John Dos Passos2's SummerSlam Review

Decided to take a break from working on Part 2 of my rebooking of the Invasion Angle (be sure to check out Rick_City's Part 1 and 2 if you haven't done so already) to jot down my thoughts on SummerSlam. In general, I thought the show was oddly organized and too long, but I'm not willing to completely dismiss the show outright. I'm not going to offer an overall grade because A) that's overdone and B) I don't start teaching for another week, so I don't want to think about grades until then.

So, here we go: 

The Pre-Show: To be honest, I only saw a few minutes of the pre-show. My friend and I were deciding on what sort of pizza to order during this time. This was time well-spent. We ended up ordering wings and pizza from a national chain - both of which were serviceable - and I polished off a few Pabst "Old Tankard" Ales (my beer review: a decent, bitter, IPA-style brew that's nicely priced). 

Enzo & Big Cass versus JeriKO: Let me be very honest: I don't get Enzo and Big Cass at all and I find them really annoying; in particular, I can't wrap my head around why WWE audiences seem so enamored with them. Is it the NXT factor? In a lot of ways, they seem like a bad composite of better pro wrestling gimmicks. Like Poochie. I can actually see Vince saying "kids love surfers, let's make him a surfer." When Enzo was pontificating about Frank Sinatra, I actually had my friend mute the television. Frankly, I'm happy Jericho and Kevin Owens won the match. 

Charlotte vs Sasha Banks: One thing that really bothers about WWE television coverage is the tendency of the company's production team to replay moments in the ring that are clearly A) dangerous or B) unintentional. And if you saw the event tonight, you know exactly the moment I'm referring to. I'm not exactly sure what move the two of them were attempting to do tonight, but the replays of Sasha landing awkwardly on her neck and back were difficult to watch. 

That said, the finish to the match was easily the best of the night and the two benefited from having perhaps the best-constructed narrative prior to their match (and yes, I'm counting Styles and Cena in that group). 

The Miz vs Apollo Crews: I seriously don't remember anything about this match expect what Marse was wearing.

The New Day and Jon Stewart: I really love Jon Stewart. I love professional wrestling. And I really appreciate the fact that Stewart has demonstrated an interest and love for professional wrestling. Yet, how he's been used in his two SummerSlam appearances makes me partially understand why fans are so resentful of celebrity involvement in pro wrestling (although Brooklyn was cheering "thank you Stewart" last year after his interference in the Rollins / Cena match but booing him tonight). Contrast these two appearances with what he was able to do in his standoff with Seth Rollins in the middle of last year: in that promo, Stewart seems to have been given far more leeway to interact with the other performers. 

I also feel I should voice my continued frustration with wrestling fans bashing the involvement of non-wrestling celebrities in the wrestling realm. Again, I can understand the impulse of fans to decry celebs like Stewart entering the professional wrestling universe, but this ignores the necessity of wrestling to reach out to broader audiences. Indeed, all forms of entertainment need to do this: if you can name me one type of popular, commercial entertainment that does not do this, I'll buy you a bottle of your favorite bourbon. Also, the history of pro wrestling is littered with celebrity involvement, so I feel these negative reactions are coming from fans who cannot see the forest through the trees.

All that said, I think Stewart's routine tonight - especially his hammy reactions and pleading with the Club - would have been better received by a crowd at a smaller venue. 

The Crowd: My friend Ron and I continually discussed our frustrations throughout the night with the Brooklyn crowd. Ron's point was the crowd had little to really cheer for and that the booking - especially the order of the matches - was really off; I really don't think the crowd recovered from Banks's loss or the Styles / Cena match. That said, I feel as though there was something seriously off with the crowd tonight, and performers that normally would have received larger pops were greeted with (what seemed to me) ambivalence. 

Styles vs Cena: This was easily the best executed match of the evening with a number of great spots and good psychology to the match. I oddly kept seeing parallels to the 2011 CM Punk / Cena match at Money in the Bank (probably my favorite match of the last 6 years) with a number of the spots and reactions, but hopefully this means even better things for Styles moving forward.

Ambrose vs Ziggler: I've voiced my ambivalence toward Ziggler as a performer  a number of times on Twitter and I've also grown tired of the booking that Dean Ambrose has been given recently as well. As such, this match didn't do much for me on a number of levels and felt rather underdeveloped.

Rollins vs Balor: One of the things I'll be arguing for in my series about rebooking the Invasion angle is one of the major problems with the company during 2001-02 was far too many championships. Sadly, I see this issue resurfacing with the Universal belt (I don't feel strongly about its color either way). There were a lot of booking issues with this match, especially revealing the Demon King too early, but I thought these two had a very strong match with relatively poor development. And I think the audience reaction to it was based, in part, on having these two men battle over something completely new.

The Six-Woman Tag Event: This was fine, but I really don't understand why this was scheduled for this point in the show. That's all.

Reigns vs Rusev: As you can probably tell, I have little faith in this organization to tell a cogent story in the build-up to any match. That said, I'm going to hope that what we witnessed tonight was a double-turn with Rusev being cemented as a face and Reigns becoming the heel. I'm not confident that's where this story will go, but it seems to be the natural progression of this match. Of course, it's equally as likely that Hornswaggle will start an affair with Lana next week as well, so who knows?

Lesnar vs Orton: I've avoided discussing this match for as long as possible because I haven't fully processed it just yet. This is one of those moments that I cannot fully decide if what I saw was a work or a shoot or if it was planned or organic or? I suppose in many respects that part of the appeal of professional wrestling: as an outgrowth of the carnival circuit, theatre, and the confidence scheme, we as an audience should be skeptical of what "reality" we are presented by wrestlers. And yet, there was still a very real sense of chaos in the ring tonight. And in this particular instance, I'm really not sure I liked it.

So those are my thoughts about SummerSlam 2016. Got beef with this? Tweet me at @johndospassos2

Rick_City Rebooks the Invasion, Part 2

If you missed part one, good for you. But it's available here anyway. Also, please check out the alternate rebooking by @johndospassos2, available here.

We left off with the end of the Invasion PPV on July 22nd, 2001. Chris Jericho has just cost Team WWF the match and, as a result, WCW now controls the first hour on Monday nights.

July 23rd, 2001: The Return of Monday Nitro

The show is designed to look as much like the old Nitros as possible. ^ That's the logo for the show and that's the logo WCW uses in this entire storyline. The logo that closed WCW was terrible and the WWF version was bad as well. That's the classic WCW logo and that's the one we're using.

Anyway, Scott Hudson welcomes us to Nitro and Shane McMahon in in the ring. He announces that tonight is a very special night and that WCW will be crowning a new champion to celebrate the return of Nitro. Booker T has relinquished his United States title and a four man tournament will happen tonight to name a new champion. Lance Storm will face Chavo Guerrero and Mike Awesome will face Chris Kanyon. The winners will battle in the main event to crown the new United States Champion.

Shane then introduces "tonight's guest of honor" Chris Jericho, who comes out to his old WCW theme. Shane welcomes Jericho to WCW, but Jericho says that he's not returning to WCW. He doesn't know why he had that old theme, but he does know that he didn't leave the WWF last night. All he did was show Vince McMahon exactly how valuable he is. What Vince doesn't understand is being a "loyal WWF superstar" doesn't mean following Vince's orders. It means busting your ass in the ring every night and putting on a show. It means working every day to become the best. And that's what he does. He hit Steve Austin with that chair last night to show Vince exactly how valuable he is. He saved WWF several times last night but, when it came down to it, he knew Vince wouldn't appreciate his hard work. Vince never does. So he took out Austin to show the world exactly how important he is.

Jericho leaves the ring. As he does, Shane says "Hey, if you ever change your mind, you have my number."

As for the tournament, Lance Storm meets Chris Kanyon in the final and Storm wins the US title.

Then the show transitions over to Raw after Nitro ends. We get the standard WWF logos and JR and Paul Heyman in the booth. It's treated like Raw and Nitro are separate shows with separate themes, etc. They just happen to take place on the same night, from the same arena, back-to-back.

The mood on Raw is sour. They lost an hour of TV and they lost a huge match. Vince is out and he's enraged. He berates Jericho for several minutes. He then says "I heard your little speech on Nitro tonight where you claimed to be important. But you're nothing without me. Vince McMahon and the WWF made you who you are today. Guys like you and Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, Perry Saturn, William Regal, and everyone else from WCW were all nobodies until Vince McMahon and the WWF made you stars!"

Jericho then comes out, with his WWF theme and entrance. Before he can say a word, he's attacked from behind by the Undertaker and Kane. With McMahon barking orders, the Brothers of Destruction brutalize Jericho. Dean Malenko comes out to try to stop the beating, but the APA, Holly Cousins, Steve Austin, Kurt Angle, etc. stop him. 

As the beating continues for an uncomfortably long time, various former WCW talents try to interject as well, but guys like Regal, Saturn, etc. are all stopped by the WWF forces. Finally the Big Show steps out and he's stopped as well. Vince cuts in and says "No, you let him through. Get in the ring, Big Show."

Big Show enters the ring and Vince says "Remember how you told me before that you were 100% loyal to WWF? Prove it." He points to the beaten and bloody Jericho. "Prove your loyalty dammit or YOU'RE FIRED! Do you want to end up back in WCW pretending to be Andre's son!?"

Big Show hesitates, but he eventually grabs Jericho and chokeslams him. Vince smiles. "Let this be an example to anyone who betrays the WWF."

Otherwise, it's a standard episode of Raw. The only catch is no former WCW guys are booked.

The next week (July 30th) Jericho returns to Nitro, this time as a member of the WCW roster. Dean Malenko is with him. It's announced that Vince McMahon is temporarily allowing anyone who isn't loyal to the WWF to break their contracts and join WCW. Over the next few weeks, some former WCW guys like Perry Saturn, Haku, Jacqueline, Raven, and William Regal leave their WWF contracts to rejoin WCW.

The point of doing this is to strengthen the WCW roster in a realistic way. After all, why would anyone actually leave the much more powerful WWF to join WCW? They wouldn't. But, tn this storyline, Vince is actively trying to hurt the careers of former WCW guys by not booking them and attacking them, so they leave. Plus, this method keeps WCW looking like WCW. Having WCW include Christian, Test, Kurt Angle and Steve Austin doesn't feel right. But it feels more like WCW when it's guys like Jericho and Malenko who were in WCW when it was at its peak.

Over the next few weeks, Shane McMahon continues to pitch WCW as a place where "talent matters" to contrast with the WWF that is increasingly becoming a paranoid Vince McMahon's play thing. This strategy also separates the two companies from one another: WCW is more of an in-ring talent company while WWF is home to "Superstars." WCW wrestlers are called "wrestlers."

Anyway, on the July 30th Nitro, Diamond Dallas Page ends the show with a victory and he then cuts a promo. Standard stuff. However, Nitro "goes over its time limit" and the show is cut right at 10pm for Raw. The last thing the audience hears DDP say is "DDP is the people's champ!"

When Raw starts, it's revealed that DDP is still in the ring, despite WWF security trying to get him out. Then: "If ya smelllllll..............................." and the Rock returns to WWF! He cuts off DDP in the ring: 

"Excuse me, did the Rock just hear you call yourself 'the people's champ'?"

"Yeah, DDP is..."

"IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT YOU CALLED YOURSELF!"

The Rock then cuts a promo on how HE is the people's champ and how he is back from suspension and how he is here to save "the millions... and millions of The Rock's fans" from the tyranny of Vince McMahon. He runs down McMahon and tells him that he's screwing this up. He's letting Shane and WCW get the best of him. DDP tries to cut him off, and he's hit with a Rock Bottom for his efforts. Security then drags DDP out of the ring.

Other than that interaction, WCW and WWF guys don't really interact much for the next while. Nitro is its own show, Raw and Smackdown are their own shows. WCW titles are defended on WCW shows by WCW stars against WCW stars and the same for WWF titles. 

Elix Skipper and Mike Awesome hold the WWF tag team titles, but never defend them. Vince won't allow a WWF title on a WCW show and Shane won't allow his wrestlers to go on a WCW show. Lawyers are involved but nothing is settled. Skipper and Awesome still appear, but they can't show the WWF titles on WCW TV or mention that they are WWF tag team champions. WWF pretends that their own tag team titles don't exist for a while.

When SummerSlam rolls around on August 19, 2001, it's a WWF show. That means no WCW stars and no WCW titles. The exceptions are that Elix Skipper and Mike Awesome must defend their WWF tag team titles (the lawyers worked something out), that The Rock demands to face DDP, and that Vince and Austin accept a challenge from Booker T.

That means we get the WWF Champion versus the WCW Champion for the first time live at SummerSlam. It's a non-title "special challenge" match.

On the show, Skipper and Awesome are defeated for the WWF tag titles by the Undertaker and Kane. The Rock beats DDP cleanly in a good match. This gets the Rock into Vince McMahon's good graces and, despite that the Rock still has personal issues with Vince, he puts them aside for the sake of the company.

In the main event, Booker T and Steve Austin fight to a draw when both WWF and WCW guys interfere and the match is thrown out. The show ends with a giant WCW versus WWF brawl and JR screaming.

Yes, these results make the WWF look strong, but it needs to look strong. WCW also needs to look strong. They're new separate companies that can both be made strong without destroying or belittling one of them.

For the next couple months, things continue like this. WCW has one hour on Monday for Nitro, WWF has one hour on Monday for Raw and two hours on Thursday for Smackdown! Smackdown! starts to become a more important show for the WWF since it's longer and has no competition. 

WWF and WCW occasionally take verbal shots at one another, but that's it. Outside the initial five or six guys who "defected" back to WCW, no one else leaves. There's basically no interaction between the two companies.

However, Vince is often heard venting and ranting about how pissed off he is that he had to give half of Raw away to WCW, and Shane is often heard wishing that he could have the other hour. By the time Survivor Series happens on November 18, 2001, Vince and Shane meet to settle the terms of a match. Vince McMahon wants the first hour of Raw back. Shane agrees to another Team WCW versus Team WWF match where WWF can win back their show, if Vince will meet his terms. He knows that Vince will never bet Raw again, especially after what happened last time, but maybe he'll bet something else: Vengeance. 

If Team WCW wins, WWF Vengeance will become a WCW Pay-Per-View event. Vince agrees.

At Survivor Series, there are finally a couple WCW versus WWF matches and WCW talent and titles are allowed to appear. Vince brashly allows this as a "farewell to WCW, which will die when Nitro dies."

There are no title matches between WCW and WWF competitors, however, so no championships switch companies. However, there is a "Special Challenge Match" where five other WWF stars take on five other WCW wrestlers. On the line is a shot at one of the other promotion's titles (excluding the World Titles). 

That match is:

Team WWF (Edge, Christian, Rhyno, Matt Hardy & Jeff Hardy) 

versus 

Team WCW (Mike Awesome, Chris Kanyon, Perry Saturn, William Regal & Raven)

Team WCW wins when Team WWF can't get along. William Regal records the final elimination in the match, giving him the title shot. He will end up challenging for the WWF European Title on Raw the next night and defeating Test for that belt. Regal is upset that a non-European is besmirching the belt and he brings it to WCW to "defend its honour." It becomes the WCW European Title (for at least the time being) because WWF has too many titles. It's never a major title, just a thing that Regal cares about.

The main event is:

Team WWF (Steve Austin, Kurt Angle, The Rock, The Undertaker & Kane) 

versus 

Team WCW (Booker T, Diamond Dallas Page, Lance Storm, Chris Jericho & Dean Malenko)

It's a tough, back-and-forth match. The final two competitors for each team are Austin & Rock versus Booker T & DDP. Thanks to miscommunication, the Rock ends up hitting Austin by accident, allowing a DDP roll-up. 

The Rock then manages to eliminate DDP, but Booker T gets him by surprise and he wins the match for Team WCW. Yes, relatively cleanly and, yes, WWF loses both matches and both losses are due to "miscommunication." This is to show that WCW, as the underdog, is more unified on "on the same page" than the WWF is, as it is being run by an increasingly erratic Vince McMahon. 

The win means that WCW is returning to pay-per-view for the first time since March 2001. 

The next night, Nitro and Raw are live from Charlotte, North Carolina. Nitro opens with the return of Ric Flair. The crowd goes nuts. Then he announces that, on December 9, 2001, WCW will return to pay-per-view.... for Starrcade. 

Stay tuned for Part Three.

Rick_City Rebooks the Invasion, Part 1

Okay, so the WCW Invasion angle in WWF was pretty terrible. Some of the reasons couldn't be helped, such as the fact that most big WCW stars stayed home and sat out their contracts rather than break them and come to work for WWF. However, the angle was also just terribly booked.

Here's my attempt at doing it better.

Please see the "Timeline" post for more details, but, basically, we're working with what WWF was actually working with. We only have access to the wrestlers that WWF actually had access to, so if someone wasn't signed or was injured, we can't use them until they're signed or back in action.

We're also going to have to assume that "backstage politics" don't come into play here. I'm going to try to be as realistic as possible with who goes over who, but assume that I'm such a good negotiator that I can have any active guy willingly face any other active guy if I book it.

Anyway, here goes:

I'm starting at this on May 28, 2001. In real life, Lance Storm became the first WCW wrestler to appear in WWF when he attacked Perry Saturn during a match on Raw that had Saturn and Terri defeat Steve Blackman and Trish. I'm going to stick with Storm attacking someone, but it will be Steve Blackman instead. Saturn and Terri win the match.

Two points to make here: 1) Even though Storm isn't a "big name" at this point, I agree with him being the first WCW guy to appear. Why? Because WWF didn't exactly have a bunch of top WCW names to choose from, so some need to be elevated in importance and Lance Storm is one of those guys. 2) He attacks Blackman instead of Saturn because Steve Blackman and Trish have never been in WCW, while Saturn and Terri had. This becomes important later.

Also on the real May 28th Raw, Jericho and Benoit both attacked Steve Austin, leading to a King of the Ring triple threat match. This attack still happens in my rebooking, but more on the KOTR match later.

Anyway, on the next episode of Raw (June 4th), Vince McMahon starts off the show by insulting Shane and WCW. Shane comes out and says that "last week was just the beginning" and that WCW is going to keep attacking WWF until WWF is no more. "The Monday Night War isn't over. It's just beginning. And someone else will be attacked tonight on Raw."

Vince is shown telling various WWF wrestlers that if they see any WCW guys in the building, they "had better take care of it." He is also shown talking to security guards, etc. He ends up turning to Steve Austin and Kurt Angle help come up with a plan to protect the WWF, but they spend the whole night in Mr. McMahon's office arguing, etc.

The point is Vince is worried about WCW guys.

Anyway, later that night, Jerry Lynn is defending the Light Heavyweight Title against Tajiri, when Billy Kidman comes in through the crowd and lays out both men, ending the match.

Vince is outraged that Kidman was allowed in the arena.

Also on that show, Chris Jericho defeats Steve Austin by count out.

On Smackdown (June 7th), Buff Bagwell attacks Val Venis backstage before his match. Again, Vince flips out. He demands to know how all of these WCW guys are getting into his arenas and starts to get really paranoid, suspecting that there's a mole.

On that same show, Chris Benoit defeats Steve Austin by DQ.

On Raw (June 11th), Shane adds to Vince's paranoia by saying "You know Vince, a lot of guys on your roster used to work for WCW. They probably still have friends here. Maybe you should start wondering if guys have been talking."

Vince is losing it. He starts confronting former WCW guys (Dean Malenko, Perry Saturn, William Regal, etc.). They all deny speaking to anyone and confirm that they left WCW because they hated it. Vince doesn't believe it. He fires Eddie Guerrero (without Eddie being there, since he ended up in real-life rehab in May 2001) to make an example of what could happen to former WCW guys.

Anyway, on that June 11th show, Benoit and Jericho call out Steve Austin. They say that they've both gotten the better of him on recent shows, and that they both deserve a match against him at King of the Ring. They insult him enough that Austin comes out and gives them a triple threat match for the title.

Vince McMahon comes out. He puts a stop to this saying "No way will I let two former WCW guys main event King of the Ring for the WWF Title. Not with the way things are going right now." Austin says he wants the match. Vince says "No way. Imagine if, somehow, either guy won and took the WWF title with them to WCW?"

This offends everyone. Austin is mad that Vince doesn't have faith in him and Jericho and Benoit are mad that Vince thinks they'd head back to WCW. Vince doesn't care. He announces that the main event for KOTR 2001 will be Steve Austin versus Kurt Angle. Benoit and Jericho (who are also tag team champions at this point) will defend their tag titles at the show against a "loyal WWF team" in Hardcore and Crash Holly.

No one is attacked by a WCW guy that week, but all of this manages to weaken WWF a bit with infighting and paranoia. WWF was by far a superior brand at this point, so they need to be weakened a bit so WCW looks like they could actually be a competitor to them.

On the next Raw (June 18th) a lot of former WCW guys are pissed that Vince is suspicious of them. The Big Show confronts Vince in his office and tells him that he left WCW years ago and that he is 100% loyal to WWF. WCW was terrible, etc. (See Vince? You can still bury your competition a bit!)

Vince says he understands, but this is his family's business here. This is his life. He can't take any chances. Later that night, Chuck Palumbo and Sean O'Haire (WCW tag team champions) take out Hardcore Holly and Crash Holly from behind as they enter the ring. This is the first time a WCW champion (excluding the "Cruiserweight Tag Titles" that WWF was right to scrap) will appear on WWF TV. The WWF locker room rushes out to stop the attack, but Palumbo and O'Haire escape. Later, the Holly Cousins accuse Jericho and Benoit of being behind the attack.

At King of the Ring 2001, Jericho and Benoit retain their titles. As in real-life, Benoit is injured at this event and written out of storylines. Dean Malenko will replace Benoit in the team as the two put their differences aside after Vince threatens to strip Jericho of the titles if he doesn't find a partner right away. Malenko is upset at how Vince is treating former WCW guys.

Otherwise, Jeff Hardy wins the title in a 4-way Light Heavyweight match (including Tajiri, Scotty 2 Hotty & defending champ Jerry Lynn). Edge wins the KOTR tournament, defeating Rhyno in the finals (not Kurt Angle, who is in the show's main event in this rebooking). Steve Austin defeats Kurt Angle and Vince McMahon orders the two to shake hands at the end of the match to "show unity." They do. Just then, they're attacked by several WCW guys.

Booker T, Diamond Dallas Page, Chavo Guerrero, Chris Kanyon, Hugh Morrus, Mike Awesome and Shane Helms all rush the ring. Shane McMahon is on the outside directing traffic. Austin, Angle and Vince are beaten down. The WWF locker room rushes out and chases the WCW guys out of the ring and through the crowd. Vince, Angle and Austin are down in the ring. Shane comes in to mock them. And then Buff Bagwell, Billy Kidman, Lance Storm, Chuck Palumbo and Sean O'Haire run out and they continue the assault. There's no WWF guys left to help and the PPV closes with those six WCW guys and Shane mocking a beaten Vince McMahon.

The next night on Raw (June 25th - from Madison Square Garden as in real life) Vince starts off by demanding Shane come out. Shane does, smiling. Neither guy is definitely heel or face at this point. Shane was the face when he was feuding with Vince before the Invasion, but WWF fans will almost certainly side with Vince's WWF over Shane's WCW, so both men are acting heelish at this point.

Vince tells off Shane and dresses him down as a "nobody who owns a second-rate company." Shane tells Vince to prove it on pay-per-view on July 22nd, 2001. In what was supposed to be called "Fully Loaded" Shane proposes a match: WWF vs WCW. Four guys from each company battle it out (down from the five a side that happened in reality, because WCW doesn't have enough big names). Vince accepts. Shane proposes a stipulation: If WCW wins, they get control of Raw and WCW Nitro will be reborn. Vince asks if Shane is kidding. He's not going to "bet" Raw. It's the greatest show on television, etc. There's no way. Shane mocks him. Vince says no. Vince says "WCW couldn't put on two hours of entertaining television even if they did control Raw." Shane says fine, be that way. If WCW wins, he wants the first hour of Raw. Vince can keep the second. Shane isn't afraid of competition and he wants Nitro and Raw to compete with each other again. Vince eventually accepts on the condition that if WCW loses the match, Shane will sell him the company so he can finally "own his competition." Agreed.

It's later announced that the PPV will be changed from "WWF Fully Loaded" to "WWF/WCW Invasion" and it will feature all WWF versus WCW matches.

Vince then sets out to pick his team. Angle and Austin are obvious. He debates for a while and then chooses The Undertaker and Kane. Not only are they "true WWF guys" but they know how to work together and teamwork will be crucial here.

On July 9th, Buff Bagwell is quietly fired as in real life. At some point Kane will lose the Intercontinental Title to William Regal.

Throughout all of this, various former WCW guys are still upset at Vince. Over the next couple shows, Jericho, Big Show, William Regal, Perry Saturn, X-Pac and even Mick Foley question what Vince is doing. It's even pointed out that Steve Austin and even The Undertaker (yes, this is mentioned on WWF TV) were both in WCW at one point. Vince stammers and says that "that's different. They've proven their loyalty." He then demands that the former WCW guys "prove their loyalty at Invasion" and he sets up several WWF versus WCW matches for the show.

On July 22, 2001, WWF/WCW Invasion happens. It's co-branded as a PPV for both companies. WWF and WCW titles will be defended. Jim Ross and Paul Heyman will call half the show (there is no ECW resurrection yet, so Heyman is still a "WWF guy") and Scott Hudson and Arn Anderson will call the other half. WWF and WCW referees will both be used. The main event will be called by JR and Hudson with referees from both companies.

The card is:

• Perry Saturn versus Crowbar (this will be the "Sunday Night Heat"/"Free-For-All" match) and, yes, the first WCW versus WWF match in history. I'm sorry.
• Trish Stratus & Lita versus Torrie Wilson & Stacy Keibler
• The Holly Cousins versus Shawn Stasiak & Mark Jindrak
• WWF Light Heavyweight Title: Jeff Hardy (c) versus Billy Kidman
• WCW Tag Team Titles: Palumbo & O'Haire (c) versus Edge & Christian
• WWF Hardcore Title: The Big Show (c) versus Hugh Morrus
• WWF Tag Team Titles: Chris Jericho & Dean Malenko (c) versus Elix Skipper & Mike Awesome
• WWF European Title: Matt Hardy (c) versus Chavo Guerrero
• WCW Cruiserweight: Shane Helms (c) versus X-Pac
• WWF Intercontinental Title: William Regal (c) versus Chris Kanyon
• Team WWF versus Team WCW

Team WWF (as mentioned) will be Steve Austin (WWF Champion), Kurt Angle, The Undertaker & Kane.
Team WCW will be Booker T (WCW Champion & WCW US Champion), Diamond Dallas Page, Lance Storm and a "mystery fourth competitor."

Having the "fourth man" unnamed is a throwback to the nWo and a way to gain more interest in this match. People might assume that a former big WCW name will be the fourth person and get excited. Yes, they'll be let down when it's not, but we're trying to pop a buyrate here. Sue me.

More importantly, there will be speculation over the weeks leading up to the show that the fourth man will be someone turning on WWF to join WCW. Vince will get even more paranoid with former WCW guys when Austin and Angle tell him they overheard Shane on the phone saying that "Vince will never see it coming" and "welcome back to WCW." This is a swerve.

Anyway, at the PPV, Shane says his fourth man will be named right before the match. When it's time, he announces that he's chosen the WCW competitor who impressed him the most tonight, and that man is.... Mike Awesome. Huh? What? Why?

Here's why. No titles will change hands at this PPV. The WWF guys will defeat WCW guys to retain and WCW guys will defeat WWF guys to retain. However, the exception is that Malenko and Jericho will lose the WWF tag titles to Elix Skipper & Mike Awesome. Yes. That will happen. (Again, we're trying to elevate some WCW guys with this angle.) Lance Storm, Chris Kanyon and Chavo Guerrero will interfere, allowing WCW to win their first WWF titles.

So team WCW is Booker T, DDP, Lance Storm and Mike Awesome.

Here are the results of the show with winners in bold:

• Perry Saturn (WWF) versus Crowbar (WCW)
• Trish Stratus & Lita (WWF) versus Torrie Wilson & Stacy Keibler (WCW)
• The Holly Cousins (WWF) versus Shawn Stasiak & Mark Jindrak (WCW)
• WWF Light Heavyweight Title: Jeff Hardy (c) (WWF) versus Billy Kidman (WCW)
• WCW Tag Team Titles: Palumbo & O'Haire (c) (WCW) versus Edge & Christian (WWF) (This can be by count out or something in order to not bury Edge & Christian)
• WWF Hardcore Title: The Big Show (c) (WWF) versus Hugh Morrus
• WWF Tag Team Titles: Malenko & Jericho (c) (WWF) versus Elix Skipper & Mike Awesome (WCW) (I've explained this above.)
• WWF European Title: Matt Hardy (c) (WWF) versus Chavo Guerrero (WCW)
• WCW Cruiserweight: Shane Helms (c) (WCW) versus X-Pac (WWF)
• WWF Intercontinental Title: William Regal (c) (WWF) versus Chris Kanyon (WCW)
• Team WWF (Austin, Angle, Undertaker, Kane) versus Team WCW (Booker T, DDP, Storm, Awesome)

As you can see, WWF guys win far more than WCW guys. This makes sense, because, honestly, WWF has a much better roster.

After Jericho and Malenko lose, Vince rips them apart backstage. He threatens to fire them for letting WCW take a WWF title and he again accuses them of working for WCW. Malenko storms off and leaves the arena. Jericho breaks some stuff and walks away as well.

In the main event, WCW guys interfere a bunch and WWF guys try to counteract them. Booker T eliminates Kane first, so WWF is at a disadvantage all match long. At the end, it comes down to Steve Austin for WWF versus Booker T & DDP for WCW. Austin battles hard and manages to eliminate DDP, but he's worked over by the two before DDP leaves the ring.

That leaves Austin versus Booker T. All hell breaks lose. Neither referee wants to call the match a DQ, so it essentially a free-for-all at this point. WWF and WCW guys fill the ring, including Chris Jericho who didn't leave after Vince told him off. He fights hard for the WWF, taking out Lance Storm and Billy Kidman as they try to attack Austin. Eventually the ring is cleared of most guys and Austin hits Booker T with a Stunner. He can't get up to pin him and then DDP rushes back into the ring. Jericho runs in to save Austin (JR can say something like "Jericho is proving his loyalty here tonight!") and Jericho takes out DDP with a chair. He then looks at Steve Austin, and clocks him as well. The crowd boos as Jericho leaves the ring looking sad. Booker T crawls over and pins Austin. WCW wins the match.

Stay tuned for Part Two where WCW Nitro returns!

JohnDosPassos2 Rebooks the Invasion

So, the Invasion....boy.

I stopped watching wrestling just before the whole Invasion angle took place. This was partly do to juggling work and my undergrad courses, but more due to the fact I was trying to have "the sex" with ladies and I didn't think acknowledging my interest in pro wrestling would help me (to be fair, neither did stating my love of history, literature, or The Simpsons). Anyway, I missed the Invasion, Evolution, and HHH's Reign of Terror - in fact, I didn't start watching wrestling again until seeing CM Punk's Pipebomb promo in 2011. So my knowledge of this whole angle comes from me trying to catch-up on my wrestling knowledge years after the fact.

That caveat out of the way, what I've been able to ascertain about the Invasion has been this: no one likes it. At all. And it has a reputation of being the greatest blown booking opportunity in wrestling history. Of course, that seems like a touch of hyperbole to me: from a logistical standpoint, the most popular wrestlers from WCW (Flair, Hogan, Nash, Hall, Sting, etc) were signed to lucrative contracts to AOL / Time Warner and far too expensive to be brought on board en masse. Additionally, this presumes the WWF/E could have had the capacity to book it properly in the first place: remember, this organization has used Hornswaggle as the surprise reveal for 2 major story-lines.

But to be fair, the Invasion pretty much sucked.

So when Rick and I decided to attempt to re-book the Invasion (we were, in the words of Homer Simpson, "sober-ish"), we certainly thought we could do better. And as a Flyera fan, I was also mad at Rick's pompous pro-Penguins tweets, so I was looking for some sort of outlet to vent my frustrations (PENGUINS IS A DUMB NAME, I DON'T CARE). Anyway, so here's our stipulations with our re-booking: we won't ignore major injuries or the order of when people were hired or fired.

So my solution? Follow the template that the WWE originally wanted to have: a Shane-led WCW as the face faction versus Vince and the WWE as the heel faction. I'll also follow the initial plans and progress so that Smackdown (or Raw) becomes a WCW-centered show with a distinctly different feel (which is what ended up happening with Raw and Smackdown as is, but give Smackdown a grittier, more Southern-wrestling-style show that competes with Raw and the WWE itself.

I'm also more a "big ideas" guy, so I'm ignoring some smaller details; also, this will likely be a two-part piece, so feel free to give me suggestions or hate-tweets to @johndospassos2

So, let's start the night after Wrestlemania 17: Vince, having lost to Shane the night before, cuts a promo in the ring which he passive-aggressively praises his son for winning last night, but reminds his spawn that he's still the "man." At that point, Shane comes out, and berates his father for everything that Vince has done leading up to that point: drugging his mother, using his sister as a pawn, demeaning Trish Status, etc. Shane then says he's leaving "this company" for a time to not only care for his mother, but also to try and salvage WCW - which his father has destroyed, just like their family. Vince then mocks Shane and asks him if any wrestler would actually work for such a "tainted" company? After all, WWE "won the WARRRR" and any sane person would want to be associated with the victors. He finally announces he has a surprise for Shane --- once his legal team has had a chance to "look things over."

The following week on Raw, Shane returns to a large pop, but is interrupted by Vince who details what his team - a bevy of sixteen lawyers - has found. Because of a loophole, all WCW wrestlers are free agents and are able to be signed by either Vince or Shane. What then follows over the next few weeks is a series of vignettes where various WCW wrestlers ranging from Lance Storm to Booker T to Shane Helms are pitched into joining either WCW or WWE. One important element is the nature of the pitches from Shane and Vince are drastically different: while Shane praises each wrestler's skills and achievements, Vince berates the wrestlers and offends them with low-ball offers (even though he can clearly offer them more money); Vince also reminds the wrestlers that their previous company died, so don't they need the security that his company can offer? But in the end, the lower card wrestlers (Storm, Chavo, Kidman, Helms etc) sign with Shane and the big names (Booker T, DDP, and Bagwell) sign with Vince.

(also, Bagwell will get fired here --- perhaps he gets a job as Linda's gigolo?)

Over the next few pay-per-views - King of the Ring and something that replaces Invasion, Shane's WCW crew (perhaps they even nickname themselves the Underdogs) try and prove themselves against established WWE wrestlers. But unlike the actual Invasion, the WCW guys actually win in compelling matches. After their wins, they are implored by Vince to come to the WWE -- and the wrestlers always reject such overtures: just picture Lance Storm saying "I will never work for you Vince: you've never shown respect for Canadian wrestlers - especially the Hart family." Throughout the summer, Vince is made to look horrible as past grievances from wrestlers (and fans) are lobbed in his direction. And slowly the rage builds inside him.

At Summer Slam, Shane and Vince agree to tag-team battle between Booker T and DDP versus Storm and Kidman. The match is very even, but eventually Storm and Kidman get a clean pinfall. As Shane and Storm and Kidman celebrate, both DDP and Booker walk over to shake their hands, but Vince grabs the mic and furiously demands they attack Storm and Kidman or else they'll be fired. Vince then attacks Shane and reluctantly, DDP and Booker T attack their opponents, pausing to say "I'm sorry" or "forgive me" to Kidman and Storm.

For the next few weeks, Vince enacts a "reign of terror," ordering anyone and everyone to do his wishes or risk being fired: when Commissioner William Regal protests, Vince fires him; when the Rock petitions to have his suspension overturned, Vince argues to do so only if the Rock promises to sign a "statement of loyalty." When Eddie Guerrero attempts to save Chavo from being assaulted at the hands of Kane, Eddie is fired (which will align with his own dismissal at a drunk driving charge in the fall of 2001). Wrestlers with any steak of independence - Chris Jericho, Steve Austin, even RVD - are punished or censured by Vince.

By the way, what to do with Austin during this year is really problematic. I think the easiest thing to do would be to not have Stone Cold turn heel at Wrestlemania 17 and keep him in an antagonistic relationship with Vince. I would, however, make Kurt Angle the WWE champion at some point in the year (perhaps at Summer Slam) and make his title reign to be the pet project of Vince.

In the buildup to No Mercy, both DDP and Booker T separately approach Vince about having a title shot as a reward for their loyalty. Vince agrees to each of their demands, separately, of course and eventually reveals that he's booked them to face-off against each other in a series of matches on RAW over a period of a few weeks. Vince then manipulates each man by pointing out what the other "really thinks about the other." This leads to a series of matches that gets progressively more aggressive and violent. Vince then announces that he will make a triple-threat match for No Mercy with Booker T vs DDP vs Kurt Angle for the World Title. Meanwhile, Shane meets with both Booker T and DDP and pleads with them to realize Vince is merely using them to put over Angle and to torture them because his father is a sadist. They respond to Shane that they still need security and are willing to do whatever to prove to their boss they are loyal and thus the match progresses. At the start of the Triple-Threat match, Angle takes a hard bump and appears to be knocked "unconscious," leaving Booker T and DDP to battle it out. The men fight hard and nearly destroy one another until DDP lands a Diamond Cutter on Booker, but it unable to counter. Suddenly Angle jumps to his feet and puts an Ankle-Lock on DDP and retains the belt. Bruised and battered, Booker T and DDP help one another out of the ring as they realize they've been duped. As they limp out of the arena, the camera follows the men as they move backstage and stop at the dressing room door of Shane.

In the build-up to Survivor Series, Vince and Shane begin to engage in another war of words: Vince berates his son for not being able to see the folly of his aims, while Shane argues - not incorrectly - that Vince has thrown everything he has at his team but hasn't really beaten them cleanly. Shane then says that he wants a Survivor Series match between a team of Vince's choosing (Let's go with Undertaker, Kane, the Big Show, and Kurt Angle) his team consisting of DDP, Booker T, Lance Storm, and Billy Kidman. On paper, that seems like a horrible mismatch, but again they are the underdogs in this and Shane's team selection only serves to make Vince all the more arrogant. Before the match is set, Shane asks for one stipulation: if his team wins, they not only get to free themselves from Vince's tyranny, but Shane will get to control one portion of his dad's territory (pun intended): Smackdown. And because he's drunk with power, Vince agrees.

So here's the scene: Survivor Series, Greensboro, North Carolina. Team Vince / WWE vs Team Shane / WCW.  In short order, Billy Kidman and Lance Storm are eliminated by Team Vince, but then DDP and Booker T mount a comeback, eliminating Kane and then the Big Show. However, Undertaker eliminates DDP, but Booker T then outmaneuvers Taker and is now set to face off against Kurt Angle. They battle for awhile until - shockingly - the referee is knocked out (as are Booker and Kurt). Shane, who is at ringside, attempts to revive the ref when Vince sneaks up behind him and knocks out his son with a chair; he then attacks Booker T in the ring and just about when Vince is about to slam another chair shot at Booker the lights go out and we hear Richard Strauss over the sound system.

Ric Flair enters the arena (yes, it's a day before he made his debut, but give me 24 hours to work with) and a shocked Vince stares as Flair climbs into the ring to the wild cheers of the crowd. He attacks Vince and puts him into a Figure-Four while the crowd roars. Angle awakens but before he can get to Flair, Booker T Axe-Kicks Kurt and covers him for the win. The crowd goes wild as WCW celebrates their win. Jim Ross yells "it's a new era for the WWE and Shane's WCW now controls Smackdown!"

So that's part 1; in part 2, I'll explore the new Smackdown and the entrance of the NWO and other things.

Rebooking the InVasion: The Timeline

We rebooked the WWF/WCW Invasion. You can read about that here. This is the roster and timeline we used:

WCW contracts picked up by WWF:

Diamond Dallas Page

Booker T

Billy Kidman

Chavo Guerrero

Chris Kanyon

Hugh Morrus

Lance Storm

Buff Bagwell 

Mike Awesome

Shawn Stasiak

Stacy Keibler

Torrie Wilson

Chuck Palumbo

Shawn O'Haire

Shane Helms

Mark Jindrak (Sent to Development)

Shannon Moore (sent to development)

Johnny "The Bull" Stamboli (Sent to Development)

Jamie Noble (Sent to Development)

Jimmy Yang (Sent to Development)

Reno (Sent to Development & Never used)

Disco Inferno (Sent to Development & Never used)

Mike Sanders (Sent to Development & Never used)

Evan Karragias (Sent to Development & Never used)

Elix Skipper (Sent to Development & Never used)

Lash Leroux (Sent to Development & Never used)

Crowbar (Sent to Development & Never used)

Nick Patrick

Charles Robinson

Scott Hudson (Commentator, let go after first appearance)

Stevie Ray (Commentator, let go after first appearance)

Later Signings:

Ric Flair: November 2001

Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, Hulk Hogan: January 2002

Rey Mysterio: June 2002
Eric Bischoff: July 2002

Scott Steiner: October 2002

Goldberg: March 2003

WWF Roster (2001)

Al Snow 
Albert 
Bradshaw
Big Boss Man
Billy Gunn 
Bull Buchanan 
Chris Benoit
Chris Jericho 
Christian 
Chyna 
Crash Holly 
Dean Malenko 
Debra 
D-Von Dudley 
Bubba Ray Dudley 
Eddie Guerrero 
Edge 
Faarooq
Essa Rios 
Gangrel (Released August 2001)
The Godfather 
Hardcore Holly 
Matt Hardy 
Jeff Hardy 
Haku 
Ivory 
Jacqueline 
Jerry Lynn 
Justin Credible 
Kane 
K-Kwik 
Kurt Angle 
Lita 
Mick Foley 
Molly Holly 
Perry Saturn 
Raven 
Rhyno 
Rikishi 
Scotty 2 Hotty 
Shawn Michaels (As of June 2002)
Spike Dudley 
Stone Cold Steve Austin 
Steve Blackman 
Steven Richards 
Taka Michinoku (Released October 20, 2001)
Tajiri 
Tazz 
Terri Runnels 
Test 
The Big Show 
The Rock ("Suspended" until July 30, 2001)
The Undertaker 
Tori 
Triple H
Trish Stratus 
Val Venis 
William Regal
X-Pac 

Important Dates in Real Life:

April 2, 2001: The Rock "suspended" from WWF

May 21, 2001: Triple H injured

July 9, 2001: Buff Bagwell fired

July 9, 2001: Rob Van Dam and Tommy Dreamer join WWF

June 24, 2001: Chris Benoit injured 

WWF InVasion airs on July 22, 2001

July 30, 2001: The Rock returns to Raw

November 30, 2001: Chyna leaves WWF, several months after she had been taken off of television.

January 7, 2002: Triple H returns to Raw

April 13, 2002: Kevin Nash injured

May 6, 2002: Scott Hall released

June 3, 2002: Shawn Michaels Returns

June 11, 2002: Steve Austin walks out

July 8, 2002: Kevin Nash returns

July 8, 2002: Kevin Nash injured

March 3, 2003: Steve Austin returns

April 7, 2003: Kevin Nash returns



How the Invasion Began on TV

Lance Storm became the first WCW wrestler to appear on WWF by making a run-in during a match on the May 28 episode of Raw Is War.

At King of the Ring on June 24, then-WCW wrestler Booker T interfered during the triple threat main event match for the WWF Championship and almost cost Stone Cold Steve Austin the title.

On July 2, 2001, Booker T faced Buff Bagwell for WCW Championship as WCW "takes over" Raw is War.

On the July 9 episode of Raw Is War, Rob Van Dam and Tommy Dreamer ran into the ring to help Lance Storm and Mike Awesome against Kane and Jericho. WWF wrestlers The Dudley Boyz, Tazz, Justin Credible, Rhyno, and Raven (all former ECW wrestlers) ran to the ring. After a brief stand-off, the WWF cavalry turned around and attacked Kane and Jericho. This prompted Paul Heyman to leave the announce table and enter the ring. 

WWF Champions in May 2001

WWF Champion: Steve Austin

WWF Intercontinental: Triple H (April 16 - May 20) Kane (won on May 20, 2001)

WWF European: Matt Hardy

WWF Lightheavyweight: Jerry Lynn

WWF Women's: Chyna (Vacated Nov 2001)

WWF Tag Team: Triple H & Steve Austin (April 29 - May 21) / Chris Benoit & Chris Jericho (Won on May 21, 2001)

WWF Hardcore: Rhyno (April 19 - May 21) / Big Show (Won on May 21, 2001)

Final WCW Champions:

WCW Champion: Booker T

WCW United States: Booker T

WCW Cruiserweight: Shane Helms 

WCW Tag Team: Chuck Palumbo & Sean O'Haire

WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team: Billy Kidman & Rey Mysterio (Not used in WWF)

Pay-Per-View Schedule:

January 21, 2001 Royal Rumble

February 25, 2001 No Way Out

April 1, 2001 WrestleMania X-Seven

April 29, 2001 Backlash

May 20, 2001 Judgment Day

June 24, 2001 King of the Ring

July 22, 2001 Invasion

August 19, 2001 SummerSlam

September 23, 2001 Unforgiven

October 21, 2001 No Mercy

November 18, 2001 Survivor Series

December 9, 2001 Vengeance

January 20, 2002 Royal Rumble

February 17, 2002 No Way Out

March 17, 2002 WrestleMania X8

April 21, 2002 Backlash

May 19, 2002 Judgment Day

June 23, 2002 King of the Ring

July 21, 2002 Vengeance

August 25, 2002 SummerSlam

September 22, 2002 Unforgiven

October 20, 2002 No Mercy

November 17, 2002 Survivor Series

December 15, 2002 Armageddon