, but they're trying to put it aside for the good of the WWF. Mick Foley is the luckiest man in Cleveland (that's a first, Foley's not had a good history with Cleveland) as he's the guest ref again for this one. JR is in full not taking it seriously bullshitting mode right from the off so that's going to be fun at least. Trish and Lita try to jump but the WCW girls hide behind Foley, then reach out for slaps. Bell rings and Trish and Lita tackle them! Trish and Torrie settle in with some roll around hair pulling and shin kicking. Torrie does whip out a dropkick. They trade some slaps in the corner. Clothesline out of the corner from Trish. Suplex from Trish and she goes for Torrie's shirt. Keibler makes the save. Double clothesline from Trish and she tags out. Neither Torrie or Keibler want anything to do with Lita, who's definitely got the most established wrestling credentials of anyone in this match. Keibler loses that argument and Lita quickly gets her shirt off. Dayum. Just because they're small doesn't mean they're not nice. It's all about proportion. Anyway, Keibler manuevers Lita around into a double team and they get Lita's shirt off. Lita snap mares Keibler around by her shirt while Cole laughs and says "Why the hell am I calling wrestling moves?". Keibler dodges a Lita dive off the top rope and both sides tag. Trish hits a couple of clotheslines. Torrie dodges in the corner and tosses Trish by the hair. While standing on Trish's hair Torrie gets her top off, but Trish uses that to roll Torrie around and get her trousers off! Lita comes in and they hit Poetry in Motion on Torrie! Torrie's top is off! Trish bulldog on Keibler! Lita hits the moonsault! Keibler's pants are off and it's over. Or, maybe for some of us, just starting. The match was fine for what it was. WWF goes back up 5-4 going into the main event. *

 

 

The main event is a 10 man one fall tag match that's been dubbed the Inaugural Brawl. Team WWF is led by WWF Champion Steve Austin, who's seemingly overcome the issues he's had most of the year since his heel turn and is back to the ass kicking no shits given rattlesnake of old. Joining him are Kurt Angle (who's face turn was coming anyway judging by his crowd reactions and how well he'd proven himself by this point), Chris Jericho, the Undertaker and Kane. The WCW/ECW team is full of those asterisks I mentioned at the top. First off the two who are clearly on the right side: Booker T, the dual WCW World and US Champion (who like RVD is also in that past success/entering his prime sweet spot category), and the crazy stalker version of Diamond Dallas Page that had already been a pretty big flop with fans. Joining them are three guys that have been in WWF for varying lengths of time but were pushed back to the ECW side for the Invasion: Rhyno and the Dudley Boyz. The lack of star power on the WCW side is pretty glaring. No Sting. No Scott Steiner. No Goldberg. No Ric Flair. No one from the NWO core Hogan/Nash/Hall trio. All of them would show up in WWF/E eventually, but none until after the Invasion angle was over.

 

Before getting into the match I have to make a correction to my company win/loss count. I forgot they're also including the preshow match on Heat to the count, where Chavo Guerrero defeated Scotty2Hotty, so it's actually tied up 5-5 going into the main event. 

 

Team WCW/ECW (w/Shane McMahon, Paul Heyman and Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley) def Team WWF (w/Vince McMahon) in 29:05- The cavalcade of owners all make their entrances and stand off in the ring before the wrestlers come out. If they insisted on putting the Dudleyz back on the ECW side, they should be wearing their old ECW era gear again. Oh, we're getting mixed entrances. Interesting. No bike again for Taker. Damn, I would have loved to have seen Kane riding in on a sidecar with him. Even more than the rest of the night the crowd is firmly on WWF's side. HUGE pop for Angle. Pro-WWF crowd or no I think it's safe to say he's arrived. Taker attacks his wife's stalker DDP in the aisle and everyone's fighting on the floor with one entrance still to go. GLASS SHATTER! Austin runs in and joins the fray as everyone pairs off on the floor. One ref from each side is working this match, Chioda for WWF and Lil' Naitch for WCW. Austin rolls Rhyno in the ring and the bell rings to officially start. Choida takes over in the ring while Naitch is the outside ref. Gorilla Monsoon's dream come true, two refs in a tag match. Early low blow from Austin and we get some mudhole stomps. Thesz press! Elbow drop for 2. I actually like how out of control Austin always looks in this period. He still wants to go at the pace he used to so bad but his body just can't keep up anymore. Big chops from Austin while Rhyno's propped on the top rope. Superplex from Austin! Jericho tags in and hits a flying forearm. Rhyno gets a knee to the gut and clothesline. He gets Jericho stuck in the wrong corner while Booker tags in and works him over. Jericho ducks a leg lariat and gives Booker some chops. Armdrags and a bulldog from Jericho. Missile dropkick off the second rope for 2. Angle tags in and pounds Booker down against the ropes. Booker gets a heel kick in and tags out. D'Von hits a flying back elbow on Angle. Corner back elbow and clothesline from Angle and Kane tags in. Working down the line, getting everyone in. Kane easily overpowers D'Von. Goozle! Bubba Ray runs in to make a save. Bubba Ray tags himself in and the Dudleyz hit a reverse 3D for 2. Kane hits the clothesline off the top rope for 2. Tag to Taker. Everyone on that side in, check. After some back and forth Taker hits the flying clothesline, then punches DDP off the apron. Legdrop on Bubba Ray for 2. The crowd goes nuts for Taker hitting old school. He goes for DDP again and DDP snaps his throat over the top rope, then Bubba Ray gives him a suplex. Rhyno tags in and pounds Taker down in the corner. Now DDP wants in now Taker's down. Short clothesline from DDP for 2. Taker comes back with the rapid fire body shots. DDP spins into another clothesline for 2. DDT from DDP for 2. Booker hits a side kick on Taker for 2. Counter DDT from Taker. Tag to Austin. More mudhole stomps on Booker. They have a short rough patch but Austin quickly recovers to try for the Stunner. Booker counters out but Austin knees him out to the floor. Austin suplexes Booker on the floor. Jericho tries for the Walls on Booker. DDP runs in to break it up, so Jericho tries for the Walls on him instead. Booker breaks that up before it's on. Booker maneuvers Jericho into a hot shot assisted by Bubba Ray. The Dudleyz quick tag to beat Jericho down. Jericho fights out of a double team and gets a tag to Angle. Belly to belly suplexes for both Dudleyz. DDP tries to hit Angle from the apron. Angle was ready for him, but Bubba Ray uses the opening to plant Angle with the Bubba Bomb. Rhyno gives Angle a belly to belly for 2. Again it's the ECW guys taking the lead to keep Angle isolated. Booker hits the scissors kick on Angle. Spinaroonie! JR HATES the Spinaroonie by the way. Like JR hating the Young Bucks back when he called New Japan level. DDP sit out powerbomb on Angle, but Austin's had enough and is running in on everyone. Angle remains in peril as the Dudleyz hit the Whazzup Drop minus the Whazzup because they're heels now. DDP, after an apparent small disagreement on where to go with it gives Angle a cobra clutch slam for 2. Front facelock from DDP and Angle fights him over so you can see the phantom tag spot coming a mile away. Yup, tag to Austin but Bubba Ray had Chioda distracted. Gang beatdown on Angle in the corner. Diamond Cutter on Angle! Commentary barely even notices it they're underselling the WCW guys so much. Taker comes in and pounds away on DDP. EVERYONE IN THE POOL! Total breakdown. Jericho dodges and Rhyno GORES Booker! Taker chokeslam on DDP! He calls for the Last Ride. Chioda goes outside to try to get some control, so Naitch gets in the ring and for some reason gets on Taker. Because he's not legal? Taker gives Naitch the Last Ride! Chioda unceremoniously rolls him out. Everyone's still fighting all around the floor. Taker and someone else go all the way into the crowd, I assume DDP, and they never come back. Austin's getting his chronic knee checked out by medical. Both announce tables get set up by Kane and the Dudleyz. That's not good enough for the Dudleyz, they get the regular tables out. One gets propped up against the barricade. Kane chokeslams D'Von through the announce table! Bubba Ray and Rhyno team up to suplex Kane through the Spanish announce table! Jericho leaps off the apron and crashes Rhyno through the propped up table! Bodies everywhere. Booker and Angle are both in the ring but are also both down. Austin's still getting his knee looked at. Booker and Bubba Ray work Angle over in the ring. Angle slugs back. German suplex on Booker! Angle Slam on Bubba Ray! Booker tries to get Angle with a side kick. Angle grabs the offered leg and hooks on the ankle lock! Classic Angle counter. Booker manages to push free, but Angle takes Choida out on the rebound. Flapjack from Booker. Vince gets the WWF Title belt and puts it in the ring. Shane grabs it and takes Vince out! Angle attacks Shane and clotheslines him 360 out. Angle Slam on Booker! THE STRAPS ARE DOWN! First time ever on a PPV. Ankle lock! Booker's tapping for all his life's worth but there's no ref. Austin rolls Chioda back in.....then attacks Angle! What the fuck? Stunner on Angle! Austin puts Booker on Angle, tells Chioda to count, and Booker gets the pin to win. That's right, four months after Austin's shocking heel turn at Wrestlemania, we get a less shocking and more perplexing Austin turn as he joins the WCW/ECW team. I guess they were trying to recreate Hogan's NWO turn here, but it doesn't work at all. The crowd, after being red hot the whole main event, is dead as dead can be for this turn of events. That was a hell of a long way to go to get to that turd of a turn too. The bulk of the match was pretty good with everyone involved having their working boots on. Not nearly on the level of the 10 man Hart Foundation vs Austin's team match at Canadian Stampede, but still good. Have to knock it down a bit for that ending though. Team WCW/ECW officially wins the night 6-5. ***1/4

 

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- The bulk of the show was borderline decent, not what you'd hope for considering this should have been one of the biggest B PPVs of all time. Thankfully RVD and Jeff Hardy knocked it out of the park to give us one truly memorable match. The main event did mostly deliver, at least until the ending. Austin's nonsensical turn was another warning sign that this whole Invasion angle was not going to live up to expectations.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C+