Crockerinho

Wrestling Moderator

WCW Superstars made their debut to WWE programming:

I remembered when Hugh Morrus and Lance Storm made their debut on WWF(E) programming back in the day. People were cheering when they came out, I remembered every single person I knew were getting goosebumps because at that time, it was still fresh in people's minds about the real WWE vs WCW war b4 the buy out, and able to see a "foreign" wrestlers to appear on WWE was unnatural, plus adding the fact that the debut of the new WCW logo is being viewed on the Titantron and the Smackdown Tron. Mentioning the name WCW alone is quite an amazement also. Just WCW being mentioned on WWE alone causes a big comossion (sp?) at that time.


Sean O' Haire does a big dive into his career to ruins the WCW "face image:

Now the reason i mentioned those 2 "WCW" wrestlers because if i remembered correctly, the next "WCW" wrestlers to appear on WWE programming was Sean O' Haire and Chuck Palumbo (correct me here if it was indeed Chuck Palumbo) at Smackdown attacking Edge, Christian (again note or correct me on this i'm not sure) and the Hardy Boyz.

Now when Morrus and Storm debuted, they attacked only the heels, obviously no doubt that is cheap pop from the crowd. But in Sean O'haire and Chuck Palumbo's (????) case, not only did they attack the heels but also the face. And who were the face? Why the Hardy Boyz.

And What better way to turn the crowd off from the "foreign wrestlers" is for Sean O'Haire to do the Swanton Bomb on Jeff Hardy. In WWE audiences view point, Sean O'haire jus ripped off Jeff Hardy's move. While the neutral audiences ( those who were fan of WWE and WCW like me) knows the fact that Sean O'Haire and Jeff Hardy were using the Swanton Bomb move for a long time.


"Heat" continues to build up while WWE presents a forceful "Face" image for WCW:

Now again my memory is bleaked so help me out here. After the incident with the "foreign wrestlers" attacking both heels and faces, the WWF crowd is just completely turned off from WCW. In the audiences point of view, WCW wrestlers just came to WWE programs to F*ck things up, which is how, in no time, WCW automatically becomes a heel. Adding another hate factor from WWE fans is that DDP is finally revealed as Sara's stalker. Him debuting as a heel, no doubt created a tremendous "heat" pop from the crowd against WCW.


What a great Angle in the beginning only to be ruined by a dumb move:

People were praising Mcmahon for his genius because when Hugh Morrus and Lance Storm debut, they are presented as Faces and aftet the incident with Sean O'haire, WWE still pushed WCW as faces, praising Mcmahon because for a man to combat his rival company and buying them out, why present his newly aquired product as the Face and WWE as a heel or somewhat neutral position.


WCW main events RAW with a "boring match":

Now skipping couple of chapters toward the Buff Bagwell vs. Booker T on Raw, critics were complaining saying that WTF was Mcmahon thinking presenting a main event on Raw with WCW wrestlers? and to top it off, why get a main eventer and current WCW champion fight off against a mid carder. Thats like Steve Austin facing off Edge (keep in mind of what Edge's status back in summer of 2001). Now was that the reason the crowd were booing? I dont think so, I think the crowd was booing because now its stuck on their mind what WCW is suppose to be. WCW wreslters attacking and stealing WWE superstars' moves, stalkers, WCW main eventers trying to clash against WWE main eventers etc...
(also note that personally, i think was a horrible match. This was worst than the Steiner vs. Triple H match from Royal Rumble '03. Instead of the repeated suplexes, you have the repeated submission holds)


WCW officially goes Heel while Booker and Shane remain face:

Now what happens aftet that WCW main event on RAW? The Smackdown "heel turn incident". to get to the point straight up, WCW Wrestlers attacking one of their own and beating up their own boss. Kinda funny enough that i read the results due to the show being taped and how that is suppose to be Buff Bagwell's last WWE appearance ever (so far). Watching him involve on that angle where he is stomping on Booker T while the rest is throwing Shane Mcmahon around is quite amusing. I say that was a great twist, a great turn. Thinking this would also lead Booker T as a great face and main eventer on WWE. Switching sides from WCW to WWE.


And finally, Shane turns on his fans and joins the official "Heel" WCW:

Now i hope i haven't bore you out yet if you have read this whole post so far, to cut it short due to my memory being really bleaked, Shane turns on someobody (kurt angle???) and what do we get at the end of the program? the standing WCW team in the WWE ring.




Now the whole point of this post was to point out the Sean 'OHaire incident. He seems to trigger the "heel" turn on WCW which obviously wasnt meant to be. WCW was being presented as a face group. Its the only smartest way to rebuild a product that has gone down the garbage b4 it folded. Siding it with fans will not only accept the formal rival, but for WCW to make a name for itself again.... Under WWE supervision.

Creature of the Night

It was Undertaker that Shane turned on, it was a match with DDP on Raw that Shane did a run-in, struck 'Taker with a singapore cane and basically turned the whole WCW group heel.

I don't think you can say the angle was a failure due to one particular booking mistake, I think the Invasion angle failed because there simply wasnt a fair contest between the two sides to start off with. There was no Steiner, no Nash, no Hall, no Hogan, no Goldberg, nobody. It was rushed, because WWE now had talent signed to contracts that were simply sitting on their asses doing nothing and getting paycheques. The fact was that WCW as it was known to be was not the WCW that was portrayed on WWF (at that time) television. That was the reason why the ECW group led by Heyman and Steph were included in the 'Alliance' and they subsequently added WWF main event talent (i.e Austin and Angle) to the Alliance mix. It should have been booked as a collective WCW vs WWF angle, but because the top stars were missing it was impossible to match them evenly.

Thats the reason the Invasion failed, it lost all credibility after WWF writers started including non-WCW elements into it. They should have made up their minds and gone with either a true 'Invasion' angle, or two separate rosters (which would have again been difficult due to lack of star power).

Good Ol' JP

I dissagree with you on so many levels. WCW wasnt spose to be face, they where spose to be WCW. Its like now saying that raw is face and smackdown is heel, thats not the way it works. They attacked anyone from the WWF because that was the idea. And I think really, WCW was never going to get over as face in the WWF, there was just to many fans who wouldnt go for it, what did you expect them to do, beat on mid card heels for the rest of the invasion? You know as well as I do if they attacked main event heels they would have got booed because WWE fans have respect for them. I.E kurt angel: "you dont deserve to be told you suck, you have to earn it"

Rhyno's #1 mark just layed the smackdown!

If I am no one, and no one is perfect, then I am perfect.

Cyrus

:roll:

They were not all supposed to be face. Booker T was a face in WCW which = he came in as a face Shane was also a face in WWF.

O'haire and Polumbo were heels in WCW so would it make sense to turn them face for no reason?

And are you saying the Invasion would have worked better if they were trying to get control of WWF but only attacked heels? :?