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.

Bischoff was doing business with Fusient Media Ventures, not Panda Energy.  
 
The deal fell through when Jamie Kellner cancelled WCW off of the Turner Networks because the promotion didn't mean squat without TV. The decision to cancel the programming may or may not have been influenced by then-WWF executive Stu Snyder's relationship with WCW boss Brad Siegel. The WWF had previously been in the running as one of the potential buyers (creating WCW, Inc. back in September 2000 to handle the transfer of resources), but their exclusive deal with Viacom prohibited a WWF owned WCW from airing on TBS and TNT. When Kellner cancelled it, Fusient pulled out, the green light was given for the WWF to move in., and ownership of assets were moved from Turner's World Championship Wrestling, Inc. to WWFE's WCW, Inc.
 
Either way, Turner was reportedly going to shut the company down by the end of the month anyway had a deal not been reached. However, it is interesting to note that the corporate shell of the Turner owned WCW, now known as Universal Wrestling Corp. (which was actually it's original name before it was changed to World Championship Wrestling, Inc.), is still listed on Georgia records as an active entity.

Quote from Parallax8672 on Jan 27^th, 2008, 11:35pm:

If you want to know more about the situation surrounding Bischoff--I recommend reading EB's book.  You would be amazed at how his power was not that great at a very early time in the Nitro era.  In fact, by the time the nWo was in full swing, the AOL/Time Warner merger was starting--and the corporate structure would put lawyers on Bischoff telling him what he could/could not do on TV (stuff like Bret showing up on Nitro with the belt was not a possibility), and profitability of WCW was judged on the EBITDA scale.  Later, he was not allowed to hire anyone for TV production--even though he was forced to produce "Thunder."  EB was in a tough spot for a few years there.

an easy answer for me is that vince buying wcw at the time he did had no real affect as wcw was on deaths door for awhile.  now the archives were really the gem as mentioned but i hate that vince owns them as all u will ever get is his crappy dvd sets with nothing really good or rare in them.  seeing old matches now with the wwe logo is a huge slap in the face.  vince has always put on crap he called wresling but is more like sideshow circus acts than wrestling.  i pray vince wont get anymore libraries.

Whenever I'm topwater fishing for largemouths up north in the summer, I always run over how badly Titan screwed up this acquisition/merger etc and moreover, how they SHOULD'VE done it.  
 
I was in grade 8 at the time and while I was an internet "smark" by then, I was still REALLY excited for the idea of Dream Matches and a WWF vs. WCW "war", because let's face it, with two huge promotions with two massive rosters, there is always some fantasy booking of "who would beat whom". However, after Booker did his KOTR runin and not much else followed,  I remember how even I was unimpressed at them calling it WCW, but really only having Booker, DDP and a bunch of powerplant guys. Then they go and merge with ECW and have Stephanie McMahon, Paul E. and Austin running "The Alliance" with no substancial WCW main eventer at the forefront of this "war" who were really bigtime WCW superstars when they were crushing Vince and eventually they just became a really lame Zgrade heel stable and got jobbed out miserably.  
 
What really burns my hyde is that three Wrestlemanias later, all bigtime main eventers from the WCW heyday had done a run with WWF aside from Sting, Savage and Luger. For my money, I think that it would've been the BIGGEST ANGLE EVER if they had laid down the big money and tried to buyout the bigtime names from WCW and have a trueblue WCW vs. WWF angle. I'm pretty positive that the angle could've gone on for a very long time, more than a few years and with proper booking, instead of a brand split, they could've successfully had a LEGITIMATE second, independent brand.
 
I'd have one major promotion under the WWF banner, however I’d have several bigtime stables at war with each other, with the ultimate theme be WCW vs. WWF and you'd also have some big turns and superstars jump stables and at the end, you have a really articulated and well developed angle.
 
WCW Main Event:
Goldberg- Face
nWo: Hogan, Hall,  Nash, Bishoff, X Pac, Triple H(big turn)- Heel
Roddy Piper
4 Horsemen: Flair, Benoit, Guerrero, Shane Douglas w/ AA. Tweener. We’re stretching w/ Douglas, but AA was retired and Mongo was long done by now and they weren’t doing anything with Eddie either.
The Giant- Heel
Scott Steiner- Heel
 
WCW Intercontinental/US Title:
DDP- Face
Raven- Heel
Booker T- Face
Rick Steiner- Heel
Dustin Rhodes w/ Dusty Rhodes- Heel
 
WCW Tag Teams:
Road Warriors- Heel
Rey Mysterio & Billy Kidman- Face
Bam Bam Bigelow & Chris Kanyon- Heel
Natural Born Thillers(O’Haire, Palumbo & Jindrek)
 
WWF Main Event:
Austin- Face
Vince McMahon- Heel
The Rock- Face
Mick Foley- Face
Angle- Heel
Jericho- Heel
Undertaker- Face
Kane- Heel
 
WWF Intercontinental/US Title:
RVD-face
Rikishi- Face
Val Venis- Heel
William Regal-Heel
Test- Heel
Billy Gunn-Face
 
WWF Tag Teams:
Hardy Boys- Face
Edge & Christian- Heel
Dudley Boys- Heel
APA- Heel
 
I’m not saying my roster would be the “best”, but I see it as a blueprint or a starting ground for where they could’ve gone with the potential roster at the WWF’s disposal and with all that talent, I’m positive that the WCW vs WWF angle could’ve gone on  for years and been stellar.
 
 
 

Vince bought a video collection , nothing more , nothing less. WCW was dead long before the sale. The WCW Eric built up had nothing to do with the NWA , it was dead before that sale. People always blame Vince , but somehow Dusty , Crockett , Gagne , Fritz and the heros of your weekend have nothing to do with it at all. Vince and co. took on WCW with a endless amount of money and a huge backer and killed them with Austin , Taker , Foley , HHH (all WCW throwaways mid carders) and The Rock. THE END!

Quote from JBLCENAFAN on Jan 5^th, 2012, 5:54pm:

 
Don't forget how big a role Vince using Paul Heyman's ideas played in WWF killing WCW.  Around the beginning of the Monday Night Wars, on WWF TV you didn't see blood, people going through tables and taking other extreme style bumps, catfights, and the more adult language that you started to hear in promos on WWF TV once Vince started copying Heyman's ECW and calling it "WWF Attitude."  Also, Vince hired Austin and Foley from ECW, not WCW.