I disagree. Listen to the pops Booker T and DDP got when they first appeared. They got bigger pops than anyone on the roster. So there was a huge chance to portray them as faces. It was all up to the booking team and the wrestlers abilty to keep them over as faces. This did not work out.
Booker and DDP were booked so poorly and the match between Booker and Bagwell was awful and that's what made WWF fans angry and that's why they booed them.
The perfect example to prove you wrong however are the Outsiders. In fans minds they were WWF guys coming in their WCW land. Yet still fans cheered them to no end and even booed their WCW guys. Why? Because the booking was great first and foremost. And even with less workrate than before in the WWF, they were just as good as any other WCW main eventer. (well maybe except Flair)
In my opinion 3 things stopped the Invasion angle from being a huge success:
1. Lack of WCW main eventers: WCW guys (rightfully so) wanted to sit out their contracts with AOL/Time Warner instead of getting paid 50 cent per dollar and work 300 days a year. WWF is to blame here solely because they did not offer the WCW guys the money they deserved for them to come in.
2. The networks: Vince tried to gain a time slot on basically every single network that there was to show WCW programming, but none wanted to have anything to do with the WCW name (WCW just lost over 100 million the year before). So Vince decided to make Raw or Smackdown become WCW Nitro for some time, that however was cancelled after the poorly worked Booker/Bagwell match and the lack of fans interest in those WCW stars involved during the tryout of WCW Nitro during Raw. Also, TNN and UPN were not happy that Raw or Smackdown would be named Nitro (because of ratings going down obviously). So this one is not WWFs fault.
3. Terrible booking/Ego: Again all WWFs fault.
Remember back in 1996, WCW started this huge angle that would later become known as the NWO with just two guys, Hall and Nash. One main eventer (Nash) and one topcarder (Hall). WWF in 2001 had Booker T and DDP, two main eventers. And one of them was the current WCW champion.
I think we can really compare those two duos because Hall/Nash were not bigger than Booker/DDP. So why had WCW so much success with their two outsiders and WWF did not? Answer is simple, WCW booked them as a real threat to the whole company. When they were joined by Hogan, they were unstoppable, and fans went even more crazy for them. Now imagine, Booker and DDP were booked as a threat to the whole WWF, and were then joined by say Goldberg at the Invasion PPV. Can you imgaine how fans would have loved them?!
This has nothing to do with someone being a WCW or WWF guy. When Hall and Nash joined WCW, they became WCW guys, so WCW booked them accordingly. Whenever WWF got someone from WCW, they treated them like crap because they were WCW guys, even though they were now just as much WWF guys as anybody else in the lockerroom. That's the main reason why NWO was top and the Invasion angle was a flop.
Dude, dont write me a book.
And what, the booking was horrible, the Fans thought that, and booed the Wrestlers? That doesn't make a bit of sense to me. Secondly Booker was pushed greatly, and yes he was over, DDP was okay i guess, but i never saw him as a legit Main Eventer. And hell no they weren't more over then The Rock and Stone Cold, hell even the ECW Guy RVD was 10 times more over.It's just simple, it's the WWF, so why should they even play Faces when they were over? In the end WWF was gonna go over, you want the Faces to be that and who would want WCW to go over anyway?
I am no WCW expert, but that was WCW, and that is WWF, it's simple, but that's the way it is. There always was a very negativ vibe from WWE Fans when mentioned WCW, it was that hick promotion in Atlanta....And i don't really see them being better then the whole WCW Roster, besides the Fact that it's not true, the average WWE Fan doesn't look for Mic Skills, Wrestling Skills and rate the Wrestlers. Either you entertain them or not, it's that simple. So you gotta have a great Character or something else, but the average fan doesn't care for workrate.
1.You are right that it would have been dumb to say no tothat money and go towork for half of it, you might argue that you would have a advantage, but actually the guys coming in later were treated better. But i don't see why WWF should have bought them out of their Contracts, most WCW Main Eventers were overpayed and didn't really draw like they use to(Goldberg, Sting and Hogan taken out of that), and even with those i don't see how they could make that much money to even make even for the huge Contracts.
2.It was the right thing to stop Nitro, nobody cared for WCW anymore, the Ratings showed, so actually producing a Show that didn't do great Ratings anymore and adding the fact that the People knew the Company was out of Business, i think the Ratings would have shrinked even more.
3.I liked the Feud and i thought it went all like it should have, the Series ME was a blast and the perfect blow off.
The Outsiders thing worked, cause people thought that was for real, plus Hogan turning Heel later that Year, it was chosen to do Ratings. By 01 everyone had Internet and everybody knew that shit wasn't real, so it wasn't gonna have the same effect. Plus i like Booker and all, but he never was a huge draw and neither is DDP, they were Champions at WCW at a all time low. Plus Nash was fighting The Undertaker at Mania before he left and Hall was as Razor Ramon one of the most over Guys.
And why did WCW treat every Star that came from WWF like a Legend and WWF didnt? WWF didn't need to, they had their Stars, WCW was used to buy their Stars, you know something is wrong when Jarrett is your Champion. You write it all like it was all a big pile of shit, but why did then Series 01 have one of the higher Buyrates in Series History?
To me, you sound like a WCW Fan who wanted the WCW to go over and be Faces, cause you like them more, fact of the matter is, Vince would never let WCW Guys be the bigger Stars in his own Company, for better or worse, but you just sound biased and try to blame as much as possible on VKM.
