In 2001, WWE's infamous invasion angle involving alumni from WCW & ECW crashed & burned purposely because Vince McMahon just had to make his former competitors look bad to boost his own ego. It was just unfortunate that Triple H, one of his top stars, was on the DL with a torn quad sustained in May of that year. Had the Cerebral Assassin been healthy, then maybe he and not Steve Austin defects to the Alliance, and, well, who knows how that would've ended.
In 2017, it looks as though NXT could be experimenting with a different kind of invasion.
At NXT Takeover: Brooklyn III, former ROH tag team champs reDRagon (Bobby Fish & Kyle O'Reilly) attacked newly crowned tag team champions SAnitY after the latter had dethroned the Authors of Pain. In fact, both the new and former champions were left lying. But Fish & O'Reilly weren't done. After Drew McIntyre punched Bobby Roode's ticket to the main roster (Smackdown, specifically) by winning the NXT title, reDRagon held McIntyre's attention long enough for Adam Cole to make his NXT debut, and the new champ was left lying as well.
More than a week has passed, and while the three ROH alums have since reported to the Performance Center at Full Sail, the creative staff still hasn't figured out how to present their motive for their attacks. Come on. It can't be that hard.
Consider who else from ROH is on the NXT roster. Roderick Strong, like Cole & O'Reilly, is a former ROH World champ, and has held the tag titles, like reDRagon, and, like Fish & Cole, is a former TV champ. He can transition to heel pretty easily, given his frustration over Roode, which now would be transferred to McIntyre.
Then, there is announcer Nigel McGuinness. If they really want to do this right, they could do an angle where McGuinness' countryman, William Regal, is somehow forced out (or gets called up in an emergency to either Raw or Smackdown to fill a vacant GM's chair), and McGuinness, previously the storyline booker/color analyst for ROH, could take the GM's job, revealed as the point man that opened the door for Cole & reDRagon. Tomasso Ciampa, another former ROH TV titlist, is on the DL now, but could be plugged in if this angle is ongoing when he is activated. Kassius Ohno isn't doing much to improve his position these days, is he?
Ember Moon was in ROH briefly (as Athena), and could be added to the mix, largely for the same reason as Strong, but with the women's title now vacant with Asuka vacating due to injury (you'll see the Empress of Tomorrow next on Raw, according to reports), there's less of a need to do that. For now.
And what of the main roster? A case could be made if they do another "superstar shakeup" to send Cedric Alexander down to join the fray, mostly to give him something more significant to do that would best utilize his talents. Another possibility is uniting the ROH alum on the main roster (Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, Kevin Owens, Seth Rollins, Alexander, Cesaro), with Daniel Bryan, beloved fan favorite, pulling a Hulk Hogan and turning heel on Shane McMahon, which would not only further the McMahon-Owens issue, but serve as an exit strategy for Bryan before his contract expires next year.
Triple H is a student of wrestling history. The only thing that would stop him from making this happen would be his father-in-law's meddling. And we don't want that now, do we? Hmmm, well, of course not. The players are in place. Make it happen.
