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#3 Team WWF vs. The Alliance (InVasion 2001)
This was the main event of the pay-per-view that “officially” kicked off the invasion storyline that started about two months prior when WCW and ECW guys started showing up on RAW and SmackDown shows. The big occasion that really got the storyline going was when Booker T showed up out of nowhere at the previous month’s King of the Ring show, putting Stone Cold through a table and almost costing him the WWF Championship. Booker T was the WCW World Champion and the United States Champion at the time, so shots were officially fired.
Kurt Angle, who was essentially a fluke one-time WWF Champion, was finally beginning to gain some traction again after a lacklustre start to 2001, which saw him lose his title to The Rock right before WrestleMania. He had a good but an unimportant bout with Chris Benoit at ‘Mania instead, but he was just kind of hanging around. He joined forces with the heel team of Edge and Christian and engaged in a number of comedic performances, which helped him become a bigger focus of the weekly TV shows.
He became embroiled in a feud with Shane McMahon (who owned WCW and was feuding with Vince McMahon, whose affections Kurt was hoping to earn) while at the same time competing in the King of the Ring tournament that saw him wrestle both Edge and Christian in the same night. That was essentially the end of the group, but it was his performance in the match against Shane McMahon on the same night that really put Angle back in the spotlight.
After his insane street fight with Shane ‘O Mac, Kurt’s popularity started going off the charts and he soon officially entered the ranks as a good guy. Kurt was a main figure in the first 5-on-5 (non-elimination) tag team match, as it looked like he was going to earn the victory for Team WWF before Stone Cold Steve Austin turned on his company by giving Angle a Stone Cold Stunner, thus joining the Alliance and allowing Booker T and the WCW/ECW Alliance to pick up the win. Don’t worry, Kurt would eventually get his revenge (and that match will be on this list as well).
For reference, the match was Team WWF (Steve Austin, The Undertaker, Kane, Chris Jericho & Kurt Angle) vs. The Alliance (Booker T, DDP, Rhyno & The Dudley Boyz).
