10 Most Shocking WWE Revelations Ever
5. The Formation Of The Alliance
Shane McMahon's purchase of WCW from underneath his Father's nose often rightfully appears on retrospective lists and collections of historic Monday Night Raw moments, but the younger son's surname took a little bit of bite from the moment - and not just because one of the biggest acquisitions in industry history was being reduced to fodder for their WrestleMania X7 feud.
An example of panic and over-indulgence in the time but rich and resplendent on rewatch, the decision to fuse the flailing WCW castoffs with all the ECW alumni in the WWE midcard at least created the visual of an invading faction, even if WWE's insecure booking undermined them in almost every attack.
The July 9th 2001 Raw bottled several weeks of booking into a single episode, but it made for an utterly captivating two hours. Shane McMahon turned his entire WCW crew heel at the top of the show alongside Diamond Dallas Page to set up The Undertaker, whilst Lance Storm and Mike Awesome revealed that they'd defected back to a revived ECW alongside Paul Heyman and now-former WWE roster-fillers such as Raven, Tazz and The Dudley Boyz to create a trifecta of warring factions.
This too was a ruse - Shane and Heyman united their forces in a show-closing brawl that then revealed Stephanie McMahon as ECW's new financial backer. Vince McMahon held his head in disbelief as the show concluded - fans were left in similar, frazzled shock.