10 Times WWE Totally Dropped The Ball On Something Hot

1. The Invasion

WWE Elimination Chamber 2023 Sami Zayn
WWE.com

The war between WCW and the WWF was a pivotal part in the wrestling boom seen in the '90s, with the battles between those rival companies driving TV ratings the likes of which are unfathomable when looking at the current numbers drawn by WWE and AEW.

If such a boom period was experienced when WCW and WWF were on real-life opposing sides, imagine what could be possible with both rosters under the same banner and positioned against each other in a kayfabe sense? Pro wrestling gold, was the hope. Unfortunately, that hope turned to disappointment rather quickly after WWF's assimilation of WCW in early 2001.

It was unimaginable that adding the likes of Goldberg, Sting, the nWo, Randy Savage, Scott Steiner, DDP, Booker T, Lex Luger, Vampiro and Rey Mysterio to the stacked WWF roster wouldn't work out. And that's where the problems began, for DDP and Booker T were the only two of those names to join WWF as part of the Invasion.

For the other talents, the market leader refused to pay the relevant amount needed to buy-out the AOL-Time Warner contracts in place for those stars. Sure, those contracts were extremely hefty in several cases, but if WWF wasn't prepared to match those deals, it was daft to try and run any sort of WCW Invasion when the star power just simply wasn't there to present WCW as any sort of genuine on-screen rival to WWF.

What was once a dream scenario for wrestling fans ultimately became just another frustrating story based around the McMahon family. Likewise, in order to pad out the WCW side - and eventually an ECW contingent to join with WCW - a bunch of WWF stars switched their allegiances to the Alliance in oft-bungled fashion.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.