Would the Invasion angle have been properly booked if WCW had won the war?

[relentless1]

So lets reverse reality here. WCW/ Eric Bischoff/ Ted Turner wins the Monday Night Wars and buys the WWF and all their stars.

Yes, WCW had a habit of fucking up storylines quite a bit but they also had a great track record for pushing ex WWF stars to the moon (Hogan, Savage, nWo to name a few) also, there was no parent company so contracts wouldn't have been tied up in litigation as it was when WWF bought WCW.\ so all of the stars would have been available for purchase.

Would they have done a better job at booking the Invasion angle?

 

[Kyphael]

Depends... when would WWF have either gone out of business or McMahon have sold to Ted Turner? 96? 97? Is this a "what if" scenario as in, WCW would have won even with the rise of Austin, Rock, Foley, and DX? If that's the scenario, and Austin, Foley, and Rock would have still become mega stars and WWF would have still been purchased by WCW, I don't see millionaires like Rock and Austin signing. Rock would have gone on to movies sooner, and Austin maybe would have signed later after waiting and seeing how WCW would treat WWF guys. Foley's in-ring career was over by 2000 anyway.

Now, if the scenario is... WCW put the nail in the coffin circa 96/97 as many predicted and it was WCW's best chance, then we would have never had Austin/Rock/Foley as they reached their peaks.

The first scenario, I see WCW not having said guys like Austin, Rock, and Foley, and having to do an invasion with Triple H, Biker Undertaker, Kane, the Radicalz, and ironically Jericho and Big Show... No way to tell but I predict it would have sucked because most of WCW's names were broken down/retired by 2000/2001.

It could have gone so many ways. I don't know if Bischoff would havr protected guys like Booker T, Lance Storm, and Scott Steiner to squash names like HHH, Kane and Undertaker. Maybe HHH would be safe thanks to Nash and him being buddies, but Biker Taker and Kane would have likely jobbed, and same for Jericho, Show, and the Radicalz. I doubt Jericho and the Radicalz would have even gone back knowing what awaited them. Show would have because the dude seems to lack pride, not that that's a BAD thing... it kind of is, but he's just an overall nice dude that will do a job for the money.

If everyone but HHH got squashed by WCW's names, I doubt we'd ever see Austin sign. We would have never had the rise of Kurt Angle, Bischoff doesn't have the mind McMahon once had for talent like that.

So many variables to consider, but in a nut shell, I think WCW would have fucked it up too. This sort of angle is almost impossible to pull off well unless both companies do it jointly. When one company does it after running the other out of business, you know it won't be fairly booked due to egos and the reigning company being biased for its own performers, and I do not think for a second Eric Bischoff was above squashing WWE guys like Vince did WCW guys to make his own talent look good. Bischoff's track record paints him as an even more vindictive and bad businessman than Vince.

 

[TellMeWhy]

WCW's forte was doing invasion angles. The NWO angle is arguably the greatest angle of all time. WCW unlike Vince McMahon didn't have a huge ego and wasn't focused on burying guys that were made elsewhere. Hogan for instance, a top WWE guy came to WCW and became the big dog. Vince McMahon would never allow a top star from a competing company that is in business to have a top star come in and become the face of the promotion. That just shows that WCW had very little ego and just wanted to do what was right for business, even if they had to sacrifice their own homegrown stars for another company's creation. This is why I believe an invasion in WCW would work.

Vince McMahon was so ego driven and hell bent on sticking it to WCW that guys like DDP, who were major WCW stars weren't even really given a chance to succeed in WWE. WCW actually wanted to do all they can to make money out of any stars that stepped foot through the door. Had WCW won the battle, no doubt would the WWF/WCW war had gone better. Seriously, I don't see Undertaker, or HHH, or Rock jobbing out. I think WCW would've brought them in on equal footing and continued to present them on equal footing. I could see WCW trying to give us dream matches such as DDP/Rock as People's Champ vs. People's Champ. DDP/Austin-Diamond Cutter vs Stunner. Sting and Taker. Maybe even Austin/Goldberg or Rock/Goldberg. No doubt, I would trust an invasion with WCW but I expect most WWE fanboys to say different because they are WWE fanboys.

 

[Charismatic Enigma]

Assuming it happened under Bischoff, between '96-98 before Russo got there, and before WCW had lost momentum, then yes I definitely think it would've been booked better. I think ultimately it would've suffered the same fate though. The reason WCW was as great as it was, was because Bischoff went for the jugular against McMahon. You can't have a great hero without a great villain. With no adversary to go to war with, while the actual invasion angle might've worked better in WCW, within months, I still think it would've floundered.

The ONLY way, this really could've ever succeeded would've been to keep them as two completely separate companies, both on TV and in real life, and allow for the occasional dream match to occur, but always create the perception that they were rivals, with the money ultimately all going to the same place.

 

[Kyphael]

That's what Vince originally wanted to do, keep WCW a separate company run by Shane (kayfabe or not) and maintain the illusion they were still at war and keep Nitro (and Thunder?) on their respective network(s) but he couldn't keep the TV deals for WCW so we got the brand split idea with RAW competing against SmackDown instead of RAW vs. Nitro (both run by McMahon.)

TellMeWhy, you make good points, and I thought of that as I posted, but my stance on that was... Bischoff treated guys like Hogan, Hall, Nash, Savage, Luger, and the others that jumped ship like gold because they did just that... they jumped ship, they stabbed McMahon in the back and left for greener pastures and more money, so how could Bischoff NOT treat them well?

Now, Bischoff signing guys that NEVER stabbed McMahon in the back and went down fighting alongside Titan Towers? That's a different story, there's no way of telling how Bischoff would have treated them had he won the Monday Night Wars. You have to consider winning the Monday Night Wars would have likely inflated Eric's ego to the max the way it did Vince's, making Eric, like Vince, think he's untouchable, so he's going to sign the guys that left him and fought against him to humble and job them out to get the point across he was superior, the way Vince did with guys like DDP, Goldberg, and Steiner.

At least that's how I see it.

 

[CrunKSinatrA]

YES... it would've been WWE's Empire Strikes Back if WCW would've won.

Success is the best revenge and can you imagine how sweet Vince's revenge would've been if he rebuilt the WCW name back into prominence?

Kind of like how no one cared RVD was in TNA, but one ad on RAW promoting RVD's return was a bigger career revival than winning the TNA title? Or how relevant Sting and AJ Styles became just by merely signing w/ the WWE?

Vince already owned the name and WCW's success would've been his own.

I understand that the original plan was to have WCW on Mondays and WWE on Smackdown, but the shareholders vetoed emphasizing the damaged WCW brand.

They could've had WCW win but some legal loophole prevented changing the name for a set period of time.

Eric Bischoff, Ric Flair, Shane, and Stephanie could have had vignettes where they punk Vince w/ demotions thru the name change waiting period. Vince could've worked in a concession booth and then as a janitor.

One day while sweeping at Titan Tower, Vince could do a skit where he finds the original Capital Wrestling Corporation or World Wide Wrestling Federation's charter and invoked a final match clause before the name change.

And then the WWE wins.

 

[Jonyboyuk2]

No way. WCW booked everything wrongly from late 1997 onwards. If you look at the combined ratings during the MNW's there was 10.0+ watching Wrestling. It was WCW's poor booking that led them to their demise. If you look at how many ratings WWE got in the years that followed WCW - then it was accurate to say a lot of wrestling fans didn't like WWF/WWE and tuned out. But WCW was booked in to hell and collapsed.

It is impossible to think they would book it any better.

 

[Ubermensch]

What year would the WWF had went under? WCW's best time frame for putting WWF out of business was in late 97. Sting should have got over Hogan cleanly. Hart should have been instantly at odds with Nash, Hall, and Syxx as Michaels' friends. The NWO should have split into the two factions immediately after Starrcade after Hogan's accused of dropping the ball. Sting should have had a lengthy title run culminating in a title defense against Goldberg. Goldberg should have got matches against Warrior, Hogan, and eventually dropped the belt to Steiner.

Assuming they managed to do everything right and the WWF didn't have much of an audience to put Austin and the Rock over to, then I would say by maybe 99 that Vince would have been out of business (very rough guess). The only reason WCW lingered on during 1999, 2000, and part of 2001 was because of Turner's money. I don't think Vince could have afforded another year like 1997 or 96 going into 1998.

Two invasion angles simply wouldn't work, especially after you've splintered the nWo already. The nWo would need to go away as a faction altogether. The story line would be tired at this point two competing outside companies (kayfabe) just wouldn't flow well.

Pros: WCW had longer time slots and Ted Turner could afford any and everyone on the WWF's roster that he wanted.

Cons: WCW tended to mismanage good angles and this could be one of them. WCW already had a bloated roster with guys like Benoit, Guerrero, Mysterio, Booker, and Mysterio missing their much deserved pushes. Add to that mix, the rising main eventers of 98 in the WWF such as The Rock, Austin, HHH, and Angle and you've got ton of established main event talent, with established main event talent, and stars that desperately need a push.

For the invasion angle itself to be successful, it would have to be at a larger scale than even the nWo was, and that would be difficult to pull off. If you add a folded ECW to the mix, things get even worse. WCW did an awful job managed ECW guys. Just look at Sabu's early WCW run, he looked way before his time.

More than anything, WCW would desperately need a roster split after the initial invasion angle. WCW could get about 6 good PPVs with our dream matches like Goldberg vs. Austin, The Rock and Hogan, Sting vs Taker, Savage and HHH, Hart vs Hall and/or Nash, Flair vs. Angle, Steiner vs Rock and/or Austin would be worth for the amount trash talk, and then the roster split would be a must. If you were to do say, a Nitro and Thunder roster then I would make one show more traditional and the other more edgy with hardcore wrestling, grittier angles, and more microphone work.

Nitro: Hogan, Luger, Sting, Giant, Goldberg, Angle, HHH, HBK, Hart, Benoit, Jericho, Guerrero, Mysterio, DDP, RVD, Sabu, Booker T,

Thunder: Austin, Rock, Savage, Hall, Nash, Steiner, Sandman, Tommy Dreamer, New Jack, Tazz, Foley, Rhyno, Kane and Undertaker.

I think financially WCW could have managed the invasion angle better with billionaire Ted's pocketbook. The reason being is that Vince really couldn't afford most of the real talent in WCW whereas WCW wouldn't have had that problem and could have easily bought anyone on ECW's roster.

 

[Chris1-16]

I've always said that even if Austin didn't lead WWE to their resurgence in 98 WCW would've fell apart in 99 anyways and WWE still goes on to surpass them in the following years. As hot as Austin and WWE were in 98 WCW still had their most successful year in the company history and they had their own hot superstar in Goldberg, the difference was Austin had no one around to sabotage his spot and Goldberg did (Hogan and later Nash).