WCW Invasion for those watching at the time

[Cieto]

My interest peaked when they made plans to run a WCW weekly show, which only turned out to be a one-off (if Im remembering that correctly), then the whole invasion angle just went left-field.

[Hit Girl]

I was interested during that last Nitro, but then Shane showed up and I immediately had a bad feeling, which was confirmed when DDP appeared and had a stalker gimmick and most of the invaders were low/mid-carders. Only Booker T's involvement was interesting, but that too got old quick when Rock openly mocked him rather than take him seriously.

[chronocross]

I liked it a lot the first month or so, but as time went on, I hated it. Seeing Tazz get bitched out by Austin every week was annoying and also in the Survivor Series "Winner Take All" match, it was down to all WWF guys (Austin/Angle/Jericho/Rock) at the very end of the bout.

[Bang Bang Bart]

I remember being very pissed about Angle joining the Alliance as a kid.

[LexExpress]

Jan 9, 2018 15:59:00 GMT -5 TGM said:

I was 14 and I loved it.

This, but I was 11. I didn't have home internet for another couple of years afterward and I remember being shocked to find out it was this big hated thing 😅

[froggyfrog]

During the summer of 2001 I was 11. Loved the Invasion. Only saw WCW a handful of times and I was aware of their stars but I was never a regular viewer of their product. I was familiar enough with Lance Storm, Booker T, and the MIA so that I wasn’t bummed out about who we got

[Cranjis McBasketball]

I was excited for the first Raw after the purchase but other than that. I grew tired of it. No one worth a damn was there. Way too many champions. Then the slow trickle of meaningful names coming in to be wasted, except Hogan and even that went sideways when he got turned face by the crowd.

The matches were fine but the story sucked.

[fw91]

would it have worked if there was no alliance, and ECW remained its own entity like they initally teased?

I remember thinking that was really cool. But then they formed the alliance.........

[Ringmaster]

As soon as I realized it was just a platform to continue the feuding McMahon angle I was already way beyond tired with I tuned out of it mostly.

It gave Smackdown a boost in the arm and made it the A show until Vinny mac caught on and gutted the roster with the first draft.

[The Rick Jericho]

Was I the ONLY one waiting for guys like Malenko, Benoit, Saturn, Giant, Jericho and Raven to defect back to WCW and say they were sent to the WWF to be Outsiders and spies for WCW.

[Bub (BLM)]

I was 17, and mostly enjoyed it. I even think the complaint of a lack of big stars is misplaced, because they had DDP. He was one of the biggest main eventers of the Monday Night Wars. Had the WWF booked him like 1998 DDP, the Alliance wouldn't have felt so midcard.

[Fade]

Yea, i was around the same age. I was f***ing stoked. Needless to say you could quickly see it was this neutered down abomination of what a clash between "WCW Vs WWE" could of been.

I will say, the nWo coming in eventually seemed like a bigger deal to me.

[The 1Watcher Experience]

Jan 9, 2018 19:31:19 GMT -5 The Rick Jericho said:

Was I the ONLY one waiting for guys like Malenko, Benoit, Saturn, Giant, Jericho and Raven to defect back to WCW and say they were sent to the WWF to be Outsiders and spies for WCW.

I didn’t think it would be all of them but I was hoping a few would’ve pulled that card. It might have saved the angle. Benoit could’ve broke out as a main eventer there earlier. There were way too many WCW undercard guys involved. I really wasn’t buying Kanyon suddenly being a big deal either. 

[The Rick Jericho]

Jan 9, 2018 20:25:28 GMT -5 The 1Watcher Experience said:

Jan 9, 2018 19:31:19 GMT -5 The Rick Jericho said:

Was I the ONLY one waiting for guys like Malenko, Benoit, Saturn, Giant, Jericho and Raven to defect back to WCW and say they were sent to the WWF to be Outsiders and spies for WCW.

I didn’t think it would be all of them but I was hoping a few would’ve pulled that card. It might have saved the angle. Benoit could’ve broke out as a main eventer there earlier. There were way too many WCW undercard guys involved. I really wasn’t buying Kanyon suddenly being a big deal either. 

I think it adds weight to "WCW" if they defected. So instead of stupid defections like Angle.. we have:

Benoit, Jericho, Giant, Malenko, Saturn, Eddie, Raven, Regal, Booker T, and DDP looks more legit and threatening on paper.

[Ishmeal Loves BBL Bayley]

I was fine with Shane being the storyline owner of WCW. I marked out when WCW guys started doing run ins on WWF programs. Hell, the night RVD and Dreamer debuted I ran from one friend's house (who didn't have cable) to another just to see my favorite wrestler at the time (RVD).



...and then they said Stephanie bought ECW. It was unnecessary. Just say Heyman still owned it. Hell, he was RIGHT THERE! And we all know what happened next.

[benstudd]

Just the word "Alliance" conjures up bad memories, especially since when the WWE adopt a meme, they won't stop using it as corny as it is(a la the Vigilante Sting!). So the repetition of the word Alliance was a thing to give nightmares.

[Deleted]

I liked it only because of how unbelievable it was that it was actually happening.

And even with the talent they had, they could have made it work better with better booking. Treat DDP and Booker T as huge stars, have someone like Big Show be the one to switch sides instead of Austin, and build up guys like Lance Storm, Mike Awesome, and Kanyon into legit threats. Also, if protected properly with someone like Paul Heyman in charge of booking them, Kronik could have been a bad ass tag team.

It actually made sense that the NWO guys like Hogan, Nash, and Steiner weren't part of it, because they wanted to destroy WCW.

And ECW should have been a wild card faction similar to how Raven's Flock was booked during WCW vs NWO.

[Lancers]

There were two fatal flaws with the Invasion.

1. None of the top WCW guys were involved. Booker T and DDP were their biggest stars that came over. Goldberg, nWo, Steiner and Flair all came around later. It's hard to imagine Chuck Palumbo being booked against Kurt Angle and taking Palumbo as a serious threat.

2. Austin. Turns heel by joining up with Vince at WM17. Does the Power Trip thing with HHH until HHH's quad injury. Then because WCW/ECW were seen as the bad guys, Vince and Austin have to turn face. Then Austin turns on Vince and joins WCW. Then when the Invasion ends, the literal next show has Vince going back to heel, Flair shows up and become a consortium and Austin stuns Vince and becomes a face again?

The only two highlights were the Austin/Angle comedy skits and Austin attacking the Alliance after Vince's speech to him on a Smackdown episode. The whole few months were easily the biggest blue balls in my entire wrestling fandom.

[cabbageboy]

The oddity of the Invasion is that the actual PPVs and wrestling were far better than if they had brought in the big names. Summerslam 2001 is one of the best SS PPVs of all time. Unforgiven and No Mercy had a lot of terrific stuff on them as well.

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

I was 12. I always thought when is Goldberg gonna appear?

Little did I know that ol Bill Goldberg was making more than 90% of the wwe roster by just staying at home because of his turner deal lol.

The whole storyline dissapointed me. I just never believe that the wcw guys, who most were midcarders or lower than that, were a real threat for the wwf talent.

DDP was part of a career killing angle with The Undertaker and Sarah. Buff Bagwell barely lasted two weeks in the company. I never believed in Booker T as a main eventer early on probably because he was wcw champion during the worst years of Nitro. Those were the most recognizable guys there.

The ecw contingent for the most part was jobbed out. Taz became Austin's weekly bitch. Dreamer was the Shawn Stasiak of the group getting his ass kicked in a minute every week. The Dudleys were more recognizable as wwe guys. RVD was the only one who managed to get over.

In conclussion, I guess the only things good about the whole invasion were RVD, Booker T, and Torrie Wilson with Stacy Keibler lol.