Invasion (2013)

Invasion (2013) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by WWE The E-Fed, which took place on June 30, 2013 at the O2 Arena in London, England. It was the second annual in WWE's production lineage for the Invasion event with it having been previously known as Over the Limit and Insurrextion. It featured talent from both the Raw and SmackDown brands. There were eight matches scheduled on the event's main show with two pre-show matches. WWE Champion, Tyler Chandler was featured on the PPV poster.

Background
Invasion featured professional wrestling matches that involved wrestlers from pre-existing feuds, plots, and storylines that play out on WWE's primary television programs, Raw and SmackDown. Wrestlers portrayed villains or heroes as they followed a series of events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.

On the June 10th episode of Raw, Scott Hall defeated Shane Helms in a #1 Contenders Match for the WWE Championship earning himself a shot at WWE Champion Tyler Chandler at the PPV.

On the June 24th episode of Raw, a promo was aired for Rob Van Dam - last seen in the WWE in October 2012 - announcing his return to the company at Invasion.

Over on SmackDown it was announced that World Heavyweight Champion, Sterling James Keenan would defend the World Heavyweight Championship in a Five Way Match against Wade Barrett, Roman Reigns, Dolph Ziggler and Heath Slater. Also on the SmackDown side, after being assaulted by Jake Anderson on the June 15th episode of SmackDown, WWE United States Champion, Justin Gabriel will defend his title against Anderson. With WWE Divas Champion, Lizzie Ryan being unable to compete at the PPV, a #1 Contenders Match was made to see who will along with Nadia Giovanni challenge Ryan for the championship at a later date. The divas in the match are Danielle Moinet, Candice Michelle, Brooke Adams, Trista Anderson, Lian Cortes and Minka Murder.

The main storyline for the Raw brand is the ongoing GM Wars that has been going on for the last several months and with the emergence of Project Mayhem who are wanting to end the wars. Ciaran O'Donnell, Shawn Michaels, Jeff Hardy, Matt Hardy, Stacy Keibler and a mystery partner will face off against two members of each team. Team Heyman's (Steve Corino & CM Punk), Team Long's (Travis Kooper & Ashley Massaro) and Team Bischoff's (Mr. Anderson & Kevin Steen) in a 12 Man Elimination Tag Team Match.

Pre-Show (Kickoff)
During the pre-show, Briley Pierce defeated Edge while Adam Cole won the Intergender Battle Royal.

Preliminary Matches
The first match of the night was a grudge match between Trista Anderson and Trish Stratus which ended in a no contest after the doctors stopped the match after Anderson hit Stratus with a bulldog off the stage and through a table.

The second match saw Intercontinental Champion James Storm defend his title against Daniel Bryan. Bryan won the match after making Storm tap out to the Yes! Lock winning his first Intercontinental Championship.

In the third match, Justin Gabriel defended the United States Championship against Jake Anderson. At the end of the match, Gabriel was able to hit the 450 splash and get the pin – retaining the championship.

The fourth match was between Women's Champion Cookie versus Gail Kim and Cammy Chaos. Cammy won the match after pinning Cookie following interference from Lian Cortes.

The fifth match was a #1 Contenders Match for the WWE Divas Championship and included Candice Michelle, Lian Cortes, Brooke Adams, Danielle Moinet, Trista Anderson and Minka Murder. Cortes would win the match after last eliminating Murder despite interference from Cookie who attempted to get some retribution on Cortes after costing her the Women's Championship.

Main Event Matches
The sixth match was between WWE Champion Tyler Chandler and Scott Hall for the WWE Championship. Hall would proceed to throw his trademark toothpick into the face of Chandler who dropped the title and before Hall is able to take off his vest hits him with a flurry of hard punches to the head, chest and then to the midsection making him back up to the corner where Hall puts himself in between the ropes and the ref makes Chandler back up starting the five count. As soon as Hall had gotten back up to a full standing position Chandler had tried going after him again but Hall ducked and slapped Tyler in the back of the head, paintbrushing him a couple of times as he did. But Tyler being quick minded turned around and nailed Hall with a hard European uppercut that caught him right on the jaw, Tyler followed this with two more before locking Hall into a headlock and started to wrench it in. Hall nailed a couple of hard foream shots to the ribs of Chandler making him break the headlock but as soon as there was separation Tyler nailed Hall with a hard dropkick right to his knees sending Scott down to the mat for the first time. Chandler taking full advantage of this backed up to the corner turnbuckle and as Scott tried to sit up hit him square in the face almost leaving his boot print all over Hall’s face hitting him square with a running big boot. Chandler quickly grabs the inside leg and hooks the leg and goes for a pun but Hall is able to kick out before the three count. Tyler doesn’t let this bother him and grabs the back of Hall’s head and pulls him back up to his feet, as Scott gets back up to a vertical base he breaks Chandler’s grip on him and nails a couple of knife edge chops that drive him back into the corner. Hall measures Chandler up and hits him with repeating elbow shots that knock him loopy. Scott then grabs Chandler and hits him with a perfect fallaway slam and wipes his hands like that was going to be it. Hall nonchalantly made his way to where Chandler had been unceremoniously dumped and put his foot on Tyler’s chest and told the ref to count. Chandler though was having none of it and swatted Hall’s boot off of his chest and quickly got up and rolled Scott up in a small package but Hall was able to kick out right before the three count. Both men get back up to their feet and trade blows, lefts and rights before Hall hits a series of hard right hands and then spins around and knocks Chandler back down with a hard discus punch. As soon as Hall saw that Chandler was out of it he motioned that it was over. Hall though had it in his mind that Chandler was finished and grabbed him up and set him up for the Outsider’s Edge. As he lifted Chandler up onto his shoulders he took a couple of steps forward and as he was getting ready to bring Chandler down for the finish, Tyler was able to squirm loose from Hall’s grip and as Hall turned around was nailed with a spear right to the gut. Chandler know with his second wind waited for Hall to get back up to his feet, the whole time Tyler was yelling at Hall to get back up as the WWE universe got behind him and all stood on their feet finally so did Hall. As soon as Hall turned around Chandler grabbed him and nailed him with the Gavel’s Call for the win.

The seventh match was a Gauntlet match between Sterling James Keenan, Roman Reigns, Wade Barrett, Dolph Ziggler and Heath Slater for the World Heavyweight Championship. As soon as the bell is rung Keenan runs full speed at Ziggler who wasn’t ready and got caught with a vicious clothesline that made Ziggler’s head snap back off the mat hard. Keenan not wanting to waste any time pulled Ziggler away from the ropes and rolled through locking in the Fuller leglock pulling on Dolph’s leg as he screamed out in pain, Dolph was in the middle of the ring and couldn’t move and he was forced to tap out to Keenan. Heath Slater was out next, Slater makes his way into the ring and as soon as he does SJK tries to go after him but Slater quickly rolls out of the ring and points to his head and took a few moments to collect himself, he was going to make sure he didn’t end up just like Dolph. Slater slowly got back into the ring and carefully looked over at the ref. The two lockup in the center of the ring both trying to get the upperhand but Keenan takes a short cut and nails Heath with a hard knee right to the midsection that doubles Slater over. After a couple of hard forearm shots to the back Keenan pushes Slater back to the ropes and then whips him across and as he rebounds leapfrogs over him and stands there and as Slater rebounds again hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker on Heath. Keenan tries to get a quick pin but Slater is able to kick out after only a one count. Keenan grabs Slater’s hair and pulls him back up to his feet and hits repeating forearm shots to the side of the jaw before backing up and hitting a running clothesline that knocks Slater back out of the ring. Keenan walks around the ring a bit pacing around as the ref counts. Keenan finally drops down and rolls out of the ring going after Slater who had tried to walk around a little bit and catch his breath but wasn’t able to, as Keenan caught up with him and drove him shoulder and back first into the ring apron with a hard beel. Yelling at the fans at ringside Keenan turns his attention back to Slater and throws him back into the ring. Going for a quick cover as soon as he got in the ring Slater was able to get his foot on the bottom rope before the three count. The WWE universe started to get up and get behind Slater as a frustrated Keenan started kicking and punching Slater. Heath finally blocked a punch and was able to land several of his own getting separation between the two. As soon as he did Heath grabbed Keenan and nailed him with the Smash Hit DDT. Slater though has about had it and it takes him several long moments before he’s able to crawl over and make a cover. The time it took for Slater to crawl over was just enough time that Keenan needed to shoot up his right arm just barely before the three count leaving Slater and the WWE universe bewildered. Out of nowhere though Keenan was able to get Slater in a school boy roll up and get the three count. Wade Barrett was the next to make his way out to the ring, as Barrett takes a moment to let the adulation sink in for a moment, Keenan is able to get a bit of a breather in the corner. But it wasn’t to last long as Wade turned around and ran at him full steem hitting him with a hard big boot right to the jaw of Keenan knocking him back into a seated position in the corner. Barrett seemingly on a mission hits another boot to the seated Keenan that looked like it had almost knocked him completely out. As Barrett pulls him out and goes for the cover, Keenan is just barely able to grab the bottom rope stopping the count. Barrett doesn’t waste any time as he pulls Keenan back up to his feet and holds him there before hitting a spinning back kick right to the gut of Keenan and then lifted him up for the Wasteland. Keenan though at the last second is able to wriggle his way out of it and hit a low dropkick to Barrett’s knees making him crash down to the canvas. Keenan takes a moment to collect himself and to catch his breath. As both men start to get back up to their feet they trade blows, each man landing hard shots with the crowd booing each time Keenan lands one and cheering each time Wade lands a hard shot. Finally, Wade being the bigger and stronger of the two hits a forearm shot that gets Keenan dazed and knocks him back to the ropes. Wade grabs him and whips him across the ring and as Keenan rebounds nails the Winds of Change. Barrett wipes his hands as if to say that’s it but as he goes for the cover, Keenan somehow is able to grab Barrett and roll him up for the three count. Barrett is absolutely livid and starts yelling at the ref and shoves him down and out of the ring and takes off his elbow pad and waits for Keenan to get back up and as soon as he does Barrett nails Keenan with the Bull Hammer elbow knocking Keenan completely loopy as security comes down to escort the unruly Barrett out of the ring. The final man to enter the match was Roman Reigns, Reigns runs into the ring and lets out a loud roar as he yells and motions for Keenan to get up. Keenan is still completely out of it after the elbow from Barrett that almost knocked him completely out. The ref now back in the ring still a bit loopy himself watches with the rest of the WWE universe as Keenan finally gets back up to his feet and turns around at just the wrong time for him as Reigns comes running full speed and nails him with a devastating spear for the win, winning his first World Heavyweight Championship.

The final match on the card is between Project Mayhem members Ciaran O'Donnell, Jeff Hardy, Matt Hardy, Shawn Michaels, Stacy Keibler and a mystery partner versus Team Bischoff's Mr. Anderson & Kevin Steen, Team Heyman's CM Punk & Steve Corino and Team Long's Travis Kooper & Ashley Massaro. The team of Kooper, Anderson, Steen, Punk, Corino & Massaro won the match after Kooper last eliminated Triple H (who was revealed as the mystery partner) after Triple H was hit with a lead pipe by Eric Bischoff unseen by the referee to win the match.