10 Times WWE Misread Their Own Audience

6. Believing Fans Wouldn't Accept WCW As Competition During The Invasion

Speaking of missing the point, the McMahon family seemed to completely ignore the fact that they now owned World Championship Wrestling following their takeover of the company in March, 2001. The subsequent 'Invasion' angle was a miserable failure, one only quickened by the apparent fact that WWF officials and wrestlers didn't believe WCW's incoming performers could connect with their audience. That was a ridiculous notion, and entirely ignored the glaring obvious problem with the whole WCW 'Invasion' concept. Namely, fans were never really given any reason to view WCW as a real threat, at least not without some top level WWF stars jumping ship and helping out the invading losers. The message was clear; WCW needed someone like Steve Austin in order to compete with the WWF. This was a baffling way of doing things, because it spoiled the initial idea of the 'Invasion' right off the bat. By the time Survivor Series rolled around just a few months later, the whole story boiled down to Austin vs. The Rock, stars more closely associated with the WWF than the incoming competition. Somewhere along the line, Vince McMahon seemed to reason that fans of his product would never accept WCW as anything more than secondary. That, or he was exacting revenge for being behind in the Monday Night War for so long.