Did the WCW Invasion Hurt WWE?
Darrell Mays at American Chronicle has a write-up which includes his 6 reasons why Pro wrestling took a fall in early 2000-01 and has been declining since then. He cites Owen Hart's unfortunate death, Stone Cold taking time off for neck surgery and Eric Bischoff being replace on ECW as just a few reasons. His sixth reason is the WWE buying up the WCW in 2001.
From American Chronicle:
"In the early spring of 2001 when WWE bought WCW and then later ECW. It marked the end of the Monday Night Wars. Some fans were happy that WWE had finally defeated WCW but with no direct competition for WWE, things got stale. WWE had no pressure to improve their product and lost fans interest. The exciting and interesting but eventually poorly played out "Invasion" angle of WCW/ECW invading the WWF was entertaining. But with hardly any top WCW stars except for Booker T and DDP and only RVD and Tommy Dreamer from ECW to be involved in the Invasion, many fans felt cheated and that it could of been a lot better. Truth be known that it would of been better if so many of the top WCW stars hadn't decided to sit out and collect the big money from their WCW contracts and actually gave a damn about the fans then the storyline would of been the biggest in pro wrestling history!"
I'm not sure that this combination/invasion really hurt WWE all that much. If anything it brought more talent into play, gave new feuds and storylines. The commentary fails to mention Chris Benoit, who whether people like to admit or not, was a positive fan-favorite for WWE during his time there. The only thing you could argue against the WCW invasion is the introduction of too many titles, which continue to exist today.
If anything we could blame The Rock for leaving, or the writers for not supplying enough fresh material to the entertainers to keep up interest in the characters.
See Also DVD Review of "The Monday Night War - WWE Raw vs. WCW Nitro".
From American Chronicle:
"In the early spring of 2001 when WWE bought WCW and then later ECW. It marked the end of the Monday Night Wars. Some fans were happy that WWE had finally defeated WCW but with no direct competition for WWE, things got stale. WWE had no pressure to improve their product and lost fans interest. The exciting and interesting but eventually poorly played out "Invasion" angle of WCW/ECW invading the WWF was entertaining. But with hardly any top WCW stars except for Booker T and DDP and only RVD and Tommy Dreamer from ECW to be involved in the Invasion, many fans felt cheated and that it could of been a lot better. Truth be known that it would of been better if so many of the top WCW stars hadn't decided to sit out and collect the big money from their WCW contracts and actually gave a damn about the fans then the storyline would of been the biggest in pro wrestling history!"
I'm not sure that this combination/invasion really hurt WWE all that much. If anything it brought more talent into play, gave new feuds and storylines. The commentary fails to mention Chris Benoit, who whether people like to admit or not, was a positive fan-favorite for WWE during his time there. The only thing you could argue against the WCW invasion is the introduction of too many titles, which continue to exist today.
If anything we could blame The Rock for leaving, or the writers for not supplying enough fresh material to the entertainers to keep up interest in the characters.
See Also DVD Review of "The Monday Night War - WWE Raw vs. WCW Nitro".
Labels: Commentary, WWE Business
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