The Invasion was an awesome time, at the time, but yeah, it's such a fun place to reimagine and after THAT king of the ring show I am on board. Really well booked throughout, and I love the formatting and style of the show. KING BOOKAH~! already is epic, as is a likely feud with Kurt. Jericho getting the visual submission over Austin was awesome too, would love to see a proper Jericho title run, BUT WHO'S SIDE IS HE ON!?
At Vengeance we have Too Cool here, although GM Sexay had been fired in real life due to bringing drugs over the border. I totally forgot ShowGunn's were a thing, and I'm rooting for them! Albert as champion confused me until I realised it had obviously occurred on the Raw/Smackdown between KOTR and Vengeance, very happy to see Edge win this and have a run as IC champ. Love the Jeff/Matt/Eddie match - brother vs brother is always a tough one to run with, but tensions being teased and built worked well here. RVD is getting the obligatory Regal feud before a main event push which I like. HHH and Vince getting the win here to get their heat back is solid, although I expected run in's and shenanigans for WCW to win. Angle runs in, and it's almost like WCW are the babyfaces? It's a tough line to tread for sure. Love the HHH/Austin/Jericho situation, and whilst I'd love a Jericho title run I can see why Austin v HHH is the money feud here.
Jeff/Matt at Summerslam is a MOTN candidate waiting to happen. TLC too? Good times, although harder to have the relentless spots you can have with a multi man. It's always tough with Matt and Jeff because we just want to cheer both of them on, but at this point Jeff was definitely worthy of a midcard title run and the victory here - even if we all hope the brothers reunite eventually. Looks like Regal found his allies in Big Show and Billy Gunn, hopefully this leads to a good run for the trio. Chyna handing the torch to Lita is a great Summerslam moment, although it's not like you'll have many options that you can build a legit women's divison around. E&C and the IC title match were booked perfectly with Edge overestimating what he can commit to, ultimately letting Christian down, and sowing some discord there. He gets the win and then Rhyno smashes him up post match. Holy shit Test beat RVD... I don't know how I feel about that. Angle/Booker is great and I wish we'd had the full show write-ups for it but this was solidly booked too. Angle couldn't possibly get the win and throw the belt in the trash, and Booker winning makes him really strong. SHAWN! Okay, you're bringing the big guns for the WWF...I like it. Sweet Chin Music to give Vince the victory over Shane is good and not a minute too late! Oh, The Rock's back... well, this is the triple threat match we never got to see, and it's a big one for sure. Austin v Rock v HHH...and my dear lord you went big on this one. I was just getting caught up with all the nearfalls and then BOOM, here come three masked men to ruin Vince McMahon's day. HHH turning babyface and Austin hightailing it were exactly what this segment needed, and immediately the stakes have been ramped ALL THE WAY UP! Great ending to that show.
RAW #1
I found it weird that a match between Regal/Tajiri would precede the big Vince promo, but what a promo it was. It should have started the show, it was an excellent call to arms - even if seven wrestlers immediately switched sides. The ending felt a bit rushed but it was still incredibly effective. Also, I love Austin's paranoid character, especially at the old favourite Shawn Michaels being back in town. A natural feud right there should Austin defect.
Yay, the Hardyz reunite! And they get the win. Happy days. Also Lita is back in the fold after she dispatches of Ivory easily enough, although I wonder what the next step is for Team Extreme as they dont have any natural rivals at this point until more WCW guys come in.
Love the Jericho situation too as he should by all rights defect to WCW, although the main event scene is crowded on both sides of the aisle, so it's really interesting with him positioned in the middle of it all.
I sense the end is coming for Edge and Christian, with one of them defecting perhaps? Feels like you almost have to line up the babyfaces and heels on opposing teams during this war. Nice to see them get another match for the belts but I fear that may be the catalyst that sends Christian over the edge.
Big Show is the eleventh man!! I didn't see that coming. I presumed we'd get a false finish with some of the recent wwf traitors running in to cement their new WCW status. There's a lot going on and I think you may have bust your nut too early with some of the stories, but if you can sustain this pace then you've got a hell of a program. I was enthralled throughout, with one turn after another with a spattering of matches inbetween. This was a great ready.
Smackdown #1
Austin v HHH to main event Smackdown is huge, I'm shocked it isn't in a steel cage as was all the rage back then.
Yep, no shocker that the dudleyz retain, I suspect this E&C break up isnt far off now. Rhyno being a destroyer is always on my BtB bingo card.
Welp.. that no-WCW ban didnt last very long. Palumbo and O'Haire are big and ripped, but they feel like after thought roster-bulking talent, so will be interesting to see how you position them here.
Jericho forcing Vince's hand to get into the title match later on is good shit.
Ahh, it's the roster-bolstering goons coming down and ruining every match! I guess it works because security can only remember so many faces and these guys can get in under the radar. APA make the attempted save and immediately we're getting the starts of lots of potential matches. Viscera is a big big man and he is uber scary, but by 2000 Vis felt a bit saturated. If you can rebuild him back into the monster he should have always been, he can be super effective.
I like how you're booking Rhyno and RVD and actually making the Hardcore title feel like it matters. You've done that with all the belts to be fair, but this one feels particularly well done because someone as big a name as RVD, and someone as dangerous as Rhyno, are both fighting over it and it's not just an afterthought or tossed into a Hardcore Battle Royale etc etc like it would have been a year prior. Hope this isnt the end of the road for RVD and Rhyno feuding.
Well, yeah, course Kane and Taker are gonna walk that four team match. It's almost unfair to everybody else in the tag division with these two monster's around.
Austin continually retaining via DQ and never being hit is really some good booking, but also he HAS to defect to WCW now. He can't keep getting away with it! WCW again look super strong, although perhaps the WWF guys need a few more coffee's to wake up and react to these run-ins a little bit quicker. Feels like a lot happened before they actually got involved. Aside from that, and maybe too many run-ins on a night when Vince is tightening security and having the wrestlers ready to go at a moment's notice. I think one perfectly timed run-in on the show would have been more poignant and achieved much the same end result.