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NickRoweFillea posted:I'm glad you're back, JGKing. I really like your writeups. Thanks buddy, and thanks to Qonas earlier for the kind words as well. By way of explanation to anybody who's wondered why I've been so drat slow, I don't really have an interesting excuse. Since graduating from university last summer I've had a lot of stuff going on, which has obviously made these reviews less of a priority (moving out, getting a job, etc), but everything's starting to settle down now, so hopefully I can review the next few shows with a little more regularity! As always, thanks to everyone for the praise/constructive criticism/general musings. I'll get a summary of InVasion up soon, and then it's on to SummerSlam!
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Jun 23, 2015 22:54
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| # ? Apr 27, 2024 05:55 |
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heel austin in 2001 was really good in a way that a really really bad and horrible idea can be good
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Jun 23, 2015 22:54
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HOTLANTA MAN posted:Heel Austin wasn't as cool based solely on the fact that face Austin was the loving best I mainly agree, and remember hating his heel turn(s) as a child, but since WrestleMania 17 I've enjoyed seeing Austin as a heel, just because I'm so used to him as the good guy. Also, his amazing babyface run seemed to have helped him become a legitimately scary heel around this point. Since turning face , he'd been put over as an unstoppable brawling machine who could deal with anything Vince threw at him, all while terrifying and terrorising his enemies. For the fans, it was great fun having this crazy beer-drinking psycho on the good guys' side - but suddenly he's a heel, one still capable of all the crazy poo poo he did back when he was a babyface. It makes him quite a scary prospect. If they EVER decided to turn John Cena heel, I think that would make him really effective. Everybody knows how strong he is - we've been taught over the past decade that beating him is very, very difficult. If he were to suddenly combine his Superman act with a vindictive streak, he could become one of the most effective bad guys in a long time.
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Jun 23, 2015 23:05
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JGKing posted:I mainly agree, and remember hating his heel turn(s) as a child, but since WrestleMania 17 I've enjoyed seeing Austin as a heel, just because I'm so used to him as the good guy. I don't this will ever happen. They found out turning Austin was a bad decision business-wise (and bad creatively during the Invasion) and the Cena merchandising empire is literally 10% of the companies profits. They immediately just put the guy over Kevin Owens 2 weeks after their first match because they saw a small dip in merchandise sales after Cena lost clean.
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Jun 23, 2015 23:45
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INVASION 2001 SUMMARY Match Of The Night Jeff Hardy vs Rob Van Dam - RVD announced himself to a new audience in a big way here, busting out an incredibly unique offence many WWF fans would never have seen before. Hardy must also be commended for his role, taking a number of huge bumps and playing his part in a fantastic contest. Here's hoping this feud isn't quite over yet. Wrestler Of The Night 1. Rob Van Dam - Awesome, unique and (most importantly) fresh, RVD's first WWF PPV appearance is definitely one to remember. 2. Jeff Hardy - Jumped off high things, jumped off low things. Got the poo poo kicked out of him, but made it look close. 3. Billy Kidman - A surprise inclusion for the rattiest member of the WCW roster, Billy put on an above average singles match with... 4. X-Pac - ...the rattiest member of the WWF roster. For all the hatred tossed his way, Pac reminded everyone of his undeniable talent here. 5. Kurt Angle - A characteristically intense performance from Angle in the big Inaugural Brawl. Stood out even in such a cluttered match. A whole host of narrow misses this month. Jericho, Booker T, Austin and D-Von Dudley all impressed in the Inaugural brawl, while Edge was the leading light of a decent opening tag bout. Props to Tajiri too, for dragging a decent match out of Tazz. Wrestler Of The Year Standings 1. Chris Benoit - 17 2. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin - 16 3. Kurt Angle - 15 4. Chris Jericho - 12 5. Triple H - 9 6. The Rock - 5 Eddie Guerrero - 5 Raven - 5 Kane - 5 Rob Van Dam - 5 7. Rhyno - 4 Shane McMahon - 4 Jeff Hardy - 4 8. Edge - 3 Christian - 3 Billy Kidman - 3 9. William Regal - 2 X-Pac - 2 10. The Undertaker - 1 Benoit still leads the way, but suffered an injury between this PPV and the last. We won't see him for a while, meaning that Kurt's solitary point is a crucial one. RVD and Billy Kidman make their debuts on this list, while X-Pac and Jeff Hardy appear for the first time in 2001. INVASION 2001 SCORE: 4/10 Were it not for RVD vs Jeff Hardy, this show would have to go down as an absolute stinker. The Inaugural Brawl was admittedly exciting (despite a boring first half), but almost every other match on the show felt like filler. The fact that X-Pac and Billy Kidman had the second best match of the night says a lot; foreboding signs for the remainder of the Invasion angle, with only Van Dam, Booker, and turncoat Austin looking good enough to sell the Alliance as a legitimate threat.
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Jun 24, 2015 18:07
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I dunno, at the time I was never as big a fan of face Austin in 2000-2001 than before his injury. He just didn't click with me for whatever reason. He turned heel at the perfect time for me, it made me a fan of his again.
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Jun 24, 2015 18:21
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| # ? Apr 27, 2024 05:55 |
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SummerSlam - August 19th 2001 - San Jose, California PART 1 SummerSlam time, and there's a big returning superstar on the card. The poster keeps it quite subtle though, so we'll just find out in a few updates time. We're coming off the back of an InVasion which established The Alliance as a legitimate force...or as a ragtag bunch of largely unhyped wrestlers led by the greatest WWF superstar of a generation. Austin's defection shocked the world and reaffirmed his status as the biggest heel on the roster. He faces off against Kurt Angle, the man he attacked to signify his betrayal. The Olympian is in search of his second WWF Championship. Booker T, meanwhile, is the WCW Champion, and the hottest new star of the invasion. He puts his belt on the line against our mystery returning superstar. In a rematch from last month's best contest, Jeff Hardy looks to regain his Hardcore title from new champion RVD - this time in a ladder match. First, however, an all-Canadian for the Intercontinental Championship. Lance Storm is out first and he's super, duper cereal. He says that there's no place for upbeat shenanigans in this business, and is about to explain why when..."You think you know me". We get a shot of the WWF locker room eagerly watching on. Christian's got a front row seat (to the tiny TV monitor), and bigs up his "boy". Taka Michinoku looks particularly hyped. 1. WWF Intercontinental Championship: Lance Storm (c) vs Edge Edge wins the opening exchange and clotheslines Storm to the outside. He's getting some big babyface pops here. Back in the ring, and Sexton Hardcastle comes off the top rope with a beautiful crossbody for 2. Lance gets the upper hand and sets about breaking Edge down, as JR explains how their different haircuts demonstrates their differing personalities. It's a different approach, but I'll go along with it. Storm goes for the Half Boston Crab, but Edge reverses into an inside cradle for 2. Lance is looking decent, as always, but Edge is looking particularly sharp. The 2001 King of the Ring wraps himself around Storm in a crucifix-type position, but Lance reverses with a nice running senton-type thing. I hope that spot makes sense; I'm sure there are far more accurate names for everything I just described. Storm slaps on a facelock and yanks back. Edge fights out, but soon gets caught in an abdominal stretch. This match has slowed down quite a bit now. OH! Just as I say that, Storm gets thrown onto the apron, but flies with a springboard crossbody...which Edge reverses into a mid-air powerslam! That was fantastic! Edge is building up a head of steam now, hitting a big back drop and a spinning heel kick, but Storm just kicks out of the ensuing pinfall attempt. Edge goes behind and hits that sitout neckbreaker he likes to use (the Edge-o-matic! Thanks Wikipedia). Lance breaks up the pin with a reflexive kick to the head, before whipping Edge into the ropes and going for a leapfrog...which is reversed into a sitout powerbomb! Another huge spot from Edge! Lance rolls beautifully into the Half Boston Crab, but Edge slowly makes the ropes and reverses into one of his own. Lance grabs the referee and pushes him over, allowing Christian to run out and help his tag partner. Christian charges at Storm, but the Intercontinental Champion moves and Edge gets drilled with an accidental spear! Superkick to Christian! Storm makes the cover...1...2...NO! I'd have banked on that being the finish! They're both back up. Edge catches a superkick...Edgecution! 1...2...3! Winner and NEW Intercontinental Champion: Edge 2.5/5 - A very decent opener with some slightly boring rest periods. Everything else was good though, especially the exciting false finish. Good work from both guys. Christian presents Edge with his new title and gets out of there. Edge looks confused and conflicted. Michael Cole is backstage with Test, the Dudley Boyz, and his frosted tips. Test has apparently defected to the Alliance. He was previously beaten up by the APA, who suspected him of being a mole in the locker room (due to his friendship with Shane McMahon). It's not true, but Test defects anyway in response. Jericho has an interview. He has a match later on with Rhyno, a wrestler he is yet to defeat. He says there's a first time for everything, and you always remember your first time. Take Stephanie McMahon, for instance. Jericho's sure it was very special for her and the captain of the football team. And the captain of the basketball team. And the swimming team, and the volleyball team, and the French club, and the Latin club, and the AV squad, and Olaf (the foreign exchange student). A video recap shows Test costing the APA their tag team championships, to the benefit of DDP and Chris Kanyon. 2. The APA and Spike Dudley vs The Dudley Boyz and Test The match is barely five seconds old, and D-Von blind tags in to help Bubba hit the 3D! Okay, not that 3D. The weaker version. But still, a great start by the heels, and Faarooq is in trouble. Oh wait, no he's not. He does his Faarooq thing and no-sells the offense, before destroying D-Von with a massive spinebuster. Bradshaw gets the tag and drops some ugly elbows, but the heels triple-team him in the corner. Bradshaw fights back and gets the better of D-Von, before tagging in Spike to a moderate pop. On commentary, Heyman is billing him "the Bully of Dudleyville" and claiming that he picks on people. Spike gets an inside cradle for 2, before Bubba tags in and hits a MASSIVE flapjack into the top rope! Ouch! Test gets the tag and...really just hurts Spike with a sickening spinebuster. He almost breaks him in half, and follows up with some right hands for good measure. For no reason (do they ever need one?) the Dudleys bring out a table. Test looks to gorilla press Spike over the top rope, through the table, but the little guy rakes his eyes and escapes. The two larger Dudleys demolish the smaller one with an outrageous flapjack. It only gets 2, and Bubba tags in D-Von. Spike evades a diving headbutt and makes the tag to Bradshaw, who destroys everyone! He's on fire, but Test looks to take his head off with a big boot...which is ducked! Huge powerbomb to Test! 1...2...Bubba pulls Bradshaw out of the ring in the nick of time! Spike Dudley is in now, and looks to hit the Dudley Dog on Test...but the big guy simply hurls him over the top rope, through that table! He turns right into a massive Clothesline From Hell, but the referee's outside checking on Spike! This is an explosive finish! Shane McMahon is in the ring, and smashes Bradshaw over the head with a chair! That's good for 3, and I've used far too many exclamation marks in the last few sentences. Winners: The Dudley Boyz and Test 2.5/5 - A far better match than it had any right to be, and probably the best APA match I've seen since the start of these reviews, way back at the 2000 Royal Rumble. In the WWF locker room, a gaggle of superstars (including Hardcore Holly, Al Snow, Matt Hardy and...erm...Lita) are congratulating Edge on his Intercontinental title win. Christian interrupts and says he just spoke to William Regal, who's booked a European Championship match tomorrow night against Matt. Matt looks understandably underwhelmed, and everyone leaves. Christian is such a loser, you guys. He pulls out his phone. It's "Grandma Edna", and she wants to speak to Edge. Edge is congratulated on his win, but when he hands the phone back to Christian, she hangs up. Heartless. Christian blames the phone. Debra is backstage in the heel locker room, which apparently no longer belongs to the McMahon/Helmsley regime. Either that, or the Alliance also have a fondness for black leather sofas and large potted plants. A ROIDED Shawn Stasiak bursts in and asks if Stone Cold is around, but Debra chastises him for not knocking first. Stasiak seems to be involved in a storyline where he's desperate to impress Austin. He thinks the problem is with his tights - "they've got stars on 'em, they're pink, they say Mecca on the back...I don't even know what Mecca is". Credit where it's due, he's pretty funny. Debra, however, isn't, and garbles a response. The gist is that Austin has a very important match tonight, and shouldn't be getting harassed by losers like Shawn. 3. Championship vs Championship Match: WWF Light Heavyweight Champion Tajiri vs WCW Cruiserweight Champion X-Pac Both men are members of Team WWF, but Pac won the Cruiserweight Championship from Alliance member Billy Kidman. Tajri is way more over than X-Pac, who is jeered throughout the fluid opening stages. The Japanese Buzzsaw hits a hurricanrana, into a baseball slide, into a springboard moonsault to the outside. Lovely sequence, and the crowd are hot for him. X-Pac regains control back in the ring and slaps on a surfboard submission, but is forced to break it because his shoulders are on the mat. He goes for the Bronco Buster, but Tajiri rises and sweeps the leg as he passes, sending him up into the tree of woe! Wow! MASSIVE baseball slide to the face! NASTY thrust kick. MANY uses of caps lock. A handspring back elbow gets 2, and it's clear that Tajiri has kicked things into another gear. X-Pac's staying with him though, and falls victim to the Tarantula. Tajiri releases it before the 5 count, and flings himself into a crossbody off the top. X-Pac rolls it into a pinfall attempt, but only gets 2. Bridging German suplex from Tajiri! The man is a loving demon! It only gets 2, and X-Pac superkicks his opponent to the outside. Pac flies with a somersault plancha to the outside (he used the top rope though - is that cheating?), and both men are slow to get up. Back in the ring now, and a sloppy exchange leads to the X Factor. Agh nooo, it was going so well. Don't let that be the finish! Thankfully it's not, as X Pac is slow to make the cover, giving Tajiri time to recover and reverse into a pinfall attempt of his own. Pac kicks out...and Albert strides out from the back. He's X Pac's tag partner, for those keeping track. So Test won earlier with the help of Shane McMahon, and Albert is continuing to act as X-Pac's lackey. They should never have let Trish Stratus go. Tajiri gets the upper hand, so Albert jumps up onto the apron. RED MIST! Tajiri sprays Albert in the face, but X-Pac hits a low blow and another X Factor for 3. Winner, STILL WWF Light Heavyweight Champion and NEW WCW Cruiserweight Champion: X-Pac 3/5 - A very crisp, high-paced match from the pair. The best thing on the show so far, even if there were one or two slight miscommunications. A really solid start to the show so far. We now go to WWF New York, where Perry Saturn has fallen in love with a mop, gotten over with the fans, and become a babyface. The wacky world of professional wrestling, everybody. Moppy has apparently gone missing, and Saturn has had her likeness printed on milk cartons. He begs everyone to help find her. Stephanie McMahon is backstage with Rhyno, and tells him how important it is to beat Chris Jericho tonight. He says that tonight he'll take care of Y2J once and for all. A video package shows Rhyno GOREing Y2J through the SmackDown entrance screen. If only interesting stuff happened on SmackDown these days. Literally anything of note. 4. Rhyno vs Chris Jericho Stephanie accompanies Rhyno out to the ring, and tells Jericho "I hate you" as the pair prepare to lock up. Heyman says that he hates Y2J because he can't stand an obnoxious bigmouth. The irony is hilarious (and intentional). The pair exchange chops and blows early on, and Jericho gets the upper hand with a top rope elbow smash, followed by a spinning heel kick. Y2J goes for an early Walls of Jericho, but Rhyno scoots on his back to the ropes. He charges and is flipped all the way to the outside, but gets back on the apron. A springboard dropkick sends him back down, and Y2J climbs up to the top rope. Jericho looks to dive all the way down to Rhyno on the outside, but Stephanie grabs his leg. Y2J kicks her off and leaps...RIGHT INTO A GORE! Oh my word! Stephanie simpers over Rhyno as the pair get back into the ring, and Jericho gets dropped HARD over the top rope. Rhyno's on the warpath. Steph takes advantage of a referee distraction to slap Y2J through the ropes, as a fan holds up a timely sign: "SummerSlam MVP: Steph's breasts". Charming. Rhyno takes a breather with a bodyscissors, before airplane-spinning Jericho into a nice cutter of some sort. He hits a diving headbutt or splash (not sure which) from the top, but Jericho rolls out of the way. Y2J makes his comeback and goes for the Lionsault on a standing Rhyno. He slips, and Rhyno does an outstanding job of catching him, saving the spot and kicking out at 2. Jericho hits a missile dropkick and makes the cover, but Steph has the referee distracted. Y2J shoves the ref out of the way and plants a huge kiss on the boss' daughter. Stephanie drops down to the floor and coughs her guts out, while Jericho hits a bulldog. Rhyno rolls out of the way of one Lionsault, but Y2J lands on his feet and connects with a second (barely - he's looking sloppy tonight). Rhyno kicks out at 2! Rhyno smashes Jericho with a big spinebuster, and slaps on...the Walls of Jericho!? Y2J crawls agonisingly to the bottom rope and snags it, but Rhyno keeps the momentum with a belly-to-belly suplex. He sets up Jericho for a Gore into the corner, but Y2J moves! Rhyno crashes and burns, and Jericho snags a roll up...before transitioning into the Walls! Rhyno is holding on, but Jericho drives his knee into the back of his neck...and Rhyno taps! Stephanie is horrified. Winner: Chris Jericho 2.5/5 - A well put-together match, but Jericho almost ruined it on several occasions with a few near-botches. Massive props to Rhyno for dragging his buddy through on a noticeable off night. Steph throws a tantrum and stomps to the back. Four good matches in a row to start the show! SummerSlam's coming along very nicely.
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Oct 12, 2015 23:14
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