The WCW Invasion/Post-Invasion: A Retrospective

[It's Damn Real!]

The WCW Invasion/Post-Invasion: A Retrospective

When the WCW sold to the WWF in 2001, it sent shock waves through the wrestling world, most notably regarding the future of a number of the WCW's top talents and budding stars including Bill Goldberg, the entirety of the nWo, Rey Mysterio, Lex Luger, Booker T, Scott Steiner, Sting and more. Whether they'd have a place in the WWF, whether any of the heat or riffs between them and the WWF creative/VKM and whether any would be willing to work for their rival company were huge concerns for the majority of wrestlings fans who were still stunned by the acquisition.

As we all well and know, a number of these stars did in fact make their debut's under the flag of the WWF some time later, some of which were during the Invasion angle, others after it like in the case of a guy like Scott Steiner, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall and Goldberg, but the storys and feuds they ran as well as their outcomes are often high points for retrospective criticism and curiosity of that which never happened. That's where this thread comes into play. Whether it's DDP's job to the Undertaker despite one of the loudest pops for an ex-WCW star debuting in the WWF, Booker T's eventual post-Invasion Angle feud with Edge over a fictional Japanese shampoo commercial or any number of the other criticisms the angle and the era just after it raised, a number of questions arose as to how the entire thing could have panned out in a better manner.

That said, what are your thoughts on how the Invasion Angle was handled? Do you think any particular feuds that developed in it or from it helped any of the ex-WCW stars any, and how if at all would you have handled it differently were you given the chance?

Below I've listed a few of the debuts to help revive some of the emotion and aftermath from the era/angle:

DDP WWF Debut

[YOUTUBE]YEY4DJs6II0[/YOUTUBE]

KroniK WWF Debut

[YOUTUBE]_lBtA8V-Ao4[/YOUTUBE]

Chuck Palumbo and Sean O'Haire WWF Debut

[YOUTUBE]pk5Q7NTyA0E[/YOUTUBE]

Booker T WWF Debut

[YOUTUBE]yKSJV3DS6yo[/YOUTUBE]

Lance Storm WWF Debut

[YOUTUBE]eKWWU12F3tM[/YOUTUBE]

 

[bigbootydaddyV]

the angle was short lived and washed down... it could have been SO much more... DDP was wasted and there was no need for him to be the stalker character to begin with. He was very over in wcw and could have been equally as big in wwe. Booker T's return was great but didn't go far. As for the final match... not even the biggest names were involved so it wasn't too worthwhile. WWE could have done so much more w/ the wrestlers that came over from WCW nevermind the ones who should have been brought over. When i heard Vince bought WCW i didn't think this may be the end.. i thought i was going to get to see some dream matches... boy was i wrong

 

[Spidey Revivey]

The WCW Invasion/Post-Invasion: A Retrospective

That said, what are your thoughts on how the Invasion Angle was handled? Do you think any particular feuds that developed in it or from it helped any of the ex-WCW stars any, and how if at all would you have handled it differently were you given the chance?

During that time, in my honest opinion I felt like a lot of things were thrown up in the air and WWF(E) were doing the best they could to give their own people airtime while trying to find places for the new WCW stars making their way in. It was chaotic at first, that is why lots of people disliked the Invasion angle; too many things all happening at once. But like stated before WWE did the best they could I think.

As for as the ex-WCW stars (ECW included) I really felt like they weren't used to their full potential. Like you said, DDP did in fact get a huge pop from the crowd but fell short of the American Badass and was practically lost in WWE history afterwards. Even Booker T, who at that time was one of the biggest names from WCW, was pretty much bashed by The Rock. Remember that "Who are you?" question The Great One threw on the Bookman? One of the reasons Sting won't set foot in the 'E now. So that definitely could have been done a helluva lot better.

Rey Mysterio, Billy Kidman, Eddie Guerrero, and Chris Jericho I felt were some of the very few that got over in the business almost even more than when they were in Ted Turner's company. And neither of them were Main Eventers for WCW.

Goldberg, Kevin Nash, and Scott Steiner...well I like how it took a while to debut them, so I'm not complaining. Like I mentioned before, everything during that time was in the air and not even the audience knew what would happen with the WCW/ECW stars in WWE. They came in the right moment in time and that's all there is to it.

If it were up to me, I wouldn't have used the WWE NWO storyline so soon. We all know NWO pretty much put WCW on the map in the Attitude Era, but with the Invasion angle and all that going on it really wasn't that necessary. I would have waited for a good while to bring that idea into the mix.

As for DDP and Nash..they were getting up there in age so I could understand WWE not catapulting their career further. But guys like Booker T, Rob Van Dam, and Raven even could have been big names in this time if they weren't jobbing to WWE talent. How long did it take Booker T, one of the most decorated superstars of all time, to win a WWE World Championship? There you go.

 

[Chadmw]

The invasion angle in general sucked. This could have been a huge storyline, except for the fact that all the big names (Hall, Nash, Hogan, Sting, Goldberg etc..) were still all under Time warner contracts and were sitting at home collecting nice big juicy contract.

It's pretty bad when the main faces of the Alliance ended up being Austin, Angle, Shane Mcmahon and Test, all big wwe guys. Besides Booker and RVD (who were at least in the main event of the final Alliane match) all the other players were burried.


Then the very next night, Ric Flair shows up on raw, he would have been great to have on the alliance team. Shortly after most of the ECW guys dissapeared or were used very little (Except the dudleys and RVD). Then shortly after the NWO, Goldeberg, Rey mysterio, Kidman all began to show up. But I gues the question is how these guys were used by the WWE afterwards

Booker T was mostly well used during his tenure with the WWf/E (His title reigns, his great feud with Austin)

Kidman, ultimo dragon and all other cruiserweights were mostly jobbers to the stars, but the WWE has never been able to run a good light/cruiserweight division

NWO-Hall was Hall and was gone, Nash was just to injury prone, Hogan had another good run in the WWE

Rey Mysterio-Had a championship run and has stayed around the main event

Goldberg-It's hard to tell how to describe is time in the WWE as it was to short and you could tell he was never really happy to be there.

Chris Benoit / Eddie Guerrero / Chris Jericho- I really don't count these guys as WCW guys the way you post is phrased, as all these guys were in the WWE prior to the invasion angle, and never during the Invasion angle did they every switch to the WCW side.

Sorry if I rambled too much and I hope it makes some sense

 

[Greenlight13]

I think I'm one of the only people who really enjoyed the Invasion storyline. I'd be interested in seeing how many others on here actually liked it.

Was it all it could have been? No. Would it have been better with the input of people like Goldberg, Steiner, Nash, Sting, Mysterio, Flair, a properly booked DDP and others? Yes. Does that mean it was automatically bad? Not in my book.

I enjoy massive-scale angles, and stables, put the two together and I'm a very happy wrestling fan. Betrayals and side-swapping are also very cool for me. I also got to enjoy the influx of some new talent like RVD, Booker T, Lance Storm and others on the undercard. To me it was full of postives.

At first it was booked a little lopsidedly. Nobody could pretend Booker, DDP, Rhino and the Dudleyz could match up against Angle, Austin, Jericho, Taker and Kane. The middle-and-undercards were booked better, with the Invasion PPV being pretty damn good in terms of wrestling if you ask me.

Once Austin joined the Alliance we got one of the greatest feuds in the last decade: Angle vs Austin. As good as Kurt was, he was not reaaaally over until this feud. His WWF Title win was booked as lucky, with Rock squashing him to take it away and then getting owned by Benoit. He looked good destroying Shane, but it wasn't until he walked out, beat the crap out of Austin and then celebrated that he was a legit main event talent. It was the birth of the intensity we get from him to this day if you ask me.

Edge vs Christian was good as well, and we got to see some glimpses of who Christian could become without his partner.

The wrestling was good throughout the Invasion, it was however let down by the uneven nature of the teams once The Rock returned. They needed to have him feud with Jericho just to keep them both busy, whilst DDP was reduced to next to nothing and paired with Kanyon against the Brothers of Destruction, who then ate a surprisingly underwhelming KroniK.

It just seemed they lost confidence in the angle halfway through and started pulling some triggers too quickly (Regal turning and Austin taking the title back from Angle after 2 weeks for example) and the whole thing began to collapse in on itself leading in to Survivor Series, which I thought was a solid enough PPV.

So, in retrospect, it could have been better, but there was still plenty to enjoy and we got an influx of new talent.

 

[stilltippin]

yeah i for one hated how booker was used.. and i too also think the nwo shoulda debuted a little later in time. im still glad booker t managed to get the heavyweight title eventually.. hated that whole king booker thing too

 

[FitFinlay4Life]

Vinnie Mac bought WCW for $1million including their entire video back catalogue- he could easily have brought in a couple of the marquee stars, in particular some that deserted the WWF to go to WCW. Botched does not go anyway close to describing the invasion angle. Here is a very simple one- Benoit won the World Title just before he defected, yet he never challenged Booker for the title he never lost... doh! Palumbo & O'Haire where a great young team who finished opposition with the Seanton Bomb yet never feuded with the Hardys over copyright infringement... doh! Likewise, DDP and Stone Cold never feuded over the Diamond Cutter/ Stone Cold Stunner... doh! And these guys WHERE part of the Invasion angle

I'm sorry but VKM let his personal feelings get in the way of making a hell of alot of money... a new streak built by Goldberg leading up to a clash with the dead man? WCW franchise Sting vs the peoples' champion? nWo vs DX?

Really, you just have to look at the fact that the vast majority of the NWA/ WCW back catalogue STILL has not been utilised to understand that the Invasion angle was never going to be given a fair shake and as a former WCW mark this still pisses me off immensely

 

[assault]

yea i knew vince would use his personal feelings n fuck shit up at the time i was thinkin of all the possibilities of dream matches i got a boner but knowin vince it went back down like i jumped n a pool if vince wasnt a dick he could b a multi billionaire

 

[Sydney Aradi]

I kinda liked the Alliance angle because it was refreshing to see WCW & ECW stars fighting WWF stars but at the same time, it was chaotic and you didn't what the hell was going on in the ring. It was nice seeing new blood in WWE but I wished that this angle was better executed because it had potential to be one of the best wrestling angles but turned out to be a clusterf**k instead.

 

[wushady]

The invasion angle had it's good parts, but for the most part it was a failure. I think it would of been much better if they would of waited until they could sign more of the top guys. I know they had guys like Austin go to the WCW side because the WCW side was weak. If it wasn't for them adding ECW to the mix it would've been really weak.

As for as the WCW guys that came in after the purchase only Flair, Rey and Booker T had long successful careers in WWE. It took both Rey and Booker many years before their first title run. Hogan had a descent run, but I think he lost more matches then he did his entire first run. Hall and Nash didn't last long Nash definitely had a better run. Stiener didn't have a good run at all. Goldberg's run was short and not very memorable.

Vince has never been big on pushing guys who were big names somewhere else right away. Sure a lot of guys who have been WWE champion have been stars in another company. With the exception of Goldberg none of them have won the WWE/WHC in their first year in WWE. Most of them have to start over and prove themselves as a main event star.

 

[TheBestThereNevaWas]

I believe that vid was actually the 2nd appearance of O'Haire and Palumbo.

The only thing I really enjoyed from the Invasion angle was the hysterical
skits that went down with SCSA. It looked like Austin was enjoying himself big time...from the skits between him and Angle competing for VKM's affections...to his interrogating Booker & RVD under the strobe light...to his watch and what it was saying...etc. I enjoyed comedic Austin.

I wished Vince had kept his ego in check and thought out the angle, but I can see why it would be hard not to ego-tripping and flash such a victory to the world...you know the saying "strike while the iron's hot." That being said, you would think that making the Invaders look pathetically weak against your talent would not be the way to a successful storyline.

And who was the bloody idiot that thought anybody...ANYBODY would believe that DDP was stalking Undertaker's wife? No disrespect to 'Taker, but Kim Page was wwwaaayyyyy hotter than Sarah. That's like going from main event to FCW.

**Maybe not FCW, but instead, the low end of the main roster.

That pop that DDP got should've prompted VKM to find a way to scrap the stalker angle and capitalize on DDP. But I guess egos might've gotten bruised...after all Page got a louder pop than a large majority of the E wrestlers at the time.

 

[Sgt Ledbetter]

the biggest problem was that WWE couldnt get the big names from WCW to appear right away because of contract situations with Time Warner. THe star power on the Invasion team just wasnt there.....Ohaire, Palumbo, Kronik, DDP, etc werent gonna be enough to get the angle over to WWE fans. Imagine how different it would have been if the WCW Alliance team was Savage, Sting, Luger, Goldberg, Mysterio, Steiner. Instead it was Booker T, DDP and a bunch of midcarders.....which equals, a big deal short term but not a good long term angle

 

[DDPandNWOfan]

It was never gonna work no matter what. The war was already over and there was no way Vince was gonna let the guys who almost put him out of business look good against his own guys and there was no way that guys like Austin, Rock and Taker would agree to put any WCW guys over.

DDP got one of the loudest pops EVER when he debuted in WWF and they still buried him. He was arguably WCW's 5th biggest star after Hogan, Flair, Goldberg and Sting. Easily the biggest star from WCW that they got to come in at the time and they gave him the biggest burial I've ever seen.

Then the only other relevant WCW star they got to come in during the Invasion Booker T and being WCW Champ at the time and they actually let the Rock ask him "Who are you". And as we know it took Booker T SIX YEARS to ever regain the World Title. Despite being massively over during his entire WWF/E run.

I really wish DDP and Booker T never even went to WWF. It was just sad to see 2 WCW legends get treated like that and watch Vince shit all over my favorite company ever.

So yeah. The Invasion angle could have been the biggest thing ever but because of Vince's ego it was never gonna work.