Shawn Stasiak killed WCW debut at WM17

[dsotm5150]

http://www.wcwworldwide.com/2016/04/shawn-stasiak-wcw-wrestlemania-x-seven/

Saw this on Facebook, never heard this before. Apparently original plans had 11 members of the WCW roster doing run in during the Shane/Vince match at Wrestlemania 17 instead of showing them sitting up in the skybox until Shawn Stasiak blabbed the entire angle on some radio show days before almost killing the entire WCW angle all together.

 

[FromGlasgow]

That was an interesting story as I remember thinking watching at the time it was a disapointment that the WCW guys weren't used somehow at that Wrestlemania instead of just sitting in the crowd as I hadn't heard that story before, I think that idea would have made for an exciting start to the WCW invasion angle and could have changed the whole success of the angle rather than the let down that we were left with, I wish they had of just fired Stasiak and went ahead with the planned angle anyway as would rather ruin it for only the handfull of people who did hear the interview rather than ruin it for the rest of the world and majority who wouldn't have heard the interview.
I can't understand why Stasiak wasn't fired for ruining such a huge impactfull moment as he wasn't exactly on the Sting/ Flair or Goldberg level I don't feel he would have been missed I know his father held the WWE world title but I thought his appearances were all very dull so I have no idea what WWE seen in him and WWE has fired people for a lot less.

 

[Makaveli31]

Just the fact that Shawn Stasiak had such an "intricate" role doomed the angle from the start. I've said it before Vince should have waited until all of the top WCW stars came into the WWF before starting the Invasion angle.

 

[manstis1804]

Just the fact that Shawn Stasiak had such an "intricate" role doomed the angle from the start. I've said it before Vince should have waited until all of the top WCW stars came into the WWF before starting the Invasion angle.

I agree but I do get wanting to strike while the iron was hot. If they had the patience and skill to keep WCW in the limelight without going full-on Invasion so quickly, definitely could've been better.

Austin's heel turn should have given them enough juice to get through 2001 creatively. Then 2002 rolls around, they got the NWO guys, there's the time to do it. They could've turned Austin face again easily at that point, instead of that awful turn they did the night after Survivor Series 01.

 

[dsotm5150]

Just really makes you wonder how much differently things would have turned out had Stasiak kept his mouth shut, debuting at Wrestlemania should have given them alot of momentum moving forward and obviously the whole thing was suppose to be bigger than what we got if Vince was ready to fire everybody right then and there over it. We've all heard WCW was originally suppose to be a separate entity following Survivor Series and that the entire Invasion angle was suppose to be completely different than what we got, I'd imagine this was the catalyst that made McMahon change his mind.

 

[The Brain]

Thank you Shawn Stasiak. Your idiocy proved to be very beneficial. Shane vs. Vince was flawless. I'd say it was the highlight of the night on what many call the greatest WrestleMania ever. We didn't need the WCW Thunder lineup ruining a great mania match.

 

[The Warlord]

Im with The Brain here 100%. Awesome match and story....glad it wasn't ruined.

And I really dont understand how WCW's B-roster (or as the Brain likes to call it, Thunder roster lol) could challenge the WWE. It was done way too prematurely and would have only worked with the WCW big names. Its ashame that didnt happen as that would have been historic and remembered for years to come.

 

[Wrestlingaholic]

I second the Brain - any WCW run-in would have killed the match IMO.

People put too much stock into the lack of stars, or namely that WWE should have held off until they procured their contracts. They like to point out (correctly) that within 18 months of Survivor Series, WWE had brought in Flair, Nash, Hogan, Hall, Perfect, Bischoff, Mysterio, Scott Steiner and Goldberg (and probably more that I've forgotten about) - but who was to know that they would sign? The only one which didn't really make sense was Ric Flair, given he debuted the night after Survivor Series. As someone synonymous with WCW, except for a two year spell in WWE in the early 90s, Flair would have made an ideal and logical leader for WCW, and instantly given them more credibility, so should have been brought in earlier IF they could have done so (I don't know when his Time Warner contract expired). In all honesty, it would have made zero sense, logically, had the original nWo led the charge, since the whole point of the nWo was to 'destroy WCW' in the first place, so why would they come in and try and promote its cause here? Even having Stone Cold made more sense, poorly executed as it was, to further his anti-Vince crusade...

Shawn Stasiak didn't ruin the WCW invasion. I've been watching wrestling avidly since 1990 and was on this site long before I started posting, and before this I used other since defunct sites, and read Powerslam magazine every month etc. and this is the first I've heard of Stasiak's blabber mouth, so that plus the fact he wasn't fired shows that it really wasn't seen as much of a big deal. But imagine the (lack of) credibility had Stasiak done a run-in? His previous WWE ppv appearance was jobbing to Kurt Angle on his debut. Shane and WCW would have looked pathetic. In all honestly Stasiak did the brand a favour.

 

[pyrusane]

People put too much stock into the lack of stars, or namely that WWE should have held off until they procured their contracts. They like to point out (correctly) that within 18 months of Survivor Series, WWE had brought in Flair, Nash, Hogan, Hall, Perfect, Bischoff, Mysterio, Scott Steiner and Goldberg (and probably more that I've forgotten about) - but who was to know that they would sign?

This is half of the reason why people bitching about the failed Invasion don't make sense, actually. People complain that the WWE didn't wait until they had the NWO and Steiner and Goldberg under contract before they started the Invasion, but that would have been a terrible idea. The NWO didn't become available for ten months, Steiner for over a year, and Goldberg was almost two full years. Same for Mysterio. Meanwhile, you have all of the contracts you did get sitting there...what? Getting paid to not show up on TV and try to keep their mouths' shut? If they had waited until all of the big names were under contract, WCW would have been two years gone already, and by that point, who cares?

 

[Ubermensch]

Vince was certainly in a difficult situation. As the previous poster pointed out, he really couldn't wait until he had all of WCW's main eventers to pull off the invasion angle. The WCW talent that he had purchased would basically sit around on ice and not working until the rest of the contracts cleared. I still lump the nWo returning as part of the failed invasion angle, although it was an afterthought.

Vince realistically should have seen that most of the WCW wrestlers he bought were midcard talent. Vince wanted to keep his grudge against Jarrett, so he really only had DDP and Booker T from WCW that were main eventers. While Vince was in a precarious situation of wanting to make the Invasion angle work with good talent, he also wanted to make sure that the talent didn't leave or that he wasn't paying them for not working. If he had waited for say, Goldberg's contract to end, no one would have cared at that point.

One thing Vince did wrong was burying Booker T and DDP. Both of these guys were homegrown WCW stars, and DDP was thrown into some stupid stalker angle with Undertaker. Booker came in with a lot of fanfare. He had the US and World Title. As Sting said, all it took was the Rock saying, "Who in the blue hell are you?" to bury WCW's champion and make the rest of the organization look second tier.

I'm sure Vince could have also thrown enough money at the main event guys that they would double dip from their Turner pay as well as his to get them on TV.

Angle and Austin didn't need to be in the Alliance as we can all agree on. He should have split the roster after Survivor Series as everyone suggested and then divvy out the rest of the WCW talent as their contracts became open.