Despite WCW being purchased by WWE six days before WrestleMania 17, Bruce Prichard says in no way, shape, or form would WrestleMania 17 have ever revolved around the utilization of major WCW Superstars, even if the true top stars were available.
WrestleMania 17, in many ways, was the culmination of the Attitude Era, and it came on the heels of the end of the Monday Night War. It was announced that Shane McMahon “bought” WCW on the final episode of WWE Monday Night Raw ahead of WrestleMania 17. While it was a brief shout-out to WCW wrestlers in a skybox, there were no significant WCW implications on WrestleMania 17.
On the most recent episode of his podcast, Something to Wrestle, Bruce Prichard was asked how much that would have changed had WWE been allowed to use names such as Sting, Goldberg, and other notable WCW superstars. Bruce remains steadfast that the company was proud of what they had going into the Houston Astrodome in 2001, and there would have been no inclusion of WCW wrestlers in any way.
“Guaranteed that WrestleMania would have gone — that was part of the deal as far as from our side. We had no desire whatsoever to bring them in and do anything for WrestleMania. WrestleMania was set. We had such a great story with Steve [Austin] and [Rock]. All across the board, WrestleMania was set, and trying to do anything with the WCW guys would have ruined it,” said Bruce.
The WCW Invasion would happen in 2001, but the storyline is primarily regarded as a failure due to the lack of many top stars associated with the WCW brand.
SEE MORE: Eric Bischoff Remembers The Day He Knew WCW Was Doomed For Failure
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