Speaker 1: Welcome to the WWE Podcast, the most passionate and authentic
Speaker 1: wrestling analysis on the web. We've got you covered with
Speaker 1: every Raw, SmackDown and NXT show, giving you a no
Speaker 1: bullsted opinion. We know you love wrestling. We do too,
Speaker 1: so let's get this show underway.
Speaker 2: And that's the bottom line.
Speaker 3: What costone cod exceptsu.
Speaker 4: Hey, guys, what is going on? And welcome to WWE
Speaker 4: Rivalryes with your host, yours truly, Anthony DeMarco. So it
Speaker 4: is Friday, September fourteenth. Yeah, no, wow, September eighteenth. While
Speaker 4: I'm way off with my day. Is that's what happens
Speaker 4: when you work night shifts and weekends like I do.
Speaker 4: Your schedule just kind of goes upside down. So welcome
Speaker 4: you guys. And this week it's a kind of a
Speaker 4: special edition of rivalries. Is it's not between two wrestlers
Speaker 4: or superstars, it's between two factions. And that's right. We're
Speaker 4: going all the way back to two thousand and one
Speaker 4: and the rivalry between Team WWF and the Alliance. And
Speaker 4: you know, this is a special rivalry for me. I
Speaker 4: think that two thousand and one was one of the
Speaker 4: best years in wrestling for a lot of reasons. Even
Speaker 4: though many felt that this rivalry and this invasion angle
Speaker 4: was lackluster in a lot of ways, I still do
Speaker 4: feel like it was extremely important the climax of a
Speaker 4: lot of superstars' careers, the breakout year for a lot
Speaker 4: of guys as well. And yeah, I just think it's
Speaker 4: very important to go back and touch on a time
Speaker 4: in wrestling that changed the path for a lot of guys.
Speaker 4: But before we get into that, as I always do,
Speaker 4: I just want to give a couple of my quick
Speaker 4: thoughts on the current product and give my opinion on something.
Speaker 4: So we'll start with SmackDown, And I gotta say I
Speaker 4: am a real big fan of SmackDown. Right now, SmackDown
Speaker 4: feels really good. It feels like they're hitting it out
Speaker 4: of the park with a lot of storylines. Maybe safe
Speaker 4: for the whole heavy machinery Miss Morrison thing, but even
Speaker 4: that it's not too too bad. I just kind of
Speaker 4: wish that Otis didn't have the money in the bank
Speaker 4: briefcase or else it would be kind of a decent
Speaker 4: lower card comedic storyline. But even that isn't too bad.
Speaker 4: The mid card looks really strong right now. I love
Speaker 4: what they're doing in the IC title picture. Sammy Zain
Speaker 4: coming back has added a real nice breath of fresh
Speaker 4: air into that mix. AJ styles, Jeff Hardy, I'm expecting.
Speaker 4: I think as many are threat match for the Innerconnell
Speaker 4: Championship at Clash of Champions, so that'll be cool. I
Speaker 4: like what they're doing with Seamus and King Corbin. I
Speaker 4: think they have established themselves really nicely as upper card heels,
Speaker 4: and well, what can you say about Roman Reigns and
Speaker 4: the slow burn heel turn. I think that his matchup
Speaker 4: with Jay Ouso at the upcoming pay per view is
Speaker 4: just gonna be yet again another stepping stone of him
Speaker 4: going completely.
Speaker 3: Over to the dark side all the Star Wars.
Speaker 4: Going from the Jedi to the Sith, and I think
Speaker 4: Matt has touched on this a bit as well, that
Speaker 4: it's really cool that they're taking the slow, methodical approach
Speaker 4: approach to this as opposed to the swift one hundred
Speaker 4: eighty degree heel turn. So you know what, I really
Speaker 4: gotta give WWE credit on the SmackDown side of things. Obviously,
Speaker 4: Paul Hayman has helped in that regard both on screen
Speaker 4: and reports, so that he has had a hand in
Speaker 4: Creative as well since returning, and you can see it
Speaker 4: as well as the Bailey thing. Like I thought, she
Speaker 4: cut an A plus promo as per usual. I'm really
Speaker 4: looking forward to that program whenever Sasha Banks does return.
Speaker 4: As for Raw, look look Raw isn't bad, but it's
Speaker 4: really starting to get redundant. Like for me, I was
Speaker 4: super excited for the Randy Orton and Drew McIntyre program.
Speaker 4: It has since felt very cooled off for me. I
Speaker 4: like I said last week, I love Keith Lee, but
Speaker 4: I just do not really get why he is in
Speaker 4: this program. He's like the third wheel, and I know
Speaker 4: that they want to attach him to star power. I
Speaker 4: know they want to make him feel important, and he
Speaker 4: is a budding megastar in we there's no doubt about that.
Speaker 4: But I just don't understand why he is in this
Speaker 4: program right now. He doesn't need to be in this program.
Speaker 4: The McIntyre and Randy Orton didn't need him to be
Speaker 4: in this program. I just feel like he would be
Speaker 4: better served elsewhere right now. Like I still feel like
Speaker 4: he could have been the perfect ying to the hurt
Speaker 4: businesses Yang. To me, that would have been a good feud.
Speaker 4: But in talking about the Hurt business. I gotta say
Speaker 4: they are one of my favorite things going in WWE
Speaker 4: right now and my favorite part of Monday Night Raw.
Speaker 4: I gotta say I love it. I think it's one
Speaker 4: of the best factions they've done in quite a few years.
Speaker 4: What can you say about MVP When he came back,
Speaker 4: I was really down on him. I trashed him a
Speaker 4: lot following his return at the Royal Rumble. I didn't
Speaker 4: understand why they brought him back. I was never the
Speaker 4: biggest fan of him with his inaugural run with the
Speaker 4: company in the mid to late two thousands, but man,
Speaker 4: he has really made me shut my mouth. He is
Speaker 4: one of the best talkers in ww right now. I
Speaker 4: would honestly say that as of right now, after Paul Hayman,
Speaker 4: MVP may be the best promo that WWB has going
Speaker 4: right now. He has made Bobby Lashley feel extremely relevant.
Speaker 4: He has brought Shelton Benjamin out of his obscurity since
Speaker 4: he returned to WWE in twenty sixteen. I think that
Speaker 4: this is gonna do worlds for Cedric Alexander. I like
Speaker 4: the fact that they are a heel faction, but they
Speaker 4: they're badasses. At the same time, I love that they
Speaker 4: came out and stood up to retribution. I find their
Speaker 4: gimmick really cool, coming out in the big suits, expensive gear,
Speaker 4: like the bling like. I love it. I love everything
Speaker 4: about it. I think it's one of the best things
Speaker 4: WWE has going right now. I'm really really hoping that
Speaker 4: they put the tag team championships on them. I don't
Speaker 4: know if it would be Shelton and Cedric or Cedric
Speaker 4: and MVP. Obviously not Bobby as he has the US Championship,
Speaker 4: but I really want them to get the tag team
Speaker 4: championships in the her business, so I'm looking for that.
Speaker 4: But I got to say kudos to WWE. They have
Speaker 4: done a mass world job building up that faction. Another thing,
Speaker 4: I really like Naya and Shana Basler. I find them
Speaker 4: a really cool women's tag team. They're probably my favorite
Speaker 4: women's tag team champions since the Belt got debuted in
Speaker 4: what was it early twenty eighteen? Yeah about that, so
Speaker 4: two and a half years ago. So I really like
Speaker 4: that they've made Naya feel relevant again. I don't hate
Speaker 4: her on my television screen. I think this was a
Speaker 4: nice change of pace for Shana Basler, who cooled really
Speaker 4: way off after her inaugural feud with Becky Lynch entering
Speaker 4: WrestleMania thirty six. Yeah, thirty six.
Speaker 3: Look at me.
Speaker 4: I'm all messed up with my numbers today dates and
Speaker 4: WrestleMania's But yeah, I'm looking forward to their match with
Speaker 4: the Riot Squad at Class of Champions and I really
Speaker 4: like the women's tag Team Championship scene right now. But
Speaker 4: on a side note, when to speaking about the tag
Speaker 4: team division and the women's division, I've kind of thought
Speaker 4: something for quite a while now, given the lack of
Speaker 4: depth in each of those divisions, and to take it
Speaker 4: back to the Attitude era or Ruthless Aggression era rather
Speaker 4: when they also had the brand extension and it was
Speaker 4: very abided by. I remember that they had the Cruiserweights
Speaker 4: exclusively on the SmackDown brand and the women's division exclusively
Speaker 4: on the Raw brand, and they did have women on SmackDown,
Speaker 4: and they did have some women's matches on SmackDown, but
Speaker 4: the Raw Women's Championship belonged exclusively to the Red brand,
Speaker 4: like we saw with the Cruiserweights on SmackDown. So, given
Speaker 4: the lack of depth in each of the tag in both,
Speaker 4: rather in both the tag and the women's divisions. I'm
Speaker 4: kind of thinking that maybe WWE should do the same,
Speaker 4: maybe send this the tag division over to SmackDown and
Speaker 4: keep the women division on Raw, because I think what
Speaker 4: you're seeing now is a lot of cross promotional brand
Speaker 4: matches where we saw the Bar not the Bar, Cizarro
Speaker 4: and Nakamargo up against the Street Profits. There's pretty much
Speaker 4: no tag teams on Raw right now after the Street
Speaker 4: Profits because you know, Ivar got hurt, so the Viking
Speaker 4: Raiders aren't a thing anymore. Ricochet and Cedric Alexander broke up,
Speaker 4: Angel Garza and Andrade are no longer a thing. Even
Speaker 4: Zelena bailed on them. So I'm almost thinking that WWE
Speaker 4: may be trending to unifying the tag team belts, and
Speaker 4: if that's the case, I think the Tag division should
Speaker 4: be exclusive to SmackDown. I think SmackDown for a long
Speaker 4: time has been the better and the stronger of the
Speaker 4: two in that regard.
Speaker 3: But then with the.
Speaker 4: Women's Championship, it's the same type of thing because you
Speaker 4: see Osca going up against the likes of Mickey James,
Speaker 4: and after that on Raw, who could she really go
Speaker 4: up against? Natalia? Been there done that Shana and Naya
Speaker 4: while they're holding the tag team titles right now, Ruby
Speaker 4: Ryd and liv Morgan also a tag team at the moment,
Speaker 4: And you look on SmackDown and Bailey's going up against
Speaker 4: Nicky Cross for what the fourth time in the last
Speaker 4: couple months. We know that she's not gonna win. Lacy
Speaker 4: Evans has really cooled off after a hot debut last
Speaker 4: year against Becky Lynch Alexa Bliss seems preoccupied with a
Speaker 4: side storyline with the Fiends. So I think WWE would
Speaker 4: be best served to at least consider making the women's
Speaker 4: division exclusively on Raw, because if that's the case, you
Speaker 4: would have so many more opportunities for fresh matchups, more
Speaker 4: storylines Like Look, I love Osca as Women's champion. I
Speaker 4: think she's one of the best in WWE right now,
Speaker 4: especially with Charlotte and Becky out. I think she's second
Speaker 4: to Bailey, But at the same time, she really has
Speaker 4: no one to tangle with right now, and even Bailey
Speaker 4: after they do the Sasha program, who would really be
Speaker 4: next in line for that women's championship. So to close
Speaker 4: it out, I think WWE should really look to making
Speaker 4: the tag division exclusive to SmackDown and the Raw Division
Speaker 4: and the Women's division exclusive to Raw, much like they
Speaker 4: did with the Cruiserweights and the women's divisions back in
Speaker 4: the early to mid two thousands during the Ruthless Aggression era.
Speaker 4: So enough of that, Let's get to the reason why
Speaker 4: you're here, and that is rivalries, and I'm gonna I
Speaker 4: wanted to do this for a while with the Alliance
Speaker 4: versus Team WWF because, as I said in the opening,
Speaker 4: this was a key year for a lot of superstars,
Speaker 4: specifically Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, Booker, t the rock Stone, Cold,
Speaker 4: Steve Austin, Shane McMahon. Even there's a lot of guys
Speaker 4: who benefited from this year, even if the program as
Speaker 4: a whole was lackluster, and it took up pretty much
Speaker 4: I would say eight months. It started in March and
Speaker 4: it culminated at Survivor Series in late November, so it
Speaker 4: ate up the vast majority of the year two thousand
Speaker 4: and one. So this really started at the build up
Speaker 4: to WrestleMania seventeen when Shane McMahon returned to face his father,
Speaker 4: Vince McMahon. And what happened was is that Vince was
Speaker 4: pretty much running Roughshaw on WWE or WWF at that time.
Speaker 4: And I don't know if you remember, but this is
Speaker 4: when there was the whole Linda McMahon sitting dated Angle
Speaker 4: when he she would get wheeled out in a wheelchair
Speaker 4: and she was supposedly hopped up on meds and she
Speaker 4: couldn't how would you say, she couldn't respond to anything?
Speaker 4: And Vince was dating Trish. I remember there's that infamous
Speaker 4: scene of Linda sitting in the wheelchair on the top
Speaker 4: ramp of SmackDown and Vincent Trish making out in front
Speaker 4: of her. So Shane came back to, you know, fight
Speaker 4: for his mother's honor. So they come back, challenges his
Speaker 4: dad to a street fight and they and that match
Speaker 4: happened at WrestleMania seventeen and it was actually officiated by
Speaker 4: Mick Foley. But one thing that happened en route to
Speaker 4: WrestleMania seventeen in real life was Vince McMahon buying wc
Speaker 4: W and one of the most historic moments in the
Speaker 4: history of the wrestling industry. There was a simulca between
Speaker 4: Monday Night Raw and the last ever WCW Monday Night Nitro,
Speaker 4: and it went something like this.
Speaker 3: Imagine that.
Speaker 5: Me, Vince McMahon, imagine that here I am on WCW television.
Speaker 3: How can that happen?
Speaker 5: Well, there's only one way, you see, it was just
Speaker 5: a matter of time before I, Vince McMahon bought my competition.
Speaker 5: That's right, I own WCW. So therefore, in its final
Speaker 5: broadcast tonight on TNT, I have the opportunity to address you,
Speaker 5: the WCW fans. I have an opportunity to address you,
Speaker 5: the WCW superstars. Here's the fate of w CW well
Speaker 5: tonight and a special simulcast you'll all find out because
Speaker 5: the fate, the very fate of w CW, is in
Speaker 5: my hands.
Speaker 4: So what do you know? A special simulcast between WWF
Speaker 4: and WCW. And, like Vince McMahon says, who would have
Speaker 4: ever thought?
Speaker 3: So?
Speaker 4: Later that night, Shane McMahon shows up on WCW Nitro
Speaker 4: and confronts his dad, and you have on one screen
Speaker 4: WCW Nitro with with Vince, with Shane standing in the ring,
Speaker 4: and then you have Vince standing in the ring on
Speaker 4: Monday Night Raw and Shane revealed that he is now
Speaker 4: the owner of wc W, and hence kicks off the
Speaker 4: invasion angle that we didn't really know how it was
Speaker 4: going to go down. But this was really the kickoff
Speaker 4: right before their match at WrestleMania seventeen. So WrestleMania seventeen
Speaker 4: comes and goes, Shane beats his dad in the street
Speaker 4: fight where he I believe that was the debut of
Speaker 4: the Coast to Coast that sham Man has used for
Speaker 4: the follow that shame at Men used for the following
Speaker 4: nineteen years and still uses at to date. Linda mit
Speaker 4: Mahn stood up out of her wheelchair, kicked Vincent the nuts,
Speaker 4: and then Shane beat him with the Coast to Coast
Speaker 4: counted one, two, three by Mick Foley. But if you
Speaker 4: guys remember that match, which I really encourage you to
Speaker 4: go back and watch, or if you haven't watched it ever,
Speaker 4: do yourself a favor watch it. But shame it Man
Speaker 4: came out and addressed the WCW wrestlers who were in
Speaker 4: attendance at the Houston Astrodome in Houston, Texas.
Speaker 3: But here was the.
Speaker 4: Thing is that in real life, when Vince bought WCW,
Speaker 4: he didn't exactly get all the stars, and we saw
Speaker 4: that when this angle started because it took a couple
Speaker 4: months for them to really kick off this angle. They
Speaker 4: went through I believe all of April and May without
Speaker 4: the Invasion angle really going at it, But when it started,
Speaker 4: I believe it really got going. In at the beginning
Speaker 4: of June, you started seeing the WCW wrestlers show up,
Speaker 4: but it wasn't the ones you were hoping for. You
Speaker 4: were seeing guys like Sean Stasiac and Sean O'Hara, and
Speaker 4: Chuck Palumbo and Billy Kidman, and then the only two
Speaker 4: real big names that you saw was Diamond Dallas Page
Speaker 4: and Booker t Those were the only two guys that
Speaker 4: were like relatively big names coming over from WCW. And
Speaker 4: you know, fans were kind of looking at like the
Speaker 4: guys that were showing up, and Buff Bagwell was another one,
Speaker 4: the infamous Buff Bagwell. But you fans were watching and
Speaker 4: seeing all these guys, and they were kind of like, well,
Speaker 4: where's the nWo, Where's Rick Flair, Where's Goldberg, Where's Sting?
Speaker 4: And it was really unfortunate because for years fans had
Speaker 4: dreamt about like dream matches and pointing together to like
Speaker 4: big brawls, and none of those big names were showing up,
Speaker 4: and in real life, what had happened was that WWE
Speaker 4: chose not to inherit those ironclad contracts that time Warner
Speaker 4: was paying all these guys, So those guys stayed home
Speaker 4: and just collected money not to do anything instead of
Speaker 4: wrestling for WWF. And eventually a lot of these guys
Speaker 4: came over, like the nWo came over in two thousand
Speaker 4: and two, Scott Steiner showed up in late two thousand
Speaker 4: and two, Goldberg came over in two thousand and three.
Speaker 4: Hal Rick Flair even showed up in late two thousand
Speaker 4: and one. He showed up right after the Invasion angle closed,
Speaker 4: albeit not as a performer. But so you saw these
Speaker 4: guys showing up, and while it was really cool to
Speaker 4: see these wrestlers showing up and invading the WWF, there
Speaker 4: was something left to be desired, and I think WWE
Speaker 4: realized that because a bit into this Invasion angle, they
Speaker 4: brought in the element of ECW. And at this time,
Speaker 4: if you guys don't remember, Paul Hayman was the color
Speaker 4: commentator to Jim Ross on Monday Night Raw, and I
Speaker 4: remember what happened was is that they the WCW guys
Speaker 4: were were beating up the WWF guys in the middle
Speaker 4: of the ring, and a bunch of the WWF locker
Speaker 4: room came running out and stood toe to toe with
Speaker 4: the WCW guys and then turned on the WWF guys
Speaker 4: in the ring and just performed this massive beatdown. And
Speaker 4: these guys included the likes of Rhino and the Dudley Boys.
Speaker 4: But what do you know, those were former ECW guys
Speaker 4: and they joined the Invasion angle, hence the alliance between
Speaker 4: ECW and WCW, which was later revealed that Stephanie McMahon
Speaker 4: was the new owner of ECW, so you had Shane
Speaker 4: owning WCW and Stephanie owning ECW. And while I thought
Speaker 4: it was cool that they brought ECW into the mix,
Speaker 4: obviously ECW had and continues to have a massive fan base,
Speaker 4: I think WWF did this more out of necessity, like
Speaker 4: Vince and Creative made this happen, and out of necessity
Speaker 4: because they just simply did not have the WCW star
Speaker 4: power to make the Invasion angle plausible, to make it
Speaker 4: realistic that these WCW invaders could overtake the WWF, because
Speaker 4: in reality, you had a lot of former ECW stars
Speaker 4: who were in WWF by the time this angle rolled around.
Speaker 4: Like I mentioned, you had Rhino, you had the Dudley Boys,
Speaker 4: you had a guy like Taz like. These were all
Speaker 4: guys who had been in WWF for at this point
Speaker 4: a couple of years, and you had and they were
Speaker 4: former ECW guys, and the crowd already knew them. There
Speaker 4: was name recognition because a lot of these WCW guys
Speaker 4: that came over, they were mid to lower card guys.
Speaker 4: So if you were strictly a WWF fan at the time,
Speaker 4: like I was, or I believe like Matt was, and
Speaker 4: I'm sure like many of you guys were, you didn't
Speaker 4: know the lower card guys. You didn't know the mid
Speaker 4: card guys. Like even as a diehard wwfan, I knew
Speaker 4: about Staying, I knew about Goldberg, I knew about the nWo,
Speaker 4: But you didn't know about Sean Stasiac and Chris Kanyon.
Speaker 4: You didn't hear about these guys or the Disco Inferno
Speaker 4: or what have you.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 4: So it was very important for WWF to make the
Speaker 4: fans care about the WCW side, and in doing so,
Speaker 4: they formed the alliance with ECW. And on another note,
Speaker 4: you had Paul Hayman sitting there, and by this point
Speaker 4: I believe he had been on Color Commentary for about
Speaker 4: six months and damn good at it, my dad. So
Speaker 4: you had Paul Hayman, the visionary of ECW, in your
Speaker 4: back pocket as well. So they went ahead with ECW,
Speaker 4: And look, I could be completely off, maybe ECW was
Speaker 4: part of the plan the entire time, but I just
Speaker 4: I believe as just an opinion, and like I just said,
Speaker 4: I don't know this to be fact or not. I
Speaker 4: truly believe that Creative did this just to legitimize the angle.
Speaker 4: And if they had inherited the likes of the nWo
Speaker 4: and Goldberg and Sting and Flair right off the bat,
Speaker 4: they would have not have included ECW, because at the
Speaker 4: end of the day, ECW never really held a candle
Speaker 4: to WWF or WCW. They were always just kind of
Speaker 4: like the ugly third stepchild in the I guess wrestling
Speaker 4: wars of the mid to late nineteen nineties. But nevertheless,
Speaker 4: it was a good element given the cards that were
Speaker 4: dealt to the WWF and the talent they had at
Speaker 4: their disposal. So this Angle starts and they build up
Speaker 4: to the Invasion pay per view, which happened in July
Speaker 4: of two thousand and one. And I gotta say I
Speaker 4: own this dvd, YEP, a dvd that I bought, I
Speaker 4: believe in two thousand and two, and I have to
Speaker 4: say I've watched it over fifty times, so I know
Speaker 4: this pay per view like the back of my hand.
Speaker 4: And I'll just give you the overview for this card.
Speaker 4: So it started with on Sunday Night Heat, which was
Speaker 4: always the pre pay per view show. I bet I
Speaker 4: guess because Heat was recorded between before Monday Night Raw
Speaker 4: and with air on Sunday nights back in the day.
Speaker 4: So Chavala Gerrero the Alliance defeated Scotti Twohati at the
Speaker 4: w WF Edge, and Christian defeated Landstorm and Mike Awesome.
Speaker 4: Earl Hebner defeated Nick Patrick in a referee versus referee match.
Speaker 4: The APA defeated Chuck Palumbo and Shawn O'Hare of the
Speaker 4: Alliance in the tag team champions match of each brand,
Speaker 4: Billy Kidman defeated XPOC. Raven of the Alliance defeated William Regal.
Speaker 4: Raven was another guy who had been in WWF for
Speaker 4: a while at that point, but was a former ECW guy.
Speaker 4: Chris Kenyon, Hugh Morris, and Sean Stacy. The Alliance defeated
Speaker 4: Albert big Show and Billy gunn Ty. Jerry defeated Taz
Speaker 4: Rob Van Dam of the Alliance defeated Jeff Hardy in
Speaker 4: a hardcore match. Go back and watch that match. That
Speaker 4: was a hell of a fight. Tristratus and Leda defeated
Speaker 4: Tory Wilson and Stacy Keebler in the oh so popular
Speaker 4: bra and panties match. God, I know Matt has talked
Speaker 4: about this quite a few times. Imagine having those types
Speaker 4: of matches nowadays. WOW would not go over well in
Speaker 4: the current political climate, that's for sure. And then the
Speaker 4: main event was the the WCW and ECW coalition that
Speaker 4: was Booker, t Bubba, Ray Dudley, Devon Dudley, Diamond, Dallas
Speaker 4: Page and Rhino versus Team WWF Chris Jericho, Kurt angle Stone,
Speaker 4: Cold Steve Austin and The Undertaker. So you hear both
Speaker 4: teams and obviously, if you was strictly by star power,
Speaker 4: the WWF was vastly outweighed the Alliance, and again you
Speaker 4: look at Team Alliance and you have Diamond, Dallas Page,
Speaker 4: Booker T, the Dudley Boys, and Rhino. The only true
Speaker 4: non WWF guys in that on that team are Diamond, Dallas,
Speaker 4: Page and Booker T. Rhino and the Dudley Boys were
Speaker 4: WWF guys and they had been ECW guys years before.
Speaker 4: So just in the main event itself, you saw that
Speaker 4: WCW and ECW were lacking their own star power. And
Speaker 4: just to say, when Diamond, Dallas Page and Booker T
Speaker 4: are your two biggest names from WCW, given the names
Speaker 4: I have previously mentioned, it's unfortunate, but again they're they
Speaker 4: were doing the best they could with the hands that
Speaker 4: were dealt, and they had to use some actual WWF
Speaker 4: guys and play and book them as ECW guys, And
Speaker 4: to be fair, they were once upon a time and
Speaker 4: on the on the WWF side of things. So obviously
Speaker 4: of Undertaker and Kine, who were very hot baby faces
Speaker 4: at this time. They were the brothers of Destruction. The
Speaker 4: crowd loved them, and Undertakers the most WWF guy one
Speaker 4: off of all time. Then you have Kurt Angle and
Speaker 4: Chris Jericho, who I mentioned before really benefited from this angle,
Speaker 4: because you gotta remember at this time, Chris Jerry Triple
Speaker 4: h Rather was out with injury. He had just got
Speaker 4: a long term injury to his squad. The Rock was
Speaker 4: away filming The Scorpion King, So this really opened the
Speaker 4: door for these two guys to shoot up the ranks,
Speaker 4: and Stone Cold Steve Austin was in the midst of
Speaker 4: his heel run. He had just turned heel at Wrestling
Speaker 4: A seventeen and formed with Vince McMahon. So the build
Speaker 4: to this match was really centered around the fact that
Speaker 4: Steve Austin couldn't be the old stone cold Steve Austin.
Speaker 4: I remember that was a theme that Vince was pleading
Speaker 4: with Austin to be the old beer drinking rattlesnake because
Speaker 4: for a couple of months at this point he had
Speaker 4: kind of been a kiss ass to Vince McMahon. He
Speaker 4: was heel stone Cold Steve Austin, and Vince was pleading
Speaker 4: with him to come back to fight for Team WWF
Speaker 4: because w CW and ECW were running roughshot on the
Speaker 4: whole operation. So on the go home raw to the
Speaker 4: Invasion pay per view, a massive brawl takes place. A
Speaker 4: massive brawl and w CW and ECW are really taking
Speaker 4: it to Team WWF. And during this raw you saw
Speaker 4: clips of Stone Cold Steve Austin at a local bar.
Speaker 4: And what happened at the end of this raw maybe
Speaker 4: the biggest pop in wrestling history. And I'm gonna give
Speaker 4: you guys a listen.
Speaker 6: You don't putis p yestimated in the range estimated. There's
Speaker 6: too many And to this he tell you, guys, you
Speaker 6: either take your team and all other guys are.
Speaker 3: Putting broadly done.
Speaker 6: They're just too many numbers.
Speaker 5: You're just trying to cooking on that ten s.
Speaker 7: And there is there's no time. And look at host's talking.
Speaker 5: He's gonna get the day long.
Speaker 3: He don't looking dog step the tik, the meat and
Speaker 3: lots something.
Speaker 7: And I still come out the stagings by Theron Collas dead.
Speaker 7: I don't miss striking anything that bright dot booms taking buck,
Speaker 7: he's taking taking nay.
Speaker 6: He's not part of the Red Sea.
Speaker 3: On the first stare.
Speaker 2: On the.
Speaker 3: My dances.
Speaker 4: Times down here, there's.
Speaker 3: Not no stys to smile.
Speaker 8: Ray name.
Speaker 3: Stud gets. That's not lad.
Speaker 5: That's what I do my up.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 4: Is there anything better than listening to Jim Ross. When
Speaker 4: Steve Austin makes an an epic entrance into Monday Night Raw,
Speaker 4: you would just always lose his mind. So, yeah, as
Speaker 4: you heard, WWF was getting their asses beat. The Undertaker, Caine,
Speaker 4: Kurt Angle, and Chris Jericho were being outmatched by ECW
Speaker 4: ANDWCW guys, and before Austin made his way to the ring,
Speaker 4: he actually showed up in his pickup truck, went intercepted
Speaker 4: a few brawls going on backstage, beat up WCW and
Speaker 4: ECW guys en route to the ring, and he shows
Speaker 4: up and he clears the ring. He stone cold stunners
Speaker 4: about four or five different guys and really sets the
Speaker 4: tone heading into Invasion. So the inaugural Brawl, which is
Speaker 4: what it was called, the five on five match, main
Speaker 4: events the Invasion pay per view, and it was a
Speaker 4: really good match. I really encourage you guys to go
Speaker 4: back and watch this because it wasn't a typical five
Speaker 4: on five elimination. It was first fall to the finish
Speaker 4: that was it. First fall wins the match, So it
Speaker 4: really set up for you know, a lot of spens
Speaker 4: throughout it, and because I think sometimes in five verse
Speaker 4: five elimination matches, it sometimes gets a bit saturated because
Speaker 4: you know that they have to get a certain amount
Speaker 4: of falls in at certain checkpoints and time checkpoints in
Speaker 4: the match. So the fact that it was like first
Speaker 4: ball wins it really set up anticipation, at least for myself.
Speaker 4: So the Invasion main event ends with WWF surprisingly losing
Speaker 4: Stone Cold Steve Austin to Team Alliance. Yeah, Vince McMahon
Speaker 4: and Creative doubled down on the Austin heel turn in
Speaker 4: two thousand and one, and when it looked like Kurt
Speaker 4: Angle had the match one for Team WWF, he had
Speaker 4: Booker T in an ankle lock after giving him the
Speaker 4: angle slam. Austin comes in the rings Stone Cold stunners,
Speaker 4: Kurd Angle pulls Booker T on top and gives the
Speaker 4: Team ww Alliance rather the victory and turns heel. Joins
Speaker 4: Shane Stephanie and Paul Hayman as a member of the Alliance.
Speaker 4: Closes out the Invasion pay per view drinking beer, pouring
Speaker 4: beer on Vince McMahon, and it was it was really something.
Speaker 4: And a side note about that match, that match was
Speaker 4: the Kurd Angle Show. I gotta say, if you go
Speaker 4: back and watch that because at the end of that match,
Speaker 4: all hell kind of broke loose, like it was just
Speaker 4: a big brawl, like DDP and Undertaker fought off into
Speaker 4: the crowd and they had a really cool underlying feud
Speaker 4: going on during this whole Angle as well as DDP
Speaker 4: was stalking the Undertaker's then wife, so they went fighting
Speaker 4: off into the crowd into the backstage area. Caine got
Speaker 4: double souplex through a take the announcement on the outside,
Speaker 4: Jericho sent himself and Rhino through the table on the outside,
Speaker 4: and Kurt Angle. I gotta say he really really shined
Speaker 4: in this match, and towards the end it was the
Speaker 4: Kurt Angle Show, like I said, ends with Austin turning
Speaker 4: heel and joining the Alliance. And again to kind of
Speaker 4: build off what I said earlier in the program, I
Speaker 4: think WWE did this and Creative did this because of
Speaker 4: the lack of star power on the side of WCW, because,
Speaker 4: as I mentioned previously, when your top guys are Booker
Speaker 4: T and Diamond Dallas Page and that's to say not
Speaker 4: to shit on DDP and Booker T, because they were
Speaker 4: great guys for WCW, and Booker T specifically at a
Speaker 4: really solid run with WWE in the succeeding decade. But
Speaker 4: at the end of the day, Booker T and Diamond
Speaker 4: Dallas Page at this time were on the level of
Speaker 4: the upper mid card guys that WWF had. You know,
Speaker 4: they were on the same level of guys like Kurt
Speaker 4: Angle and Chris Jericho. And albeit that Chris Jericho and
Speaker 4: Kurt Angle were in this match, but when you have
Speaker 4: the likes of The Undertaker and Stone Cold Steve Austin
Speaker 4: and The Rock who would return two weeks after this match,
Speaker 4: there was just simply no matchup. So I think that
Speaker 4: is why you saw Stone Cold Steve Austin make the
Speaker 4: jump to wcwwwe's creative doubled down on his Heel turn
Speaker 4: in two thousand and one and made the switch to
Speaker 4: the Heels brand and the Alliance. So, like I said,
Speaker 4: the Rock makes a return two weeks later on Monday
Speaker 4: Night Raw as Vincmentman lifts his suspension and The Rock
Speaker 4: comes back. He is lobbied by both Shane McMahon and
Speaker 4: Vincent Men to join the respective brands in the Alliance
Speaker 4: or Team WWF, and The Rock chooses Team WWF. As
Speaker 4: he Rock bottoms vincementmanh looks like he's going to join
Speaker 4: the Alliance. Then rock Bottom Shane and gives him the
Speaker 4: People's elbow and then makes his proclamation that he is
Speaker 4: back to lead Team WWF.
Speaker 8: So what do you know?
Speaker 4: Once again, like had been the case so many times,
Speaker 4: the Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin are somewhat pitted
Speaker 4: against one another, and they didn't really engage in head
Speaker 4: in a head on head feud at this time, but
Speaker 4: the Rock was leading Team WWF and Stone Cold Steve
Speaker 4: Austin was leading Team WCW. But you gotta remember at
Speaker 4: this time there were two world championships, the WCW Championship
Speaker 4: and the WWF Championship. So you head into SummerSlam two
Speaker 4: thousand and one and Kurt Angle and Stone Cold Steve
Speaker 4: Austin clash for the WWF Championship, which Stone Cold Steve
Speaker 4: Austin retains, and The Rock goes up against Booker T
Speaker 4: for the WCW Championship. And I gotta say the Rock
Speaker 4: verse Booker T was one of the more underrated feuds
Speaker 4: and isn't talked about a law because haus it kind
Speaker 4: of got lost in the shopfold during the whole invasion Angle.
Speaker 4: But I gotta say they had some pretty good interactions
Speaker 4: and I'm gonna give you a sneak peek or I'm
Speaker 4: gonna give you a listen rather on their first ever
Speaker 4: encounter on an episode of SmackDown, and Matt, I gotta say,
Speaker 4: this is pretty damn funny.
Speaker 3: Woa ma, woor ma, I'm the w c W champion.
Speaker 6: Suck up.
Speaker 3: You're going to Summer Slam. Oh yeah, I'll be there.
Speaker 3: What are you gonna be there for?
Speaker 9: What if somebody need to park their car outside the building.
Speaker 3: You didn't say that? Tell me you did not. Yeah.
Speaker 4: So, as you guys just heard, the Rock goes to
Speaker 4: Totoe with Booker T and this kind of kicks off
Speaker 4: their feud which came to a head at SummerSlam two
Speaker 4: thousand and one. So you had the Rock challenging Booker
Speaker 4: T for the WCW Championship and Kurt Angle challenging song
Speaker 4: called Steve Austin for the WWF Championship in pretty much
Speaker 4: the co main events of SummerSlam two thousand and one.
Speaker 4: But while this is going on, they were actually really
Speaker 4: pushing Rhino as a legitimate maybe not main event guy,
Speaker 4: but an upper mid card guy, because, like I said,
Speaker 4: they were really trying to get legitimate stars on the
Speaker 4: Allion's side of the fight to match up against WWF.
Speaker 4: And at this time, Rhino and Chris Jericho were engaged
Speaker 4: in a feud and they actually went head to head
Speaker 4: at SummerSlam two thousand and one. So on another raw
Speaker 4: leading into SummerSlam, you had Booker Tane, Stephanie McMahon, and Rhino,
Speaker 4: who had almost become kind of like the bodyguard or
Speaker 4: sidekick to Stephanie McMahon who was the co leader of
Speaker 4: the Alliance alongside her brother Shane. So while they're cutting
Speaker 4: this promo, they are interrupted by The Rock and Chris Jericho.
Speaker 4: And I know I'm maybe giving you guys a bit
Speaker 4: too much audio as opposed to my usual shows, but
Speaker 4: there are just so many underlying segments during this Invasion
Speaker 4: angle that were just so damn funny. And one thing
Speaker 4: that I feel like got lost in the sauce was
Speaker 4: the Rock in Chris Jericho's chemistry alongside one another and
Speaker 4: actually eventually going head to head against one another during
Speaker 4: this time in the WWA, But on this particular night,
Speaker 4: they were both standing side by side, and I gotta
Speaker 4: say they had some funny chemistry going on at the
Speaker 4: expense of Stephanie McMahon.
Speaker 2: Wait a second, Wait a second, Rock, That was a
Speaker 2: good one, But you're.
Speaker 3: Forgetting one half of the family.
Speaker 4: I mean, look what's standing in the ring right now.
Speaker 3: You've got a man beast and a hose beast. I mean,
Speaker 3: we're dealing with the door and the hole. The chick's
Speaker 3: the world.
Speaker 9: I gotta get the rights kicked by the Alliance. And
Speaker 9: I'm promising you that. Oh the Rock understands this. When
Speaker 9: Chris this is a little rhyming contest between you and
Speaker 9: the Rock, Well, the Rock has.
Speaker 3: Gone one better than that. Oh yeah, the Rock has
Speaker 3: got one better than that.
Speaker 9: Here's a little rhyme.
Speaker 2: Here's Booker T and Shane the punk ass sucker and
Speaker 2: the Service booon mother.
Speaker 8: Jo.
Speaker 7: If you want Booker T and Rhino so bad, boober way,
Speaker 7: if they want you to so bad?
Speaker 3: Why wait till Summer Slam?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Why wait? I thought it, chuckey, Why don't.
Speaker 7: You rock team with why to J and Bath Booker
Speaker 7: T and Rhino And it's sad team match And there's
Speaker 7: that way tonight's Brot up here.
Speaker 3: So you know, I think that's just what Why to
Speaker 3: Jay and a rock wanted?
Speaker 2: Thank you Steffanie, you are the breast I mean best.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, it's gonna be the rock.
Speaker 2: Why to j get book a tea and ride out
Speaker 2: tonight for the millions of people live roy Is War.
Speaker 3: You see the rock in Chris Jerco.
Speaker 9: We're gonna take you to a little geography lesson.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we're gonna go to France. Were gonna have to
Speaker 3: chime up. We gotta go to rush up. But don't worry,
Speaker 3: we get in trouble.
Speaker 2: We could choose Stefano Man's breast as a flotation device.
Speaker 2: But it doesn't matter where we go around the world
Speaker 2: one some places twice, the fact remains we will wind
Speaker 2: up right back here your ten, he asks over sack.
Speaker 4: So, as you guys heard, they really destroyed Stephanie McMahon,
Speaker 4: who I believe at that time had just got breast
Speaker 4: implants or something. I know there was a graphic that
Speaker 4: Chris Jericho had earlier showed of a before and after
Speaker 4: side shot of Stephanie McMahon, but we won't go too
Speaker 4: much into that. But yeah, the Rock and Chris Jericho
Speaker 4: really had great chemistry at this time and Chris Jericho
Speaker 4: has talked about numerous times about how much he enjoyed
Speaker 4: working with The Rock. So the Rock wins the WCW
Speaker 4: Championship at SummerSlam, Stone Cold Steve Austin retains the WWF Championship.
Speaker 4: So now you have the lead of Team WWF with
Speaker 4: the WCW Championship and you have the leader of WCWECW
Speaker 4: with the WWF Championship. So kind of contradictory a bit,
Speaker 4: but it was a pretty cool angle that they had.
Speaker 4: The following pay per view at Unforgiven, the Rock retains
Speaker 4: his WCW Championship against Booker T and Seaye McMann in
Speaker 4: a handicap match, and Kurt Angle actually wins the WWF
Speaker 4: Championship against Stone Cold Steve Austin for his second ever
Speaker 4: WWF Championship win. But as this is going on, you
Speaker 4: kind of start to see a bit of tension on
Speaker 4: the WWF side of things. Chris Jericho and The Rock,
Speaker 4: who were pretty much almost like the co leaders at
Speaker 4: this point, along with Kurt Angle, really start to go
Speaker 4: head to head with one another, and at No Mercy
Speaker 4: two thousand and one, Jericho actually defeats The Rock for
Speaker 4: the w CW Championship, and at the same pay per view,
Speaker 4: Austin regains the WWF Championship against Kurt Angle and Rob
Speaker 4: Van Dam in a triple threat match, and during October
Speaker 4: and early November, Kurt Angle actually makes the jump and
Speaker 4: turns heel and joins the Alliance. And again I think
Speaker 4: this was this had to do with the lack of
Speaker 4: star power on the side of Team Alliance. I really
Speaker 4: do believe that because now that The Rock was back,
Speaker 4: and you still had the Undertaker and Kine on that side,
Speaker 4: and Chris Jericho was really on a meteoroitic rise at
Speaker 4: this point, as was Kurt Angle, And like I said,
Speaker 4: these two guys Angle and Jericho were the two biggest
Speaker 4: beneficiaries of this whole invasion Angle and the whole feud
Speaker 4: between the Alliance and the WWF. I think that even
Speaker 4: though the Alliance had Stone Cold Steve Austin and you
Speaker 4: had Booker t and Diamond Dallas Page, that the star
Speaker 4: power on WWF was just still too big, and they
Speaker 4: made Kurt Angle jump to the Alliance, and The Rock
Speaker 4: regains the WCW Championship back from Chris Jericho on a
Speaker 4: Monday Night Raw in late October, I believe and along
Speaker 4: the way, those two actually won the Tag Team Championships.
Speaker 4: So it was a really love hate relationship between Y
Speaker 4: two J and The Rock. And now that Angle was
Speaker 4: on Team Alliance, much was the same between Kurt Angle
Speaker 4: and Stone Cold Steve Austin. So you're entering into Survivor
Speaker 4: Series season with Angle and Austin leading the Alliance, the
Speaker 4: Rock and Jericho leading Team WWF, and both of those
Speaker 4: teams of leaders are really having some internal problems. So
Speaker 4: with Survivor Series right around the corner, and Survivor Series
Speaker 4: always has, as the pre always has the previously mentioned
Speaker 4: five on five elimination matches. Vince McMahon throws down the
Speaker 4: challenge against Stephanie and Shame, and I'm gonna give you
Speaker 4: a sneak preview into the five versus five winner take
Speaker 4: all match between Team Alliance and Team w w F.
Speaker 5: Put this Alliance crap, this Invasion crap. Where composing is
Speaker 5: that Survivor Series. There's one match bat match will determine
Speaker 5: which entity will finally survive. It's winner take a winner
Speaker 5: take all.
Speaker 7: You want to put it all on ALIGNE.
Speaker 3: You're on one match, winner take all. The w w
Speaker 3: stays in business or the Alliance days in business? My god,
Speaker 3: what a god?
Speaker 9: What is that?
Speaker 3: Oh?
Speaker 5: My god?
Speaker 3: I'll tell it the love of God.
Speaker 2: Our worst nightmare has been a fest in itself.
Speaker 5: Jericho and I Rock have completely disintegrated someone from the
Speaker 5: Alliances vicer series coming over to the World Rustling Federation,
Speaker 5: Stone Cold Stay.
Speaker 8: Did you see the way the Alliance members were looking
Speaker 8: at me?
Speaker 3: See dting now stands for don't trust. I have to
Speaker 3: just stud angle And what the hell's the question is?
Speaker 9: Who's defecting from the Alliance?
Speaker 3: You know what, it's nobody.
Speaker 2: My father has done a masterful job of planning a
Speaker 2: seat so that the Alliance breaks down from within.
Speaker 8: But I hear. I've been here a long damn time,
Speaker 8: and I are ready for my career to be over.
Speaker 8: We're a team, dammit, and we need to start acting
Speaker 8: like it. Do I make myself clear? Stephanie and I
Speaker 8: have put every single.
Speaker 1: Thing that we have on the line.
Speaker 5: Is everyone is on the line, It'll be one match
Speaker 5: winner take golf.
Speaker 3: The w w F lives or the Alliance will live.
Speaker 5: The World Rustling Federation will wipe.
Speaker 3: The Alliance off.
Speaker 5: The face off der.
Speaker 6: Bismign we'll see the w w wrede.
Speaker 4: Out of the way, ring scared.
Speaker 3: I feel that he please inside if I need to
Speaker 3: get your voice.
Speaker 4: Out of my hand to sign a guy the man,
Speaker 4: I'm thinking all of the rules.
Speaker 5: There's no expressions on your face.
Speaker 4: Oh a sudden need.
Speaker 5: You will let me go, release me from my t chet.
Speaker 7: Cats you and jan Cat sell me.
Speaker 6: Fais by the way, Roc.
Speaker 3: Will never ever forget.
Speaker 4: So again at this time. Just an excellent promo package
Speaker 4: to the five on five winner take All match at
Speaker 4: Survivor Series two thousand and one. So it was Team
Speaker 4: Alliance Stone Cold, Steve, Austin, Kurt Angle, Rob Van Dam,
Speaker 4: Booker T and Shane McMahon versus Team w WF, The
Speaker 4: Raw Chris Jericho, Caine, Undertaker and the Big Show. And
Speaker 4: obviously the battlefields are more even at this point. I
Speaker 4: think that even though the Team WWF still had more
Speaker 4: star power and the better team, you know, you had
Speaker 4: Stone Cold, Steve, Austin, Kurt Angle on that side to
Speaker 4: Brampton star power of Team Alliance, Booker T and Rob
Speaker 4: Van Dam. Rob van Dem in particular was an upbring
Speaker 4: and coming star at this point and shaming man. But
Speaker 4: again Team Alliance. There's really only two guys who were
Speaker 4: non WWF guys on that team with RVD and Booker T,
Speaker 4: but was still a very good match. Came down to
Speaker 4: The Rock and Chris Jericho versus Stone Cold Steve Austin
Speaker 4: and Kurt Angle, and what happens is the Jericho gets
Speaker 4: eliminated and he actually turns on the Rock and he
Speaker 4: gives him a facebuster. It was pretty much exactly like
Speaker 4: the Misses skull crushing finale that Jericho was using at
Speaker 4: this point, almost an identical move, so basically turns on
Speaker 4: Team WWF. And when it looked like the Alliance had
Speaker 4: the match one, because the match eventually came down to
Speaker 4: The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin, shocking the referee
Speaker 4: was down, Kurt Angle runs out seemingly to help Austin
Speaker 4: seal the deal for the Alliance, decks Austin over the
Speaker 4: head with the WWF Championship belt, who groggily takes the
Speaker 4: hit and ends up getting a rock bottom from the
Speaker 4: Rock obviously, and the Rock gets the one two three
Speaker 4: to seal the deal for Team WWF. Vince McMahon comes
Speaker 4: on the stage and gloats with his fists raised in
Speaker 4: the air, hence closing the Invasion angle. And in you
Speaker 4: and you heard in the build that Vince McMahon was
Speaker 4: saying that an Alliance member was going to be defecting
Speaker 4: over to the team WWF. Well it turned out to
Speaker 4: be uh, Kurt Angle. And so that closes the book
Speaker 4: on the Invasion Angle, on the Alliance as we know it.
Speaker 4: And like I said, a few guys really took off
Speaker 4: following this angle, specifically Chris Jericho and Kurt Angle, who
Speaker 4: in my mind legitimized themselves as main event players after
Speaker 4: this entire program. Because Kurt Angle had already had a
Speaker 4: run as WWO champion that he won the championship in
Speaker 4: late two thousand and lost it at No Way Out
Speaker 4: two thousand and one, but he kind of went back
Speaker 4: into the mid card following that, and he got a
Speaker 4: chance to be a main event player in this whole angle.
Speaker 4: And the same goes for.
Speaker 3: Y two J.
Speaker 4: And many feel like Y two J got this opportunity
Speaker 4: because Triple H missed this entire program and this entire
Speaker 4: angle with the Alliance, but hey, he was in the
Speaker 4: right place at the right time. And look the following
Speaker 4: month he won the first every Undisputed Championship in the
Speaker 4: four man tournament between himself, The Rock, Stone, Cold, Steve
Speaker 4: Austin and Kurt Angle. And look, going into that pay
Speaker 4: per view at Vengeance, I think Chris Jericho was the
Speaker 4: least likely to win the Undisputed Championship, so maybe it
Speaker 4: was his, but this was the real coming out party
Speaker 4: for Chris Jericho. And I think even though maybe the
Speaker 4: program and the Angle as a whole was lackluster because
Speaker 4: it lacked the nWo, it lacked Scott Steiner, Goldberg, Rick
Speaker 4: Flair sting all those guys, it really meant a lot
Speaker 4: for the likes of Kurt Angle and Chris Jericho, and
Speaker 4: even Rob Van dem Booker t got showcased a lot
Speaker 4: because he was pretty much the main WCW guy. So look,
Speaker 4: it wasn't great for a lot of reasons because I
Speaker 4: feel like wrestling fans missed out on a lot of
Speaker 4: dream matches. But in the end, you know, we got
Speaker 4: a lot of the dream matches we were so hoping for,
Speaker 4: Like we got the Rock Versus Hull Cooga, and we
Speaker 4: got Triple H versus Goldberg. Maybe not the time and
Speaker 4: in the setting we wanted, but eventually we got them,
Speaker 4: we just had to wait a bit and it had
Speaker 4: nothing to do with the Invasion Angle. So look, as
Speaker 4: as a whole, I enjoyed the Invasion Angle, especially given
Speaker 4: the cards that WWE was dealt at the time. They
Speaker 4: couldn't have done much better. Again, would I have liked
Speaker 4: to see Austin and the Rock fights side by side
Speaker 4: for Team WWF against the likes of Goldberg and the nWo,
Speaker 4: of course, but look, you know, the real life circumstances
Speaker 4: prevented it from happening, and I think given those circumstances,
Speaker 4: Vince mcmahnon creative did the best that they could, and
Speaker 4: like I said, we got to see a lot of
Speaker 4: guys get opportunities they otherwise wouldn't have because look, you
Speaker 4: think the Angle and Booker T and Van Dam and
Speaker 4: Jericho would have gotten those opportunities in Showcase like they
Speaker 4: did if the nWo and Goldberg or even Triple H
Speaker 4: were around. No, probably not so. I think that for
Speaker 4: a lot of reasons, it was almost good that those
Speaker 4: guys didn't come over right away. But look, guys, I
Speaker 4: appreciate you listening to me. Again, I know this is
Speaker 4: a bit longer of an episode than usual. I know
Speaker 4: I played a bit more audio than I typically do.
Speaker 4: I hope you guys enjoyed it. I just feel like,
Speaker 4: given the length and the different characters that were involved
Speaker 4: PA in this program, that it was needed to give
Speaker 4: you guys some insight and some funny moments on what
Speaker 4: transpired over the eight month run of this feud between
Speaker 4: the Alliance and Team WWF. And look, I've gotten your
Speaker 4: request for future rivalries as well. I got one for
Speaker 4: Guerrero versus Raymondsterio. I got one for Eddie versus curt Angle,
Speaker 4: and I will be getting to those. I just had
Speaker 4: this one in the back pocket I wanted to do so.
Speaker 4: If you have any more suggestions, either at me on
Speaker 4: Twitter at a to Marco twenty five or email Matt
Speaker 4: at Real WWE Podcast or get him on Instagram, feel
Speaker 4: free to reach out. I love hearing from you guys,
Speaker 4: and I really hope you enjoyed this one of the
Speaker 4: Lions versus Team WWF. So you know what, guys, you
Speaker 4: enjoy your weekend and I'll talk to you next week