Is it hyperbole to say that the Invasion angle is perhaps the biggest blown opportunity in professional wrestling history?
A PPV that did a monster buy-rate, that SHOULD have been the ground work for the next twelve months at the very least. Instead we have this show, and a pretty lackluster angle that is mercifully put out of its misery by Survivor Series.
We all know that the contract situation with many of the main event talents in WCW - that WWF refused to buy out. One has to think that if Vince and co, coughed up the money for the big names and bought out deals, they would have made their money back tenfold over the following months and year (if not more). Even without paying out Hogan, Hall and Nash, they could have easily brought in the likes of Goldberg and Sting, and had years of marquee matches on PPVs that would shatter buyrates.
The one man who felt like true star on this show from the Alliance was clearly Rob Van Dam. And unfortunately, the company wasted years before finally somewhat getting behind him as true main eventer.
Even those moments where they could have turned it around - like the night they created the Alliance - which floundered out by the end of the very same episode when Stephanie was revealed as the new owner of ECW.
And that would be the tone of the entire angle… DDP is here - but he’s playing a random stalker character, and then being slaughtered by the Undertaker… They’re giving WCW the main event slot on Raw with Booker T and Buff - but they’re going to get laid out by Austin and thrown out of the building. And so on and so forth, all summer. By the time The Rock was winning the WCW World Championship at SummerSlam, you knew the writing was on the wall as to how seriously WCW as a brand was going to be taken.
Sorry, I feel like this feedback is just commiserating over badly this angle was flubbed. But years of fandom and fantasy booking throughout my childhood all played out in the most uninspired ways possible, certainly left a bad taste in my mouth all these years later.
I distinctly remember a glimmer of hope around the news that WCW was going to be getting a late night slot on TNN that summer, from 11pm until 1am being announced (that later became Velocity and Confidential). I even remember there being a Ticketmaster listing for a show in New Jersey. Unfortunately, that got cancelled for one reason or another - and the dream of a separate WCW brand died.