It seems like people think that if only guys debuted with better storylines that all the other misfortunes wouldn’t have happened. DDP was 45 when he debuted and less than a year later had a severe neck injury that essentially ended his career. At that age and the insane schedule of that time he was on borrowed time even if coming in with the greatest creative possible. His story sucked but it was unlikely for him to hold up long term with that schedule.
Come on now that would take some creative thinking and yk for the most part Vince post wcw’s legit demise had no motivation to have any real creative thinking
Nice idea but with Vince he wouldn't have wcw or ecw guys look superior to the wwe guys....even with sting NWO goldberg. Just look at stings debut match. "New guys" would normally win their debuts but not sting!
It was a huge letdown What was there to like about it? Now that the dust has settled and people are aware of what WWE did to wrestling I'm sure people hate the failed invasion angle even more.
The entire angle sucked on how it was even unraveling at the time. Everything had to revolved around the McMahon family again. Steve Austin and Kurt Angle both heavily prominent WWF stars were put into the Alliance, because it was just a horrible failure and could not be taken seriously. The Alliance was portrayed as if they were all insignificant. No wonder the fans could not buy how stupid it was.
ArmsDealArni this angle should have lasted 12-18 months easily, just so many different ways to go and all with so many layers, I actually get kinda pissed when I think about how it should have been...Cornette does an awesome job rebooking the invasion angle on one of his shoot videos
@@jeyDsixx18 Yeah. I've watched both his and Russo's invasion ideas. The problem with Cornette's is he focuses too much on Crockett-era wrestlers and Russo focuses too much on the nWo. Something in the middle would've been ideal. Cornette's has the better overall presentation, though.
I remember how confused and disappointed I was during the Invasion angle. I couldn’t understand why DDP was treated like a mid-card wrestler and there weren’t any other big WCW names.
I always hated how Vince just instantly turned heel once again after the Survivor Series show. The best thing to come out of it was Jericho becoming the egotistical maniac which led to the Undisputed Title victory.
Rando1975 Brad Armstrong got somewhere along the lines of $200k a year to basically do jobbing on Saturday Night tapings and Vincent was getting around $150k a year to just stand there on the ring while Hogan, Nash and Hall cut promos. Not to mention Lanny Poffo getting $100k a year to sit home and do nothing. They signed Warrior to a 1 year contract for $800k and after he put Hogan over they literally told him to go home and they paid him the contract telling him if they need him at all for the duration of the contract they’d call him otherwise they’ll continue paying him to do nothing.
I always felt like WWF should have booked two different angles out of this: a smaller separate ECW vs WWF angle from July to November that would've been a sampler of what was to come. And then a larger WWF vs WCW invasion angle, that would've kicked off with Flair coming out on Raw after Survivor Series. Had they waited until then, they could've potentially gotten a few more bigger names. Maybe even Sting. (Whenever Sting has told the story of watching SmackDown and hearing the Rock say to Booker T "Who in the blue hell are you?" it feels a bit short sighted on the Stinger's part as that wasn't necessarily a knock at WCW. It was just a Rock catchphrase of the time.) Hell, they could've even had the nWo (Hall, Nash, Hogan, Waltman, and Big Show) acting as Vince's private army to deal with WCW and have Rock, Austin, Taker, and HHH begin to lead the charge for WWF as a result of WWF wrestlers not trusting Vince for dealing with the New World Order. The way they did DDP was an insult. Just about any wrestling fan knew that DDP was married to Kimberly so for him to go after Taker's wife as some deranged stalker character and not just let him be WCW's People's Champion never made sense to me.
I would of had the whole Kliq either in the NWO DX or combined. Maybe they should of had a three way invasion storyline. While the wcw comes into the wwf, they bring over the NWO with them and they in partnership with there DX friends declare themselves independent from both the wcw and the wwf. Plus I would of brought in Bischoff to help sell it as either the leader or former leader of the NWO and now sides with WCW.
That would be good to watch. I am honestly tired of various bios of wrestlers we already know about. Not just from this channel, but sooooooooooooo many others. Bios is still a great channel, however there are so many wrestlers and officials out there that need some loving.
Didn't like how DDP was portrayed during this Invasion angle they made him seem creepy. Vince screwed the fans on that angle made me stop watching it for a while.
natewon been watching the business since a kid in the 80s but please, share your opinion on the business side of things if you don’t mind me asking, since you voiced your opinion.
Yeah it may have been relatively cheap to purchase but then you’re forgetting you’re buying 30+ wrestlers with a bunch of them on 6 figure contracts. Also if you’re a promoter and going to run WCW as a separate entity that would cost a ton of money and then you have to secure a TV deal. Vince was the only person that could realistically purchase it and actually do something with it. Otherwise you’d have to be a billionaire and sink a ton of money into getting it off the ground.
How doesn’t this guy have millions of views? These are all incredible to watch and way more entertaining then anything WWE has put out in years. I love reliving all these memories!!
This will forever go down as THE single biggest missed opportunity in wrestling. Something like this will never happen again and watching it all back is so painful because of this. Flair leading the charge, Sting being the hero and wild card of WcW, NwO playing both sides in an effort to take over both, Raven's Flock vs Undertaker, ECW coming in to turn the invasion into an absolute bloody war, former WCW and ECW guys jumping ship back to their former brand and going back to their old gimmicks, it was a once in a lifetime event and Vince flushed it. Truly the prelude for the state of WWE today.
DDP's lack of success early on was very much because of Undertaker, to an extent. It's been documented that Taker did not want to work with any of the WCW guys at all, as he didn't see the point in working with people who were part of a failed promotion; to him WCW lost, so why is Vince showcasing its talent on TV? It also didn't help that DDP was notorious for his Randy Savage-esque obsession for planning out every little detail for his matches, which only pissed off Taker all the more, so Taker used his sway to effectively bury DDP. It was a rare moment of selfish behavior from Mark Callaway, who normally put his ego aside for the sake of the business. DDP's only problem was that he was willing to do anything regardless of how it looked, since he just wanted to end his active career in the WWF, so maybe if he was put into a program with literally anyone else other than Taker then he would have come out of the Invasion much better.
R.I.P WCW. Even though I was always a WWE guy myself, Eric Bischoff kept Vince on his toes for a long while. Now Vince no longer has a motivated rival like Eric. Present day, now we are left with guys like Bray Wyatt cutting overly produced promos in doll houses.
I remember how happy I was when I saw they got Sean O'Haire, Mike Awesome, DDP, Kanyon, and Lance Storm.... and well you know how it went for each of them unfortunately 😥
What people won't tell you nowadays is that before WCW folded Sean O'haire, Chuck Palumbo, Mark Jindrak, Shawn Stasiak Lance Storm, Chris kanyon, and Mike Awesome were being pushed as future main event players in WCW had they not folded we could've seen them all as world champions minus Shawn Stasiak who I don't think should've been pushed as a main eventer. It's sad to know that nowadays we just see them as nothing more than mid carders and Jobbers in the invasion.
I remember being excited when all this started to go down, but it didn't take long for me to care less. Watching all this really shows how poorly Vince handled the whole invasion thing. It was sad to see some of these talented, lower card WCW guys get crapped on.
This is very quickly becoming my favorite channel on UA-cam as each video gets uploaded.. Your commitment to creating content on a constant basis is excellent & you deserve all the credit that comes your way man
The main event match always stands out for me & my friends as we watched it live. We worked out that the wrestlers were getting eliminated in the order that they came down the entrance ramp at the start of the match.
I love that you used the Harlem heat entrance music. Thank you for paying respect to them in that way. Best tag team in wcw and booker well....... he was a king 👑!!!!!!! Ice ice ice ,,,,, cold cold cold !!!!!
Could you do a video of sugar Shane helms/ Gregory helms/hurricane? I think it would be good to go through the transitions he had. Watching this made me remember the awesome fued he had with the rock...that alone would be a good video. Keep up the awesome work. Luv these!
Imagine the money that could have been made if the Invasion Storyline was booked once Ric Flair & the NWO joined? And have it end at Wrestlemania 18? Many possibilities on what could have happened.
Had WWF waited 1 year and slowly set up the WCW Invasion it really could've been spectacular. The Invasion if it had been done properly WWF could've doubled or trippled their proffits and you could've started it with Sting,Ric Flair,Goldberg,NWO, or DDP come out and break up a match, do a call back to when Scott Hall first jumped to WCW. That would've been awesome. Then keep setting up the angle. They could've then presented WCW as a separate brand, huge threat and made boatloads more of money.
Even back then, I didn't think that it was the greatest angle. I still took the time to enjoy it as a way to say goodbye to a company that I used to watch every week.
Vince definitely should have waited a year. In kayfabe, I honestly feel like it makes sense. WCW guys work for WWF for a year to understand the ins and outs and build their army to be able to successfully invade. Kinda like a destroy it from within. Obviously, WWF would still come out on top because of course it would, but I think that would've made the invasion that much better. I wish the 2K games would do What If scenarios, obviously, we can't get that in real life but why not create a showcase revolving around that? It's crazy that if Vince waited a year and treated the WCW guys better we might've had Sting make the jump since one of the big reasons he didn't sign with the WWF was because he didn't like how Booker T was treated and felt like WCW guys were going to be booked as lesser superstars which he ended up being right.
Never made sense to me that DDP with his insanely hot wife Kimberly would stalk Sara who had a horse face. And Angle's win at Unforgiven was mainly because the WWF wanted to have a feel good moment since that show was like two weeks after 9/11 hence why they booked Austin to regain the title 8 days later.
As a kid, I did enjoy the Invasion storyline. Looking back at it now, I think the few positives of the storyline isn't the booking for sure, but the emergence of RVD and Booker T in WWE ring, and the entertaining heel antics by Austin.
Awesome opening montage! Major props for the footage of DDP & Kanyon ( R.I.P. ), Test ( R.I.P. ), Sean O'Haire ( R.I.P. ) Lance Storm, Kurt Angle & Booker T in all their glory!! No other period in wwe proved more that if you weren't Vince's creation, you would be completely humiliated, even if you drew ratings. Austin's portrayed bullying of The Alliance was disgusting.
I think the Invasion angle also started earlier because Triple H and Chris Benoit both went out with long term injuries at about the same time. And the Rock was still away being the Scorpion King, so Vince may have felt his WWF roster was too depleted of star power to carry on getting the ratings he wanted.
I think if HHH and Benoit hadn't gotten hurt, Eddie hadn't been fired and Rock hadn't left to do a movie, Vince might have held off on the angle. The fact is the roster wasn't very deep by mid 2001 and he needed to do something to switch it up. It just happened to backfire.
They could have first done an ECW invasion that took about 6-8 months, the whole time teasing that 'something bigger is coming' then ECW stars integrate into WWF after about 8 months. Then boom! Ric Flair, Hogan, Nash, Goldberg, DDP, Booker, Scott Hall and Sting all come out at once...... I could see it being at the end of a royal rumble (to create absolute chaos for wrestle mania, who gets the title shot now!?), where all of WCW comes out and wrecks the last couple of guys in the ring, then Flair cuts a promo that causes Vince to come out with some guys, they get stomped and more WWF and (former) ECW guys come out, a giant brawl ensues, then all the former ECW guys turn on WWF and Heyman and Bischoff cut a promo "You think you can just OWN us!?" As WWF is just getting decimated, WWF fans are left terrified once they see the biggest stars of the company getting destroyed. We could have cameras cutting to brawls in the back of them jumping the biggest WWF stars, Goldberg and NWO going around and hunting them down. Vince could have literally revived the Attitude Era to deal with the invasion.Think about it: we could have had Cena and Brock come in as the new secret weapons of the WWF, this could have started an epic showdown of the next big thing in his prime vs a still very much over Goldberg. Bischoff tries to pull people like the Big Show and more, back to WCW with piles of cash. Rock vs DDP , Stone Cold vs Booker (because that was the best to come out of this anyway) Vince vs Flair, Shane vs Bischoff, Creepy Paul Heyman stalking Stephanie, The Brothers of Destruction and DX vs a repackaged NWO, Brock Vs Goldberg, Cena and / or Angle vs Stinger. The Hardys with Edge and Christian (re-unite the brood?) with APA, maybe even the Nation of Domination vs RVD, Rhino, the Dudleys and all of ECW, this would have been a good time for every single match to just be complete chaos. Almost every match ending in DQ's for interference, referees getting attacked, even Tony Schiavonne vs Michael Cole lol this could have literally formed into an 'era' and not just an 'angle' this could have been the 'Chaos era' So many rivalries could have worked. I think this story line could have stretched for years and years and made millions.
At the time watching this, it was the best thing ever! The hype every week was off the chain! However, after watching these reviews, I can see just how much better this whole angle could have been!!
I have said this for nearly 20 years... And you nailed it on the money with this two-parter. Vince McMahon should have waited til later in 2001 when Ric Flair came to the WWF or at the very least wait til Hall, Nash and Hogan came in at No Way Out 2002 to do a proper WCW vs. WWF angle that for many of us had wanted as far back as 1985/86. But, no... Vince did not allow that to come to fruition and as pointed out in part two pissed it away.
@@maxmeza4859 BS there is no evidence for that and what are you talking about? With the exception of Sting they all wound up going WWF anyways mere months after the angle wrapped up....
Actually if they waited till Fall of 2002, they could have even added Scott Steiner and Rey Mysterio. Goldberg made his debut after WM 2003, but I'm sure they could have had him in late 2002 if they wanted
Awesome content. This was a fun time to be a fan and the last time wrestling had any relevancy in pop culture. Vince and co. Did what they could but without those big wcw stars, this was what it was. They had to do something that summer cuz HHH got hurt and Rocky had taken his ball and went Hollywood.I think they made the most out of it. Austin had his last great year in 2001, some amazing matches too . Soon as those big wcw guys showed up in 2002 and 2003, things just weren't the same.
I didn’t see an issue with Vince wanting WCW to have its own show featuring crossover feuds. He should’ve bought out those Time Warner contracts... He would’ve made more that his money back.... Imagine: Goldberg vs Austin Sting vs The Rock Angle vs Brett Hart Savage vs HHH Undertaker vs Big Sexy Hogan vs Kane And in the 2nd tier you still would’ve had Booker T, Scott Steiner, DDP, Scott Hall, & Sid coming......Man, the possibilities.......
Fully agree was so gutted when DDP got cut out of WWE the guy was one of the shining lights of WCW along with Sting not coming over. Miss good ole days of WCW.
If Vince would've waited five more months.... Slick Ric as the head of WCW, with DDP as the leader, would've made the Alliance angle work. So many great promos, from two very good talkers (also including: Paul Heyman, and Eric Bischoff); versus Stone Cold, The Rock, Chris Jericho, and Undertaker.
I couldn't agree with what you said more! Also, your statement about DDP being the personification of what WCW was to many people.....spot on! I hated every bit of that angle and, although I'd quit watching wrestling a couple years before, was a WCW kid to the bone. I originally saw this as my ticket into getting back into being a fan...but WCW was done so wrong that it just wasn't possible for me.
imagine if this WCW and ECW invasion happen in 2002 instead. Stone cold and Triple H would had been healed and healthy, their were both injured during the invasion story line. that's why Stone Cold didn't wrestle much during that story line. And plus 2002- 2003 was the year of BROCK LESNAR. imagine Prime Brock Lesnar was in the Invasion Storyline.
Triple H uninjured and of course Vince waiting a year, the DX and NWO feud could have actually happened. Vince should have also brought back Randy Savage, the man who elevated DDP to reach the next level.
WWE were building towards Austin/Triple H at Summerslam with Triple H being a babyface but due to injury they basically put Kurt Angle in Triple H’s place, I’d imagine Triple H would have been first undisputed champion instead of Chris Jericho unfortunately too
Not just HHH, imagine Shawn Michaels who returned that same year after a 4 year absence amidst the Invasion angle. We could have easily had a DX vs nWo feud.
It made no sense for Kurt Angle to suddenly be on the alliance side by November when in the summer previously he tried to kill the Alliance leader Shane McMahon at King of the Ring during their street fight. I will say even though the Alliance angle blew chunks, the matches on PPVs, Raw, or Smackdown during this era were quality.
@@maxmeza4859 I'm not a kid son, I'm a grown ass man and I'm probably older then you are. Second they could have easily swapped out Angle with Chris Jericho since you know he actually was in both companies.
I think I loved the angle at the time because I was young and I had no idea who the stars of WCW were, so I had no idea that there were other 'big stars' that were absent... Austin was so underrated at this time. His mic skills and the way he portrayed his paranoia was unbelievable, even if he was booked a little bit too strong in comparison to his WCW teammates.
I was a big fan of wrestling during the 90s and throughout the whole attitude era but honestly the invasion storyline killed my interest in it. To this day, I haven't kept up with wrestling beyond that point. I rediscovered my love for it in recent years but I only go back and watch the old stuff, OSW review and videos like this. I'm sure I'm missing out on a lot but anything beyond 2002 is mostly a mystery to me lol.
People who had actual talent like DDP, Rhyno, and Raven weren’t utilized WWE Just took the biggest star from each company at the time and teamed them with WWE Wrestlers.
I quit watching wrestling from 95-97. Watched again from 97-2001( the best time ever) then quit from 2001 until 2014. They wasted the invasion. Imagine the Rock vs Hogan. Stone Cold vs Flair. The outsiders vs the brothers of destruction. HHH vs DDP or any combination.
I did hate that Austin had a double heel turn, I always though they should had Austin stay face with the WWF as fans were so happy he had turned and it could've washed the stink of his heel run sooner. It didn't make much sense for him to side with the alliance, I think that is should've been Angle straight away who screwed them instead of that mole storyline. Austin randomly turning face the night after Survivor Series with no explanation was awkward at best
Booker t really got buried until the king Booker angle. I guess like, not really buried right? He lost to top guys like HHH, Austin, angle and the undertaker. It could be worse right? He could be losing to some no names while not even getting an entrance early on the card. Somebody's gotta lose right?
Ugh this timepoint in wrestling was so sad for me. I remember when Austin hugged Vince a huge love of wrestling died for me for a long while. I tried to watch for like 6 months after but I eventually had to quit for a few years.
DDP deserved so much better than this. He could have been an a-lister for years and years. Vince did him dirty.
Vinny Mac did EVERYONE dirty
Yea that whole stalker angle was just stupid
I personally loved DDP he was a great wrestler and should've been used in a different way
Not really,
@@boogidwnej179 Yes really
It seems like people think that if only guys debuted with better storylines that all the other misfortunes wouldn’t have happened. DDP was 45 when he debuted and less than a year later had a severe neck injury that essentially ended his career. At that age and the insane schedule of that time he was on borrowed time even if coming in with the greatest creative possible. His story sucked but it was unlikely for him to hold up long term with that schedule.
They should have done an ECW invasion in 2001 and then do the WCW invasion in 2002 with all the top stars
ya that would made sense but Vince i think was so spiteful and short sited , shocking :P
Come on now that would take some creative thinking and yk for the most part Vince post wcw’s legit demise had no motivation to have any real creative thinking
Theres an idea
One of Vince’s biggest problems for the past 20-ish years has been his compulsion to hot-shot every big angle and storyline.
Nice idea but with Vince he wouldn't have wcw or ecw guys look superior to the wwe guys....even with sting NWO goldberg. Just look at stings debut match. "New guys" would normally win their debuts but not sting!
Growing up I remember loving the invasion storyline, I didn't even realized people didn't like it until a few years ago lol
Absolutely same lolz
Same lol I was like 5 so pretty much anything entertained me
Same. I was 9 and it was the most riveting, edge of your seat television lol
It was a huge letdown
What was there to like about it?
Now that the dust has settled and people are aware of what WWE did to wrestling I'm sure people hate the failed invasion angle even more.
If you didn't follow WCW when it was in its prime, you are excused for not hating the angle.
i said this last time but i do think Raven should have been Sara's Stalker and not DDP
Raven vs Undertaker would have been a better feud.
And Undertaker Reemerges As The Original Deadman And Tombstones Raven
🔥🔥
that would been epic
That would've been a waaay batter fit.
Crazy to think how much money the WWE lost out on by not doing this storyline properly
The entire angle sucked on how it was even unraveling at the time. Everything had to revolved around the McMahon family again. Steve Austin and Kurt Angle both heavily prominent WWF stars were put into the Alliance, because it was just a horrible failure and could not be taken seriously. The Alliance was portrayed as if they were all insignificant. No wonder the fans could not buy how stupid it was.
Nah, they'd already lost it by investing in the XFL 😉
ArmsDealArni this angle should have lasted 12-18 months easily, just so many different ways to go and all with so many layers, I actually get kinda pissed when I think about how it should have been...Cornette does an awesome job rebooking the invasion angle on one of his shoot videos
@@jeyDsixx18 Yeah. I've watched both his and Russo's invasion ideas. The problem with Cornette's is he focuses too much on Crockett-era wrestlers and Russo focuses too much on the nWo. Something in the middle would've been ideal. Cornette's has the better overall presentation, though.
The only thing McMahon values more than money is embarrassing his employees on television.
The night after Survivor Series on Raw when Ric Flair showed up could've been the start of the Invasion if Vince had waited.
Tell this day it's still pisses me off
@@kennethflaglerjr3843 ikr me too
That's pretty much what he said in the video
It could've been only the second act if it was booked right. They could've stretched it WMXIX.
ECW could've been the first wave of the invasion and then when Flair came into the pic WCW could've attacked
I remember how confused and disappointed I was during the Invasion angle. I couldn’t understand why DDP was treated like a mid-card wrestler and there weren’t any other big WCW names.
Gunit
He was older and past his prime.
DDP should’ve been pushed as a Bigger Star.
I always hated how Vince just instantly turned heel once again after the Survivor Series show. The best thing to come out of it was Jericho becoming the egotistical maniac which led to the Undisputed Title victory.
Vince bein heel made it more entertaining
@Ruthless Attitude Entertainment Yeah, I agree.
😂😂😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣🤣
@The Heel PG era fanboy
You can give Jericho a slinky and a half eaten Turkey sandwich and he will create gold
Vince's ego is bigger than any time warner contract
I mean his company won what did you expect to happen ? If WCW won the wwe guys would of suffered the same fate
@@_meangreenjersey973 if they can't let bygones be bygones, then something is wrong with them.
Booker T, DDP and RVD should’ve been the faces of the invasion, the matches against Stone Cold, Angle and The Rock would have sold so many tickets
Spot on about DDP. Man, he could have been THE guy.
He was 45 to old
@@kingofdetroit358 so was Flair and NWO. I don't think it was so much about performance either it was also their notierity that was key.
Well, he did agree to look like a chump.
Problem was WCW had already buried him before against Kanyon and Scott Steiner and degrading him to just be Nash's sidekick.
To this day I have no idea why or how we got DDP vs Undertaker, and not the Rock.
Peoples Champ vs Peoples Champ. Its books itself
DDP has stated in interviews that a people's champ vs people's champ match program against the Rock, is exactly what he wanted to do.
because the rock already had his mirror in booker t. token black guy vs token black guy.
DDP said he went to Vince and others like producers in back for the match Vince shot it down that fool
Because Page didn't know to say no and walk away.
Vince forgot the 7 p's. Perfect Preparation and Planning, Prevents a Piss Poor Performance.
Don't forget patience.
Peter piper picked a peck of pickled peppers por favor
@@xtn5378 perfect preparation, planning and patience prevents piss poor performance :)
My god Roddy Piper was being paid 700k in 1999... no wonder wcw went under
I thought I heard recently that some of the Nitro Girls were getting 100k a year. It's mind blowing how much money they were spending.
Rando1975 Brad Armstrong got somewhere along the lines of $200k a year to basically do jobbing on Saturday Night tapings and Vincent was getting around $150k a year to just stand there on the ring while Hogan, Nash and Hall cut promos. Not to mention Lanny Poffo getting $100k a year to sit home and do nothing. They signed Warrior to a 1 year contract for $800k and after he put Hogan over they literally told him to go home and they paid him the contract telling him if they need him at all for the duration of the contract they’d call him otherwise they’ll continue paying him to do nothing.
@@murraysaucedo897 WCW KILLED WCW!😲
I always felt like WWF should have booked two different angles out of this: a smaller separate ECW vs WWF angle from July to November that would've been a sampler of what was to come. And then a larger WWF vs WCW invasion angle, that would've kicked off with Flair coming out on Raw after Survivor Series.
Had they waited until then, they could've potentially gotten a few more bigger names. Maybe even Sting. (Whenever Sting has told the story of watching SmackDown and hearing the Rock say to Booker T "Who in the blue hell are you?" it feels a bit short sighted on the Stinger's part as that wasn't necessarily a knock at WCW. It was just a Rock catchphrase of the time.) Hell, they could've even had the nWo (Hall, Nash, Hogan, Waltman, and Big Show) acting as Vince's private army to deal with WCW and have Rock, Austin, Taker, and HHH begin to lead the charge for WWF as a result of WWF wrestlers not trusting Vince for dealing with the New World Order.
The way they did DDP was an insult. Just about any wrestling fan knew that DDP was married to Kimberly so for him to go after Taker's wife as some deranged stalker character and not just let him be WCW's People's Champion never made sense to me.
I could get behind this idea. Two smaller storylines and then putting them together in the end.
That’s a great idea,
Bruce Prichard is at fault for the Stalker Gimmick.
Facts. DDP deserved better
I would of had the whole Kliq either in the NWO DX or combined. Maybe they should of had a three way invasion storyline. While the wcw comes into the wwf, they bring over the NWO with them and they in partnership with there DX friends declare themselves independent from both the wcw and the wwf. Plus I would of brought in Bischoff to help sell it as either the leader or former leader of the NWO and now sides with WCW.
This retrospective was much better than the actual Invasion itself. Bravo as usual brother. I would still love to see a Kevin Sullivan biovideo
That would be good to watch.
I am honestly tired of various bios of wrestlers we already know about. Not just from this channel, but sooooooooooooo many others.
Bios is still a great channel, however there are so many wrestlers and officials out there that need some loving.
Didn't like how DDP was portrayed during this Invasion angle they made him seem creepy. Vince screwed the fans on that angle made me stop watching it for a while.
I didn't like it either. That was terrible.
People's champ vs the people's champion.
DDP got to WWF before the invasion of WCW & ECW was even thought of!🤔
Same Tommy dreamer. Made in to guy screeming all time and had worse entrance music
Lier. Back door sluts 9 is the best A team
What a waste of a great opportunity. Vince couldn’t wait to truly belittle the WCW and their talent.
natewon been watching the business since a kid in the 80s but please, share your opinion on the business side of things if you don’t mind me asking, since you voiced your opinion.
Jehrico has said on record if he knew at the time what Vince paid for it he would have bought wcw. Bc he got it dirt cheep
Yup. I think it was only around $2M.
Like a mill or two. Next to nothing compared to what it was worth in 96. But still too much for what it was worth at the time without air time.
Yeah it may have been relatively cheap to purchase but then you’re forgetting you’re buying 30+ wrestlers with a bunch of them on 6 figure contracts. Also if you’re a promoter and going to run WCW as a separate entity that would cost a ton of money and then you have to secure a TV deal. Vince was the only person that could realistically purchase it and actually do something with it. Otherwise you’d have to be a billionaire and sink a ton of money into getting it off the ground.
Alex S and you also got the entire WCW library of matches
How doesn’t this guy have millions of views? These are all incredible to watch and way more entertaining then anything WWE has put out in years. I love reliving all these memories!!
I initially loved the invasion storyline until wwf stars started going to the alliance. It watered the whole storyline down a lot
It would have been okay if used sparingly. Like Stone Cold turning was a big deal. It happened too often though.
I'm a bit sad you didn't at least mention the greatest moment of the Alliance storyline: MILKOMANIA IS RUNNING WILD!
This will forever go down as THE single biggest missed opportunity in wrestling. Something like this will never happen again and watching it all back is so painful because of this. Flair leading the charge, Sting being the hero and wild card of WcW, NwO playing both sides in an effort to take over both, Raven's Flock vs Undertaker, ECW coming in to turn the invasion into an absolute bloody war, former WCW and ECW guys jumping ship back to their former brand and going back to their old gimmicks, it was a once in a lifetime event and Vince flushed it. Truly the prelude for the state of WWE today.
In my opinion Kirk Angle versus Stone Cold Steve Austin at Summerslam 2001, is one of the most underrated matches in history.
That was a brillant match
Best ever match that ended in DQ. One of my top 10 WWF PPV matches, easily.
Fantastic match
DDP's lack of success early on was very much because of Undertaker, to an extent. It's been documented that Taker did not want to work with any of the WCW guys at all, as he didn't see the point in working with people who were part of a failed promotion; to him WCW lost, so why is Vince showcasing its talent on TV? It also didn't help that DDP was notorious for his Randy Savage-esque obsession for planning out every little detail for his matches, which only pissed off Taker all the more, so Taker used his sway to effectively bury DDP. It was a rare moment of selfish behavior from Mark Callaway, who normally put his ego aside for the sake of the business. DDP's only problem was that he was willing to do anything regardless of how it looked, since he just wanted to end his active career in the WWF, so maybe if he was put into a program with literally anyone else other than Taker then he would have come out of the Invasion much better.
R.I.P WCW. Even though I was always a WWE guy myself, Eric Bischoff kept Vince on his toes for a long while. Now Vince no longer has a motivated rival like Eric. Present day, now we are left with guys like Bray Wyatt cutting overly produced promos in doll houses.
Oh man, so TRUE!! Current WWE sucks coz there's no real competition!
Bray wyatt was old school WWF vibes as well as AJ Styles, Ronda, and Charlotte and a few others.
Lmao fired
13:44 that was Vince giving Jericho the belt WCW wouldn’t even let him compete for when he was working for them.
Well one thing that's been proven time and time again over the years, if it's not a WWF/E Vince McMahon creation, Vince is not going to push it.
McMahon blew his chances with WCW.
I remember how happy I was when I saw they got Sean O'Haire, Mike Awesome, DDP, Kanyon, and Lance Storm.... and well you know how it went for each of them unfortunately 😥
What people won't tell you nowadays is that before WCW folded Sean O'haire, Chuck Palumbo, Mark Jindrak, Shawn Stasiak Lance Storm, Chris kanyon, and Mike Awesome were being pushed as future main event players in WCW had they not folded we could've seen them all as world champions minus Shawn Stasiak who I don't think should've been pushed as a main eventer. It's sad to know that nowadays we just see them as nothing more than mid carders and Jobbers in the invasion.
I remember being excited when all this started to go down, but it didn't take long for me to care less. Watching all this really shows how poorly Vince handled the whole invasion thing. It was sad to see some of these talented, lower card WCW guys get crapped on.
This is very quickly becoming my favorite channel on UA-cam as each video gets uploaded.. Your commitment to creating content on a constant basis is excellent & you deserve all the credit that comes your way man
The main event match always stands out for me & my friends as we watched it live. We worked out that the wrestlers were getting eliminated in the order that they came down the entrance ramp at the start of the match.
That was a sick intro with the remix to booker t’s theme very innovative I absolutely love it 😊 😊😊
THANKS 4 part 2 , GUDD TIMING BROTHA!!!
dude thank you so much for your videos.. it's so awesome reliving rasslin with you.. cold beer has been opened..
It's also sad how no ECW championship was ever held on the line.
Would've been interesting but it would've been all week guys holding the top belts form 3 companies
I heard they were still fighting to own all of ECW still, but they didn't have it all until 2003. That the reason they did have their titles also.
They probably would've put it on Stephanie anyway.
I love that you used the Harlem heat entrance music. Thank you for paying respect to them in that way. Best tag team in wcw and booker well....... he was a king 👑!!!!!!! Ice ice ice ,,,,, cold cold cold !!!!!
Could you do a video of sugar Shane helms/ Gregory helms/hurricane? I think it would be good to go through the transitions he had. Watching this made me remember the awesome fued he had with the rock...that alone would be a good video. Keep up the awesome work. Luv these!
Imagine the money that could have been made if the Invasion Storyline was booked once Ric Flair & the NWO joined? And have it end at Wrestlemania 18? Many possibilities on what could have happened.
What If Goldberg Came After Survivor Series Attack Kane Rock Austin
Had WWF waited 1 year and slowly set up the WCW Invasion it really could've been spectacular. The Invasion if it had been done properly WWF could've doubled or trippled their proffits and you could've started it with Sting,Ric Flair,Goldberg,NWO, or DDP come out and break up a match, do a call back to when Scott Hall first jumped to WCW. That would've been awesome. Then keep setting up the angle. They could've then presented WCW as a separate brand, huge threat and made boatloads more of money.
Even back then, I didn't think that it was the greatest angle. I still took the time to enjoy it as a way to say goodbye to a company that I used to watch every week.
The invasion was a complete failure. Such a shame! I remember before the buyout, that this would have been a massive dream!
I m really in addiction with this series... Thank you for the good work!
Vince definitely should have waited a year. In kayfabe, I honestly feel like it makes sense. WCW guys work for WWF for a year to understand the ins and outs and build their army to be able to successfully invade. Kinda like a destroy it from within. Obviously, WWF would still come out on top because of course it would, but I think that would've made the invasion that much better. I wish the 2K games would do What If scenarios, obviously, we can't get that in real life but why not create a showcase revolving around that?
It's crazy that if Vince waited a year and treated the WCW guys better we might've had Sting make the jump since one of the big reasons he didn't sign with the WWF was because he didn't like how Booker T was treated and felt like WCW guys were going to be booked as lesser superstars which he ended up being right.
Never made sense to me that DDP with his insanely hot wife Kimberly would stalk Sara who had a horse face.
And Angle's win at Unforgiven was mainly because the WWF wanted to have a feel good moment since that show was like two weeks after 9/11 hence why they booked Austin to regain the title 8 days later.
As a kid, I did enjoy the Invasion storyline. Looking back at it now, I think the few positives of the storyline isn't the booking for sure, but the emergence of RVD and Booker T in WWE ring, and the entertaining heel antics by Austin.
Rebooking the InVasion would be a great video series
I'm a big fan of your videos and on how you present them, good work mate.
The WWF Superstars vs The Stars of WCW I don’t know how many times I heard that line during the Invasion Angle but that sums it up perfect!!
I've been watching this channel for a while now and I respect the he'll out of it reliving childhood moments
Awesome opening montage! Major props for the footage of DDP & Kanyon ( R.I.P. ), Test ( R.I.P. ), Sean O'Haire ( R.I.P. ) Lance Storm, Kurt Angle & Booker T in all their glory!! No other period in wwe proved more that if you weren't Vince's creation, you would be completely humiliated, even if you drew ratings. Austin's portrayed bullying of The Alliance was disgusting.
I gotta say, I love the invasion WCW logo.
This two part series was better than the entire Invasion storyline itself, amazing work @wrestlingbios
1:35 - waiting over a year to do the Invasion wouldn't have worked
Even with the bigger names, the angle would've lost all its momentum/heat
I think the Invasion angle also started earlier because Triple H and Chris Benoit both went out with long term injuries at about the same time. And the Rock was still away being the Scorpion King, so Vince may have felt his WWF roster was too depleted of star power to carry on getting the ratings he wanted.
I didn’t even know Angle was WCW champion, damn that’s a short reign
I think if HHH and Benoit hadn't gotten hurt, Eddie hadn't been fired and Rock hadn't left to do a movie, Vince might have held off on the angle. The fact is the roster wasn't very deep by mid 2001 and he needed to do something to switch it up. It just happened to backfire.
Another great piece, bro. These are great for New Comers
Been anticipating for this one to pop up always got 2 watch my fav channel soon as vid is out lol 😎🤘🙏
Thanks for doing this.
The InVasion and Survivor Series PPVs were the only bright spots of this whole thing!
The opening was sick!! 🔥🔥 booker t should use dat lol
They could have first done an ECW invasion that took about 6-8 months, the whole time teasing that 'something bigger is coming' then ECW stars integrate into WWF after about 8 months. Then boom! Ric Flair, Hogan, Nash, Goldberg, DDP, Booker, Scott Hall and Sting all come out at once...... I could see it being at the end of a royal rumble (to create absolute chaos for wrestle mania, who gets the title shot now!?), where all of WCW comes out and wrecks the last couple of guys in the ring, then Flair cuts a promo that causes Vince to come out with some guys, they get stomped and more WWF and (former) ECW guys come out, a giant brawl ensues, then all the former ECW guys turn on WWF and Heyman and Bischoff cut a promo "You think you can just OWN us!?"
As WWF is just getting decimated, WWF fans are left terrified once they see the biggest stars of the company getting destroyed. We could have cameras cutting to brawls in the back of them jumping the biggest WWF stars, Goldberg and NWO going around and hunting them down. Vince could have literally revived the Attitude Era to deal with the invasion.Think about it: we could have had Cena and Brock come in as the new secret weapons of the WWF, this could have started an epic showdown of the next big thing in his prime vs a still very much over Goldberg.
Bischoff tries to pull people like the Big Show and more, back to WCW with piles of cash.
Rock vs DDP , Stone Cold vs Booker (because that was the best to come out of this anyway) Vince vs Flair, Shane vs Bischoff, Creepy Paul Heyman stalking Stephanie, The Brothers of Destruction and DX vs a repackaged NWO, Brock Vs Goldberg, Cena and / or Angle vs Stinger. The Hardys with Edge and Christian (re-unite the brood?) with APA, maybe even the Nation of Domination vs RVD, Rhino, the Dudleys and all of ECW, this would have been a good time for every single match to just be complete chaos.
Almost every match ending in DQ's for interference, referees getting attacked, even Tony Schiavonne vs Michael Cole lol this could have literally formed into an 'era' and not just an 'angle' this could have been the 'Chaos era'
So many rivalries could have worked. I think this story line could have stretched for years and years and made millions.
Becoming one of my favorite wrestling channel real quick👍
The comedy gold of Austin and Rock was funny in this arc.
From this time period, I liked Rhyno, Tajiri, and heel Booker T.
You missed a lot of points here, like Angle’s massive face turn and his battles with Austin.
At the time watching this, it was the best thing ever! The hype every week was off the chain! However, after watching these reviews, I can see just how much better this whole angle could have been!!
I have said this for nearly 20 years... And you nailed it on the money with this two-parter. Vince McMahon should have waited til later in 2001 when Ric Flair came to the WWF or at the very least wait til Hall, Nash and Hogan came in at No Way Out 2002 to do a proper WCW vs. WWF angle that for many of us had wanted as far back as 1985/86. But, no... Vince did not allow that to come to fruition and as pointed out in part two pissed it away.
nope because they wouldve lost momentum waiting. and those WCW stars didnt wanna come over.
@@maxmeza4859 BS there is no evidence for that and what are you talking about? With the exception of Sting they all wound up going WWF anyways mere months after the angle wrapped up....
Booker was coming to his own as a main eventer at the end of WCW. He’d been a singles guy since early 1997 working the mid card.
He said " main eventer" which means higher than mid card.
Yeah, his rivalry with Scott Steiner as the company was falling apart was one of their only highlights.
Yep. Vince shoulda waited. He needed to look at it through the eyes of a wrestling fan. Instead he looked at the bottom line.
Unfortunately he missed the bottom line. He would have made so much more money if had been patient
great work man and loving reliving the war your on fire man keep up the good work
Actually if they waited till Fall of 2002, they could have even added Scott Steiner and Rey Mysterio. Goldberg made his debut after WM 2003, but I'm sure they could have had him in late 2002 if they wanted
Awesome content. This was a fun time to be a fan and the last time wrestling had any relevancy in pop culture. Vince and co. Did what they could but without those big wcw stars, this was what it was. They had to do something that summer cuz HHH got hurt and Rocky had taken his ball and went Hollywood.I think they made the most out of it. Austin had his last great year in 2001, some amazing matches too . Soon as those big wcw guys showed up in 2002 and 2003, things just weren't the same.
I didn’t see an issue with Vince wanting WCW to have its own show featuring crossover feuds. He should’ve bought out those Time Warner contracts... He would’ve made more that his money back....
Imagine:
Goldberg vs Austin
Sting vs The Rock
Angle vs Brett Hart
Savage vs HHH
Undertaker vs Big Sexy
Hogan vs Kane
And in the 2nd tier you still would’ve had Booker T, Scott Steiner, DDP, Scott Hall, & Sid coming......Man, the possibilities.......
Fully agree was so gutted when DDP got cut out of WWE the guy was one of the shining lights of WCW along with Sting not coming over. Miss good ole days of WCW.
love your videos , not watched wresteling in years but all your videos take me back to my childhood wen i was wwf madddd
If Vince would've waited five more months....
Slick Ric as the head of WCW, with DDP as the leader, would've made the Alliance angle work.
So many great promos, from two very good talkers (also including: Paul Heyman, and Eric Bischoff);
versus Stone Cold, The Rock, Chris Jericho, and Undertaker.
DDP was in his mid 50's . old and injury prone..youre a joke
Can you please do a video on the McMahon Helmsley Faction???!!! Thanks! Love the channel
I couldn't agree with what you said more! Also, your statement about DDP being the personification of what WCW was to many people.....spot on! I hated every bit of that angle and, although I'd quit watching wrestling a couple years before, was a WCW kid to the bone. I originally saw this as my ticket into getting back into being a fan...but WCW was done so wrong that it just wasn't possible for me.
Jamie Noble is one of the WCW players that people forget had a great run with Nidia and the cruiserweight title.
Your channel is great man! Love it!
1 of thee best wrestling channels easy 💪🏾💪🏾
Imagine DDP as a Cult like leader of WCW
Evil motivational speaker, I love it.
To Imagine If Triple H Never Tore His Quad In June 2001 who would he side with WWF Or The Alliance
imagine if this WCW and ECW invasion happen in 2002 instead. Stone cold and Triple H would had been healed and healthy, their were both injured during the invasion story line. that's why Stone Cold didn't wrestle much during that story line. And plus 2002- 2003 was the year of BROCK LESNAR. imagine Prime Brock Lesnar was in the Invasion Storyline.
Triple H uninjured and of course Vince waiting a year, the DX and NWO feud could have actually happened.
Vince should have also brought back Randy Savage, the man who elevated DDP to reach the next level.
Triple H for sure would joined the Aliiance with him being a legendary heel
WWE were building towards Austin/Triple H at Summerslam with Triple H being a babyface but due to injury they basically put Kurt Angle in Triple H’s place, I’d imagine Triple H would have been first undisputed champion instead of Chris Jericho unfortunately too
Not just HHH, imagine Shawn Michaels who returned that same year after a 4 year absence amidst the Invasion angle. We could have easily had a DX vs nWo feud.
It made no sense for Kurt Angle to suddenly be on the alliance side by November when in the summer previously he tried to kill the Alliance leader Shane McMahon at King of the Ring during their street fight.
I will say even though the Alliance angle blew chunks, the matches on PPVs, Raw, or Smackdown during this era were quality.
Angle joined the alliance to make sure they lose at Survivor Series,kid
@@maxmeza4859 I'm not a kid son, I'm a grown ass man and I'm probably older then you are. Second they could have easily swapped out Angle with Chris Jericho since you know he actually was in both companies.
@@meteornome2556 Doesnt matter who they "swapped". Point is, they did that just to make sure the Alliance lost
I think I loved the angle at the time because I was young and I had no idea who the stars of WCW were, so I had no idea that there were other 'big stars' that were absent...
Austin was so underrated at this time. His mic skills and the way he portrayed his paranoia was unbelievable, even if he was booked a little bit too strong in comparison to his WCW teammates.
I was a big fan of wrestling during the 90s and throughout the whole attitude era but honestly the invasion storyline killed my interest in it. To this day, I haven't kept up with wrestling beyond that point. I rediscovered my love for it in recent years but I only go back and watch the old stuff, OSW review and videos like this. I'm sure I'm missing out on a lot but anything beyond 2002 is mostly a mystery to me lol.
People who had actual talent like DDP, Rhyno, and Raven weren’t utilized WWE Just took the biggest star from each company at the time and teamed them with WWE Wrestlers.
You make some great points. The Invasion was supposed to be so much better
I quit watching wrestling from 95-97. Watched again from 97-2001( the best time ever) then quit from 2001 until 2014. They wasted the invasion. Imagine the Rock vs Hogan. Stone Cold vs Flair. The outsiders vs the brothers of destruction. HHH vs DDP or any combination.
I did hate that Austin had a double heel turn, I always though they should had Austin stay face with the WWF as fans were so happy he had turned and it could've washed the stink of his heel run sooner. It didn't make much sense for him to side with the alliance, I think that is should've been Angle straight away who screwed them instead of that mole storyline. Austin randomly turning face the night after Survivor Series with no explanation was awkward at best
DDP stalking the undertaker's wife was the dumbest thing they could have done, I mean look at DDPs wife at the time
DDP looked like a chump. That was a stupid story arc.
Was I only one that noticed Dennis Rodman had a contract in WCW.
I agree with what you said where noone won. Your absolutely right.
RVD was basically the only one to make out good, and even then it took them forever to recognize how good he really was.
Don't forget that the What chant was born during the Invasion storyline
I remember Kurt Angle winning that championship. It was so exciting seeing his family and the rest of the locker room come out to celebrate with him.
Booker t really got buried until the king Booker angle.
I guess like, not really buried right? He lost to top guys like HHH, Austin, angle and the undertaker. It could be worse right? He could be losing to some no names while not even getting an entrance early on the card. Somebody's gotta lose right?
I started watching during the invasion and really liked test. It’s nice to look back and realize what a big push he got out of it
Ugh this timepoint in wrestling was so sad for me. I remember when Austin hugged Vince a huge love of wrestling died for me for a long while. I tried to watch for like 6 months after but I eventually had to quit for a few years.