twiztor

Charlotte is already a 6x champion. she's held a belt for 585 days in the last 3 years. my guess is that people are ready for her to not be in the title picture and let other wrestlers shine. i don't think too many people are clamoring for a run of Carmella singles matches, but i could be wrong.

whoa, apparently Dynamite is publishing Project: SuperPowers Chapter 3?! not sure how i missed this announcement, but i'm a mark for Golden Age characters, so i guess i'll be checking this out again. Chapter 2 was published in like 2009, so this is a surprise (to me at least). haven't seen any reviews yet to see if it connects with the older series or not.

ditto this take. i'm in to rent the video tho, not to catch it in the theater.

GotG3, by Gunn, introducing Adam Warlock and Silver Surfer is my wantlist.

Raw 7/23/01 @ Buffalo, NY Austin, Shane, Steph, & Heyman to start. Austin's new music sucks. they say "WCW-ECW Alliance" like 12 times. they drone on for 15 minutes. Angle comes out and chases them away. Hardcore Title: Rob Van Dam (c) vs Matt Hardy JR tells us that RVD hates the WWF and hates WWF fans. huh? RVD sandwiches Matt inside a ladder and drops a frog splash to retain. ouch. 20-16. InterContinental Title: Lance Storm vs Albert (c) Storm steals one after interference from Mike Awesome and Hugh Morrus. 21-16 both locker rooms empty and we get a huge brawl with Team WWF standing tall Tajiri vs Raven OK match. Tajiri's stuff looks good and crisp. Raven looks a bit off. Tajiri gets the dub after a Tarantula and a Buzzsaw Kick. 21-17 Undertaker vs Rhyno Taker wins with relative ease (go figure). 21-18 for good measure, Taker and Sara have an extended beatdown on DDP Page pulls Sara in front of a Taker chair shot. the only way to make Taker look weak is to take out his wife. i think we're at three weeks running now. Chris Jericho vs Kanyon Kanyon is wearing his "Alliance MVP" shirt. fun, competitive match. gets a decent amount of time and the crowd likes it. Kanyon taps out to the Liontamer. 21-19 Vince comes down to the ring and reinstates the Rock. Then steals all of his catchphrases. Spanking Match: Torrie Wilson vs Trish Stratus Paddle-On-A-Pole. first one to use the paddle wins. pretty ugly match. trish gets the paddle, but torrie is the first to use it for the win. 22-19. Elimination Tables Match: Dudley Boyz & Booker T vs Edge, Christian, & Kurt Angle JR continues to disparage the Spin-A-Roonie Christian gets 3D'd through a table. Booker spinebusters Edge through one. Angle fights back, overheady belly-to-belly suplexing D-Von onto a table. it doesn't break, so he does it again with better results then he Olympic Slams Booker onto a table. it also doesn't break. he sets it up in the corner and runs Booker through it instead. Ref Earl Hebner gets bumped and Nick Patrick comes down. Patrick saves Bubba by moving a table, so Angle puts the Ankle Lock on Patrick Austin beats up Angle and Stunners him, allowing Bubba to powerbomb him through the table for the win. 23-19. but there's no ref, so does it really count? Team WWF chases Austin off to close the show. SmackDown! 7/26/01 @ Pittsburgh, PA Hardy Boys vs Billy Kidman & Hurricane Helms don't be mistaken: despite the name change, Helms isn't a superhero. He hasn't changed anything and the announcers don't even mention it. pretty good match, if we had gotten more than 3 minutes it could've accomplished something. Hardys by Twist of Fate / Swanton. 23-20. Shane/Steph/Paul to the ring. they introduce all of the Alliance champions, one by one. Steph announces that Booker T is bequeathing the US Title to Kanyon. thanks, Steph. Angle comes out and challenges Austin. tonight we get Angle vs Booker T instead. Dudley Boyz vs the Show-Gunns they play up that Big Show thought up this stupid team name. passable match. Show inadvertently clotheslines Gunn, who then gets 3D'd. 24-20 DDP vs Kane DDP gets more offense in that he has against Taker yet, but Kane still looks stronger. Kane hits DDP with a chair and gets DQ'd. 25-20. JR is appalled that Kane was disqualified since it was Page that brought the chair into the ring. umm, those are the rules. Jericho & Tajiri vs Kanyon & RVD this failed to live up to expectations. Team WWF dominated the whole thing. Kanyon nails Tajiri with the US belt, leading to a 5 Star Frog Splash for the pin. 26-20 InterContinental Title: Lance Storm (c) vs Perry Saturn Saturn has made his choice: Moppy > Terri Saturn controls much of the match. Once Storm takes over, he disparages Moppy. Saturn snaps and hits Storm with Moppy, then beats him all the way to the back. Storm by DQ. 27-20 Edge & Christian vs Tazz & Rhyno this was OK. Tazz locks Christian in the Tazzmission, but Rhyno GORES! Christian/Tazz and they both fall, with Christian on top to get the pinfall. 27-21 WCW World Title: Booker T (c) vs Kurt Angle solid match that is baffingly booked. first six minutes are good, then both locker rooms clear and brawl at ringside. Kanyon hits Angle with a chair and the crowd disperses. 2 count. now the match continues and we pretend that never happened. ref bump, Olympic Slam. Austin runs out and Stunners Angle. Angle pops up and makes Booker T tap seconds later. New Champ! 27-22 not sure why they've made Booker T look like a chump in basically every appearance he's had. Couldn't he have at least looked good in ONE of his title defenses (win or lose) so that if/when he faces a main eventer in the future, he'll look like a challenge? Jakked 7/28/01 Mark Jindrak vs Jerry Lynn Jindrak by Tiger Driver. sloppy match. 28-22. why is Mr. JL on Team WWF? Haku vs Shawn Stasiak Stasiak steals a pin with his feet on the ropes? i motion this match be stricken from the record. 29-22 anyway. Chavo Guerrero, Jr. & Hurricane Helms vs KaiEnTai good match. Chavo via Brainbuster. 30-22 Crash Holly vs Justin Credible Crash gets a rollup win after a cool sequence of Tombstone counters. 30-23.

interested. i checked out his site and couldn't find this. link?

sad to hear that re: Scarlet Spider. i'm a few issues behind, but once i gave it a second chance (thanks to you @The Natural) i've been enjoying it. Hope it's just the end of a big arc and not the end of the series.

four months and two issues later. my feelings are the exact same.

INVASION 7/22/01 @ Cleveland, OH HeAT match: Scotty 2 Hotty vs Chavo Guerrero, Jr. they mention Chavo as a 3rd generation wrestler, and namedrop Gory and Chavo Sr., but not Eddie the referee is Brian Hebner, who the announcers tout as a WCW official. since when? i don't remember him on Nitro ever. we get about 7 minutes. it's not bad, but the crowd doesn't seem to care for anything except the W-O-R-M Chavito gets the win after a brainbuster. WCW 14, WWF 11. Lance Storm & Mike Awesome vs Edge & Christian Storm & Awesome don't get an entrance. not off to a great start. fantastic match! great tag team work from both sides. Christian takes a King (of the Ring) sized beating as the Face In Peril he gets the hot tag to Edge after reversing a top rope Awesome Bomb and the crowd loses it Lance Storm superkicks Edge, and when Awesome goes for the Awesome Bomb, he eats a Spear from Christian leading to the first WWF win. 10 glorious minutes that could've been twice as long with no complaints from me. 14-12. Nick Patrick w/WCW referees vs Earl Hebner w/WWF referees Mick Foley showed up on HeAT and announced himself as the official for this one. ok. three minutes of trash. full of all the bad acting and obvious spots you would imagine. the crowd eats it up though. Hebner wins with a ... shoulderblock? tackle? something like that. 14-13. Post-match, Foley gives Patrick a right hand sandwich and a Mr. Socko dessert. WWF Tag Champs APA vs WCW Tag Champs Palumbo & O'Haire (non-title match) lots of punches, kicks, and clotheslines, but doesn't really feel like a brawl. perfectly serviceable, but nothing special. felt too long at 7 minutes. Palumbo Jungle Kicks Faarooq, but runs straight into the Clothesline From Hell. 14-14. WWF Light Heavyweight Champ X-Pac vs WCW Cruiserweight Champ Billy Kidman (non-title match) X-Pac enters to a chorus of boos. i think he's the only WWF guy to get that treatment. pretty good match. not amazing, but solid action. Kidman counters a powerbomb into a facebuster. Michael Cole is shocked by that reversal. shocked, i tell you! Kidman comes off the top rope but Pac turns it into the X-Factor! and only a 2 count for his troubles. X-Pac attempts the Bronco Buster, but Kidman gets a foot up. Kidman up top, the crowd stands up, and a Shooting Star Press scores the victory at 7 minutes. 15-14 Raven vs William Regal really odd match that feels very disjointed. Even the hot crowd is silent for this one. Tazz runs in and suplexes Regal. leading to Raven planting him with the Evenflow DDT for the 2nd straight WCW win in 7 minutes. 16-14 Big Show, Billy Gunn, & Albert vs Shawn Stasiak, Kanyon, & Hugh Morrus starts off with a pretty good Gunn-Kanyon segment. sadly, that's as good as it gets. Big Show gets dumped outside, the there's a big crowd pop, but they don't show it on camera. This must be the famous "Big Show disappearing act" since he's gone for the rest of the match. Albert hits the BaldoBomb but Hugh Morrus makes the save. Gunn hits the FameAssEr but Kanyon distracts the ref. Stasiak hits the reverse DDT and then gets confused and hangs out in the ring. Somehow, Morrus still gets the 3 count in a rushed 4 minute match. 17-14 Post-Match, Big Show finally reappears and steamrolls all three men. Tazz vs Tajiri solid match if a bit underwhelming Tazz controls most of it but the crowd loves everything Tajiri does Green Mist and a headkick leads to a Tajiri victory. 17-15 Hardcore Holly is at WWF New York. He assaults a fan in a WCW t-shirt. Take that, merch vendors! Hardcore Title: Rob Van Dam vs Jeff Hardy (c) backstage, RVD smacks Matt Hardy with a steel chair. this match was all sorts of awesome. they brawl at ringside, through the crowd, and all over. Hardy gets pushed off a ladder onto the entrance ramp ("How do you learn to fall off a 20 foot ladder?") RVD hits a picture-perfect Van Daminator on Jeff, sending him off the stage. Hardy misses a Swanton Bomb, leading to RVD landing a 5 Star Frog Splash. Van Dam got a few cheers when he came out, but has all the crowd support by the end. 13 minutes well spent, and a clean WCW win to boot! 18-15 Bra & Panties Match: Torrie Wilson & Stacy Keibler vs Trish Stratus & Lita Mick Foley is back as special guest referee no Play-By-Play needed. Trish & Lita pick up the win. 18-16 Inaugural Brawl: Team WCW/ECW Coalition (Dudley Boyz, Rhyno, Booker T, & DDP) vs Team WWF (Kane, Undertaker, Jericho, Angle, & Austin) of course, Shane, Steph, and Vince all get separate entrances before the wrestlers immediately, all 10 men brawl in the entranceway the first 10 minutes are "WWF guy beats up WCW guy, tag, repeat" the Undertaker tags in, and i get my wish- he actually doesn't dominate. In fact, he takes the most punishment yet! match picks up at times but kinda meanders along for the next 6-7 minutes. At 22 minutes, DDP hits Angle with the DiamondCutter and the match breaks down. Taker destroys DDP. Rhyno accidentally GORES! Booker T. Taker powerbombs Charles Robinson right in front of the WWF referee. Austin tweaks his knee. Kane chokeslams D-Von through the announce table, then gets suplexed through the Spanish one. Jericho puts Rhyno through a table for good measure. In the ring, Angle Olympic Slams Bubba. Ref bump. Angle locks the Ankle Lock on Booker T. Austin throws the ref in the ring and then Stunners....Angle ?!? Booker T covers. Austin has turned on the WWF. Don't Trust Anyone indeed. The WCW/ECW Coalition gets their biggest win after 30 minutes of war. 19-16 thoughts: decent opening package with stock footage of war-like footage interspersed with FDR and with in-ring antics as of late. very cool entrance ramp. it was shaped like a "Y". WCW guys used the left doorway and WWF used the right. they barely showed it on camera but it was a nice touch. pretty good event overall, even if some of the matches underperformed. E&C/Storm & Awesome and RVD/Hardy were easily the highlights of the night. Ref match was a stinker. they made up some ground as far as WCW guys looking good, but they still have a long way to go. They were obviously in dire straights before the Austin turn, which doesn't really help build the credibility of this big scary invading force. I'm still somewhat surprised that WCW has won more matches, but i expect that to change soon. That, or we'll be right back with WCW being inferior but winning through shenanigans. Probably the latter.

that would've been a hell of surprise entrant in the Royal Rumble. can't even imagine where he fits in at WrestleMania 14.

HeAT 7/15/01 InterContinental Title: Justin Credible vs Albert (c) Credible got a decent amount of offense in, but Albert by Baldo Bomb. 3-4 (wwf takes the advantage!) WCW CruiserWeight Title: K-Kwik vs Billy Kidman (c) quick paced match, as you'd expect. Kwik didn't do his research and tries to Powerbomb Kidman, but get reversed into that inverted Pedigree to retain. 4-4. Big Show & Billy Gunn vs Shawn Stasiak & Kanyon ShowGunn picks up the win after an Alley-Oop Bomb (did they ever name this move?) on Stasiak. 4-5. Raw 7/16/01 @ Providence, RI Spike Dudley professes his love for Molly. Heyman tries to convince him to join ECW. Spike declines. the Dudley Boyz drive Molly through a table. Faarooq vs Chuck Palumbo After O'Haire distracts Faarooq, Palumbo lands the Jungle Kick for the quick surprise win. 5-5. Mike Awesome vs Edge match was fine but lacked any sort of hook and felt a bit flat. Storm superkicks Edge, leading to the second straight WCW win tonight. 6-5. Tazz vs William Regal Tajiri joins us for commentary. short match. Tazz has Regal down. Tajiri gets in the ring and pulls off his shirt to reveal an ECW one. then he head kicks Tazz from behind, causing a DQ. 7-5. WCW World Title: Booker T (c) vs Chris Jericho very good match until the shenanigans at the end. Jericho lands a missile dropkick but Nick Patrick won't make the count (arm injury) then Jericho makes Booker T tap out, but Patrick doesn't see it (leg injury) Earl Hebner comes out, but Shane stops him from calling for the bell. A low blow, and Booker rolls up Jericho. Patrick makes a fast three count. officially we stand at 8-5, but all 4 tonight were cheap victories. Way to put over the invading champ, btw. he got visibly pinned AND tapped out AND had to resort to a low blow AND a fast count to steal a victory. ECW Rules: Raven vs Kurt Angle complete squash. Angle by Ankle Lock. 8-6 Kanyon comes out to save Raven, but Angle takes him out too, then chases 2 more WCW guys away. jesus, can this get any more one sided? the first PPV hasn't even happened! Hardy Boys vs Dudley Boyz these teams have good chemistry and this match delivers. Hardys get a visual pin but Bubba makes the save. RVD runs down, giving D-Von enough leverage to counter a sunset flip and steal a pinfall. 9-6. DDP & Rhyno vs Undertaker & Kane to the surprise of absolutely nobody, the WWF guys- especially Undertaker- are dominating the match. some WCW guys run down to interfere and it turns into a huge brawl. Austin drives up (he's been drinking at the Friendly Tap all day, refusing to become the 'old Stone Cold') and whoops everyone's ass. SmackDown! 7/19/01 @ Boston, MA We start with another big promo with the entire WCW & ECW Coalition in the ring. Once again, we hear from Shane, Steph, and Heyman, but no wrestlers talk. DDP vs Chris Jericho a good match one again ruined by a BS ending. Jericho gets a visual pin on DDP after a Lionsault, but Nick Patrick won't make the count. It would be kinda awesome if they played up that Patrick was the nWo referee and he actually wrestled Jericho at the nWo PPV back in '97, but they don't. Jericho gets DQ'd for basically nothing, then makes DDP tap to the Liontamer. another "win" for WCW while they continue to look inferior in every way. 10-6. Lance Storm vs Christian very competitive match. Christian hits a nice Tornado Reverse DDT from the turnbuckle. lots of outside interference, mostly from Mike Awesome, but in the end, Edge Spears Storm for the win. 10-7. More of this, please. Dudley Boyz & Tazz vs Tajiri, Undertaker, & Kane Undertaker & Kane completely dominate. Team ECW isolates Tajiri for a while. hot tag to Taker and he wipes all of them out. Taker by chokeslam. sigh. 10-8. Bradshaw vs Sean O'Haire hard hitting match. Bradshaw largely controls it, but O'Haire has his moments to shine. Bradshaw hits a Clothesline from Hell and that's that. 10-9. Arm Wrestling Match: Torrie Wilson vs Trish Stratus this was absolute garbage. Torrie gets the "win" after Nick Patrick cheapshots Earl Hebner and Stacy cheats. post-match, Trish, Lita, and Hebner beat up Patrick. Jeff Hardy & X-Pac vs Kidman & RVD not a dull second in this one! this is as fast-paced as they come. worth checking out if you like cruiserweight action. X-Pac tries to X-Factor Van Dam, but RVD avoids it by doing the splits. Kidman catches Pac with the Reverse Pedigree (still hasn't been named AFAIK) for the win. 11-9. Booker T & Rhyno vs Steve Austin & Kurt Angle Rhyno GORES! Angle before the match starts. Austin then comes out and beats up both men. DDP on the titantron, he has Debra in the trunk of a car, which baits Austin into leaving the ring. Giant brawl backstage and outside. In-ring, Dudleyz attack Angle and put him through a table. Another non-finish main event. Jakked 7/20/01 Chavo Guerrero, Jr. def Essa Rios (i can't find video of this one). 12-9. Justin Credible vs K-Kwik. Joined in progress. Credible by superkick. 13-9. Gregory Helms vs TAKA Michinoku better than i expected. Helms is still a bit sloppy here. Taka gets the upset win with the Michinoku Driver. 13-10. Billy Gunn vs Hugh Morrus meh. exactly what you'd expect from these two. Gunn via the One And Only. 13-11. we are to the point where every match is WCW/ECW vs WWF. they keep hyping up that this is "the biggest challenge the WWF has ever faced" and specifically talk about how the government couldn't take them down. There's a big 5-on-5 match at the PPV and JR & Michael Cole keep talking about how WCW/ECW has so many great choices for who they will pick. On the WWF side, you have WWF Champ Steve Austin (the old Stone Cold, back to his ass kicking ways), Olympic Gold Medalist (and former champ) Kurt Angle, the Undertaker ('nuff said!), Kane (arguably the weakest of the bunch, but we are in one of his PUSH periods), and Chris Jericho (who has come within a hair of beating both champs, Austin and Booker T, within the last month). on the WCW side, we have WCW Champ Booker T (zero clean wins since this all began), DDP (who has been smashed by Undertaker multiple times), Rhyno (they make a big deal out of him being the last ECW champ, but he's been in Hardcore Title limbo for the last 4-5 months), and the Dudley Boyz (multiple time tag champs). this doesn't even seem close as far as the TV booking goes. Also, like i've mentioned in the reviews, WCW has looked weak in practically every matchup. they currently hold two more wins than team WWF, but almost all of them are due to cheating, biased refereeing, outside interference, or some combination of all three. Team WWF, specifically every member of their PPV team, hasn't been on the bad side of a match yet. If they want to sell this as an actual threat, they need to show that the WCW/ECW coalition has some sort of chance. this is utterly ridiculous.

was about to watch the Invasion event (i was camping all weekend and am a bit behind) when i realized i hadn't posted last week's recap (or the smackdown before? for shame!). anyway, let's get up to date: SmackDown 7/12/01 @ Birmingham, AL dark match: Rob Van Dam vs Johnny "the Bull" Stamboli. decent. RVD via split legged moonsault. Shane McMahon & his WCW contingent open the show by coming to the ring to a chorus of boos. I guess despite all logic, WCW is now a heel stable. Steph, Paul, and the ECW wrestlers come out. Big opening heel promo. no wrestlers talk. Tazz vs Hardcore Holly. Michael Cole: "this is the first match between WCW/ECW stars and WWF Superstars." nice way to put over the talent. Tajiri joins us for commentary. a short 2 minute brawl, Tazz by Tazzmission. Tazz attacks Tajiri and locks the Tazzmission on him, too. WCW 2, WWF 0. Lance Storm vs Chris Jericho very good back-and-forth match. Unfortunately, we only get 3 minutes. (DID SOMEBODY SAY THREE MINUTES?!?) ultimately, Jericho makes Storm tap out to the Walls. 2-1 Vince cuts a promo asking for 'the old Stone Cold' to come back. Austin shakes his head and leaves the arena. Kane vs Rhyno. once again we only get 3 minutes. Kane dominates. WWF Ref bump. Rhyno rolls up Kane, WCW ref Nick Patrick runs down and makes a fast count. 3-1. Hardcore Title: Jeff Hardy vs Mike Awesome (c) OK match. Jeff brings the WWF title back after Edge & Christian smash Awesome with a Con-Chair-To. 3-2. Kurt Angle & Undertaker vs Shane McMahon & DDP Shane gets beat up by both men. DDP tags in and has the advantage over Angle. Undertaker tags in and decimates both men. interference by WCW/ECW guys causes a DQ. 3-3. Taker & Angle beat them all up. Kane & Jericho make the save. more WCW/ECW guys. WCW stands tall at the end, with a 20-4 advantage. yay.

Great American Bash '98 probably. while not the worst event ever, i definitely got more selective after that one. seeing Macho Man lose two matches, knee injury or not, killed my interest in wcw. @Brian Fowler i ordered the first WWA event (Inception?) and enjoyed it for what it was. not sure if that's the same one or not.

not reading through this thread, but GotG is a franchise i had zero interest in before the movies. GotG1 ranks in my top two Marvel movies, and the i loved the sequel too. i am highly disappointed in this turn of events and hope that either cooler heads prevail so this is overturned, or somebody with similar outlook and ability takes over these movies.

OMG OMG OMG i don't go full fanboy very often, but this is one of those times

Happy Birthday, OSJ!

jusr picked up a controller for an NES mini. I can finally play Mega Man 9 and 10, which i downloaded on my Wii more than a couple years ago. this controller is legit! it has the right weight, responsiveness, and look. so happy they re-released these so i could get one at retail price.

didn't know they were making a new She-Ra cartoon. checked it out after this post. i will definitely say that i'm not a fan of the animation style but the costume seems fine. didn't plan on jacking off to it one way or the other, so sorry if this bursts your narrative.

did a quick cursory search (here and google) and didn't see a clear and easy answer. Has Jon Jones had his final punishment figured out and/or released yet? the whole thing happened damn near a year ago.

finally got around to watching Omega-Okada 2 & 3. both matches are amazing and live up to the hype. will have to watch #4 later this week.

just got a promotion at work. i am now salaried. it is a weird feeling. my job duties don't change much and the pay is better, so it seems like a no brainer. had to buzz my mohawk tho. i've had it off-and-on for like 12 years. i feel so normal without it.

i have never seen a Bearcat Wright match, but have heard the name mentioned along other all-time greats. what was the story with the double cross?

where did you find this out? i am looking for more info on the whole process.

ok, so i discovered today that Parker Brothers numbered all of their products, specifically their board games. I can't figure out their numbering scheme. For example, on my game shelf i have #138 Six Million Dollar Man, #739 Barney Miller, #26 Payday, & # 390 Sorry, amongst others. these don't seem to be chronological or alphabetical. Has anyone ever run across a full Parker Brothers list, online or otherwise? I cannot contain my curiosity and don't want to scour eBay looking for obscure games and their numbers, but i can't find anything via Google. Help?

HeAT 7/8/01 fantastic four minute match between Tajiri and Jerry Lynn. Tajiri via Buzzsaw Kick. WCW Tag Team Title: Chuck Palumbo & Sean O'Haire (c) vs Shawn Stasiak & Chris Kanyon i can't quite put my finger on why, but this is the first match that felt like a WCW match. very solid. the heels isolate Palumbo and put a beating on him. After 6-7 minutes, O'Haire get the hot tag and just cleans house, culminating with an F5 on Kanyon to retain. Crazy seeing an F5 pre-Brock. Raw 7/9/01 @ Atlanta, GA (Phillips Arena) dark match: Rick Michaels vs AJ Styles i guess this is probably Styles' in-ring WWF debut. good enough match for an opener. crowd enjoyed it for two unknown guys. Styles wins after a Styles Clash (i think. the video went fuzzy just as he was about to set it up) followed by a Shooting Star Press. Street Fight: Shane McMahon vs DDP Undertaker comes out and says that Page belongs to him. He beats up DDP for a while, until Shane clocks Taker with a kendo stick a couple times. Undertaker then beats them both up until DDP nails him with a chair. Sara slides into the ring, attacking Shane, but DDP BANGS! her with a diamondcutter. i guess the whole fracas from SmackDown! was a ploy. hmm. interestingly, for this being a "WCW match", JR and Heyman did commentary, with no mention of Scott Hudson or Arn Anderson. Tag Team Titles: Dudley Boyz (c) vs APA hard hitting match, as expected. the Dudleyz are heels, but every signature move they tease or hit gets a big pop. Faarooq hits a hellacious Spinebuster on D-Von, but only gets a 2 count. Bubba goes outside for a table, but Spike (with a broken leg, which apparently happened last week) hits him with a crutch. Bradshaw connects with a Clothesline From Hell and we've got new champs. Didn't expect that one. WCW Title: Kurt Angle vs Booker T (c) w/Shane McMahon first cross-promotional match. again no WCW announce team. I guess that gimmick is dead. solid contest, pretty evenly matched, although Book took a bit more. Angle counters the Scissor Kick directly into the Ankle Lock. Booker taps, but referee Nick Patrick is distracted by Shane. Angle with the Olympic Slam. Earl Hebner runs out to make the count, but Patrick (conscious again after being pushed outside) pulls him out of the ring. Booker hits Angle with the WCW Title for a 3 count while a group of referees brawl. WCW 1, WWF 0. Handicap Match: Kane vs Lance Storm & Mike Awesome Jericho comes out as the match starts. No promo, no announcement, but now he's Kane's partner. ok then. match goes through phases. starts out a bit plodding, then gets good, then wanes for a bit, and then i'm interested again. Overall, it was fun enough. Another overbooked finish. Jericho has Storm in the Walls while Kane is dominating Awesome. two guys enters from the crowd. It's Tommy Dreamer & Rob Van Dam! all 4 men attack Jericho & Kane. WWF reinforcements arrive from the back. the Dudleyz, Rhyno, Raven, Tazz, & Justin Credible all make the save. or do they? all these men beat on Kane. Dreamer with the Spicolli Driver. RVD with the Van Daminator. Paul Heyman gets in the ring. "this InVasion has now been taken to the Extreme!" In the back, Shane and Vince run into each other. They're going to team up, one night only, the 10 ECW guys vs 5 WCW and 5 WWF guys. Team WWF: APA, Big Show, Bob Holly, Billy Gunn & Team WCW: Palumbo & O'Haire, Jindrack, Stasiak, & Kanyon vs the 10 ECW guys mentioned above. Lillian Garcia flubs the WCW guys' names and they cut her mic. the WWF/WCW team brawl with each other before the ECW guys come out. Team WWF clears the ring. Team ECW enters from the crowd. they beat the WWF guys 10-on-5. Team WCW enters the ring and embraces Team ECW! Long story short (too late), Shane McMahon brokered a merger between the two teams and introduces us to ECW's new owner, Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley! ok. thoughts. this show is a roller coaster and blows through as many turns and reveals as it possibly can. the WCW dissention being a non-issue was really pointless. they don't even address it in a meaningful way. the Team ECW thing was a big shock at the time, i've been wondering when it was gonna happen this go-round. I thought they were going to stretch this out a bit more. You could've easily gotten more mileage out of a potential Three Way Dance! between the companies (hell, you couldn't have gotten any less!) And then the reveal of Steph as the show was going off the air? i mentioned last week that i was tiring of all the Vince McMahon stuff on screen, so they add ANOTHER McMahon to the mix? i feel like this show was booked by Vince Russo. Is that the biggest swerve of them all? did WWF buy WCW just to get Russo back? I'm almost scared to see where this goes once SmackDown! rolls around.