WWF Invasion 2001 Review

This is it. The famous Invasion feud that took place in 2001 made its arrival to PPV when Stone Cold Steve Austin led Team WWF against Team WCW/ECW in an ultimate match throughout an ultimate night of wars for company supremacy.

Match 1: Edge & Christian vs. Lance Storm & Mike Awesome
The first match of the WWF vs. WCW PPV features two top teams from each company. Edge & Christian face off against WCW's Lance Storm & Mike Awesome. Jim Ross on commentary is quick to note the Canadian flavor to the match. Action was pretty basic but definitely fun to watch, easy to forget how fundamentally sound Storm is. But Edge & Christian are as good as it gets for tag team wrestling. They really know how to build a match from a slower pace to a fast and frantic finish. Both teams get in a nice amount of offense before Christian hits a Spear on Mike Awesome as he was about to hit an Awesome Bomb on Edge. Good finish and a good match to start the show. They established the companies feuding early on, the referees being picked via coin toss, and took into account the crowd that was more partisan towards the WWF.
Winners: Edge & Christian
Rating: ***

Match 2: Earl Hebner vs. Nick Patrick
Mick Foley is the guest referee here as WWF's senior referee goes against WCW's senior official. What a weird match this was. Earl Hebner gets in more offense as the two just basically punch each other before their teams get involved. The WCW officials kicked Hebner when he was on the floor which led to Foley tossing them out. Back in the ring, Hebner hits an ugly Spear of sorts for the win. Foley then introduces Nick Patrick to Mr. Socko soon after. That was dumb, really dumb.
Winner: Earl Hebner
Rating: 1/4*

Match 3: APA vs. Sean O'Haire & Chuck Palumbo
This is the second tag match of the night and it is between each company's tag champions. This felt more of a squash match than anything. It's almost as if WWF is making the whole show make WCW look like a completely inferior brand, imagine that. Some decent and quick action that saw Bradshaw hit Chuck Palumbo with a nice Clothesline from Hell to win the match and Team WWF is undefeated in the first three matches of the night.
Winners: APA
Rating: *1/4

Match 4: Billy Kidman vs. X-Pac
This match features WWF's Light Heavyweight Champion taking on WCW's Cruiserweight Champion. They needed a match to get WCW back on the board and this was it. This match felt like a breath of fresh air for the night, faster and more fluid action from the two experienced wrestlers. Crowd was pretty split for this one and it made for a change of pace as the WWF-sided crowd finally wanted a WCW guy to score a win. Despite the crowd's disdain for X-Pac, he put on a good performance here with Kidman getting the advantage as he was able to hit his Shooting Star Press.
Winner: Billy Kidman
Rating: **1/2

Match 5: Raven vs. William Regal
After WCW gets on the board, Raven looks to make it two in a row as he is the first ECW representative. As you would expect and wouldn't expect, this was a slow-paced wrestling match that Willaim Regal has become famous for. And seeing him go against someone with a different style like Raven is really interesting to watch. Very methodical and very psychological wrestling which didn't seem to fare too well with the audience, but that's nothing new. Tazz runs out and drops Regal with a suplex as the referee was distracted which led to Raven hitting his finisher for the win. Two wins in a row for Team WCW/ECW.
Winner: Raven
Rating: *1/2

Match 6: Billy Gunn, The Big Show & Albert vs. Shawn Stasiak, Hugh Morrus & Chris Kanyon
Talk about a filler of a match. Just a forgettable match to simply get these guys on the card that saw Shawn Stasiak help score his team the win to even up the scoreboard. Basic match that led to the WWF guys laying waste to the WCW/ECW guys. Sign of things to come as a point is still added to the WCW/ECW side despite the result after the match.
Winners: Shawn Stasiak, Hugh Morrus & Chris Kanyon
Rating: *1/4

Match 7: Tazz vs. Tajiri
Always thought it was a shame the way the WWF treated Tazz, dude was so good. Loved his style and loved how it meshed here against Tajiri in this quick match. Crowd was definitely more into this match after the dull tag match before this with some sweet kicks and tosses from both guys. Tajiri spits out the green mist before landing a sweet Buzzsaw Kick to win the match for himself and the WWF.
Winner: Tajiri
Rating: **1/4

Match 8: Hardcore Championship - Jeff Hardy (c) vs. Rob Van Dam
This is the only match on the card with a title on the line as Rob Van Dam looks to take one of WWF's championships to the other side. This match unfortunately gets overlooked too much because of the main event but these two guys brought the goods here. They brought the fight around into the stands and pulled out some daring spots like RVD shoving Jeff Hardy off the ladder to the floor and RVD kicking a steel chair into Hardy's face that saw him fall off the stage. Hardy looked to seal the win with a Swanton Bomb before RVD reversed it and hit a Five Star Frog Splash as the Hardcore Championship was placed on Hardy's body for it. Sweet finish to a great match, definitely one of the few highlights of the night.
Winner: Rob Van Dam
Rating: ***3/4

Match 9: Bra & Panties - Stacy Keibler & Torrie Wilson vs. Trish Stratus & Lita
Once again, Mick Foley has the unenviable task of being referee again as the four top female competitors go up against each other. This was the typical stupid fun you would expect as Jim Ross & Michael Cole do their best to make the match bearable aside from the ladies ripping their clothes off. Tris Stratus & Lita literally pull off the easy win as we head to the main event. What else do you want me to say?
Winners: Trish Stratus & Lita
Rating: 1/2*

Match 10: Inaugural Brawl - Stone Cold Steve Austin, Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, Kane & The Undertaker vs. D.D.P., Booker T, Rhyno & The Dudley Boyz
Wow, this is one of the most star-studded main events that I can remember. What I really loved about this match was the fact that everybody had a reason to win the match for their team. From Steve Austin simply standing up as the leader for Team WWF or The Undertaker looking to destroy D.D.P. for stalking his wife. To be upfront, I liked this match. But I feel like there were so many missed opportunities and only maybe until the finishing stretch did I actually feel like this was a war. It made sense to have Vince McMahon in the corner for Team WWF and Shane McMahon, Stephanie McMahon and Paul Heyman in the corner for Team WCW/ECW, but the constant focus on them become quite the annoyance. The action was fine but like I said, it was the finishing stretch that really defined this match. The table spots outside the ring were fun, Undertaker going after D.D.P. was cool, and the pop that Kurt Angle was receiving was incredible. Angle looked to wrap things up for Team WWF when he had Booker T tapping out to the Ankle Lock. But a previous referee bump was not in the line of sight. Austin then tossed the referee into the ring but Austin takes out Angle! The referee is in shock as Austin places Booker T upon Angle's body. A shocking moment as the Invasion story takes a drastic turn with Austin now representing Team WCW/ECW. The WWF referee showing remorse in making the count was such a nice touch. Great way to end the show and a great way to really kick out the big feud. Takes me back to watching this as a kid and being so shocked at Austin. Good times.
Winners:
Rating: ****

Overall Show Thoughts and Rating:
A very disappointing PPV start for the sport's biggest feud in history. They put all their eggs in one basket by focusing on the main event that the rest of the card just felt so poorly put together and so rushed. However, the show accomplished its main purpose in furthering the feud along with having Stone Cold Steve Austin turn to the dark side. Even still, it doesn't justify a bad card.
Rating: 5.25/10