The WWE Invasion should have been the biggest money-making angle in professional wrestling history. However, everything started falling apart from the start, with the first night that WCW held a match on WWE Monday Night Raw becoming a disaster and WWE just using the angle to rub in the fact that they won the Monday Night War.
There were several problems behind the scenes, mostly because almost none of the WCW stars that fans loved showed up to take part in the angle and instead sat out their guaranteed contracts. There was no nWo, Hulk Hogan, Goldberg, or Sting. As a result, WWE used several of its regular talents, and the entire thing ended up dead and buried by the time the holiday season started.
10 Buff Bagwell Vs. Booker T
The Invasion's original plan was for WWE to be on one show and WCW to be on the other each week. That changed after one match. The first match that WCW held on Monday Night Raw was WCW World Champion Booker T against Buff Bagwell.
The pro-WWE crowd hated the match and booed both men. This match took place in Washington, but if WWE had waited one more week, Raw would take place in Atlanta, a WCW hotbed, and things might have been different if WWE had waited that one week.
9 Diamond Dallas Page Vs. Undertaker
Diamond Dallas Page was one of the most popular stars in WCW history. He was also the biggest homegrown talent outside of Bill Goldberg and put on great matches every time he stepped into the ring. When the Invasion started, WWE decided that DDP should be a heel, and he started stalking Undertaker's wife, Sara. This led to an Unsanctioned Match at King of the Ring 2001 that was nothing but the two men brawling and DDP running away. This wasn't the DDP that was so successful in WCW.
8 Brothers Of Destruction Vs. KroniK
KroniK was one of the best tag teams in WCW at the end of its lifespan. However, the tag team was green, and WCW protected them by putting them in a situation to succeed. They were building them slowly, knowing they could be a huge monster tag team. WWE did the exact opposite.
WWE put them into the main event feud with Undertaker and Kane, and KroniK never had a chance. This was unexpected since Undertaker and Brian Adams were friends and Undertaker wanted to help him. After the match, both men ended up de-pushed and eventually released.
7 Earl Hebner Vs. Nick Patrick
Matches between two referees are never good, and the fact that Earl Hebner was put in the ring to fight Nick Patrick was a mistake. This match took place at WWE Invasion 2001. WCW's Patrick was a perfect crooked referee, previously working as the nWo referee during that WCW angle. Patrick is also a second-generation star and a former wrestler. This was a terrible match, and Hebner won before Mick Foley put the Mandible Claw on Patrick.
6 Kurt Angle Vs. Booker T
Booker T was the biggest name in WCW when the Invasion angle started, and he was one of the only ones actually to get over during the angle. However, it was surprising that WWE had him constantly lose to WWE stars. Booker T gave his United States Championship to Chris Kanyon, and then he quickly lost his WCW World Championship to Kurt Angle. This was the first time that a WWE Superstar held the title, and it showed that WCW was on its way out, even with Booker T winning it back the next week.
5 Brothers Of Destruction Vs. DDP & Kanyon
The Brothers of Destruction fought KroniK, which marked the end of the former WCW Tag Team Champions. Undertaker and Diamond Dallas Page fought in a bad feud that went against everything DDP stood for in WCW. That all led to the big match between the Brothers of Destruction and DDP & Kanyon, who had also teamed in WCW. The two teams fought in a steel cage at SummerSlam for both the WCW and WWE Tag Team Titles, and Undertaker pinned DDP to win the gold.
4 The Rock Vs. Booker T And Shane McMahon
The Invasion angle should have been all about WWE vs. WCW, but that isn't what this was about at all. None of the big stars were there for WCW, with the main stars sitting at home getting paid by Time Warner. As a result, WWE decided to put the focus on the McMahon family.
Shane McMahon bought WCW and led the company into a war against Vince McMahon and WWE. Then Stephanie McMahon got involved by bringing in ECW. It was all about the McMahon family, and that led to Unforgiven, where The Rock beat Booker T and Shane McMahon in a handicap match. What is worse is that Rock pinned Booker while Shane was there to take the pin if needed.
3 Kurt Angle Vs. Steve Austin
The perfect example of a match showing why the Invasion angle failed is the Kurt Angle vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin match at Unforgiven 2001. This was a match where Angle represented WWE while Austin represented the Alliance, and things went off the rails.
Austin was the face of WWE in the Monday Night Wars, and now he was the face of WCW/ECW. Two WWE stars headlined the main event of a PPV where WWE and WCW fought. No matter how great the match was, this was a failure for the Invasion.
2 Immunity Battle Royal
The Invasion angle ended at Survivor Series 2001, and there was an Immunity Battle Royal that put all the members of the Alliance against members of WWE. The purpose of this was that either WWE or the Alliance would take over the company following this PPV, and this allowed one person who won to avoid getting fired for one full year. The match ended with Test winning, an Alliance member who never wrestled in either WCW or ECW.
1 Survivor Series 2001: WWF Vs. Alliance
The very last match in the Invasion angle was for control of WWE. This was a traditional Survivor Series match, with five WWE Superstars on one side and five Alliance competitors on the other side. The biggest problem with this match was that the Alliance side had one WCW wrestler in Booker T, one ECW veteran in Rob Van Dam, two WWE stars in Kurt Angle and Steve Austin, and Shane McMahon. Only one person from the initial Invasion was in the blowoff match for the angle.
10 Matches That Show Why The Invasion Angle Failed | TheSportster - TheSportster
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