Could HHH Have Saved The "Invasion" Angle?

[lilnev2009]

Now full disclosure I was a huge mark for the moment when the ECW guys turned around in the middle of the ring and beat up Kane. But even I am not enough of a mark to have thought the invasion angle worked. However the angle was missing a huge part of what could have been:HHH. Now of course everyone knows that he is the wife of the WWE princess but he would have brought much more rather than a big WWE star. He would have brought a face that could not only do the speaking but would make the alliance seem so much more feared. You add a guy who has been a main star for the company and also a leader of one of the biggest stables in history to a group of "mid-card" guys, now we have something. You would not then need to force Austin into the situation where he then turns on the WWE, when he was only in ECW for a cup of coffee and a tour of philadelphia. He wasn't ECW or WCW enough to have turned. Jericho maybe, but Austin? NO. HHH is believable strictly based on his wife and that is more than enough. You put out there HHH,RVD,Booker T, DDP and Rhino and now you have a team that looks like they have a chance of winning if not dominating. But HHH was hurt, and you had a bunch of guys who were either nobodies in WWE ala Justin Credible & Dreamer or were guys who were never in the WWE ala Sandman & Lance storm trying to take down the rock, angle, undertaker, etc. Doomed from the beginning.

What do you think? Would HHH have made that invasion angle a success? Or was it doomed form the beginning?

 

[ANVIL]

Quick answer? No, Why? Because the WWE machine would have squashed it either way. They had a HUGE venue with ECW, only because of the new pg WWE. I think they missed the boat here because the adult viewers miss the "attitude". They could have had the ECW on at or after 9 and it probably would have garnered more viewers then the now current Smack and Raw because that is what we want to see. I am also certain that there are hands in the biz that would love to work those shows as well. Hopefully, we will see something in the future that is not so watered down and geared toward the tweens and bored house wives.

 

[Vee Dub Represent]

Dude, if Austin, Rock, Jericho, the Undertaker, Kurt Angle, Tazz, Bradshaw, Farooq, and Freddie Blassie collectively didnt have enough pull and input to save that angle and make it work.... Hunter wasnt going to do a damn thing to make it any better, if anything he was just at the start of gaining ANY pull whatsoever and I guarantee you with his proven track record, he sure as hell wasnt gonna do what was needed to make that angle work (aka make the WCW guys a real threat). Everyone needs to see this angle for what it really was, a 6 month *********ion session by Vince McMahon after buying WCW, and the load might as well have been blow all over William Regals face the moment he had him kiss his ass on National TV.

 

[sammy5306]

I don't think HHH would have been enough to save it because the angle had two different problems that really screwed up the angle. one was they didn't have any star power from the old regime of WCW such as Goldberg, kevin nash, sting, scott hall, scott steiner, rey mysterio, rick flair. So in the fans eyes the team that consisted of booker T and DDP as the main stars kinda fell flat even though they are good popular wrestlers they couldn't measure up to the likes of stone cold and the rock. The second reason is that Vince couldn't check his ego long enough to at least let the ECW and WCW to win enough matches to pose themselves as threats sure they had little victories but they needed current WWF guys to turn to their side to have these victories. HHH being there just would have added to the slaughter show that we got at the survivor series of that year.

 

[bigbootydaddyV]

triple H leading the Alliance would have made no sense though because he had no ties to WCW/ECW, whereas Stone Cold had some history with both, so as far fetched as it was to have him join them, it at least had some background. The whole angle was a flop after that great start. I too still get chills when I see that scene of ECW turning and joining WCW, I still hope for a moment like that every time I tune into raw, hell that may be one reason i continue to watch, I don't want to miss moments THAT shocking. But after that, the angle fell flat real quick. Having Austin turn was the final blow I think, after that it became a WWE love fest w/ the ECW/WCW alliance playing second fiddle and they dropped off soon after. And the real kicker is, guys like Steiner, Berg, Rey, Flair all ended up joining any freakin way, and the biggest star they had, they turned into a stalker and then squashed him in a tag match. Man, our collective wet dream as far as fantasy booking goes was on the verge of happening as far as WCW/WWE dream matches were concerned and instead we all got shafted and woke up with eternal blue balls known as the current product.

 

[DeathClutch]

No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, AND NO!!!!!!!

The angle failed because WWE didn't have the big named WCW guys; not HHH, not the WCW guys who did make the trip they worked their fucking asses off to help the angle but creative and the big named guys who didn't come over are to blame for the angle failing now move on, it's 10 years since this angle ceased, MOVE ON!

 

[Azane]

The Invasion turned sour when they started putting random WWF guys on the invasion side.

The Nexus proved that you don't need a superstar leading a rebel faction to work, on the contrary, the angle died hard when they took a WWE Vet and put it at the helm.

HHH leading the invasion would overshadow the entire group, especially with the kayfabe power he had at the time.

 

[ironsheik84]

triple H leading the Alliance would have made no sense though because he had no ties to WCW/ECW, whereas Stone Cold had some history with both, so as far fetched as it was to have him join them, it at least had some background.

You're right about Stone Cold having ties to both WCW and ECW, but HHH was in WCW as Terra Ryzing.

 

[bigdaddyb673]

no, for the reasons everyone stated but also nothing could save that squash angle because WWE/F didn't have the WCW guys they needed like Goldberg, Sting etc to make it work.

 

[Nada]

No, the same mistake has been repeated many times in other promotions who failed to realize that they now owned the other promotion, wrestlers and legacy, yet still could not stop burrying them, look at the history in the 80s and you see that everywhere.

Triple H has and even then had alot of power but he would have done nothing differently, maybe he would have beaten DDP up after DDP stalked Stephanie but that hardly changes anything.

The only company that did invasion right, was oodly enough the company that in most of its history tended to do everything wrong: World Championship Wrestling

 

[FlairFan2003]

Its been said to death but the only way the Invasion angle would have worked was if real top level WCW Stars lead the angle. Hogan, Nash, Flair, Goldberg, Sting, some of the biggest names in wrestling history and none of them were involved. It would be like having the 3rd string of The Pgh Steelers playing the starters of the Green Bay Packers. No one would give the Steelers much of a chance to win and interest would wane. Triple H could not have saved the Invasion angle, acval real WCW wrestling stars could have

 

[HardyHater]

Would have never happened. By the time of the angle the ECW roster was done. WCW and WWE had already cherry picked what talent they determined was viable in their own markets. The purchase was basically a paperwork deal to own the video archive .An appearance of any of the ECW "stars" was basically an attempt to squeeze out the final drops of their waning popularity.

The remaining WCW "stars" were applied the same logic. Many of their homegrown stars wrestled for years in that tiny little cushioned ring and had a most difficult time adapting to the larger harder WWE rings of that time . Their timing looked like crap on TV and really stood out as the lesser talented of the stables. DDP , Bagwell and the rest that remained after WWE grabbed Benoit/Eddie G and Malenko were triple A compared to the WWE big leagues.

 

[The Crock]

No, Triple H couldn't have saved the Invasion angle. The only thing that really could have saved the Invasion angle was having actual WCW stars. Most of the top guard in WCW (Nash, Goldberg, Steiner, Sting, Scott Hall, etc.) were more than happy to sit at home and do nothing, while they were still getting paid their WCW checks. They had no reason to sign with Vince for less money, especially since they would have to work for it. That's what hurt the Invasion angle -- your top WCW stars were actually WWF guys.

Throughout that whole angle, you knew WWF was going to come out on top. After all the time Vince had spent to put WCW under, why would they have ANY chance? That's where the second fault of the Invasion angle lies, with Vince's pride. He wasn't going to let anything reign over him, even if it was just a storyline. You couldn't suspend your belief, which is what this was supposed to be all about. No angle, that is supposed to be based on shock value and making the fans have some semblance of doubt can work, when you can't actually accomplish that.

Triple H wouldn't have changed a thing -- the problems were far greater than anything he could have effected.

 

[bigbootydaddyV]

You're right about Stone Cold having ties to both WCW and ECW, but HHH was in WCW as Terra Ryzing.

i know but that was such a short time and no one remembered that, whereas steve austin had a pretty big role in WCW as part of the blondes and then his time in ECW was short but he had a pretty big impact

 

[xavyer]

I think if this would have been done right he could of save it,here's why: No one knew the strenghts and weakneses of the WWF better than Triple H, plus the fact that he helped build the careers of a lot of people, he could have done the same for this angle, he would have renewed a feud with Stone Cold, i'm not saying that it would have last forever,but the ending of the invasion could have been up to Triple H vs. Stone Cold instead of a 5 vs. 5 team, plus he's the husband and brother in law of the people that wanted to burry the WWF,as the cerebral assasin he would have found ways to put poison to the WWF, he definitley could have really hurt a lot of WWF superstars with his famous sledge hammer, aside from Stone Cold, the rest of the aliance look weak,but Triple H has something that make people go the extra mile, like DX after michaels,they were nobodys,and triple h make them somebodys,the same for Orton and Batista, he would have done something really evil and sadistic to keep the angle alive for much more time, he's a mastermind character,and would have made much more sense as the leader of the aliance than Stone Cold,don't get me wrong,Austin is awesome and he kicks ass,but he's no leader,he is like a lone ranger,that's why Triple H would have been a better leader, and that's why i said that the ending of the angle would have been a title vs. title math between them,and that's how one of them sould have become the undisputed champion.............

 

[JerichoHolic00]

Like people have said, the only way this would have been saved is if all the real WCW stars had been involved. Imagine the 5 on 5 at Survivor Series there could have been; Hogan, Nash, Hall, Sting, Goldberg Vs Austin, Rock, Angle, Undertaker, Kane... The angle wouldn't have even needed to end there if they had all this star power from WCW.
Anyway HHH wouldn't have saved it but he might have made it a bit better.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

As much as I would have liked Triple H to be involved in the Invasion angle, because he was at his peak in around 2001, I don't think he would have SAVED it, but he would have made an impact.

The Invasion storyline, for all its faults, is still my favourite period in all my time as a wrestling fan, but it COULD have been alot better had Vince invested in bringing in Eric Bischoff to lead WCW and allowing Paul Heyman to "take over" ECW again, and had the Alliance's roster been stronger.

Triple H would needed to have been on Team WWF, as he had no reason to be in WCW other than if his close friends Nash and Hall were involved..and they weren't. The only way I think Triple H being involved would have worked would have been in guys like Guerrero, Jericho and Benoit had jumped to WCW, which would have made sense, and given space on the WWF team for The Game.

IF WCW/ECW had a stronger set of wrestlers, with guys like Goldberg, Steiner, Nash, Sting or Hogan then Triple H would have been a great addition to team WWF, but it was really the weakness of the Alliance's roster that stopped the storyline from being the ultimate success it could have been,