WWE: 15 Memorable Staples Center Moments

14. August 9th 2001, Smackdown - €œStaples Centre Invasion.€

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wT0CJAUWrKw WWE visited the Staples Center twice in 2001. The first was an episode of Raw in March, which hosted a WWF title match between the Rock and Kurt Angle. 5 Months later, the company returned to LA for an episode of Smackdown, which took place in the midst of the infamous €œInvasion€ storyline, in the buildup to Summerslam 2001. At a time when the WWE roster was completely stacked, this was a star filled show, even including a brief appearance by Arnold Schwarzenegger at ringside. In the evening€™s big main event, Stone Cold and the Dudleyz faced off against Kurt Angle and the Hardy Boyz. This came hot on the heels of Austin destroying both Hardyz and even Lita on Raw a few nights before, and ahead of Austin€™s big title showdown with Kurt Angle at Summerslam. Fought under elimination rules, this was another great main event during the Invasion storyline, proving that while the overall storyline was a bit of a flop, the quality of matches during the timeframe were top notch. The match came down to one on one between Austin and Angle, but there was no definite winner when Austin injured Kurt€™s ankle so bad he had to be put on a stretcher. As was typical for the time period, the night also hosted a number of title matches. In fact, in the opening match, the APA lost their WWF Tag Team Titles to Kanyon and DDP when Test turned on the Acolytes and Team WWF. Later, the Undertaker and Kane would relieve Palumbo and O€™Haire of the WCW Tag titles, which would lead to a match between both sets of new tag champions at Summerslam inside a steel cage. The stacked show also had matches featuring RVD, Edge, Raven, Perry Saturn, X-Pac, Tajiri and more but the most memorable moment of the night came after Chris Jericho easily beat Hugh Morrus. Post match, Jericho was attacked by alliance member Rhyno and Gored right through the Smackdown screen. The two would also go on to face each other at Summerslam.