Grilling JR

On this episode of Grilling JR, listen as JR and Conrad revisit WWF Invasion 2001 from July 22, 2001, at the Gund Arena in Cleveland, OH. This was the most successful PPV in company history that was not a WrestleMania. Topics the guys discuss include a 10-man tag team main event between Team WWF vs. Team Alliance, Steve Austin, and Kurt Angle comedy, available WCW talent at the time, Booker T injuring Steve Austin, OVW developmental forming, Tough Enough, Buff Bagwell, Steve Austin defecting, and so much more!
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[@shamsingh6190]

Summer 2001, what I would do to go back in time 🔝

[@Trill_4_Life]

Same- July 22nd 2001

[@johnnydoe6717]

Senior year of high school just ended for me. Now just becoming an old man 😭 Lol

[@shamsingh6190]

@@johnnydoe6717 wow, I was 17 and about to start a new full time role in retail!

[@johnnydoe6717]

@@shamsingh6190 time flies

[@alexm2930]

They should an occurs experience where you get to sit in the arena at these old wrestling events.

[@fergalstackstreams]

"A lot of ECW guys we brought in were good workers... they were hungry..." That's because their ECW checks kept bouncing and they couldn't afford food.

[@hellohell77]

Yeah, they definitely were "hungry". Unless the cheap street drugs most of them were doing was killing their appetites.

[@barryrowlings83]

Hungry young fighters. In fact they are wrestling for a Sandwich

[@PatricksCrazyPlace]

All of us who were fans at the time had dream cards for WWF vs. WCW vs. ECW. It felt like the possibilities were endless. But then the time to do it came around and it just didn't live up. It couldn't. They couldnt get the names (Goldberg, Sting, NWO, etc.) to make the WCW side work. And ECW joining up with WCW robbed the former of its rebellious identity. And then the final nail, at least for me, was Austin joining Team WCW/ECW. Yes he worked for both but his identity was WWF. He was Mr Raw, the one, the man! You can't have the pillar of WWF Attitude be on the opposing side. And having Shane and Steph own them (despite having Heyman already) was a mistep that made the whole thing feel like a WWF storyline rather than the interpromotional war we dreamed of. By the end, the WCW and ECW faction felt more like "Evil WWF" and barely resembled the previous companies at all. But hey, at least we got Rob Van Dam out of it.

[@ashleydominiak9059]

Great point It was because there contracts still ran another year or 2 so they were still getting paid from those contracts that’s why hogan and everyone did nt turn up until 2002-2003 sting had other reasons like worried about what they would do to his character after seeing what they did with booker T

[@dangxdc8348]

The AFTERMATH of X-SEVEN BY GAWD The clusterfuck It all ultimately led to VKM dreading Ric Flair to summon nWo One clusterfuck to another clusterfuck to X8 another clusterfuck due to the original nWo plan going to shit

[@bassacoustic1549]

Love when JR sneers at the Meltzer ratings

[@PRATZ45]

The Best commentator of all times- Jim Ross- The legendary J.R. Sir

[@user-su1xk3mv2b]

The king was amazing too

[@jordanbailey5456]

Jim Ross' commentary buried wcw guys as much as storylines or the matches tbh "Booker T is the wcw champ but he's no ric flair or sting"

[@bassacoustic1549]

1:04:45 PPV starts

[@sincerelyme7423]

🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏👍👍👍👍👍

[@Trill_4_Life]

20 years ago today! Dude time flies! I still have the Invasion PPV recorded- July 22nd 2021

[@davpreec]

Conrad's Reaction to JR getting hit with a cinder block 😂

[@eazie2003]

"two cows on ice"..JR is a legend

[@robbyirwin4846]

Excellent podcast guys! Welcome back Conrad!! Thank you!

[@jeffhegarty]

What I like about JR is that he is completely impartial about everyone. He will calmly, and respectfully, list their strengths and weaknesses as wrestlers and as people

[@phantomsidious2934]

The Invasion storyline didn't bother me at all, I enjoyed it for the WWF side of things, the rivalry's of Stone cold and Kurt angle, Rock and Jericho, all the great promos and backstage elements of Austin bullying the alliance, Rock and booker T, the survivor series elimination match, plus I was a new WWF fan at the time and knew nothing of wcw anyway so I didn't care about the missing stars.

[@patrickdoherty4527]

I was exactly the same. I knew next to nothing about WCW. I enjoyed the angle.

[@WrestlingFace]

Agreed my dude

[@phantom8926]

I do wish they could've had more of the WCW guys there as well as ECW guys but I agree, I enjoyed it overall, especially as a newcomer to wrestling.

[@stuartmorris6299]

Bingo! That's how most wwf fans felt

[@allencollins5666]

​@@stuartmorris6299WWE Fans Delusionals Idiots.

[@jesseandrews2303]

That answered my question. Heyman is a historical must working alongside JR and I wondered what The King would have done had he not walked out with The Kat.

[@delbertprince5302]

I love Jim Ross theory about Terry Gordy,Rob Van dam and Tommy Dremer.

[@butchvito]

DDP could have had a bigger role in the Invasion if they didn't bury him in the angle with The Undertaker. I would have liked to see if they could work something between him and Austin.

[@AmericanGypsy206]

As a Seattle Washington native I went to a SmackDown taping on July 3, 2001 in Tacoma this was an interesting time to see wrestling as the Monday night war just ended and the WWF bought out WCW I had high hopes during that time then I realized this was actually the end of the shock value that we had during the Monday night war, wrestling became pretty mundane after that I officially stopped watching wrestling after wrestlemania 26 in 2010… I started listening to these podcast about two years ago, just to relive the old days of wrestling

[@OriginalWrestlingDocumentaries]

Video starts at 1:44

[@WrestlingFace]

Unsung hero

[@siyabongatshabalala2098]

I would watch this survivors series main event until the end of days. What a match

[@shamsingh6190]

Summer of 2001 what I would do to go back to them times 👌

[@phantomsidious2934]

@@shamsingh6190 damn right

[@WrestlingFace]

Agreed my guy

[@The_Sage_of_Six_Paths]

Great show Jr. If you're only as good as your last show, then you just showed how you are still one of the top wrestling intellectuals there is.

[@user-su1xk3mv2b]

Imagine having one mess up in 40 years and everyone’s screaming about it

[@hellohell77]

I think the jump in viewers for this one was largely based on they wanted to see what WCW and ECW was going to do. BUT, more importantly, they were teasing Austin going face again. That's what everyone wanted. It didn't happen, of course. But it was an historical moment. Unfortunately, in retrospect, it was a bad moment. But, it makes sense to me how many people watched.

[@delbertprince5302]

Watching this Jim Ross show reminds me of WWE and WCW documentary.

[@savagebeastb.m.f7156]

Nothing beats a stiff drink and good ol jr

[@RyanAllenLocke]

Looks like there is tiny legs hanging down from Conrad's shelf lol.

[@jonanderson4867]

Been watching thinking the exact same haha

[@RyanAllenLocke]

@@jonanderson4867 lol good I'm not crazy then.

[@user-su1xk3mv2b]

Great show!

[@delbertprince5302]

If Eric Bishoff would have purchased WCW,WCW would have survived for about 5 to 10 years,Eric Bishoff biggest downfall would have been sponsorship.

[@edwardpilipow2866]

I loved the invasion angle.

[@DizzleDog]

I remember smokey arenas from when I was a kid but this invasion PPV looks like it’s in a structure fire

[@Elfo_Scuro]

Invasion PPV stars at 01:04:46

[@sincerelyme7423]

🙏🙏🙏👍👍👍👍

[@jonburkitt3729]

Oh dang, I haven’t listened for a couple of months, didn’t realise the video was now their face cams. I thought that was only for patrons.

[@PRATZ45]

Jim Ross- The Wrestling Commentary legend!

[@jiggyjaguar]

Accept when he screwed up calling aew wwe then he can die (according to the aew marks)

[@user-su1xk3mv2b]

@@jiggyjaguar honestly he may just be getting old and starting to lose it... still a total legend. Messed up one time in 40 years so I think he’s entitled a free pass

[@that_homeless_scrubbalo1478]

Hes a legendary libtard

[@VHSXSHELL]

been watching the wwe timeline and coming to watch jr reviews of all the ppv's pretty cool seeing all the stories play out and the behind the scenes things I didnt know of what was going on

[@misternewman1576]

JR when am I gonna get my poooosh?

[@junkmalware3323]

Gym Ross looking jacked baybeeeee

[@eddead4235]

We all agree invasion could be better but what we got i like all the shows having war theme whole show. Lance storm said it was meant to be him vs booker that raw woulda been better. Trish almost falls off stage and lita saves her

[@phantom8926]

I forgot about Lita saving her. When was that?

[@johnnydoe6717]

Everytime this topic is asked to JR or anyone else, they say well duh, wcw guys were getting paid to do nothing. Ok so why hotshot the storyline so fast? Wait a year or so until the big players were available

[@edwardpilipow2866]

That's a lot of money to pay the others to sit there and wait a year or more. Then you get to a point and who knows if they will want to work or not. After a year plus WCW becomes a dead brand. No one would care anymore.

[@Kendosmemeshop]

@@edwardpilipow2866 exactly. And on top of that, the WCW fans wouldn't tune in to WWF programming if they thought WWF bought WCW and did nothing with it. It wasn't just a smart decision to go through with Invasion, but it was the only financially responsible decision. The business has to come before fan service sometimes and this is one of those times.

[@DBecks09]

They also could've started the storyline with just Booker T, DDP and the midcarders. Then every few months when it looks like WWF is finally gaining the upper hand... Boom one of the main eventers with Turner contracts pops up for WCW.

[@jstinson7072]

@@DBecks09 not a bad idea however the first person that was available was Flair. At that point of his career, that would not have been much firepower

[@chadhoganlive]

Summer of no worries!

[@stuartmorris6299]

JR thought all the matches weren't very good because they were all cold matches....the end.

[@SeanJ2A]

In the end people wanted to see, Austin Vs Goldberg, Sting Vs Taker, Rock Vs Booker, and maybe HHH Vs Nash/Hall. We got one of those out of that list.

[@DickTogo712]

Give JR his flowers

[@jesseandrews2303]

ECW gets so much neglect from the fans because The Invasion had every top ECW name. In my eyes The Invasion was perfect THANKS TO Steve Austin's heel turn and his chemistry ever since he joiiiiined The Alliance!!! I loved everything about The Invasion.

[@RammaNeedsBuffs]

The Irony of the Invasion is that WWE was dropping fast immediately after the WCW purchase and WM. Vince had a golden opportunity to revive their numbers but instead chose to make it WWE beats WCW, ultimately leading to no one tuning in. It's weird to think, but wrestling might still be worth watching today if Vince put his ego aside. The build up could have been amazing and the money they could have made... Vince had already begun to lose his touch by then. That was 20 years ago, and he's still in charge. All they had to do was wait.

[@pensacolian211]

I had been a wrestling fan for years. Watched both WWF and WCW at the time, but I preferred WCW. I watched the first episode of the Invasion, and haven't watched since. The writing was on the wall, and I wanted no part of it.

[@phantom8926]

You can't blame it all on Vince or say he's lost his touch. Think about what happened in the early 2000s that caused him to change so much. When Austin came back from his injury, he's stated that they were scripting promos, even Foley said the same thing. They also went public shortly before the invasion angle took place. Which, imo, was the biggest and dumbest mistake he made, just to make money. Then, when sponsors weren't happy with something, they'd threaten to pull money from the company if he didn't comply, which he did, and then, could be better could be worse depending on how you see it, Stephanie eventually started taking over. Fact is, when she started to gain more power, along with corporate sponsors, shit went down hill faster. I know WWE was more kid friendly in the 80s, but after the attitude era, they really should've stayed in the ruthless aggression era for longer. Unfortunately, that's when Benoit's dumbass ruined it all. After his stunt, they became far more conservative and reserved with their talents. Which is fine, as it helps them prevent injury, but it also started eating into them creatively since it became more about money overall. Now, if you wanna say that's still Vince's fault, then keep in mind, those nice contracts would be pointless if not for those same sponsors. So in closing, Vince should've never went public, Stephanie shouldn't be trying to become Vince 2.0 to model herself after him, and the wrestlers should be more willing to take risks regardless of what the office says.

[@FadeIn2Obscurity]

Just got done finishing The Invasion and aside from what happened to DDP (coming from a DDP mark), I enjoyed the story as a whole.

[@rpsullens911]

WWE should have waited on the Invasion Angle until Turner Contracts were up. The Talents they were giving. Should have been put in a 6 months training class while they figured out everything. Introducing the talents could have been Major for the Brand Extension & then have a one off WCW vs WWF War Games Dream Match at a Survivor Series. And / or every year for that matter until it morphed into RAW vs SMACKDOWN.

[@ericvyskocil7428]

On one hand Jim says people don't want to work and would rather accept a check. Then later in the interview says about people complaining "but they haven't worked since March, well what the fuck do you care?" A stark contrast if there ever was one

[@HurrikaneBEA5T]

18:52 🤦‍♂️😭

[@mikejohn3265]

I liked the heel SC. Now looking back they had a new "heel factory " in the form of ECW and WCW. Mike Awesome, Rhyno, RVD, Booker T, Billy Kidman(roll eyes) and a couple more have been in heavyweight contenders. Mike awesome was the ecw version of lesnar. Instead brought them in as openers and midcarders.

[@Mr.Suavehouse]

I know I’m late but don’t it feel like a loosely based nwo rip off theme like instead of wwf superstars in nwo it’s wcw and ecw in the name of alliance invading wwf?

[@dangxdc8348]

WCW 24/7 Las Vegas, Nevada Imagine WCW 24/7 Championship WCW Joey Styles and Cyrus THUNDER gets a new theme; AC/DC

[@matthewwinterbourne6717]

Jim Ross is god of wrestling all wwe and aew too

[@throwingrocksatthestatepen966]

If wwe could have offered guys like goldberg Hogan and nash some kinda sweet deal better the riding out there turner contracts it would have made it better

[@djf5065]

Sit at home and make a million or go on the road for two thirds of the year for a million and a half? I think most guys would still sit at home I know I would have

[@Nicco00001]

Next time, discuss things that havent been beat to death everytime this topic comes up, eh? No one wants to hear about not getting "all the major players" and their being paid to sit at home story anymore.

[@BB-gj8ck]

RVD match was a show stopper. The main event match was great, never a slow moment. The ending was awful, of course.

[@radricdavis803]

Jr is off on this comparison. Benoit did something awful and headline catching but I had no idea how Terry Gordy died until now. It was just a run of the mill overdose very common in wrestling unfortunately too common for it to become what someone’s remembered for

[@noblewarrior8848]

Always wonder what would’ve happened if HHH didn’t tear his quad in May ‘01

[@MrBooBeeDoo]

They were building towards heel Austin versus face HHH at Summerslam.

[@stevefromyellowstone7911]

Wouldn’t have become as big as he did.

[@kingoffarts8352]

I agree with Conrad Thompson in the sense that it would of made sense to do this invasion angle in 2003 or 2004 when fair,sting,Hogan, savage, Goldberg were all available,but at the same time I feel like that would of been to long if the real life buyout happened in 2001. In other words if they waited 2 to 3 years then I don't know that it would of felt real, even though none of wcws big guys were available at this time at least it seemed more realistic bc it happened in the same Year.

[@Nicco00001]

Oh, and the words you were looking for, JR - being ho's. They had familiarity being ho's...

[@Jaysonfear42069]

I said it back when this ppv I would've had Eric come in and have him run a program with someone and then have Eric come back with WCW after Eric was humiliated

[@bobray8637]

If Triple H wouldve never gotten hurt. Would he have lead the Alliance or would he have been a face

[@ciarantreacy7721]

Good question, I can see him being a face to Austin but then I can also see him refusing to turn face at this time

[@Thex-W.I.T.C.H.-xMaster]

7:00 JR must be losing it in his old age… let me tell you how the Invasion could of worked well. WWE should of waited until 2002 to do the Invasion angle. Why 2002? Because all the top guys that got their contract money from Turner Broadcasting were all about to have those contracts expire. The top guys like a Hogan like a Goldberg could of then been payed to come into the WWE and then they could of started the WCW/ECW Invasion and another thing Eric Bischoff was coming into the company around 2002 that would of been perfect for them because they you’d basically have all or most of the WCW top stars to work with if they wanted to come in after their Turner contracts were up. The mistake Vince made was doing the Invasion early and doing it in 2001 when they couldn’t get the top WCW talent to sign with them because let’s be honest here they were being paid millions off of that last Turner contract to just stay at home. So I think if they had of waited until 2002 they could of negotiated a deal with WCWs top talent to come into the WWE as part of an Invasion storyline plus you could of had Eric Bischoff as the “WCW Leader” and Paul Hayman as the “ECW Leader”. The point is they did the Invasion storyline too soon and if they only wanted until 2002 it could of worked out.

[@quarenteam829]

On reflection, the Invasion Storyline was the biggest waste of an opportunity ever. They could have made it a real culmination of a war. But it sucked, it really sucked. It was a 2/10 storyline for a 10/10 opportunity.

[@allencollins5666]

💯. If They Pushed Booker T, DDP, Sean O'Haire, Chuck Palumbo, Mark Jindrak, Mike Awesome & Shawn Stasiak And Brought Kronik In To Destroy The WWE Tag Teams & The Same Number Of WCW Wrestlers As WWE Even Without The Bigger Names Because WCW Roster Qas Superior And WCW Been A Threat, It Would've Been Over 5/10. And Fans Would've Said, WCW Roster Superior With Way More Built Heavyweights Than WWE & Then Imagine What WCW Will Do When The Bigger Stars Come. WWE Built Muscular Heavyweights Were-Stone Cold, Kane, Hardcore Holly, Test, Faarooq, The Rock By July 30, Billy Gunn, Bull Buchanan & Kurt Angle. WCW Already Had Booker, Mike Awesome, Chuck Palumbo, Shawn Stasiak, Mark Jindrak, Sean O'Haire & Kanyon. That's Less Than The WWE. If They Brought Kronik At The Beginning, That Would've Been One More For WCW. They Had Needed To Have The Same Number Of Wrestlers Of Both Companies-50. WCW Had 24, ECW Had 10 Who Were All Inferior To Hogan, Hall, Nash, Sting, Luger, Goldberg, Sid, Brer Hart,, Piper & Savage And The WWE Had 50. They Could've Brought Kronik, Road Warrior Animal, Van Hammer, Horace Hogan, MI Smooth(Ice Train, Konnan, Kiss Demon, Disco, Alex Wright, The Wall, Curt Hennig, Johnny The Bull, Reno, Mike Sanders, Lash LeRoux, Jerry Flynn,, Scott Norton, The Disciple, Bam Bam Bigelow, Stevie Ray, Big T, No Limit Soldiers Big Swoll And Cash And 3 More Cruiserweights. WCW Could've Still Won More Importantly Before The Bigger Names Come WCW Would've Been A Threat. They Could've Won Of Mike Awesome & Sean O'Haire Could've Beat Kane. They Had The Size To Beat Stone Cold & The Rock.

[@Alanthe918mobilemechanic]

Vince should have not the bullet and did the invasion right just get the top guys not the mid card ones jst the top guys and have them do the invasion by invading a Monday night raw and off to the races

[@stevepmg9202]

The top guys had AOL Time Warner contracts that it would have cost literally millions of dollars to buy them out of. Only Dallas Page wanted to take less money to wrestle rather than take more money to sit at home on their asses.

[@williamerazo3921]

@@stevepmg9202 well do it . Sold some extra stocks or something

[@benberthelette1906]

Luger in a wheelchair ♿️ quick get out now before you screwed.

[@Alanthe918mobilemechanic]

John larnitus nd his two left feet ruined it

[@quarenteam829]

Joey Styles was a good commentator for ECW, but was not that capable of transmitting that style or skill in any other setting.

[@squarepickle]

I think it's funny when guys like JR and Jerry Lawler talk about how much they hate ECW, but preach poetic about the Attitude Era which was a complete ripoff of ECW's style.. Where was the "hardcore garage" comments during all those legendary Mick Foley moments? What about that Hardcore Title the WWF created after ECW blew up? While ECW was putting on 5 star classics, The Rock was bashing Mankind's head in with a steel chair. While ECW was introducing Lucha Libre to the American mainstream, WWF was dropping Owen Hart from the rafters.. I legitimately don't understand how someone could love pro wrestling and not love what ECW was doing during it's run. Especially when their company tried to carbon copy their success. Paul Heyman didn't owe JR or Jerry Lawler money, so why JR points to money and paychecks as an excuse to disrespect the product is mind boggling. ECW wasn't just hardcore garbage. Anyone who spins it that way is ignorant. Far more people were hurt (and killed) performing for the WWE than ECW at any point in it's existence.

[@allencollins5666]

They Probably Hated It Being An Indy Promotion And Vince Stole Lot Of Ideas. He Might Never Had An Original Idea.

[@rowds]

I and everyone I know, ceased watching wrestling altogether when they turned Austin heel. I expected dumb booking decisions like that from WCWm but never anything that stupid from WWF. That was just it for me, never watched another minute since and stick to these podcasts.

[@Mr.Suavehouse]

I know I’m late but I think the invasion angle was a rip off of nwo smh instead of wwf susperstars invading wcw in the name of nwo(original plan)it’s wcw and ecw in the name of alliance invading wwf with they main star stone cold leading while wcw was wwf main star hogan leading what a coincidence

[@sethmartin7084]

What’s up with the gay Batista joke Connie I’m confused

[@reallyretro]

I don't understand why Jerry Lawler defended that annoying ex wife of his, even though she had been cheating him on him by this time. She basically cost him a year of viable work.

[@bassacoustic1549]

Simping is self destructive unfortunately. Pinning your emotions and circumstances (i.e. career) to one woman, particularly a promiscuous one, and then wondering why it all goes wrong. If he stood by her after she’d cheated then that’s truly pathetic. Basically validating the behaviour and telegraphing to her that he’s lower value..... obviously setting it up to happen again.