Wrestlemania – April 2, 2006 – Chicago, IL
Things started off innocently enough that night. Most of the matches went off as expected, but with a one strange twist that just didn’t feel “right”: early in the evening, Booker T kicked out of what everyone in the arena assumed would be a 3-count, and walked backstage with Sharmell, holding his head and waiving off help. The ref looked somewhat confused, and the Boogeyman almost seemed to come out of character for a moment – but the count got to 10, and Boogeyman won anyway. A bit confusing, but certainly not indicative of what was to come…
The No Holds Barred Match between Mr.McMahon and Shawn Michaels was, of course, over-booked and filled with ref bumps. At one point, no less than 6 different referees were lying in and around the ring, in varying states of unconsciousness. And “Here Comes the Money”… Shane-O-Mac saunters down to ringside, wearing the striped shirt and a smirk a mile wide. The two of them double-team HBK until he’s practically unconscious (after one failed babyface comeback attempt, of course), and Vince moves HBK into position for the Sharpshooter, laughing maniacally the whole time. Shane immediately motions for the bell as soon as the move is locked up — but no bell is rung. Shane rolls out of the ring, and confronts the timekeeper — an older man we don’t recognize. Shane screams at him: “Ring the damn bell! Ring the damn bell!” The timekeeper finally throws his hands up resignedly, turns around… but spins back and CLOCKS Shane with the ringbell itself.
The arena almost goes quiet — until the “old man” pulls off the makeup he’s wearing, to reveal… Eric Bischoff?!? Vince goes from total SHOCK to absolute rage in less than five seconds. He releases the Sharpshooter, and stomps over to the corner, screaming at Bischoff while hanging over the ropes: “You son of a bitch! I fired your ass! What do you think you’re doing?” Eric gives Vince his best “Eric Bischoff arrogant heel” smile, and points behind Vince — who turns around just in time to eat a Booker T wheel kick. Booker is standing over Vince and taunting him: “Gonna bury me, huh? Well, can you dig *that*, sucka??”
Unfortunately, Booker doesn’t notice that HBK has gotten to his feet — his first clue is the Superkick to his temple. Shawn takes a moment to collect himself and look around, and sees Bischoff still outside the ring. Eric looks surprisingly unconcerned however, holding up one finger, and saying “Oh, just wait.” HBK is screaming at him, and never notices the figure rapeling from the ceiling…
Yup, it’s Sting – but not the Crow version, oh no. This is the original Sting, complete with full-on multi-colored face paint. A Stinger Splash on HBK (still distracted by Bischoff) takes him out. Eric finally enters the ring, mic in hand.
“Yes, that’s right, you people know me — but you’re not quite sure why I’m here, are you? Where’s Billionaire Vince? Where’s the prodigal son? Oh, that’s right – we LAID YOU OUT! So, you thought you could buy us out — you could buy *MY* company out? Did think you could just make those three letters go away? Well, I have a challenge for all of these WWE ‘Superstars’ – you want an Invasion? I’ll give you a REAL Invasion!” And the Nitro theme begins to play…
Eric, Booker and Sting escape through the crowd as the WWE lockerroom rushes the ring. But the damage was done – Shane was just coming to, HBK was screaming “What the hell was that?!?”, and Vince was beside himself. The crowd, however, was buzzing – did we just see that? Was he talking about WCW? What was going on?
Things would start to become more clear the next night on Raw, with the presentation of Eric’s first little — no, BIG surprise…
Yes, we know WCW ‘died’ five years ago… but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a bit of fun with it. How would YOU book the unlikely return of WCW? Discuss this over on our Reader Forums…
