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Invasion 2001....Could it have paid off?


Smack2k

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I would include Sting in that, maybe even more than Goldberg. While Booker, DDP and Scott Steiner were all main eventers at some point in WCW, Flair and Sting were the backbone of WCW forever and Goldberg was the hottest act they created during the Nitro era.

 

I'd say Sting over Flair myself. Flair had been in the WWF for two years a decade earlier, his presence wasn't so shocking compared to what Sting would have been back in 2001. And Goldberg really was a HUGE deal at the time. Remember the promo Vince did "the night he bought WCW"? The fans organically started chanting Goldberg - he really was to WCW what Austin was to WWF in the late 90's.

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Lets say Flair, Goldberg, Steiner and Nash are all part of the equation for the Invasion. The Invasion PPV doesn't happen, instead

at Summerslam (retitled Summerslam: The Invasion) an 8 on 8 elimination match, with the winner (WCW) gaining control of the following PPV (like Souled Out).

 

Team WWF

 

Steve Austin (WWF Champion)

The Rock

Kurt Angle

Chris Jericho

The Undertaker

Kane

The Big Show

Vince McMahon (WWF Owner)

 

Team WCW

 

Booker T (WCW Champion)

Goldberg

Ric Flair

Kevin Nash

Scott Steiner

Diamond Dallas Page

Lance Storm

Shane McMahon (WCW "Owner")

 

***

 

Goldberg is as unstoppable, plowing through everybody on the WWF team:

 

Elimination 1: The Big Show by Goldberg (8-7 Team WCW) - Spear, pinfall

Elimination 2: Kane by Goldberg (8-6 Team WCW) - Jackhammer, pinfall

Elimination 3: Lance Storm by Chris Jericho (6-7 Team WWF) - Lionsault, pinfall

Elimination 4: DDP by The Undertaker (6-6 Team WWF) - Last Ride, pinfall

Elimination 5: Vince McMahon by Ric Flair (6-5 Team WCW) - Low Blow and rollup

 

Goldberg is running wild at this point, surviving finishers and all kinds of shit until Undertaker clobbers him repeatedly with a steel chair and puts him through a table (this way you are preserving Goldberg's mystique whilst giving him a way out of the match and setting up a big time singles match for the next PPV between him and Taker)

 

Elimination 6: Undertaker by DQ (6-4 Team WCW) - following the assault on Goldberg

Elimination 7: Goldberg by Countout (4-5 Team WWF) - doesn't beat the count

Elimination 8: Scott Steiner by The Rock (4-4 Team WWF) - Rock Bottom Pinfall

Elimination 9: Kurt Angle by Shane McMahon(4-3 Team WCW) - a cheap pinfall victory following a Bookend from Booker T

Elimination 10: Shane McMahon by Kurt Angle (3-3 Team WWF) - Ankle Lock, Submission

Elimination 11: Kevin Nash by Steve Austin (3-2 Team WWF) - Stunner, pinfall

Elimination 12: Chris Jericho by Booker T (2-2 Team WCW) - Bookend, pinfall

 

It then boils down to Steve Austin and The Rock vs Booker T and Ric Flair. Booker T eliminates The Rock following some heelish tactics by Flair with an Axe Kick, does the spinnarooni, but turns around directly into a Stunner. Flair tries to capitalise following a low blow on Austin, ref takes a bump, but then Flair but eventually gets a Stunner for his troubles and falls out of the ring in a manner that only Flair can. Austin, sensing victory goes to retrieve him, only for the lights to go out. The lights come back on and STING is standing in the middle of the ring with a baseball bat. He clobbers Austin and places Flair over Austin. The referee comes around and counts 1-2-3.

 

***

 

Fanboyish? Perhaps, but then you can have the following PPV look something like this:

 

Sting and Ric Flair vs. Steve Austin and The Rock (the idea here is that two sets of mortal enemies are teaming up against the other - it's just asking for betrayal. For even more jeopardy, Austin's title is on the line.)

WCW Championship: Booker T vs. Kurt Angle

Goldberg vs. The Undertaker

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I don't know. They ended up signing almost all of them anyway, which makes me think in hindsight they simply should have postponed the entire thing until 2002.

I agree. If they needed something to do in 2001, why not book an ECW (only) invasion instead? They had all their top stars and ECW was still a viable brand, albeit one not as well known as WCW. Save the WCW invasion for the following year or early 2003 when they would have access to all their big names (Goldberg, Flair, Steiner, Booker, DDP, Bischoff, NWO, etc).

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I would include Sting in that, maybe even more than Goldberg. While Booker, DDP and Scott Steiner were all main eventers at some point in WCW, Flair and Sting were the backbone of WCW forever and Goldberg was the hottest act they created during the Nitro era.

 

I'd say Sting over Flair myself. Flair had been in the WWF for two years a decade earlier, his presence wasn't so shocking compared to what Sting would have been back in 2001. And Goldberg really was a HUGE deal at the time. Remember the promo Vince did "the night he bought WCW"? The fans organically started chanting Goldberg - he really was to WCW what Austin was to WWF in the late 90's.

 

 

Yeah, the main reason why I chose Flair is simply for talking ability. Flair could basically be Goldberg's hype man, while Sting couldn't quite pull it off.

 

As far as why Goldberg, I look it at this way. At the end of WCW, there's basically five groups of fans - core WCW fans, casual WCW-leaning fans, pure casuals, casual WWF-leaning fans, and core WWF fans. The core WCW fans were gone the moment Vince showed up on Nitro or even earlier if they got disgusted by Russo and friends. However, casual WCW-leaning fans hear Goldberg is in WWF, along with casual fans who may have drifted away from wrestling in general after the boom ended, but watched Goldberg beat Hogan on Nitro would see Goldberg in the WWF as something to see.

 

In other words, Goldberg was the only crossover star who wasn't a former WWF guy that WCW had. So, why not use him from the start?

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As far as ideal booking goes, those wouid have been dream scenarios that everyone would have LOVED..

 

But looking at it financially as well as logically (in terms of what the real life guys would do). I seriously doubt Goldberg would have taken a buyout at 30 to 50 cents on the dollar and then sign with WWF. If he does sign, for how much? Has to be more than he was making to go back to work instead of getting free money...If his deal is HUGE, other WWF talent are gonna get mad and either cause issues or demand / get raises..where does it go from there? After that alone, could the angle make the money needed to make it useful and worthwhile for WWF to keep going...

 

Add-in Nash and Sting, who would have had the same issues, and its get out of hand QUICKLY.

 

I said book DDP better, either keep him away from Taker and Sara or put him somewhere else and make him a main eventer... Keep Booker strong (you can book him as a Champ quickly and make him look great and folks will take him as the WCW's best guy and champ), get Steiner and Flair (both had MUCH less money and their deals were up soon in June 2001, so a buyout and a new deal would have been worth it for them) and start from there....Steiner needs to stay as the 2000 - 2001 Heel version and Flair could be Flair..sure he'd be cheered, but he could sell WCW as coming to take over, just look at his promo on the last NItro..it was great and he HATED that place. That alone, with the ECW turn (which was popular and I think helped the Invasion by adding more guys the crowd popped for) could have made things AMAZING...Then you have the Nash's, Goldbergs, etc... to bring in later after the initial run wears off and their deals are up for money that isnt gonna cause a TON of issues backstage and keep WWF profiting, which as a publically traded company, is priority numeral uno...And put Heyman in charge early with Shane / Steph as the backers. You coudl bring in Bischoff later as well with the NWO even as another group to freshen things up...

 

Invasion got HUGE numbers and with Flair there, it gets MUCH more, and Steiner will help out WCW depth and keep them strong, giving you a Steiner / Booker / DDP / Dudleys vs. Jericho / Taker / Austin / Angle / Kane...

 

Both teams are more even now and Kane or Jericho can eat the pin and get the WCW / ECW team off and running....

 

To me, that makes them a SHIT TON of money, makes thing seem MUCH more like an Invasion as only the Dudleys are a former WWF team with the Alliance now (and anyone would understand why they'd go to ECW, they'd been put down recently in terms of other teams on TV, so there's their reason, and with Heyman, they surely would have gone, due to the famous ECW loyalty to Paul (even if not real, in storyline, it works)

 

Booking from there is another story, but I was only worried about starting things right, having the right guys, making MORE money, keeping the stock moving as well as having something to build on later to keep things getting better and give you a LONG term storyline...

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Sting and Ric Flair vs. Steve Austin and The Rock (the idea here is that two sets of mortal enemies are teaming up against the other - it's just asking for betrayal. For even more jeopardy, Austin's title is on the line.

 

Off topic of the stoyline, but.....

 

Flair - "Stinger, WHOOO!!! .this is different, I wont leave you this time, this is about WCW and our PRIDE...WHOO!!"

Sting - "Ric...OWWW...what can I say?".......Scorpion Death Drop...walk out...and point to his head on the way up the ramp!

 

I dont care how much they cared about WCW, Sting teaming again with Flair would have been hilarious!!!

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Flair would need to put up his hair or something to show that he was trustworthy. If he swerved Sting, he'd get his head shaved.

 

The swerve would come from Austin and Rock's end of course. The Rock would cost Austin a pinfall opportunity because he wants to get the win himself (and Austin's title). This would naturally lead to Sting being his usual idiotic self and getting distracted by Austin and Rock turning on each other, this would result in Austin giving both Rock and Sting a stunner. Flair, being Flair, would use this opportunity to low-blow Austin, and get the pin on a fallen Rock to win the match, technically preserve his promise to Sting whilst screwing him out of winning the title, and shockingly becoming WWF Champion after nearly a decade in the process.

 

This would result in a reverse Flair/WCW situation when Flair first went to the WWF with the NWA Heavyweight Title belt Only this time it would storyline.

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