While the 2001 storyline of WWF’s invasion by the WCW/ECW “Alliance” was generally regarded as a horribly botched flop and a rushed, uninteresting, unfulfilling waste of one of the biggest potential money-making angles of all time, a bright spot emerged from the endless stream of WrestleCrap and provided some hot matches, namely the feud between Stone Cold Steve Austin and former Olympic Gold Medallist Kurt Angle over the World Wrestling Federation Championship.
TODAY’S ISSUE: Steve Austin vs. Kurt Angle
Fans of this column will recall that I have been less than enamored with the WWE product for quite some time and that I gave up watching regularly over a year ago (after never having missed a moment of their televised content for years prior). But with an extensive wrestling library at my disposal it’s easy to pick a period and single out the best matches, reliving the good part of the past without having to sift through all the sportz entertainment and ga-ga that accompanied the wrestling the first time around. With a little reminder from IWC icon Scott Keith, as I re-read his book about the last days of the World Wrestling Federation known as Wrestling’s One-Ring Circus, I took a stroll down memory lane and enjoyed another look at the war between the ass-kicker and the grappler, the striker facing the wrestler, the evil maniac against the conquering knight: Steve Austin versus Kurt Angle.
The irreverent, beer-swilling redneck Stone Cold Steve Austin and the athletic, clean-cut Olympian Kurt Angle were two ends of the spectrum, but had such chemistry between them that the matches in their series were exceptionally entertaining and emotional. The back-story was that Austin turned heel and joined the Alliance at InVasion, as his new evil persona was increasingly paranoid and bitter toward Angle due to Austin’s perception that they were competing for Vince McMahon’s affections. So the one-time loner turned to a team that appreciated, respected and loved him (his words), seeking some sort of a family. Meanwhile, Angle shattered his mold of dorky, white bread goof for that of the hardcore, bone-breaking destroyer, which gave him an edge and helped him match fire with the likes of Austin.
They met for the WWF title at SummerSlam after Angle challenged Austin in response to Stone Cold’s heel turn and jump to the Alliance, and the name of the game in their first match was intensity. They brawled outside the ring before the match began, and when the bell sounded, Angle kicked out of an early Stunner that came from nowhere, and Austin flipped out. A second Stunner launched Angle clear out of the ring and Stone Cold drove the Olympic Hero’s face repeatedly into the steel ring post, bloodying Angle as he unleashed all his fury and venom on the challenger.
Just when it seemed Angle was finished, he reached down deep and slapped on the ankle lock, turning the tide. Angle even landed the oft-missed moonsault, but Austin was far from finished. After a long Cobra Clutch sequence (including Angle’s failed attempt at the Bret Hart counter) Austin nailed a third Stunner and when Angle kicked out yet again, the Rattlesnake fell victim to the Angle Slam and another ankle lock. Austin then lost his mind and drilled the referee with a hard right hand, knocking him out. Moments later, Austin hit the replacement ref with a Stunner, clearly frustrated by his inability to defeat Angle after hitting him with all his best stuff. Austin didn’t want any more of Angle on this night, and looked for the DQ to end the affair once and for all while keeping his championship intact.
Austin nailed a third ref with the title belt, and when Angle landed another Angle Slam there were no WWF zebras left to count the fall. So evil Alliance referee Nick Patrick slid into the ring, teased counting Austin out, then signaled for the bell to end the match. Certainly the DQ that Patrick ordered was justified, but it stunk of corruption when Austin got the exact finish he wanted, even needed, since Angle had proven he simply could not be defeated on that night. The toughest S.O.B. in the WWF had become a sniveling, cowardly weasel, desperate to cling to his championship. Angle was obviously entitled to another shot at the gold, and although he’d have to wait for that opportunity, the Olympic Hero did score a small measure of revenge on the evil ref who helped shaft him when he pounded Patrick with a right cross and nearly snapped his leg in the ankle lock (Patrick looked ridiculous tapping out – it wasn’t a match Nick. It was an angry man whom you wronged trying to hurt you, moron.), but his vengeance against Austin was yet to be unleashed.
The war between these two polar opposites really kicked into high gear after SummerSlam when Austin tossed Angle’s gold medals off a bridge into the river below, and Angle retaliated by catching Austin unawares backstage, shackling and blindfolding him and dragging him to a similar bridge where he convinced the Rattlesnake that he was about to suffer the same fate as the medals. Angle humiliated Austin, making Stone Cold not only cry for him, but also coercing Austin into agreeing to a return bout for the WWF title at the upcoming Unforgiven ppv. In retaliation, Austin drilled Angle with a piledriver on the concrete floor at ringside three days before the rematch, and that storyline neck injury would play a part in the contest at Unforgiven.
The idea leading into the rematch was that Austin was desperate, believing deep down that he could not beat Angle clean in a one-on-one match for the championship, which is why he softened up the neck earlier in the week. Like the previous battle in their war, this clash of wills began with brawling on the outside before the match started proper. Early in the match they worked a cool spot, as Austin went for the KICK-WHAM portion of the Stunner twice, but since Angle had it scouted and stood poised to block, Austin relented. Nice. Angle then delivered Austin’s own Thesz Press to the Rattlesnake, and he really cranked up the attitude at that point. Mid way through, Austin tried to hightail it out of there with his gold in tow, but Angle chased him down, beat him up, and literally carried the champion back to the ring. There would be no retreat for Austin on this night; Angle wanted the clean victory, and to reclaim the WWF championship for the home team.
They spent a lot of time brawling outside the ring, far more than should have been allowed even with the old chestnut of the ref allowing a great deal of latitude so a match of that magnitude could have a clear winner, not a “sister-kissing” disqualification decision. But soon enough, back in the ring Austin began exploiting the neck injury and the psychology was simple: each time he touched Angle’s neck, it seemed the Olympic Hero was in grave danger and that storytelling shortcut added more drama to this already dramatic affair. Interesting cameo – Austin stopped dismantling Angle long enough to go shove his middle finger in the face of a woman in the Angle cheering section, and thanks to TNA Wrestling, I now realize that woman was none other than Kurt’s real-life wife, Karen. Anyway…
After 10 more minutes of these two warriors pounding on each other (including each landing a low blow behind the ref’s back), Angle employed Austin’s own Stone Cold Stunner and covered him but the Rattlesnake narrowly escaped defeat. Austin recovered and delivered a piledriver that, considering Angle’s kayfabe neck injury, was a vile, heinous attack and looked to end the match and possibly Angle’s wrestling career. But the Olympian lifted his shoulder before the three-count, and when Austin finally attempted the coup de grace, his vaunted Stunner, his earlier fears were realized – Angle caught the boot and reversed to his deadly ankle lock. The paranoid Rattlesnake tapped out, relinquishing not only the match but the WWF championship as well. Angle got a hard earned in-ring celebration, first by his family, then joined by the WWF locker room. It was a feel-good moment in Kurt’s hometown of Pittsburgh, and it would have been a fantastic way to end the series and blow off the feud.
But this being pro wrestling, the idea of Angle going on to a long and successful title reign never entered the equation. On October 8th, just two weeks after Kurt’s big, emotional victory, he was screwed out of the WWF title in another nonsensical turn in the invasion storyline as WWF Commissioner William Regal jumped to the Alliance and cost Angle the title. What’s worse, the story was now all about whether Rob Van Dam was going to be loyal to Austin and the Alliance or look out for himself in the triple-threat title match at the upcoming No Mercy ppv, and Angle became an afterthought. That’s the sort of haphazard booking that turned people off on the entire invasion angle. One month earlier, Angle’s title victory was the biggest thing in the promotion, and 30 days later he was window dressing in the story of Austin and RVD, an also-ran in their ppv match.
At the start of the no-disqualification, triple-threat title match at No Mercy, Angle fought off both Allies as best he could and even reversed the Stunner into the ankle lock again, but this time RVD was there to break things up. All three men did their thing; Angle threw suplexes and showed intensity (and once again got to land his gorgeous moonsault), RVD flew around the ring and showcased his unique offense, and Austin brawled, poked eyes, cheated, flipped birds and spewed venom. Stone Cold nailed Angle with a Stunner but of course, RVD broke up the pinfall attempt. The same thing happened when Angle drilled RVD with the Angle Slam, as the typical WWF version of the triple-threat formula unfolded.
As if the sportz entertainment quotient wasn’t high enough in this event already, Vince McMahon came out and blasted Austin in the back with a chair and Angle took over, at least until Shane McMahon showed up and got physically involved to take Angle out of the equation. The deulin’ McMahon clan battled on the outside while Austin snuck in a Stunner on RVD for the win. Just like that, in one month’s time the main event scene of the only major league wrestling company in the US degenerated from a high-intensity war between Austin and Angle to an overbooked mess; and things only got worse from there. In a ridiculous booking decision, Angle went on to join the Alliance and fought on their side during the winner-take-all final battle against the WWF at Survivor Series, then cost his new team the match (and their very existence) by turning back to Team WWF during the match and ensuring Austin lost the deciding fall. Confused? It gets better. On RAW the next night, Angle claimed to be a mole, that his defection to the Alliance was an act all along and that he faked joining the Alliance just to ensure their undoing. Wow. Days of Our Lives, or professional wrestling? You tell me…
In a convoluted way, this led to the unification of the former WCW world title held by the Rock and Austin’s WWF championship, and while the steps along the way are too confusing to completely chronicle here (including McMahon attempting to strip Austin of the belt and award it to Angle, Ric Flair debuting six months later than he should have to suddenly announce himself as 50% owner of the WWF, and a mini-tournament being signed for the next ppv), the result was one final one-on-one match between Austin and Angle for the WWF championship at Vengeance, with the winner going on to face the man holding the newly re-christened “world title” (the previous WCW championship) in the same night, to decide the true undisputed heavyweight wrestling champion of the world.
Now back to portraying a whiny heel, Angle expected to be greeted with a hero’s welcome by the team he claimed to have single-handedly saved (and the WWF faithful didn’t agree). Austin had also magically returned to his former hell-raising character, and we were asked to simply forget the last several months of angles. Gotta love McMahon and his revisionist history. On to the match. For the first time in their series, this contest started out in a more traditional way with collar and elbow tie-ups and a more recognizable match flow. In a nice bit of continuity, Angle attempted to reverse the Stunner into his dreaded ankle lock once again, but Austin finally developed an escape and rolled out of the hold. That’s one of those little things I appreciate, especially considering their long history together. You’d expect them to start recognizing each other’s offense and plan escapes and counter-holds. Good stuff.
They couldn’t resist brawling on the outside, but at least they kept it brief this time around. Back in the ring, Angle chain-wrestled a beautiful sequence into the ankle lock and nearly forced the Rattlesnake to submit before Austin reached the ropes. More brawling on the floor ensued, but again, it was a short visit although Angle made the most of it, wrapping Austin’s braced knee around the ring post several times, then locking on Bret Hart’s ring post figure four leg lock. Now looking to capitalize, Angle went for the ankle lock one more time but Austin kicked the Olympian away. This time Angle missed his amazing moonsault; I guess he’s only allowed to hit it as a babyface. Austin used the miscue to get back into the match.
The German suplex had been a recurring theme in all their matches, and Austin delivered five to Angle consecutively, but Angle recovered and drilled the Rattlesnake with the Angle Slam. Back and forth they went until Austin hit a sudden Stunner for the victory, and just like that, their saga was over. That’s another babyface/heel anomaly. In their first big match back at SummerSlam, Angle kicked out of three Stunners but as a heel in this match, he couldn’t endure one. While much more of a traditional contest and not the all-out brawls they had earlier (which I was hoping to see from these two), it sort of fell flat and needed another 5-10 minutes to build the tension before ending so abruptly. It must have been the result of some bad timing for the show (goodness knows we couldn’t have lived without a 10-minute recap of the Vince McMahon “Kiss My Ass Club” segment from SmackDown! or the live promo by Rikishi at WWF New York) but it was far from a fitting conclusion to their epic war. Still, their chemistry shone through yet again, as great performers are difficult to shackle, even with time constraints.
Despite the laughable booking, poorly written twists and turns for shock value only (with no real storytelling value), and the surrounding invasion angle which was doomed to failure from the beginning, these two fantastic wrestlers entertained the fans every time they squared off and the matches discussed above are certainly worth a second look. Kurt Angle and Stone Cold Steve Austin were two of the most intense competitors and greatest champions in WWF history and when they collided, the results were everything you’d hope for from two tigers tearing into each other.
Austin went on to become a shell of his former self in roles like the “Sheriff” of RAW and such, although he still had a great match or two in him after his run with Angle. Kurt is still limping along in TNA as a member of their “Main Event Mafia” stable, but most agree his best days are long behind him. Thank goodness the Rattlesnake and the Olympic Hero feuded in WWF at a time when they both had plenty left in the tank, and for a few months provided some of the best wrestling on the card. But don’t take my word for it. Go back and watch these matches and see for yourself.
Vin Sanity is not categorized as a psychological disorder… yet.
p.s. – “It is easier to stay out than get out.” – Mark Twain
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The original version of this syndicated column, titled Alternate Reality by Vin Tastic, appears each Monday morning on Pulse Wrestling.
Elsewhere on Pulse Wrestling this week…
Ace Glazer analyzes the potential new direction of ROH in the latest edition of Ring of Honor Weekly.
Speaking of ROH, John Wiswell takes a look at Paul London’s departure from WWE in his Cult of ROH.
Mark Allen revisits WWF’s Survivor Series 1996 in his always informative Historically Speaking retrospective.
Andy Wheeler talks dismissals, releases, and firings in this week’s For Your Consideration.
Norine Stice cooks up some classic goodness, this time about the gimmick trailblazer Gorgeous George Wagner, in the ever-hardy and oh-so satisfying Wrestling’s Country Kitchen.
And it’s double-duty for our country chef, as Ms. Stice delivers a review of Ring of Honor’s latest ppv, Driven.
Finally, Jonathan Kirschner delves deep into CHIKARA’s unique Cibernetico match.
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