10 Times WWE Actually Worked With Other Companies
7. ECW - Housing An Invasion
By 1996, Vince McMahon had been in the industry too long to stubbornly believe that the only reason WCW's New World Order storyline was successful was due to the ex-WWE wrestlers they'd signed.
That was destined to be his public front forever, and was the narrative of choice on just about every documentary discussing the time period, but the reality was far simpler - Eric Bischoff had tapped into the audience's thirst for an inter-promotional war first, and he'd done it well.
Spotting that, McMahon tried to ape it a little when WWE ran an In Your House from ECW's Philadelphia locale. The Sandman, Tommy Dreamer and Paul Heyman itself mixed it up at ringside with Savio Vega, before Taz did the same on Monday Night Raw shortly afterwards.
A formalised invasion took place in March 1997 as a means to an end for both sides. Half of WWE's roster was overseas, and ECW had Barely Legal to promote. This spun off into Jerry Lawler working dates and a pay-per-view for Heyman and the likes of Sabu and Rob Van Dam making occasional guest appearances throughout the summer.
It wasn't the magic fix to the Nitro problem, after all that. Ironically considering some of the original spiky intent, it proved not to be electrifying, but all remarkably amicable.