I thought it was a great move by Vince in my opinion. He totally Monopolized the industry. When you go out and buy your closest competitor, that is saying something.

My thoughts initially it was a good move but Vince did not do what he should have done and it cost him. He could have competed with himself for some time and did okay with it if he had relaunched WCW when he should have. He had got ECW as well so he would have had both and could have done it to where he would have competed basically with himself. He could have still had his WWE in the big markets, had WCW in the secondary towns, and had ECW still originating from the places they were doing. It could have been interesting if he would have done it that way instead of the cheap blowoff deal he did at Survivor Series with him "getting control" of it all. But the reason I say he could have done it for a little while is because of the current state of the ECW deal he has got going, that is not ECW as we remembered it and I am sure it would have been the same years ago when he bought both WCW and ECW.

I was at WWF New York (the restaurant) on March 23, 2001 when they officially announced (Tazz did it) that they had bought WCW.  Everyone in the restaurant looked around as if he were telling a joke with a bad punchline.  It was confusing, and later, it became surreal to us.  
 
It seems like just another thing to us now, 6 years later, but back then, when you think in terms of how HUGE WCW was about 3 years earlier and to think that WWF had bought them out, it was really the absolute most incredible moment in pro wrestling up to that point.  It was as surreal (on a wrestling scale) as 9/11 was.  It's impact will never be truly appreciated, though, because it's been viewed as a big failure to capitalize on WWF/E's behalf.  Personally, when you acquire a tape library, rights, copywrites, and all other things, it could never be a failure, especially when you're talking about WCW.
 
Just think about it like this:  If I told you that in 2 years, TNA will legitimately own WWE, would you believe me?

WORST. DAY. EVER.

well as most, i had heard the rumors and wanted to believe it was just that..."rumors", then as the weeks went by you could see it happening and then BANG it was happening before my very eyes, i was to say the least very disappointed, i knew vince would finish killing wcw instead of making it a positive thing...as someone already mentioned he could have kept running all the companies, even allowing talent to move around as if it were a big deal, even though behind the scenes he was in control of it all, but even now till this day he thinks hestill has to defeat wcw and ecw??????????poor rich man?

Aside from the Nitro after Hogan's heel turn, I was NEVER more interested than I was that night.
 
I couldn't help but think of all the possibilities.  Austin/Goldberg, Sting/Rock...
 
Needless to say I am disappointed with the outcome.

I think the term invasion was a very misused word for the time.  When you think of an invasion, you think of someone or something making an impact.  Now, while I have much respect for many of the WCW guys that came over, can you seriously tell me that Lance Storm, Chuck Palumbo, Sean O'Haire, Kanyon, and i'm sure there are several that escape me right now are gonna make an impact.  It would have been better, if you had Sting, Hogan, Luger, Steiner, Flair, Harlem Heat, Hall and Nash, etc...all "invade" the WWE at this time.  I really think they dropped the ball, and it's by no fault of the WCW superstars.  I mean if I had a big guarenteed contract, and I was getting paid millions of dollars to sit on my a$$, i'd have done the same thing

No one company should control wrestling because as long as you have more then one , the fans get better shows,the wrestlers get paid better and treated alot better. i think as soon as linda and vince retire the wwe will fall apart because none of the kids have that killer instint.

Well , WCW was going down , Vince bought it on the fire sale. I don't know what else could have ever happened. I guess Hogan or someone could have bought the video history. As far as the talent WWF first got upon the buy , at least they all didn't become unemplyed overnight... Some stuff was trash though , like the immunity battle royal at Survivor Series.

Quote from Dan Michaels on May 29^th, 2007, 10:58am:

 
I hope they gave him the deluxe 3 disc treatment that Hart, Hogan,Dusty, and Flair got, but I wouldn't be surprised if he got 2 discs like Jake and the Road Warriors did.  Also Steamboat vs Savage better have Jesse Ventura's commentary remain in tact. Beyond that, I'm pretty open for what they put on it.

Best part of the whole thing was watching Jeff Jarrett get fired on live TV.  Also, I believe I read somewhere there will be a Best of Starrcade DVD set....hopefully as good quality as the T.H.E. version covering 83-87(the Thanksgiving Night years).

Quote from Sean on Jan 23^rd, 2008, 11:42pm:

it wasn't that simple.