Justification for the Invasion Angle

[thelonewolf527]

There was nothing they could do. The WCW guys they signed were mainly losers. Like sure Booker was champ and DDP had been hot a couple years earlier, but these two and everyone else didn't come close to matching what Austin, Rock, etc. Without Goldberg, Sting, Flair, nWo, there was nothing different they could have done.

[avenger]

From a business perspective, not only would it have been lunacy to acquire the guys with TimeWarner contracts on their WCW money, but they also got to pop PPV buyrates everytime one of these guys debuted. So they not only got a great buyrate for the initial Invasion PPV, but then the elimination match, the NWO, Goldberg and Steiner all arriving gave them opportunities. If they'd waited for everyone under TimeWarner contract to be available they'd have spent twelve months paying guys with WCW contracts to sit at home, which would also have been lunacy.

[The Rick Jericho]

I wish Vince bought WCW either in 2000 or 2002. Either way he would be better with his finances than 2001.

If he bought them in 2000, without the XFL, I have no doubt at least 3 or 4 of the following would've been involved in the WCW vs. WWF Raw. Goldberg. Sting. Hogan. Savage. Flair. Nash. Steiner. DDP. Luger.

Goldberg/Sting/Hogan/Savage/Flair/Nash/Steiner/DDP/Luger vs. Austin/Rock/HHH/Angle/Jericho/Undertaker/Kane/Vince

Any combinations of those 8 WCW vs. 8 WWF guys and you have multiple programs and feuds for at least 1-2 years.

Goldberg vs. Austin (Who is the better, bald, black trunks mega star)
Sting vs. Undertaker (A dream match anytime)
Angle vs. Savage (Angle vs. a wildman Savage would be a place)
Nash vs. Kane (Diesel vs. "Diesel")
DDP vs. Rock (The People's Champion's)
Steiner vs. Jericho (Just for Jericho to crap his pants when he tries a shoot comment on Scotty)
Hogan vs. Vince (Do the Wrestlemania XIX feud but earlier)
Flair vs. HHH (Just to make Hunter happy)

Just those 8 feuds as starters would be amazing.

[Alice Syndrome]

Because they decided Raw is Nitro had to go on in famous WCW hotbed Tacoma.

And the funny part was next week Raw was in Atlanta, and they decided to debut the ECW faction there instead. Because you know, it was only another 3 weeks until Raw ran Philly.

(They had Paul Heyman and several WCW agents on staff at that point, right? Didn't anyone give them a clue?)

[cabbageboy]

Here is a major problem with the "let's wait and do something else" idea with the Invasion: The WWF's business was tanking after WM in 2001. They had to do something because Austin's heel turn was a financial bomb and no one cared about another round of Austin/Taker. Further, there were a bunch of WCW guys that they just acquired so they had to do something and the Invasion was the logic choice. The problem was that the idea was that WCW would be its own show, yet they were the total heels. We aren't talking Shawn having SD attack Raw here and the fans at SD shows more or less rolling with it. We're talking a brand that WWF conditioned fans to despise, so it's not like a lot of people were willing to give it a shot.

What would be gained by waiting? By 2002 no one would have cared at all about WCW invading anyone. To be honest the WCW that competed and even beat the WWF for a while was not really true WCW (as in proper pre 1994 WCW), but instead a weird repackaging of WWF stars.

[The Thread Barbi]

Dec 3, 2017 23:22:17 GMT -5 cabbageboy said:

What would be gained by waiting? By 2002 no one would have cared at all about WCW invading anyone. To be honest the WCW that competed and even beat the WWF for a while was not really true WCW (as in proper pre 1994 WCW), but instead a weird repackaging of WWF stars.

Sting's and Goldberg's runs in recent years prove there is still a demand for big name WCW acts. I think holding off would have been the right decision and an invasion storyline would still have worked, with the added value of nostalgia.

However, the original invasion was just to have Undertaker motivate the troops by saying, "The phony tough and the crazy brave", whatever the f*** that means.