WWF Presents WCW in 2001(What Could Have Been)

I think it would have been better if they didn't go with the invasion angle right away since they didn't have the big stars. It probably would have been better to wait until the big name stars contracts with time warner/AOL ran out a year later. What they could have done was start adding the WCW guys that wanted to come in right away (Buff, Booker, DDP, among others) as new WWE guys not as invasion wrestlers but as new wrestlers to the company. Then when Hogan, Hall, Nash, Sting, Goldberg, etc. became available start with the invasion angle. From there, the WCW guys that were already in WWE could have started turning on WWE and joining the newly added big name WCW guys. Then you could have had a true invasion angle. They maybe could have done something with Ric Flair being the co-owner at the time being the one who brought in the WCW guys to turn on WWE sort of as the leader of the group, and since he had power he would have had the authority to do so. Also, it probably wouldn't be best to add all the big names at once, let them come in spread out so you have interesting reveals week after week, or month after month. However, I don't think it was just Vince and some of the top executives at the WWE at the time that didn't want to put over WCW guys coming in, I believe Cornette said that some of the top wrestlers didn't want to do that as well. The invasion angle was never going to work if the WWE guys didn't put over the WCW guys first to make them appear legit before the WCW guys put back over the WWE guys in the end.

I think there's 2 reasons why...(1) the longer you wait, the longer WCW has been gone, and the less of a big del the feud becomes and (2) they needed a marquee storyline because 2 of their 3 biggest starts (Rock, HHH) were out in addition to a guy they had just started to push (Benoit).

Here's my post from my (unintentionally) duplicate post:

If I had booked it (using only who was actually signed and/or not injured, and not rewriting history of things like Shawn Stasiak not leaking their involvement in WM 17 which led to it being cancelled), I would have started it in a similar manor but had a slower build. At first, I would have had Shane consistently trying to recruit or align himself with wrestlers, insinuating that certain guys were under appreciated in the WWE and would be treated better in Shane's WCW and/or that a storm was coming in that they had a chance to be on the right side of history. I would have had Booker T shown up and gotten involved in Shane's feud with Kurt Angle...as well as let Booker T make it to the finals of, if not win, the King of the Ring with Shane's help.

Prior to the Austin/Jericho/Benoit, possibly even a week or 2 before it, we would've seen Shane individually proposition each guy and offered to help Austin retain as well as Jericho/Benoit finally beat Austin and become the world champion. Shane would get involved in Austin's match to help him beat someone, only for Austin to deliver a stunner and beat him down (thereby effectively rebuffing Shane's offer), Jericho would verbally run down Shane and say he'd never get involved with a McMahon, and ultimately it would seem like Shane and Benoit were reigniting their prior alliance from Summer 2000 (this would have also worked since Benoit was feuding with Angle at the time as well). Then at KOTR, I would have had Shane get involved so that Jericho won the title, and it was revealed Jericho was actually aligned with Shane.

Then at the next PPV (in July 2001, but which would not have been InVasion) Jericho (on behalf of Shane McMahon) would have faced off against Austin (on behalf of Vince McMahon), with the stipulation that if Jericho retained Shane McMahon would be given creative control to run WCW segments during Raw and Smackdown. Whereas if Austin won, he would regain the title and Shane's WCW vision would be banned. In the weeks leading up to this we would have seen Shane having phone conversations announcing that certain wrestlers (e.g., DDP, Buff Bagwell, The New Blood, etc.) would be among those joining his new promotion once Jericho defeated Austin. A critical part of this would be to still have Shane and Jericho being the faces to Austin/McMahon's heels in the way in which WCW/Shane were originally presented. The prospect of these new superstars coming to the WWF is a positive in fans eyes. That's also important for the longevity of the storyline because roles need to gradually change.

The main event would have seen interference from Shane, Vince, Booker T, and Kurt Angle...but ultimately DDP would have come from the crowd and delivered the diamond cutter to secure Jericho's victory (similar to how Booker T actually debuted at KOTR in 2001). The next night few shows would have worked in the same way the real InVasion storyline went on...guys like Storm, Palumbo/O'haire, etc. debuted and interfered in WWF matches. The first WCW main event would have been DDP vs. Booker T in a match to determine would would face Chris Jericho in a match to determine the new, and 1st, WCW champion. I would have had Austin/Angle interfere in this match in the same manner they did with the Booker T/Bagwell match. As well as had other WCW/WWF guys fight it out. Ultimately, the ECW component of the InVasion would have played out ht same way with SummerSlam serving as the the inaugural brawl ppv. The big storyline would have also been which side is The Rock going to join. Instead of the main event being Austin/Jericho/Undertaker/Kane/Angle vs. Booker T/DDP/Dudleys/Rhyno(like InVasion)...it would have been Austin/Undertaker/The Rock/Angle/Big Show vs. Jericho/Booker T/DDP/Buff Bagwell/Rhyno...with Big Show turning on the WWF to join the Alliance in secure them the victory.

By this point, a lot of the storylines and defections would have been pushed back by a month tor two. The InVasion was in full swing by late June, whereas here it's not really going until Mid August. At the October PPV, Kurt Angle would defect to the Alliance. Kurt would reveal the next night on Raw that he was sick of playing second fiddle to The Rock and Austin by Vince, and that Shane and WCW's new president made him an offer he simply couldn't refuse. There would be a lot of references to this new WCW president, who would be teased to be revealed at Survivor Series. Survivor Series would also feature the real vengeance Main Event with the identical undisputed title unification match, except Ric Flair would have debuted (revealed to be the WCW president) to assist Jericho with winning and becoming the first undisputed champion.

I think December could have had a War Games or Hell in a Cell type of match between Team WWF vs. Team WCW. Royal Rumble would have still seen McMahon vs. Flair, HHH return and win the Rumble, etc. A lot of December 2001 and onwards would be similar to Nov 2001 and onwards in which it would have been WWE-Vince vs. WCW-Flair. One thing I never liked about the Vince/Flair storyline is that they made Flair seem like he was this kind redneck style millionaire (look at the Raw Christmas party episode), rather than how he was portrayed everywhere else the rest of his career - so that would be another tweak. Another change I think that would have been great, and would have saved Booker T, would be to have down DDP's proposed People's Champion vs People's Champion feud between The Rock and DDP.

In contrast to Vince McMahon injecting the nWo to kill the WWF, Vince would cut a promo that he was going to kill WCW once and for all in the same way it had been done before...by unleashing the nWo. nWo would debut at No Way Out and do pretty much the same stuff they did anyways, proving to be a rogue faction that would ultimately align themselves with WCW. Then at WrestleMania it's WWE vs. WCW once and for all with whoever wins the most matches taking control.

The card doesn't need to really change (I copied the order of the matches and somehow it works perfectly):

RVD (face in the alliance) defeats Regal (or whoever) to become IC Champion: 1-0 Alliance
DDP defeats Christian for EU Championship: 2-0 Alliance
Maven defeats a variety of WWF and WCW wrestlers: 2-1 Alliance
Angle defeats Kane: 3-1 Alliance
Undertaker defeats Flair: 3-2 Alliance
Edge defeats Booker T: 3-3 Tie
Austin beats Hall/Nash: 4-3 WWE (this also becomes a much bigger moments because the WWF finally takes the lead)
Billy/Chuck defeat a mix of teams: 4-4 Tie
Rock beats Hogans: 5-4 WWF
Jazz beats Trish & Lita: 5-5 Tie
HHH beats Jericho 6-5 WWE wins.

This doesn't really change much with the draft because Vince regained control of Raw within the first month of the draft. With a surplus of talent that Vince acquires he decides its best to split the show into 2 separate brands that will be managed by two commissioners, both being former WWF commissioners. Smackdown will be drafted and run by Mick Foley...and Raw will be drafted and run by...Shawn Michaels. Ultimately HBK has to step down as commissioner in order to face HHH, at which point Bischoff would enter the picture.

What's crazy is that this booking doesn't require any different wrestlers being in the company at a different time, and all the ultimate outcomes of WWE stay the same. All it does is just rework a lot of poor intermediary points. With Rock, Austin, Undertaker, and Edge's victory's at WM 18, the WWF actually defeats the real WCW in a way that manners. WrestleMania X8 also takes on greater significance, specifically the HHH/Jericho match (which didn't really have legs to it other than the HHH/Stephanie sub-storyline) is now about WWE's White Knight (the returning HHH) defeating the man who is essentially responsible for all of this (Chris Jericho, who becomes an even bigger heel than he was in 2002).

This also would have made a lot more sense among the HHH vs. Sting match in that HHH would have been the guy who ended WCW 13 years before Sting arrived, and now he was ultimately going to get to do it.

I think it is funny how WWE makes some of their superstars look like legit tough guys over WCW guys like the Steiner Brothers, Harlem Heat, Fit Finlay, Perry Saturn, The Barbarian and Meng. That is the real problem with Vince McMahon.

Yes. Vince McMahon does make good decisions sometimes. It's nice to see former WCW guys get some respect.

Sounds good, would definitely have worked better but I would have 100% assumed Shane and Jericho (WCW side) could not at all have been faces against the WWF. The fans were too loyal.

Its worth noting that Steiner was only exposed in 2003 because of his drop foot injury. He didn't have that in 2001....also if he had been booked a bit more wisely in 2003? theyd have got more outta him...IMHO.

Vince McMahon should have established the young talent of WCW while waiting on the legends that were locked up in a Time Warner contract. Scott Steiner would dominate the WWE roster with no problem.

I would have put Brad Armstrong on the WCW side. He was a great talent.