The Invasion (professional wrestling)
The final night of the Monday Night Wars occurred on March 26 2001: RAW primarily focused on the major storylines heading into WrestleMania X-Seven, while Nitro held their final episode with a Night Of Champions. Vince McMahon opened up Nitro and announced a simulcast later that night to address the future of WCW. Throughout RAW, McMahon publicly named several WCW wrestlers who would not be retained. After Sting defeated Ric Flair in WCW's final match, the simulcast began. McMahon talked about the buyout of WCW and toyed with the idea of making WCW into a huge media conglomerate, much like the WWF. He asked the crowd who he should keep under his belt by mentioning names of WCW wrestlers and asking for a reaction. Lex Luger received a negative reaction from fans, and Hulk Hogan, Buff Bagwell, Booker T, Scott Steiner, Sting, and Goldberg received positive reactions.  Vince then proceeded to fire them all, however, to the cheers of the RAW crowd and the jeers of the Nitro crowd. McMahon then announced that he would sign the contract and make the purchase official at WrestleMania. Shane McMahon, however, appeared on Nitro and announced that he had signed the contract and purchased WCW out from under his father's nose, planting the seed for what was considered a lucrative future storyline opportunity. The Invasion did not begin immediately afterwards, as the WWF was preparing for WrestleMania X-Seven, the year's largest show, mere days away.