How different would things be for the Invasion if it was...

[hassanchop]

WWF and WCW vs ECW?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulY-ES_XJfc&pp=ygUMd2N3IGludmFzaW9u

What if that night, WCW doesn't join forces with ECW and instead they keep a WWF/WCW alliance? As for ECW, some other WWF stars such as Test, Christian, Pery Saturn, Dean Malenko and Spike make the jump claiming WWF never gave them a chance, and some WCW alumni such as Billy Kidman, Lash Leroux, and maybe some of the cruiserweights that went to developmental such as AJ Styles, Air Paris, Elix Skipper, Kid Romeo, Yang and Shannon Moore join ECW claiming WCW held them back for their size and maybe bring in some of the luchadors such as Super Crazy, La Parka, Juventud Guerrera, Psichosis etc and maybe some of the Japanese ones such as Ultimo Dragon, Kaz Hayashi, Keiji Mutoh etc and they claim WCW held them back due to their backgrounds and size increasing the ECW side. Maybe some WWF legends that were there at the time such as Earthquake, Kamala and Haku join in as payback for the treatment WWF and WCW gave them over the years, as Kamala breaks character in the style as Se7en, as does Perry Saturn as he destroys Moppy. Could this have been better if they couldn't get the top WCW stars? At least they could try to not bury the WCW guys they got?

[Andee9001]

The reaction they got when they first formed was really good but i feel it would've only worked as a midcard faction. Any Invasion is dead in the water without the big names and the ECW guys weren't exactly big names. Yeah you had RVD Rhyno, The Dudleys and Taijiri who were treated like stars but then guys like Tazz, Raven, Justin Credible, etc were never taken seriously.

[Jindrak Mark]

RVD is the only ECW guy who had genuine WWF main event level potential. Most of the others were either past their prime even in 2001 or were midcard level at best. And the second you start adding WWF/WCW guys to ECW you run into the same problem the Alliance did anyway with it feeling just like any other faction and not this actual separate invading force which it ideally should to work properly.

I still wish they had just ran with a big Austin-Rock rematch for Summerslam and not even started the invasion at all until the build to Mania 18 by which point you'd have Hogan/Nash/Hall/Flair and maybe even get Bischoff/Goldberg/Steiner/Rey a bit earlier.

[schizo]

Then every show would be nonthing but triple threat matches

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

It would be ludicrous. The talent depth just in number of bodies would make this comically one sided. It annoyed me at the time because if ECW was joining either side it would have been WWF because they were edgier

["Playboy" Don Douglas]

Mar 21, 2024 20:19:56 GMT -5 Jindrak Mark said:

RVD is the only ECW guy who had genuine WWF main event level potential. Most of the others were either past their prime even in 2001 or were midcard level at best. And the second you start adding WWF/WCW guys to ECW you run into the same problem the Alliance did anyway with it feeling just like any other faction and not this actual separate invading force which it ideally should to work properly.

I still wish they had just ran with a big Austin-Rock rematch for Summerslam and not even started the invasion at all until the build to Mania 18 by which point you'd have Hogan/Nash/Hall/Flair and maybe even get Bischoff/Goldberg/Steiner/Rey a bit earlier.

Yeah, pretty much this. Hold off on the invasion until you have the names people actually want to see. Build towards it by promoting a relaunch and airing clips of WCW highlights while having some of the guys available who could go (Lance Storm, for example) work some featured matches to further highlight things. Then when the names are available and it’s time for the relaunch, here’s Bischoff instead of Shane and the only thing relaunching is the war.

I wouldn’t have a problem with ECW being involved, but no Stephanie, no WWF guys added, and no joining forces with either side. Just Heyman and his band of misfits causing havoc on both sides with guerilla attacks. They know they’re outnumbered, they know they can’t win, so they have nothing to lose by screwing McMahon and Bischoff as much as possible while they can.

[XIII]

All I know is that they missed an opportunity by not having the ECW people defect because Paul wasn’t paying them.

[Cry Me a Wiggle]

Mar 22, 2024 6:34:57 GMT -5 "Playboy" Don Douglas said:

Mar 21, 2024 20:19:56 GMT -5 Jindrak Mark said:

RVD is the only ECW guy who had genuine WWF main event level potential. Most of the others were either past their prime even in 2001 or were midcard level at best. And the second you start adding WWF/WCW guys to ECW you run into the same problem the Alliance did anyway with it feeling just like any other faction and not this actual separate invading force which it ideally should to work properly.

I still wish they had just ran with a big Austin-Rock rematch for Summerslam and not even started the invasion at all until the build to Mania 18 by which point you'd have Hogan/Nash/Hall/Flair and maybe even get Bischoff/Goldberg/Steiner/Rey a bit earlier.

Yeah, pretty much this. Hold off on the invasion until you have the names people actually want to see. Build towards it by promoting a relaunch and airing clips of WCW highlights while having some of the guys available who could go (Lance Storm, for example) work some featured matches to further highlight things. Then when the names are available and it’s time for the relaunch, here’s Bischoff instead of Shane and the only thing relaunching is the war.

I wouldn’t have a problem with ECW being involved, but no Stephanie, no WWF guys added, and no joining forces with either side. Just Heyman and his band of misfits causing havoc on both sides with guerilla attacks. They know they’re outnumbered, they know they can’t win, so they have nothing to lose by screwing McMahon and Bischoff as much as possible while they can.

Yeah, my biggest issue with ECW being added is that it was Heyman getting himself over (and I think the WWF paying off his debts) at the expense of the biggest storyline possible: WWF vs. WCW. Had they waited a few more months until at least Flair was ready to go, they could have turned it into a multi-year storyline with ECW only being added to spice it up later. Instead, they gave up on WWF vs. WCW after two weeks.

They really had no impulse control and blew through WCW, ECW, the nWo, and Bischoff all within the space of one year, and did them all in the least interesting possible way.

[Jaws the Shark]

Mar 22, 2024 5:43:47 GMT -5 "Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay said:

It would be ludicrous. The talent depth just in number of bodies would make this comically one sided. It annoyed me at the time because if ECW was joining either side it would have been WWF because they were edgier

It just made more sense too, ECW had cut its ties with WCW when it was still in the NWA, and Heyman had always kicked against WCW much harder so having those two combined just didn't sit right. I don't think a three-way angle would've worked but having ECW as a small renegade outfit that sided with the WWF might have been interesting.

[ace]

ECW should have sided with WCW because Attitude Era was ripping them off and now they were out of business.  And because the guys left in ECW weren’t “WWF material” so this was their only road in to the last game in town.

[David-Arquette was in WCW 2000]

Mar 22, 2024 5:43:47 GMT -5 "Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay said:

It would be ludicrous. The talent depth just in number of bodies would make this comically one sided. It annoyed me at the time because if ECW was joining either side it would have been WWF because they were edgier

ECW joining WCW never made sense to me even as a kid - mind you, a good 90% of the Invasion was head scratching - but later learning just how involved WWF had been in helping ECW, with loans, promotion, etc.. and how much Paul Heyman despised WCW it just made even less sense.

Of course, you could argue it leans into Heyman following the money and stabbing people in the back IRL, but then it's hard to argue and apply logic to say Austin turning and going to WCW.

[Cranjis McBasketball]

It was exciting noticing all those WWF guys running to the ring were former ECW guys.....then.

Invasion was doomed to fail without Hall, Nash, Hogan, Sting, Goldberg, Flair, Bischoff, nothing could be done.