10 Times WWE Hit Themselves Where It Hurts
4. Getting A Whole New Set Of Toys From WCW And Having No Idea How To Use Them
When WWE purchased the remains of WCW in 2001, it should have been a crowning achievement for Vince - he won the Monday Night Wars. It should have meant a whole new roster to play with and being able to book matches fans had only been able to dream about.
The dream quickly turned into a nightmare.
From the get-go, the McMahons had to inject themselves into the acquisition, with Shane being the actual 'owner' of WCW, planning to compete with dear ol' dad.
Due to existing contracts with Time Warner, many of WCW's true powerhouses couldn't appear yet. Instead of waiting to build up a strong WCW roster or buying out contracts, WWE rushed, taking who they could.
Because this wasn't ugly enough, Steph McMahon took the dying ECW, including former ECW guys now in WWE, into the mix.
This culminated in the lackluster Invasion PPV in July 2001, which settled nothing but saw Stone Cold join Team WCW/ECW. A similar WCW/ECW vs WWE match was held at Survivor Series, with WWE winning the day.
The potential angle was killed; what hurt more was that within a few months names like Goldberg and the nWo were available, names that could have changed the whole angle had WWE been patient.