The Missing Men of Team WCW

Having watched both Raw and Smackdown last week, with, I must say, a great deal more interest than I have done of late, I saw Team ECW arrive on the scene. And upon seeing this great team of ten men, extreme legends they were, invade Raw, one thing came to mind - how desperate the WWF were.

Although I was willing to give it a chance, and it seemed that I was one of the few Internet wrestling writers who were, I could see that the WWF/WCW Invasion angle was flopping in a big way. Although there was a great deal of hype, the crowd were not just up for it, and in this day and age, even if you put on a great match, it doesn't seem to mean a thing if the crowd aren't up for it.

News would have it that the ECW part of the Invasion angle was devised on Friday, 6th July. The WWF creative team had to come up with something drastic, something to save the angle, to save the pay-per-view, and by bringing ECW back from the dead, they did it, but only just. From here in Britain, it looked as if the Priest was about to read the Last Rites. (Why am I tempted to put something about The Sinister Minister in here?)

Just looking at Team ECW makes you realise just what Paul Heyman has given the sports entertainment world, with his little promotion that put the scares up both the WWF and WCW. The ten men in that team would grace any ECW Hall of Fame, if such a thing ever came into being, many of them having held the ECW World Championship.

But in that final segment on Raw, seeing the combined WCW/ECW force together, you began to realise why such an angle had been conceived. All you have to do is just look at the WCW team that night - Chuck Palumbo, Sean O'Haire, Mark Jindrak, Shawn Stasiak and Chris Kanyon - hardly names to get the pulses racing, are they. Whereas their ECW comrades - Tommy Dreamer, Tazz, Rob Van Dam, Rhyno, Mike Awesome - well, that's another matter entirely.

Vince McMahon and his creative team have saved their asses with this one, even if it is only a temporary thing. They've put together a band of wrestlers who are more over than any of the current WCW roster, and this includes Booker T and Diamond Dallas Page.

But it does make you think, though, that perhaps the WWF should have gone for more of the people who are associated with WCW. If you think about it, there are three men who could have helped this angle out a great deal, three men who will always be associated with WCW - Ric Flair, Sting, and Goldberg.

Flair, although he spent a year in the WWF, will always be associated with WCW. He is truly  one of wrestling's legends, and although his wrestling career is now truly over, he could still have been of great value to this angle.

Flair could have acted as the commissioner of WCW, or, in the least, as a spokesman. Say what you want about his diminishing wrestling skills over the past five years, he is still one of the best mic men in the business. In this angle, this would have served him well.

The second man, Sting, would have served this angle well because of the fact that he has never worked for the WWF, and as far as I know, never had any intention of doing so. Like Flair before him, Sting will always be associated with WCW. Like Flair, he is a legend there, having won virtually every title he was qualified for. By bringing Sting into the angle, you would have had a WCW main eventer who, unlike current World Champion Booker T, seems on a par with the likes of Steve Austin and The Undertaker.

The third man, Goldberg, would have provided the so-called new blood for this angle. For the past two or three years, many people have said that Goldberg was WCW's version of Steve Austin. While I'm not going to comment on this, during that time, many people have also said what a great contest an Austin-Goldberg match would be. It had the potential to become the Hogan v Flair of the new millennium.

Goldberg was the rising star of WCW. By bringing him in, and putting the world title on him, he would have made the perfect in-ring leader of Team WCW. Imagine Shane McMahon standing in the ring with Goldberg, and telling his father "you've got your rattlesnake, now I've got mine!"

This is the problem with the current WCW wrestlers - Booker T and DDP may be good enough for a WCW main event, but they just don't seem good enough for a WWF main event, whereas Sting and Goldberg probably would. It's obvious that we'd see Austin beat Booker T. But Austin beating Sting or Goldberg? Who knows?

So now we await next Sunday. I must say though, that I am a little disappointed. I would have loved to see Austin and Booker in a one-on-one match, instead of in this "brawl" match. We haven't seen a match like this since Flair v Backlund about twenty years ago.

I'd like to know, though, if I'm the only one who already picked their teams before last Monday's ECW invasion? Well, although I was a little stuck on Team WCW, my Team WWF would have been Austin, Angle, Jericho & The Dudleys. Guess three out of five isn't bad!

But while still on the subject of Austin, and Angle as well, I am really pleased with the way this little team is going at the moment. They seem to have become wrestling's latest "odd couple", something we haven't seen since The Rock and Mankind a while back. They are total opposites, yet seem perfect for each other. Their verbal interplay, with a hapless Vince McMahon caught in the middle, is an absolute pleasure to watch, and long may it continue.

Finally, I would like to say a little something about WWF ring announcer Lillian Garcia. Am I the only one who noticed her complete balls up last Monday. When Team WCW was coming down for the twenty man tag match, she totally messed up. Do you remember the last name she announced? Chuck O'Hara. Yep, Chuck O'Hara.

If such sloppy work had come from one of the in-ring performers, they would have been hauled up before Vince McMahon instantly. Sure, she may have a good singing voice, but frankly, her constant mistakes are now getting really annoying. In closing, all I will say is - get Howard Finkel back on a full-time slot. Howard is the best in the business, and an unsung hero is ever there was one.