WWF InVasion (July 2001)

From Cleveland, Ohio; Your Hosts are Jim Ross and Michael Cole. If they really wanted to go for gold here, they should have just stuck McMahon, Bischoff, and Heyman out there together

Opening Match: Edge & Christian (WWF) v Mike Awesome and Lance Storm (ECW): Team ECW take it to Edge early on, but Lance walks into a headscissors takedown, and Edge hits a nice 2^nd rope dropkick. Backdrop puts Lance on the floor, and Christian dives out onto him and Awesome to punctuate it. Back in, Edge backbreakers Storm for two, and passes to Christian for some tandem stuff, but he ends up getting crotched on the top rope after a cheapshot from Mike, and the ECW contingent cut the ring in half. Christian keeps kicking out of everything the ECW boys throw at him, so Awesome decides to finish him good with a powerbomb off the top, but Christian backdrops him to block, and gets the tag. Edge is a house of arson to trigger a four-way brawl, and Christian spears Awesome to save Edge from a Powerbomb at 10:12. Solid, albeit unspectacular. *

Referees Match: Earl Hebner (WWF) v Nick Patrick (WCW): Mick Foley acts as the special guest referee for this, and the ring is surrounded by WWF and WCW referees. Nick tries shoving him around, but quickly gets taken down, as Earl unleashes his inner Stone Cold. Patrick manages to win a scuffle on the mat and toss Hebner out, but the other WWF refs help him back in. Patrick baseball slides him right back out for the WCW referees to abuse, but the WWF guys make the save, and Foley ejects the WCW crew from ringside. Patrick argues with Mick over it, and of course, gets blindsided by Hebner for the pin at 2:50. You'd think he'd know better, after seeing that happen so many times from the other side. Crap, obviously, but it was short, and fun in an insiderish way. It's one of those instances where even though the match was shit, I'm glad they booked it. DUD

The Acolytes (WWF) v The Natural Born Thrillers (WCW): The APA are WWF Tag Team Champions, and the Thrillers are WCW World Tag Team Champions, but this is non-title. Brawl to start, and the APA clean house until things settle down on Bradshaw and Chuck Palumbo. Bradshaw controls with a vertical suplex for two, but walks into a cheap shot from Sean O'Haire, and gets worked over for a bit. He manages to pass to Faarooq, and but Sean blocks a side suplex, and savate kicks him for two. Back to Chuck, but Faarooq ducks a clothesline attempt, and snaps off a diving shoulderblock before tagging Bradshaw. Chuck takes a blockbuster, but Sean saves him from a powerbomb with a superkick. The Thrillers don't manage to cut the ring in half, however, and Bradshaw DDTs Palumbo, and gets back to Faarooq - who quickly walks into a cheap shot. You'd think that would finally lead to a heat segment, but the WCW guys control for all of a minute before Faarooq catches Sean with a spinebuster, and gets back to Bradshaw. Barn of fire, four-way brawl, and Chuck eats a Clothesline from Hell at 7:17. I've never liked the Thrillers, but they certainly looked leaps and bounds ahead of the APA here, and probably should have gone over. The match itself was well paced, but really disjointed, as neither Faarooq nor Bradshaw seemed to want to take the heat segment, and the match quality suffered for it. *

X-Pac (WWF) v Billy Kidman (WCW): X-Pac is the WWF Light Heavyweight Champion and Kidman is the WCW Cruiserweight Champion, but this is also non-title. X-Pac gets cunty early on, so Kidman douches him into a mat-based side-headlock. X-Pac powers up for a criss cross, but alleyoops his way into a rana, and an enzuigiri sends the WWF title holder out to the floor. Kidman quickly rolls him in to get a two count off of it, and snaps off a headscissors - only to get launched over the top on a missed charge. X-Pac dives after him with a springboard bodypress, and inside, X-Pac slaps on a chinlock. Kidman escapes, so X-Pac tries a sleeper, but Billy reverses - only to get side suplexed in short order. X-Pac tries finishing with a flying somersault senton, but Kidman rolls out of the way, and sitout powerbombs him for two. Ten-punch count, but X-Pac counters with a whiplash for two. Powerbomb, but Kidman counters into a well executed sitout facebuster for two. Flying shoulderblock, but X-Pac catches him in the X-Factor for two. Bronco buster, but Billy lifts his boot to block, and the Shooting Star Press finishes X-Pac at 7:12. Crowd was very pro-Kidman here, and considering how much of a scuzzy piece of shit X-Pac come off as, it's no wonder. Not to mention that the match was booked with X-Pac playing heel. Definitely nothing special, and the chinlock/sleeper bullshit was unnecessary in this type of match, but very watchable overall. **

William Regal (WWF) v Raven (ECW): Regal controls early, but Raven bails to avoid the Stretch. William stays on him and sends him flying with a slingshot, but Raven takes over with a chinlock. 2^nd rope axehandle hits, and a sloppy cradle gets two. Bulldog for two, and a sunset flip, but William reverses for two, and backelbows him down for another two. Northern lights suplex for two, but they collide during an exchange in the corner, and Tazz runs in to suplex Regal - Raven DDTing him for the pin at 6:34. Considering Raven was already in the WWF for over six months before the invasion even started, this wasn't really much of an inter-promotional dream match. ½*

Six-Man Tag Team Match: Big Show, Billy Gunn, and Albert (WWF) v Chris Kanyon, Hugh Morris, and Shawn Stasiak (WCW): Big brawl to start - dominated by the WWF guys, of course. The dust settles on Gunn and Kanyon, and Chris backdrops him into a reversal sequence - Billy controlling with a backslide for two. Kanyon fires back with a forward-Russian legsweep for two, and passes to Stasiak... who quickly walks into a neckbreaker. Over to Albert to trigger a six-way brawl, and Stasiak inverted DDTs Billy for Hugh to pin at 4:23. Too short to be offensive, but also too short to make an impact. DUD

Tajiri (WWF) v Tazz (ECW): Ditto for Tazz, who like Raven, was already a part of the WWF forever by the time the invasion started, and now we're suddenly supposed to buy him as an ECW guy? Tazz unloads at the bell, but walks into a quick spinkick, and Tajiri standing moonsaults him. Tazz fires back with an exploder suplex, and takes Tajiri's head off with a lariat to cut off a series of kicks. Snapmare sets up a bodyscissors from Tazz, and a cross armbreaker looks to finish, but Tajiri's in the ropes. Tazz with a whiplash for two, but Tajiri springs at him with a backelbow, and they spill to the outside. Tajiri takes a whip into the steps out there, but beats the count and hooks Tazz in the Tarantula. Seated dropkick only gets two, so Tajiri unleashes a series of kicks - the third caught in a head-and-arm suplex. Tazz goes for the kill, but Tajiri sprays the green mist to blind him, and a roundhouse kick finishes at 5:43. Some nice spots, but very disjointed. ½*

WWF Hardcore Title Match: Jeff Hardy (WWF) v Rob Van Dam (ECW): Both guys waste no time exchanging flip-flop stuff to a stalemate, but RVD makes the mistake of turning his back, and gets dropkicked. Another one into the turnbuckle gets two, and Jeff hooks a neat modified cradle (where he splitlegged legdrops onto Van Dam's ankles to hold him down) for two. Inverted atomic drop sets up a bodypress, but he badly misses, and Rob standing moonsaults him for two, then hits a butterfly forward suplex to set up a rolling somersault senton for two. RVD tries a flying moonsault, but Jeff races over and shoves him all the way down to the floor to block. Hardy baseball slides after him, but an attempt at the rail running dive gets the champ speared into the crowd. RVD springboards off the rail with a moonsault in the crowd for two, then back to ringside, drapes Jeff over the rail and dives off the apron with a legdrop for two. Rob wastes time arguing the count and gets sunsetbombed off the apron, and Jeff finds an oversized ladder that makes all other oversized ladders seem undersized. Like, holy shit! He climbs, but by the time he manages to scale this monstrosity, Van Dam recovers, and tips him over into the aisle. The bump wasn't as crazy as the description might make it seem, but still pretty cool, and very visually impressive. Rob grabs a chair, but gets the ladder smashed into his face, and Jeff beats him over to the entrance set with the chair. Rob begs off, but Hardy shows no mercy, so Van Dam spinkicks the chair into his face. Well, he warned him. Rob adds a twisting legdrop for two, and they head back into the ring for Van Dam to dropkick the chair into the champs face. Splitlegged moonsault hits the knees, however, and Jeff finds a DDT for two. German suplex gets two, and a sitout chincrusher sets up the Swanton, but RVD rolls out of the way, and hits the Five Star Frogsplash at 12:32. Fun match, as both guys' styles meshed well, and they had enough time to work. This also ended up being Van Dam's coming out party in the WWF, and not surprisingly, as he made quite an impression here. ***

Bra and Panties Match: Trish Stratus and Lita (WWF) v Stacy Keibler and Torrie Wilson (WCW): Mick Foley resumes his post as special guest referee for this one. Double catfight right away, with Lita taking Stacy, and Trish tackling Torrie. They settle on Trish and Torrie to start, and Wilson slaps the shit out of her in the corner. The WCW gals miss a tandem clothesline to allow the tag to Lita, and really, does anyone need play-by-play for this? Stacy's first to lose her top, Lita's next (wearing an out-of-character floral bra that looks like it'd be at home on a set in Boca), Trish loses a top, Torrie loses her pants. Torrie's top goes bye-bye too, as do Stacy's pants following a flying moonsault from Lita at 5:01. Well, no one said it was going to be a technical classic. DUD

Main Event: Inaugural Brawl Ten-Man Tag Team Match: Team WWF (Steve Austin, The Undertaker, Kurt Angle, Kane, and Chris Jericho) (WWF) v The Alliance (Booker T, Diamond Dallas Page, Rhyno, and The Dudley Boyz) (WCW/ECW): Despite the cool name, this is basically just a ten-man tag. And it should be a dream match, but really, only two of the guys are from WCW, and the other three had already been in the WWF forever. (Inaugural) brawl in the aisle to start, and the dust settles on Austin and Rhyno - Steve hitting a mulekick and stomping a mud hole. Thesz press sets up a pointed elbowdrop for two, and Austin actually superplexes him for two before tagging Jericho. Chris with a quick diving forearm, but gets overwhelmed in the wrong corner, and Booker tags in. Harlem sidekick misses, however, and Jericho bulldogs him for two, then 2^nd rope dropkicks him for two. Tag to Angle, but he quickly walks into a spinkick from Booker, and D-Von Dudley tags in with a diving backelbow. Kurt fires back with a lariat then tags Kane to punish D-Von in the corner. Sidewalk slam gets two, and a side suplex follows, but D-Von gets a blind tag to Bubba Dudley, and he sneaks in with a cutter for two. Kane quickly puts him down with a big boot to setup a flying clothesline, and over to Undertaker. 'Taker with a pair of corner whips and a jumping clothesline for two, and the ropewalk forearm follows, but 'Taker gets distracted by DDP, and Bubba manages a suplex. Tag to Rhyno for a spear in the corner, and with 'Taker down, Page wants in! Rhyno grants his wish, and Dallas hits a short-clothesline for two. Discus clothesline gets two, and a backelbow sets up a DDT for two. Really awkward movements from these two here, and it appears to be 'Taker's fault with a bunch of miscues. No doubt Page took the blame for that one backstage. Tag to Booker with a Harlem sidekick for two, but he telegraphs a backdrop, and gets DDTd for two. Tag to Stone Cold to stomp a mud hole, but Booker blocks the Stunner, and they spill out - Austin suplexing him on the floor before rolling him back in. Tag to Jericho for a flying axehandle, and he tries the Walls, but the Alliance saves. Lionsault, but D-Von stunguns him, and tags himself in to beat Chris proper. The Dudley's double-team with quick tags, but miss a tandem move in the corner, and Kurt gets the tag. He unloads on both Boyz, but gets overwhelmed, and Bubba grabs him with a sitout full-nelson bomb, then passes to Rhyno with a belly-to-belly suplex for two. The Alliance take turns working over Angle as they cut the ring in half, but when Page looks to finish with the Diamond Cutter, Undertaker comes in illegally and it quickly turns into a big brawl! Undertaker and Page end up brawling into the crowd during the mêlée to put them both out of the match, as the other eight guys put each other through tables and exchange finishers. Kurt with an Anklelock to finish Booker, but suddenly Austin turns on him, and Booker gets the pin for the Alliance at 29:04. Though the ending drew audible groans from the entire fan base, the match itself was good, with fantastic pace throughout, and fun combinations. Again, not enough of these guys were actually new blood to make this any kind of dream match, but it was still good for what it was, and a fine main event – though it did make the Alliance guys look weak again, as if they could only win with the WWF stars help. *** ¼

BUExperience: Despite the neat concept and despite the financial success of the show, there weren’t a whole lot of actual dream matches on the card, but the main event delivered, as did the Hardcore Title match, and the entire show had a very exciting premise – one fans who lived through the non-monopoly days dreamed of for years. Though I’d classify the show (and the whole angle) as ‘disappointing’ overall, it’s far from a bad show, and holds up fairly well today.

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