Last Monday, the WWF was in dire need of something. They needed to do something drastic to save their ratings, save the invasion angle, and something to cover up the total lack of star power or any interest-generating stars that WCW has. Their answer came in the form of ECW.
People, no matter what anybody tells you, WCW right now is not a true representation of WCW. Notice how the Invasion team has three ECW guys and two WCW guys? That's because two actual stars is all the WCW has right now. DDP and Booker T are the only guys that are employed as members of the new WCW that have any main event appeal whatsoever. In my opinion, there are three guys who could have saved the WCW invasion, that being Goldberg, Ric Flair, and Sting. However, all three of those men are either not interested in WWFE contracts or are still under Time Warner contracts, so that's a dead issue. The WWF had started the invasion, it was not doing well, and they had to do something about it, and quick.
So on the July 9th episode of RIW, they added something to the mix. ECW. ECW has always generated major interest from fans (especially fans who have ever seen ECW), and ECW always had a very loyal, very excited, just absolutely rabid fan base. You never heard dead silence in an ECW arena like you did in the old WCW. ECW, just the name of the company generates a feeling of excitement. Vince knew that. The answer to the WWF's problems were simple: WCW just wasn't going to cut it on it's own, so they would throw ECW into the mix.
So during a tag team match that was supposed to put WWF guys Jericho and Kane against WCW guys Storm and Awesome, two guys who we hadn't seen in either the WWF or the WCW ran into the ring wearing ECW t-shirts. These are two men who were a big part of ECW, Rob Van Dam and Tommy Dreamer. Dreamer and Van Dam teamed up with Awesome and Storm to pound Kane and Jericho. Then, the WWF locker room seemingly emptied, the boys were going to come to Kane and Jericho's rescue. The Dudley Boyz, Raven, Justin Credible, Tazz, and Rhyno. Six guys who had good futures ahead of them in the WWF. And just as it looked as though they were going to tear these four outsiders apart, they turned, and all ten of these men joined and destroyed our WWF boys, Kane and Chris Jericho.
It was great, nobody saw it coming. What did these two WCW guys, these two outsiders, and these six WWF wrestlers have in common? Why, they had all been top stars in Paul Heyman's Extreme Championship Wrestling. As a matter of fact, Paul himself left the announce table, and entered the ring, delivering a "shoot" style promo introducing his team as being ECW, and that this invasion "just got taken to the Extreme!"
We were under the impression that ECW would take on both the WWF and WCW, until later in the show when the two were revealed to have been in an alliance against the WWF, and that (uggh) Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley was the new owner of ECW, and that she and Shane had decided to team up against Vince and the WWF.
Okay, I don't want to be critical here, but what the fuck kind of sense does it make to put Triple H's wife as the owner of ECW? You know, I'm not real high on the way the McMahons turn on each other all the time anyway, but this is just fairly stupid. Stephanie didn't need to be put in this angle. Leave Heyman as the leader, he was already employed by WWFE, so as far as storylines go, there's your answer to how was it all pulled off. You didn't need Stephanie to come in. What the fuck is going to happen when Triple H comes back? He's going to join ECW? He's going to turn his back on the WWF? I doubt it. It wouldn't make sense anyway. He's going to fight against his wife and her team of ECW guys while she tries to put the company her husband works for out of business? That sounds more likely, although it still makes little to no sense. Maybe the invasion angle will have run it's course when Triple H returns? Seems that's what the WWF booking team is probably hoping for.
Stephanie's involvement aside, this is a great angle. They have saved the invasion angle. The ratings are on the rise. It gives an instant push to the 10 ECW guys, while still pushing some of the WCW guys with them, and also still keeping the top WWF talent at the top, and even making guys like HardCore Holly and Billy Gunn, who have been in the WWF for so many years but aren't really top stars of any sort, have something to do on TV. The inter-promotional matches keep fans interested, and it's just an exciting time to be watching professional wrestling. Guys who were not over in the WWF very well like Raven and Justin Credible, are now over as a part of ECW, a company where they were both world champion. Guys like the Dudleys, who had been stuck in a "let's get the tables" rut, now have something new to do. Heyman, Tazz, Awesome, Storm, and Rhyno have all been restored to their ECW ways, and it refreshes all of their characters and gives them something meaningful to do.
One problem I can see though, and I'm not a booker, maybe they've already thought of this and have it worked out, but they put six WWF guys, several of whom were going to be top stars in the not too distant future, in the ECW and made it seem as if there's no chance for them in the WWF ever again. What happens when the invasion has run it's course? How are they going to go about bringing these men back into the WWF fold? Or are they? Time will tell, it should be very, very interesting. I just hope they know what they're doing.
In the meantime, the WWF is being threatened legally by the people who currently own the ECW trademarks (Paul Heyman does not). They want the WWF to retract all statements made implying that they own ECW. However, the WWF contests that it's a fictitious storyline and no real harm is done. We'll see, it may turn out that Paul Heyman is much smarter than we thought, and the WWF will end up buying out ECW too, and therefore Heyman will be out of debt from the closing of ECW. It may turn out they have to end the ECW invasion fairly quickly, or they may just ignore the legal warnings. Personally, I get a little woody each time I see the ECW logo and hear the ECW music, etc., so I hope it gets resolved. Speaking of woodies, maybe the ECW invasion could bring in Francine and Dawn Marie to combat with the likes of Stacy, Torrie, Trish, and Lita? Anyway.
Until next time.
