The Alliance, also known as Team WCW/ECW and The Coalition, was a professional wrestling stable in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) that existed during the Invasion storyline from July to November 2001. The stable came about as a result of the WWF's purchase of World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in March 2001. The Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) name was brought in later to help boost the presence of WCW after the original promotion closed in April 2001.