topcenter





WRESTLING COLUMNS

Reasons Why the Alliance Angle Worked
June 2, 2004 by Tack Angel


You have heard what they have said, "The Alliance Angle was the worst angle in the history of the WWE" and you may have the same opinion, but I wanna point out the things that happend that were good but would have never happend if the Angle didn't come to fruition. In no particular order.

1. The Stalker: We were all debating who the stalker of Undertaker's wife was. Names thrown out like Shawn Michaels, Mick Foley, & possibly a new superstar. Technically it was a new superstar, new to the WWE. As it was actually Diamond Dallas Page who was revealed as the stalker, the reaction the crowd gave is one of the loudest DDP ever got in his career. As DDP threw up the "Self High-Five" he cemented himself as the one who started it all.

2. The WCW Invasions: I will never forget when Lance Storm apeared on WWE TV after the Buy-Out (Not including WM X7) when he superkicked Perry Saturn (Which caused another great storyline, "Your Welcome"). Then Hugh Morris moonsaulted his way onto RAW, and then Stacy Kiebler danced her way on Smackdown. These "Invasions" were great in that it was almost like the old Nitro, you never knew what they were gonna do (or bring) next. This could have been, in my opinion, gone on a lot longer than it did.

3. The Kurt Angle Triathalong at King of the Ring 2001: This storyline started with Kurt Angle reinacting his Medal Ceramony from the 96 Olympics and Shane McMahon came down to interfier with things and brag about how WCW was better than Kurt Angle ensuing this feud. Fast Foward to the King of the Ring June 24, 2001. In an amazing showing by the only living "Superman" today, Kurt wrestled 3 times. The first match was against Christian and he beat him in 8 Minutes & 51 Seconds, any wrestler can tell you a 9 minute match may not seem much but it's still physicaly there. Kurt then had about 19 Minutes to rest before having to go out there again, he had to keep his adrenaline going somehow because after you calm down you start to feel the bumbs and bruises. Yet Kurt went out there and wrestled Edge for 10 Minutes & 20 Seconds and lost allowing Edge to win the King of the Ring Tournament. So Kurt had wrestled a total of 19 Minutes & 11 Seconds, that is your average PPV Main Event match. Kurt had to wait about 13-15 Minutes for his match, again he had to keep his adrenaline going somehow. Kurt then went out there and wrestled with Shane McMahon in what many call a classic match for 25 Minutes & 58 Seconds for a total of 45 Minutes & 9 Seconds, that my freinds, was an old school wrestling Semi-Main Event or Main Event! This is a great moment in that Kurt showed why he is possibly one of the greatest wrestlers in the past 20 years and showed why he may be one of the greatest wrestlers of all time.

4. The relisation of how bad Buff Bagwell REALLY is: Who hopes that they could forget the first WCW match on Monday Night RAW" Booker t vs Buff Bagwell was the Main Event on RAW for the WCW Championship, and this match is considered one of the worst matches of all time. Why was it great" Because Buff Bagwell had his MOTHER (Former WCW Tag Champion) call the WWE because, "They wern't feeding him enough." All this eventually lead to Bagwell's release in about one week of his debut. Thanks for doing the J.O.B. Buff, because someone had to.

5. The Return of "The Tribe of Extreame": It was schedualed to be Lance Storm & Mike Awesome vs Chris Jericho & Kane in the first Tag Team match that was "interpromotional". Jericho had the Walls of Jericho on Storm and Kane had chokeslamed Mike. Then two men came out of the crowd and slid in the ring, these two men started attacking Jericho & Kane, helping Mike & Storm. These two were Rob Van Dam & Tommy Dreamer. Some WWE wrestlers ran down to the ring and stood in front of Kane & Jericho to protect them, but then suddenly the turn around and faced Kane & Jericho. Tazz, Bubba Ray, D-Von, Raven, Rhyno, & Justin all turned and face Kane & Jericho with great anger. Kane & Jericho were then met with a great beatdown like a gang fight. All the while at the announcers booth a man in a Cowboy Hat & a man in a Baseball Cap were commentating on the whole situation. JR: "What is going on here"" Paul: "You wanna know what's going on"" JR: "Yes I do" Paul: "Fine!" The man in the baseball cap named Paul Heyman removed his headset & grabbed a microphone from the off-gaurd timekeeper. Paul went up the stairs and stood in front of the ring, seemingly to interview this grup on why they did what they did. But two of "The Group" opened the ropes for him. JR: "What the Hell is going on"" Paul then stood in the middle of the ring and high-fived some of "The Group." Paul then went on to do a promo that STILL sends shivers down my spine. The Tribe of Extreame was ReBorn and all of the fans who remembered chanted the orginization's name that they were all apart of, "ECW! ECW! ECW!" The Tribe should have stayed apart from WCW in my opinion and shold have been a rebel group, but who can change the past" This was also great as it was revealed about a year or two later that Tommy Dreamer's dad had regained eyesite for a couple weeks and during that time he saw his son debut in the WWE. How great is that"

6. The InVasion Pay-Per-View: In my opinion this was THE most surreal thing I had ever seen in wrestling EVER. Champions of WCW going against Champions of the WWE, no titles (except one) were on the line, it was just "Who is the better Champion"" Add that with a classic Hardcore match between Rob Van Dam & Jeff Hardy, a fun little 6-Man Tag, & a GREAT 5 on 5 Main Event with a nice twist ending and this was a great PPV. The impact it had was the following. Rob Van Dam's rise to popularity, Nick Patrick can carry Earl Hebner to a passible match, & Steve Austin's career got a rejuvination.

7. Steve Austin can be Funny!: Pre-KotR 2001, Steve Austin had a relationship with Vince McMahon in a "Wrestler-Manager" way. With the pressure of being champion, Steve seemed to had lost his mind! What would follow would be some of the funniest moments that had ever happend in the WWE, who could forget Steve Austin's redition of "Koom-Bye-Ya"" Then when Steve & Kurt got together, the limits were endless. Kurt's rendition of "Jimmy Crack Corn" & Steve's presentation to Kurt a kiddie cowboy hat (Kurt: "I feel like a real cowboy") The whole "What"" thing started on the first LIVE! Smackdown! Steve Austin can be funny when he wants to.

8. The Rock: With filming of his part in "The Mummy Returns" done, The Rock had a choice to make. Go ahead and start promoting the movie & get started on the next movie or return to the WWE for a little run. Fortunetly for the fans and for the WWE, Vince helped make the desicion for him by asking him to come back. The hype that went into his return was tremendos, and they didn't disapoint. When Rock started his catchphrase after laying down Shane & Vince McMahon, "Finally, The Rock has come back....." a long pause came as the crowd became anxious, The Rock continued, "...to the WWF!" That was a "spine-chilling" moment if I ever saw one. The return of the Rock was huge for the storyline as another big player joined the fight.

9. More titles mean more oppertunities: I gaureentee you that if the Alliance Angle didn't happen, we would have not seen guys like Chris Jericho, Christian, Edge, & others where they are now. It's because of the angle that Chris Jericho FINALLY won the big one when he beat The Rock for the WCW Title. It's because of this that Christian & Edge had a great feud that elevated BOTH of their careers. Because of the influx, it allowed WWE to expand on who they can have as Big Players. You wouldn't see the two current Main Champions, Chris Benoit & Eddie Guerrero with the belts if the Alliance Angle didn't happen.

10. Steve Austin vs Kurt Angle: In my opinion, this is one of the greatest short-lived feuds ever in the history of the WWE. The two Bridge incidents, the Milk Truck, & their classic at Summerslam 2001. I don't really need to expand on it as all of you most likely have at least heard about it or have seen it.

11. Rock/Austin Duet: It lasted about 20 or so minutes and it's up there with "Rock: This is Your Life" During that time you forgot that they were actually feuding and just had fun watching them sing together. It's something that you have to see to understand it's greatness.

12. "Classy" Freddie Blassie: His speach that he gave was one of the most tear-jerking moments in my time of watching wrestling. When he got up from his wheelchair that I said, "Be carefull Freddie." Blassie: "So get up! And Fight!" It's simple but very powerfull. Freddie embodied what the WWE was during the Angle, "Unsuspecting of what is to come, but ready to fight!"

13. Closer: Since the Buy-Out we all knew that something was gonna happen and that it was going to be big, if it didn't we wouldn't feel right about the whole situation. The Storyline happend and we needed closer of the whole thing. With the Unification of the WCW titles it really felt like WCW ended. But since they didn't unifiy the ECW titles, that's why you hear the rumors of ECW coming back. Everything in wrestling needs a end result, WCW had been defeated and we were glad. WCW was a good thing for the WWE, wether the WWE relised it or not. It's because of the Alliance Angle that the Brand Extention happend and that we have two different promotions with a possible third.

So there is my reasons for why the Alliance Angle worked. Comments are accepted & I hope to write another column soon.

by Tack Angel..


SuperBeachBum88 wrote :
I read your column and I would have to disagree with you. When the Alliance first happened I was very disappointed. The reason of this was because it was the rival WCW like it had been when Nitro was mopping the floor with Raw. In reality it was the ratings powerhouse of WWF vs. the ratings of 2.3 WCW. With this being said I am not saying all the wrestlers in WCW were making it bad, it was just poor booking. I am not knocking Booker or RVD or any of the others. It wasn't the same has people I would have hoped for. Shane and Steph should have hired Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff run the invasion. What I wanted was a DX revival and have the original NWO have a feud. People would pay to see that. And another would Be a Sting vs. Undertaker or a Goldberg vs. Austin feud. These are what people wanted to see. In the end it wasn't what I wanted or predicted to see. I wanted to see a real battle of champions. Not people like Buff Bagwell, Stasiak, and Pulumbo. If anyone wanted this to work, they should have brought some real stars in and then we would have the real Monday Night War!
Xtreme thoughts:
Sinse WWE has Bought WCW I have thought about a lot, and How the WCW Competely failed at the end. Well we all know the reasons that most people say but one thing I have thought about is Storylines. If we remeber the WCW had some weird things goin on, its seemed like every week the storyline would end, not for the better either, they left huge questoins, and big holes. I mean NWO was dumb after Hogan join the Wolf pac if u ask me I mean they go from hating each other to friends in a day, and when Hogan is dressed like a wigger thats when u know they a desperate. Ok Anyway I love the Eugene Storyline I think they have really done a great job with it and it seems like Eugene is really over with the crowd. Also I like the Orton and Shelton fued it really gives theses to young guys a chance to shine, good matches. I am also happy La Resistance has gained the titles back, one cause they can have a real tag team hold the belts and two cause Benoit doens't need to hold the tag team titles, and Edge I think he has lost his thunder already, Fans don't really seem to like him as much, but maybe in a few weeks they will give him something to do. I love the Kane breaking out of the cross face thing its pops the questoins goin into Sunday will he be able to lock it in, But I don't like how It hasn't had any build before the match. Its good to see A-train is still alive dang, its been almost 3 months sense he was trade and him and Chuck still haven't done anything. The one thing that is starting to bug me is the fact the WWE is screwing up the Cruiserweight division like WCW did having chicks winning it and Making stupid storylines with it, its amazing they have a great division of lightweights but they can't build anything with it, I really wish Spanky was still with the Company he was really entertaining. Well anywayz thats what been in my head see ya Later
Isaac Noonan wrote:
I personnally loved the invasion angle. It was a great way to introduce new(er) characters and not bore people to tears with the same old storylines. As far as SuperBeachBum88's comments, they would've been great, but they couldn't happen. D-X could'nt happen because Triple H was still out with his injury and Shawn Michaels hadn't returned yet. Goldberg and Kevin Nash were still under contract with Time Warner, so no NWO and no Goldberg feuds. I agree that Bagwell was a waste and Polumbo wasn't much better (yet). At least they used Stasiak in an entertaining way. Whenever his attempts to "impress Steve Austin" backfired and he ended up knocking himself out, my friend and I laughed for about 10 minutes straight. It was, more or less, a fresh product that really got people's attention.
wrote:

If you have any comments, reactions, rebuttles or thoughts on this column, feel free to send them to the email below,
If your email is intelligently written, they will be posted underneath this messege..
We at OnlineWorldofWrestling want to promote all points of view, and that includes YOURS.




© 2015, Black Pants, Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective holders.

[ CHAT ROOM | FLASH | SEARCH | FORUMS | DOWNLOADS | TAPES | WRESTLINKS | GUESTBOOK | THANK YOU | CONTACT ]