WWE Hall of Famer John Bradshaw Layfield has weighed in on long-standing speculation that Vince McMahon might have seriously considered giving WCW control of the Monday Night Raw timeslot after acquiring the rival company in 2001. According to JBL, while the topic may have been discussed, there was never any real intention behind it.

Speaking on the Something to Wrestle podcast with Conrad Thompson, JBL made it clear that he was never convinced the idea had any genuine weight behind it.

“I always knew Vince would change his mind,” he explained. “I would have bet everything I had that Vince would have changed his mind, and I’m not sure Vince did anything more than give that a little bit of lip service. I don’t believe any of that. I believe Vince said it, and I heard him talk about it.”

JBL also offered his take on the infamous WCW invasion storyline, which ran from March to November 2001. Despite the anticipation surrounding the angle, which featured WCW wrestlers appearing on WWE programming, the execution left many fans underwhelmed.

“We had Booker, we had Dallas, and we had a few of the guys that were great hands, Sean O’Hara and Palumbo; those guys were terrific workers,” he said. “But we didn’t get the NWO, we didn’t get Bret, we didn’t get any of those guys, so I just don’t think it would ever work.”

JBL suggested that the lack of top-tier talent severely hindered the invasion’s success. He pointed out that neither he nor Ron Simmons were seen as headline stars, yet they were positioned as the front line of WWE’s resistance to the invading WCW force.

“Look at the WCW invasion angle. Who was the lead against it? Me and Ron. We weren’t your main event guys either,” he said. “Because of that, you could look at it and say, ‘It’s not going to work.’”

Many of WCW’s biggest names chose not to jump ship right away, instead remaining under the terms of their high-paying Time Warner contracts, further limiting the storyline’s potential impact.