How would you book the invasion if it was done a year later??

[relentless1]

I think everyone would agree that if the wwf held off on the invasion til after wrestlemania x8 that it couldve been so much better, what with the return of the nWo, ric flair, scott stiener, rey mysterio, eric bischoff in 2002 plus all the other guys used in the invasion in 2001, booker t, buff bagwell, ddp, lance storm etc. it couldve been pretty epic.

Personally i wouldve had jericho, big show, benoit and gurrero join up with WCW to even the odds and have goldberg and sting come in at the beginning of 2003.

WCW: Flair, Bischoff, Bagwell, DDP, Booker T, Benoit, Jericho, Gurrero, Storm, Mike Awesome, nWo (Hogan, Hall, Nash, Stiener, Big Show), Goldberg and Sting in 2003

WWF: Austin, Rock, Foley, Undertaker, Angle, DX (HHH, HBK, X Pac), The Dudleys, RVD, Vince McMahon, Edge, Kane, The Hardys.

 

[King_Kong_Brody]

I think a common misconception is people thinking Vince regrets how the Invasion angle played out...it played out exactly how he wanted it too. He didn't care that fans thought it was awful, he doesn't care that it's apart of wrestle crap, he buried WCW's talent and that is exactly what he wanted to do the Invasion angle served absolutely no other purpose than to show WWF's supremacy over WCW.

On topic, I'm not sure if anything would have made the Invasion angle better. Cause I doubt Sting would ever had worked for Vince during the attitude era. Without Sting WCW really didn't have a credible face outside of Goldberg and there is no way WWF was going to book Goldberg nearly as dominant as he was in WCW.

 

[JETER123]

I would never have guys like Jericho jump BACK to WCW for the storyline. It wouldn't make sense.

The way I would book it would be WWF/E vs. WCW.

It would lead to Survivor Series, with a 10 on 10 WarGames match.

Team WWF/E - Austin, Rock, HHH, Angle, Undertaker, Kane, Jericho, Big Show, Benoit and Lesnar.

Team WCW - Hogan, Goldberg, Flair, Luger, Sting, DDP, Booker T, Nash, Hall, and Macho Man.

 

[justinept]

How could they have waited a year? What would they have done in the meantime? Would people have really cared a year later? VKM did the invasion angle when he did because he wanted to strike while the iron was hot. It was just unfortunate that most of the top stars either weren't offered the chance to be a part of it or just chose not to be a part of it.

As for VKM buring WCW talent... who did he bury? There were barely any WCW stars actually involved with the storyline. The only one I can really think of was Booker T. How exactly was he buried?

 

[LegendKiller716]

The way I would have had it go is that when Vince was on the tron announcing that he bought WCW, instead of Shane coming out, it would have been Bichoff. He would say that WCW would not die and this is not the last they'll see of him.

After a few WCW guys were signed I would start the invasion. It would culminate in the 10 man tag match which would be Austin, Rock, Angle, Kane, and Taker vs Booker T, Steiner, Flair, DDP, and Jericho. Jericho would play the role of Kurt Angle. He would jump back to WCW, only to screw them when it mattered.

A few months later, maybe during the Undisputed title match, Bichoff returns with Hogan, Hall, Nash, and possibly a few other nWo guys. Bichoff says nWo was always better than WCW, and they're gonna take out WWE.

In a sense, I'd start another invasion with nWo a few months later.

 

[EastCoastFan]

I fully understand that if they had waited, they could have had the bigger names from WCW (Hogan, Hall, Nash, Bischoff, maybe Goldberg and others), but even if they had waited, the Invasion would have still been a flop because Vince would still be in charge and he still would have booked WCW to look bad to satisfy his own ego and need to bury them on his terms.

 

[ceasar330]

first off (not in this forum), people state they didnt have enough big superstars to run the show for wcw, but neither did nxt, they should of did what nxt did on raw when they messed up the ring and stuff. have no named wcw guys tearing up stuff would of made wwe listen that they had problems coming. i would of prolong wcw guys in audience for so long and then out of no where did the nxt angle. then after the angle running old, i would of ended it at a wargames match

 

[TheLoneCharles]

A big reason why the Invasion played out the way it did was how it began.

I remember both HHH and Stone Cold kicking the crap out of Buff Bagwell and buried him in the process. The fans ate it up and I felt from that point that it would be impossible to make this compelling if WWF guys were going to dominate. But then HHH tore his quad.

The best moment in all of WWF history has to be the episode of Raw where Stone Cold leaves, then returns in a huge brawl to save team WWF

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

There has been many threads on this subject before, but The Invasion is my favourite time in wrestling history so I don't mind seeing another However, I am just going to repost a reply I posted in January 2011 about how I would like to see The Invasion rebooked. Hope you enjoy

GREAT IDEA FOR THE THREAD

I am not going to post a show by show account of how the Invasion should have been booked, just a few ideas....

THEY SHOULD HAVE WAITED

The Invasion took place in the summer of 2001, just after the fall of WCW. In early 2002 the nWo debuted in the WWE, and Rey Mysterio arrived soon after. In 2003 arguably WCW's biggest star, Goldberg was part of the WWE roster.

Whether or not you wait for Goldberg, but the idea of rushing into the Invasion almost immediately after buying the company, when 3 of the biggest WCW stars were available just 6 months later is absolutely mind-bogglingly stupid. There would have been no need to book Stone Cold and Kurt Angle as the main players in the Alliance if the nWo had been a part of things. Imagine the reaction if Hogan, Hall and Nash had come out with DDP and Booker T.....it would have been HUGE and given so much more credibility to the angle.

Other names that should have been involved include Scott Steiner- who agains joined the WWE soon after, and I personally would have had Eddie Guerrero and maybe Perry Saturn or Chris Benoit defect to WCW.

Also, had the Alliance storyline waited, Triple H would have been healthy enough to return and take his spot on team WWE, which would have been great, and maybe HBK could have been persuaded to come back earlier.

Jerry Lynn should also have been involved. He was another one injured when the storyline began and was on the WWE payroll, and was told he wasnt needed in the Alliance when he was fit again. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? You would rather see Hugh Morrus than Jerry Lynn??? Imagine the matches he could have had against Y2J, or Angle. Brilliant.

ECW AS A SEPERATE FORCE

We all know Paul Heyman hated WCW, so why would he team up with them? I know Stephanie McMahon was leading ECW at the time of the Invasion, but there is no may any serious wrestling fan would believe Paul Heyman would have anything to do with WCW, it was stupid.

Plus, having the bigger name ECW stars involved was great, but the feud we all wanted to see was the WWE stars vs the WCW stars, to end the Monday Night Wars. Having the 2 promotions teaming up against Vince spoiled it a little for me. If ECW was to be involved, make them the 3rd force in the war, rather than the back up for WCW. They could be the X Factor in the whole war.

HIRE ERIC BISCHOFF TO LEAD WCW

As good as it was, we didnt need Shane to buy WCW...it just turned the Invasion into another McMahon family feud and as soon as he bought it, we all knew the Invasion was coming.

Vince should have hired Eric Bischoff- who DID join the WWE not too long afterwards anyway, to lead WCW. It would have been so much more shocking if, during a Raw or PPV main event, Eric Bischoff suddenly came out of the crowd with his troops and did a genuine "invasion", not one that we knew was coming. Plus, having the actual guy who ran WCW involved would have made it so much more realistic.

Same with Paul Heyman. Having Steph take over ECW when Heyman was already on the payroll was another major fuck up. I would have 100% preferred to have all 3 companies led by their real leaders, rather than Shane and Steph. She had no place running ECW, already Vince was pissing on ECW's legacy.

BOOK WCW/ECW WRESTLERS AS EQUALS

It was obvious from the beginning who was going to win the Invasion. ECW stars like Mike Awesome were stuck in PPV opening matches as part of a tag team, most of WCW's wrestlers were low to mid carders. Guys like Hugh Morrus, Kanyon and Shawn Stasiak had no use in the Invasion. There was enough talent on the roster of the Alliance to make them credible challengers to the WWE, but the only WWE title change that occured was Stone Cold (a WWE guy) taking the title to the Alliance. Giving the title to someone like Booker T, DDP or another WCW Main Eventer (THIS IS WHERE GOLDBERG, HOGAN, NASH OR STEINER WAS NEEDED) would have established WCW as a genuine force and been incredibly shocking.



LET IT RUN LONGER

Why cut the storyline off so quickly. This was the dream scenario for so many wrestling fans, they finally had the chance to watch the cream of the crop from all 3 promotions appear on the same shows, with new feuds and rivalries just waiting to be started. There were so many options, and the battle could have gone on for a couple of years, with different promotions taking advantage at different times.

Just look at the roster there could have been:

Main Event

The Rock, Triple H, Undertaker, Kane, Steve Austin, Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, Booker T, Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, Scott Steiner, Rob Van Dam, Mike Awesome, DDP, Big Show, Goldberg

Mid Card

Scott Hall, Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, Jerry Lynn, Raven, Rhyno, Lance Storm, Eddie Guerrero, Edge, Sean O'Haire and loads others I cant remember right now

Cruiserweights

Rey Mysterio, Billy Kidman, Ultimo Dragon, Tajiri, Shane Helms, X-Pac, Christian, Juventud Guerrera, Pcicosis, The Hardyz etc

That is a huge array of talent.

As much as I loved the Invasion storyline, I do think it should have been booked a hell of a lot better, there were so many missed opportunities, like we never saw the nWo face DX, Goldberg face Austin for the title etc....sadly Vince's ego wanted to get his whole family involved and wanted to kill of WCW as soon as he could.

 

[wainy316]

Does anybody know if Vince knew in advance that he would have to relinquish the 'WWF' name. If so, maybe he had it when he did because it was the only chance to have 'WWF' v's 'WCW' and subsequently have the WWF crush their bitters rivals. WWE never fueded with WCW and although the name change means little to some, I think it does to others (erm me).

Anyway I liked the original plan they had with Raw having to devote segments to WCW and their matches, with the WWF logo being replaced by WCW in the corner. They could of begrudgingly ran alongside each other with a few teases of it all kicking off, but it never coming to a head.

Gradually Shane would start introducing more and more stars and then finally make his move and attack to try and acheive absolute power and put Vince out of business. He could cut a promo on how he was biding his time and waiting to build WCW's strength up. All the WCW greats would be in there and the WWF's top star during the Monday Night Wars, Austin would never of had to make the nonsensical jump to the opposition. This way he could of continued his heel run for a bit (as turning him back after 3 months would of been an admission of failure) before eventually becoming face again to defend the honour of the WWF when Shane makes his move.

ECW could of happened in the same way, with Heyman revealing his plan during a beatdown with the former ECW stars defecting to his company but with it running (at least for a month or two) as a seperate entity, before joining up with Shane.

 

[Why Always Me]

If it could of been done a year later, then it would book itself.

You would not need to have WWF wrestlers defecting to WCW. The Rock and Triple H would be back to make team WWF stronger.

Imagine a tag match main eventing Invasion of Hogan, Goldberg, Hall, Nash, DDP, Booker T & Flair vs Austin, Triple H, Undertaker, Jericho, Angle, HBK and The Rock. If Goldberg would not debut until after WM19 then drop HBK as he was only just coming back.

I would of also brought the WCW Television Title and the ECW Title over, so that unification matches could take place as follows

WWF/WCW Title for one Undisputed Title
IC/US Title (drop the US Title)
ECW/Hardcore Title (drop ECW title, but gives the Hardcore title more prestige)
Euro/TV (drop the Euro belt)
Two sets of tag belts
Light Heavyweight/Cruiserweight (drop Light Heavyweight)

As stated, ECW could come in after a while and start making a nusiance of themselves, but not side with anyone. Book the WCW as equal to the WWF. When the invasion is over, split the rosters, but allow ALL champions on both shows. That instantly gives more credibility to the titles as they are allowed on both shows.

Imagine a roster with the following main stars....

RAW
Austin
Goldberg
Angle
HBK
Booker T
DDP
Hall
Nash
Big Show
RVD

Smackdown
The Rock
Undertaker
Triple H
Jericho
Benoit
Angle
Hogan
Flair
Eddie
Kane

and so on and so forth.

It could of been awesome, I still enjoyed it, but it could of been amazing.

 

[BillAlfonso]

Invasion? Hm:

I'd start it off as Vince extending the olive branch as the honorable victor to Eric Bischoff who accepts just to maintain a degree of power and everyone that were never WWF superstars accept it as well but Hogan and the other former WWF superstars know Vince and won't accept as well as Goldberg who Vince insults by making a comment that he was almost good enough to take him down. A few months go by and WCW guys are being mistreated in the company with things like handicap matches and shit like that. On the ECW side, Vince, trying to do the same thing, sends some of the former ECW talent he had at the time over to talk to Heyman and possibly shows up himself or an "ambassador" like Shane or Stephanie but Paul refuses and the rest of the roster agrees to stay the small group they've always been to not sell out. Vince eventually agrees to let them remain autonomous to keep from getting into it with them.

After a while, the guys from WCW have had enough and go to Bischoff for help but he sympathizes but doesn't want to jeopardize what he has. Left with no other choice, they rise up on Smackdown but are put back down brutally as Vince and Bischoff watches from the aisle. Vince is smiling while Eric is torn. The next Raw ends with Booker T and DDP getting beat by The Rock and Austin and Vince comes down to gloat with Eric and that's when Hogan, Nash, Hall, Macho Man, Flair, Sting and Scott Steiner hit the ring and attack beating down The Rock and Austin. They then stand behind Bischoff who stares at Vince and they start talking about what Vince has done since winning. Vince calls the rest of the roster out but the video shows a brawl back stage between the WCW guys and WWE which looks to be pretty even.
Factions begin to reform for a bid of power and this is where some of the younger guys come in that debuted at the time. Flair reforms The Horsemen with Benoit, Malenko, and let’s say a young Randy Orton, Team Angle is formed with Haas & Benjamin while Taker reforms the ministry of Darkness with Kane and the APA that have reverted back to their Acolyte personas etc. Finally, Vince reforms the Corporation as Bischoff reforms the NWO. Meanwhile, ECW is gaining more and more power in the industry as they’re notoriety increases and this doesn’t go unnoticed. Vince and Bischoff are both making bids to Heyman to join them and he refuses.
Eventually, Batista is unveiled and begins to dominate the WCW roster until Goldberg returns unable to see the men he worked with for so long be defeated and they feud. Eventually, ECW joins and backs WCW as they’re still the weaker of the two entities with groups like Raven’s Nest, The Dudley Family, and the Impact players leading the way and begins to defeat WWE, after winning the battle, ECW turns on WCW choosing to pick their bones so to speak but Goldberg starts to fight them off by himself as the rest of the WCW roster begins to fall to ECW’s brutality. Goldberg nearly wins the day until The Next Best Thing debuts for ECW and battles Goldberg. The big blowoff is all three companies coming to terms with each other after Wrestlemania and we have three separate brands in the same company with three different styles on three different networks and Vince rakes it in.

Notable Feuds over time through various member shifts:

The Ministry of Darkness vs Raven's Nest

The Corporation vs NWO

Team Angle vs The Horsemen

The Hardy Boys vs 3 Count

Edge & Christian vs RVD & Sabu

Harlem Heat vs The Gangstas(doubt it would happen)

BWO vs LWO

The Dudley Family vs Filthy Animals

 

[UFOcalling]

Gotta give a shout-out to my boy Triple Naitch, for bringing this thread to my attention. Thank you, man. Love your posts! LOL! I haven't read everyone's post here yet, so I apologize if I'm repeating some ideas. Now that these formalities are out of the way, let's get to business:

Yes, I think the Invasion angle could have been great. The way the WWE did it was okay, but we could have seen so much more. I would have LOVED to see the nWo (Hogan, Hall & Nash) show up as a fourth faction here, so we would have had the WWF vs. WCW vs. ECW vs. nWo. I mean, come on...that could have opened the doors for the nWo vs. DX feud that the fans never got to see (but always wanted to). Obviously for that to have happened in the early '00s, a lot of things would have had to change....but it could have happened.

Raven should have played a bigger role as well. Get him a "new" flock, possibly with some old guys. Have Saturn become his "right hand man" again, and let Billy Kidman be torn between "The Filthy Animals" (Konnan, Guerrero, Mysterio) and this new Flock. You could bring in guys like the "Headbangers" as well, maybe. Let Raven feud with the Undertaker, could have been a great Wrestlemania match. Plus, you would have the opportunity for "The Flock" vs. "The Ministry of Darkness".

Am I the only guy that liked "Revolution" in WCW? For those that don't remember, Revolution was a heel group that consisted of Shane Douglas (the leader of the group), Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, and Perry Saturn. Again, get this group back together! You could have Saturn torn between Revolution & the Flock (similar to what I mentioned earlier, with Kidman). Revolution didn't last long in WCW, as Malenko, Saturn and Benoit defected to the WWF soon after the group's (Revolution's) debut...I think they lasted a couple of months?? WCW tried putting their World Title on Benoit, but Benoit left for WWF the very next day. Having Benoit with the World Title at that stage in time didn't make a lot of sense (from a kayfabe POV), since Benoit was in Revolution at that time (and was NOT the leader of the group). I still would have liked to see this group (Revolution) together during the Invasion.

There was one REALLY cool angle that WCW never really did, although they had many opportunities to do so. Of course for this to work in the WWF, a lot of puzzle pieces would have had to fall into place (that never did). The angle (or feud) I'm talking about is Goldberg vs. Sting. Obviously Sting never came to the WWF (and probably never will), and Goldberg didn't come until his WCW contract had ended. For a Sting/Goldberg feud to work properly in the WWF (or WCW), a lot of major variables (that never happened) would have to change. We saw at least two (one-on-one) Sting vs. Goldberg matches in WCW, but IMHO - they both sucked donkey butt. The only two Sting vs. Goldberg matches that I remember are:

The first is when Sting was a member of the Wolfpac (when Sting was still painting his face red & black). This match happened as the main event for an episode of Nitro in 1998, when Goldberg was the World Champ. It was a great match, up until Hollywood Hogan messed everything up. The match had gone on for like 10 minutes (and was an extremely entertaining match), and Sting finally had Goldberg in the Scorpion Death Lock...Goldberg had no hope to escape the hold, Sting had it locked on Goldberg, and he couldn't reach the ropes (to break the hold). "Behind the referee's back", Hogan came in and waffled Sting in the head with the title belt. This was enough for Goldberg to do the spear, jackhammer, and then get the pin on Sting (retaining the belt). Sting never got another shot at Goldberg's World Title (as far as I remember). LAME.

The second Sting vs. Goldberg match I can remember (the only other one I can remember), is a match they had at a PPV in 1999. It might have been Halloween Havoc, I don't remember all of the details. What I do remember is that Sting was the World Champion at the time, and he was NOT booked in a match at the PPV (way to go, WCW). Sting came to the ring at the end of the show, and announced that he was challenging ANYONE in the back to a match. Sting didn't announce it would be a World Title match, he just said he wanted to have "a fight" (or something like that).

Right after Sting made this "open challenge", Goldberg's music hits. Goldberg came down to the ring, in his street clothes (if I remember correctly). They had no referee, so Sting called for one. Once a ref was out, the bell was rang and the match was underway. It was a really short match, one that Goldberg won. I even remember seeing Sting spearing Goldberg during the match! LOL! ...so funny. When Goldberg won the match, he was awarded the World Title. I remember that even the announcers were confused, because they thought this was supposed to be a non-title match (Sting never said it would be for the World Title). I think Goldberg held the title for a while, until Russo arrived (or maybe Russo was already there, I don't remember exactly). My point is that this match was also super LAME.

Why didn't WCW ever pull the trigger on a Goldberg vs. Sting feud? It could have been epic...Icon vs. Icon, Franchise vs. Franchise, whatever you'd want to call it. This feud could have been huge for WCW, I don't know why they never did it. This is why I would have LOVED to see this feud during the Invasion angle. If we could have seen Sting vs. Goldberg (a real feud, not just one lame match) in the WWF in the early '00s, I would have marked out so hard that my shorts would be forever stained.

Obviously this is a "dream" feud (Sting vs. Goldberg in the WWF) that never could have happened. But...imagine if it did. The WWF would have sold SO many tickets for a PPV, and so many PPV buys from the fans at home. These two wouldn't have even needed a title on the line, just a "WCW Franchise vs. WCW Franchise" match on a PPV card would have sold the PPV on it's own. Imagine seeing Goldberg vs. Sting at Wrestlemania 2001 or '02. Man, I would have loved to see that.

Sorry for the long-ass post again, hope I didn't bore anybody to tears. Thanks for reading!

 

[poppycock]

Would maybe have WCW take over Smackdown and turn it into some form of Nitro... and force the WWF(Raw) to reclaim the show back after weeks of storyline driven Smackdown take over promos in which WCW stars changed the original matches to WCW matches and have WCW stars kayfabe locking and guarding the doors/entrances from WWF,changing the SMackdown ring/arena to a Nitro one etc... Resulting in a meaningful Smackdown Vs Raw scenario.. where all WWF Smackdown stars vacate to Raw with some joining WCW (perhaps those with strong WCW connections as in Jericho, Bigshow, Regal. Somwhere along the line Hogan would join the WWF.. not sure how I would bring ECW in.. perhaps have them as an outside team of rebels on nobodies side..randomly invading both Raw (WWF) and Smackdown(WCW).. coming down from the roofs, from under the ring..etc...