The 2001 Invasion storyline, where second and third-tier WCW wrestlers invaded WWE before merging with an ECW faction to form The Alliance, started hot. Very hot. The Invasion PPV in July 2001 remains the highest-grossing non-WrestleMania card of all time with 770,000 buys. However, at November's Survivor Series the storyline went out with a whimper, with just 450,000 buys.
RELATED: 10 WWE Wrestlers You Forgot Were In WWE During The Invasion Storyline
It goes without saying that the WWE really managed to lose the audience's interest in the Invasion. What should have been a slam dunk angle became an infamous flop. So we take a look at ten things they could have done to save it.
10 More Paul Heyman
Paul Heyman had only been at the WWE for a brief time when the invasion began after Wrestlemania X-7. His viciously personal promo against Vince on the November 15th Smackdown! proved that in real life he was still smarting from his loss of ECW. WWE could and should have capitalized on this rather than dilute his perceived power by having Heyman play second fiddle to Stephanie McMahon. An invigorated Heyman with something to prove could have been the perfect foil to Vince's smug, boastful winner act.
9 Keep Stone Cold Babyface
Due to lack of star power among The Alliance's ranks, the decision was made to turn Stone Cold heel and join the fledgling faction. Coming so soon after his turn at 'Mania X-7, the about-face fell flat.
RELATED: 5 Reasons Why Stone Cold Made A Better Babyface (& 5 Why He Was Better As A Heel
Although Steve Austin did wrestle in WCW as 'Stunning Steve Austin,' WWE fans didn't associate Stone Cold with WCW. Austin would have been far more valuable as the company's flagship hero taking the fight to the dastardly interlopers. It would have also saved us years of hearing "WHAT?" at every live show since.
8 Don't Try To Relaunch WCW On Raw
Even with the cavernous logical plot hole of Vince allowing this match in the main event the July 2nd episode of Raw, this was the match that really killed WCW. WWE fans had spent years being told WCW talent were inferior. Sending poor Booker T out there to wrestle a WCW title match with Buff Bagwell to prove them wrong wasn't going to change their opinion. The match started poorly, was poorly received and never recovered until Stone Cold and Kurt Angle ruined the 'party' by crashing the ring and throwing the pair out of the building.
7 Leave The WCW Titles In WCW
Prior to the invasion, the WWE roster already had no fewer than 7 championships to feud over. Afterward, they had an extra 4 to compete for. This meant that for much of the summer you could expect to see 13 wrestlers carrying belts. The influx of championship gold despite only hiring a handful of new faces devalued all of the titles, making it even harder to create new stars.
6 Don't Bury DDP
The Alliance was low on established stars, with Booker T and DDP being the only WCW main eventers to be a part of the invasion. The pair (as well as the hopeless Buff Bagwell) even got bought out of their lucrative AOL Time Warner contracts so they could join WWE. So it is doubly disappointing how Dallas Page was treated. DDP began life in the WWE by stalking the Undertaker's wife Sara. He was rewarded with a one-sided pummeling at the hands of the Deadman at 2001's King of the Ring. The star power he earned in WCW vanished almost immediately and never made an impact in the WWE.
5 Forget About An Alliance
For years wrestling fans across the globe fantasized about WWE going to war with WCW. When it finally happened, this incredibly simple premise that should have made record amounts of cash was watered down to WWE Vs. 'The Alliance,' a mix of (supposedly) WCW and ECW stars.
RELATED: 5 Alliance members Who Succeeded In WWE After The Invasion (& 5 Who Flopped)
ECW could have waited a year or even more for their version of an invasion. Or they could have been a wildcard band of renegades on the fringes of the WWE/WCW war waiting to pick the bones. As it was, the casual audience was not interested in 'The Alliance,' as viewing figures and buyrates attest.
4 Make Vince Check His Ego
For a wrestling angle to work, there must be genuine concern that the heroes may lose to the villains. With the invasion angle, The Alliance rarely had the advantage over WWE and spent most of it being proven inferior week after week by McMahon's men. The upshot of this was that the outcome was a foregone conclusion and the fans tuned out. If Vince had set his ego aside and allowed WCW/ECW to look strong, the threat would have felt more real, More fans would have been willing to pay to see the climax.
3 Use WCW Wrestlers
This may seem pretty obvious, but the final battle between the two sides at Survivor Series featured only two wrestlers who weren't with WWE before the invasion. Only Booker T came straight from WCW, and The Rock and Steve Austin were the two final combatants. With better planning, and with Vince's ego in check, it should have been straightforward to have 5 actual WCW/ECW talent at the right level to compete with the 5 best from WWE.
2 Don't Make The Invasion The McMahon Show
ECW and Paul Heyman are synonymous. Ditto Nitro era WCW and Eric Bischoff. So why, oh why, did we end up with Shane McMahon as the owner of WCW and Stephanie McMahon as the owner of ECW?
RELATED: Shane McMahon: 5 Criticisms About Him That Make No Sense (And 5 That Do)
A far more compelling story would have been to see the 3 egos of the 3 driving forces behind their respective companies squaring off. This makes far more sense when we consider that we had just endured 2 straight years of McMahon family feuding prior to the invasion.
1 Fork Out For The Stars
When fans think of WCW, they think of Ric Flair, Sting, Hogan, Nash, Hall, Goldberg, and even Scott Steiner as the big dogs. Due to their having their contracts with AOL Time Warner and not WCW, they were free to simply sit at home and wait for the checks to roll in. WWE hired all of them eventually, but in 2001 didn't want to upset the pay structure by paying them WCW money. This decision almost certainly cost WWE millions, who wouldn't pay to see Eric Bischoff lead that list of names into battle with WWE?
