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#1 The Invasion of WWE
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On March 26, 2001, the Monday Night War ended. Simulcast along with WWE RAW, the final episode of WCW Nitro aired from Panama City, FL. Vince McMahon was now the owner of his once biggest rival. So... now what?
In terms of the promotion's ongoing TV narrative, it was revealed that Vince's son Shane, and not the elder McMahon, had purchased WCW. This served two purposes: to build upon the Shane vs Vince match at WrestleMania X-7 and to still keep WCW as a separate entity.
A female WWE star said her life is in danger. Details HERE
Following WrestleMania, many performers associated with WCW would interfere in matches on RAW and in the main event of that year's King of the Ring. While the WCW contingent were supposed to be the faces in this story, it became pretty evident that the hardcore WWE crowd simply wasn't going to cheer for WCW wrestlers, not even against Vince McMahon (who is arguably the greatest heel of all time).
There's an important note to make here. While WWE purchased the rights to the WCW name, intellectual property, and tape library, WCW's wrestlers were still employed by AOL Time Warner. This meant that any WCW star who wanted to wrestle for Vince would have to void that contract. Since a lot of those stars were making some pretty decent guaranteed money, that didn't make a lot of sense.
This is why some of the biggest WCW stars - like Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, and Goldberg - didn't reappear on WWE television until well after this invasion angle was finished. It's also why ECW was added (combining the two companies into one "Alliance"), and then a number of WWF stars, as well. Stone Cold Steve Austin was revealed to be the leader of the Alliance, while other stars like Kurt Angle, Test, and Christian joined up, despite never having wrestled for either company.
Overall, the entire storyline landed with a thud. It wasn't completely without its high points, however. Both Booker T and Rob Van Dam would end up as world champions and later, Hall of Famemrs. It also gave us this classic moment.
Do you have any other Invasion angles - both in and out of WWE - that you can remember? Let's talk about them in the comments below.
