The Invasion was one of the biggest debacles in WWE history. It was a storyline that wrote itself, but between not having the big stars and seemingly not caring enough about the available roster meant that the angle fell flat real fast. ECW joining WCW for the Alliance didn’t do anything to help.
The entire angle meandered around until it ended at Survivor Series. During that time some of the members of the former WCW were used decently while others…not so much. Unfortunately, the WWE storytellers had seemingly zero interest in putting over their former competition, so in reality, no one was used quite correctly during this time.
10/10 Booked Poorly – Chavo Guerrero
Does anyone even remember Chavo Guerrero being in the WWE during The Alliance? Perhaps if his uncle Eddie was with the company during this time, we could have gotten some classic matches between Los Guerreros. But instead, he was mostly used to get bounced around by WWE stars.
9/10 Booked Well – Chris Kanyon
Thanks to superstars like The Young Bucks and Brian Cage, the legacy of Chris Kanyon will live on. He was a true innovator in the ring. Neither WCW or WWE ever realized his true potential.
But during the Invasion, he was allowed to show a more humorous side – “Who Better Than Kanyon?!” – while wearing an Invasion MVP shirt. Also during this time, Kanyon was the United States Champion and also held the WWE Tag Team Championship alongside Diamond Dallas Page.
8/10 Booked Poorly – Mike Awesome
How Mike Awesome absconded from ECW to WCW practically sealed his fate in the wrestling world. How he was originally booked in WCW finished the job. While he thankfully didn’t come to WWE as “The Fat Chick Thrilla,” the monster still didn’t do much to live up to his full potential during the Invasion and he was gone shortly after the angle ran its course.
7/10 Booked Well – Shane Helms
Sugar Shane Helms made a name for himself in the WCW locker room thanks to standing his ground with Buff Bagwell. That opened the door for him to be invited into the WWE locker room. On-screen, it certainly might have helped Helms’ fortunes, but once he donned the cape and cowl of The Hurricane, Sugar Shane’s entire WWE future took off.
6/10 Booked Poorly – KroniK
It wasn’t for lack of trying of course, but Bryan Clark and Brian Adams, better known as KroniK, didn’t have a great run in WWE. The Undertaker requested to work with his friend Adams and the stage was set for KroniK vs. The Brothers Of Destruction.
The match wasn’t great and the team was designated for assignment in developmental. When they opted not to do that, they were both released soon afterwards.
5/10 Booked Poorly – Lance Storm
Lance Storm was a solid mid-card superstar wherever he went. The former WCW Canadian Triple Champion led the Invasion as the first WCW superstar to head into Madison Square Garden. He maintained a good enough profile that he had a few more good years in WWE after The Invasion. But during the actual war, Storm wasn’t booked in many, if any high profile moments.
4/10 Booked Poorly – Buff Bagwell
Like KroniK, Buff Bagwell booked himself poorly. As one of the few WCW stalwarts who seemed tailor-made for WWE, he also strutted in with a bravado that wasn’t conducive to the attitude of the WWE locker room. A scuffle with Shane Helms, and a poor performance on Raw, and even his mother calling out sick for him wound up sealing his fate in WWE, and he was immediately released.
3/10 Booked Well – Booker T
Booker T stands on top of the heap as the final WCW champion ever in the history of the company (the title was around a little longer in WWE, with Chris Jericho being officially recognized as the final WCW Champion ever). He took the ten pounds of gold with him to WWE and immediately stepped up as one of the leaders of The Alliance.
He debuted at King of the Ring and nearly cost Stone Cold his WWE Championship. Just a few weeks later, he was going one on one with The Rock. No matter what the WWE vs. Alliance angle was, Booker T was usually front and center.
2/10 Booked Poorly – Diamond Dallas Page
Considering how over he was in WCW and how many friends he had in the business, it’s amazing that he wound up being saddled with a bad gimmick for himself. Someone stalking The Undertaker’s wife to mess with The Deadman and get in his head was actually a decent idea. But when it was revealed that it was Page, someone who was already a huge star, it fell flat. DDP didn’t believe in the gimmick himself, which meant the angle never took off.
1/10 Booked Well – Chris Jericho
While Y2J had already been in WWE for nearly two years when the Invasion started, he was still thought of as one of those smaller WCW guys. But he wasn’t booked to be that during the Invasion – he was booked to be a strong member of the WWE roster and came out the other side looking better for it. It would have been easy to book him as a WWE turncoat, siding with his old company, but instead he was a loyal soldier and that loyalty earned him the opportunity to be the first ever WWE Undisputed Champion.
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