Wrestling's Most Important Trio (Wrestling Documentary)

what's this nwo new world order here's exhibit a in how wrestling's heroic image has devolved hulk hogan in the 80s preached virtue to kids hulkamania became an epidemic a profit center for the wwf but today he is hollywood hogan wrestling for the rival wcw and he's a bad guy the neon lights were starting to dim and flicker out as one behemoth begins to stagnate an old rival ignites a revolution and brings in the dawn of a new age a weathered icon has changed his colours and turned to the dark side his back two outsiders brothers in arms who have recently been unshackled and their true abilities brought into reality these three men amongst other heroes of the age would blow a gust of change which would ripple through the universe for decades to come it was time for the new world order most commonly shortened to the nwo were one of the most revolutionary teams in all of pro wrestling history they threw down the bright colours and over-the-top character traits and brought the world a sense of gritty realism which saw their new employers world championship wrestling beat their bitter and long-standing rivals in wwe hulk hogan had left wwe the company which he had an instrumental part in the early success of then the world wrestling federation and headed to their main competitors only to receive a lukewarm reception from live crowds he needed to evolve razer ramon and diesel had dropped their monikers from wwf and become the much more to life scott hall and kevin nash respectively and after a brief spell as the outsiders in one of the most shocking and memorable moments in all of pro wrestling history on live wcw television teamed with hulk hogan formed a formidable faction the nwo and pushed wcw to continued success in the famed monday night wars in the mid to late 90s i had hoped initially we'd get a successful six to eight month story out of the nwo i had no idea it would become as big as it became and still is hulk hogan's initial run in wcw saw him dressed in the classic red and yellow continuing to say his prayers and eat his vitamins and defeat almost everyone put before him his move from wwf had brought with it a reinvigorate passion for the business but after a while fans once again grew tired of seeing the same four or five moves from hogan defeating everyone on the roster this is when the pivotal moment of hogan's career occurred he reinvented himself as a villainous hill and shocked the wrestling world it was a different time the internet was not as prominent as today people thought it was real other wcw wrestlers thought it was real we told the story that vince sent me and kev to join hulk and cancel wcw scott hall appeared first making his way through the crowd and delivered his now infamous you want a war speech promising that he had a challenge for the wcw locker room hall brought with him all of the charisma and charm which had been evident in his wwf rana's razer ramon as well as his finisher the race's edge a man whose career spanned decades across the most popular time in the industry's history something that scott hall was no small part of from his time in the awa scott hall with his larger-than-life charisma and his larger than most stature to his time in the late 80s in new japan where hall towered over his competitors as an outsider american character through his run as the diamond stud in wcw using the crucifix power named the diamond drop where scott hall gained notoriety and was quickly signed to a new deal with competitor wwf in 1992 after wcw seemingly had nothing for his character moving forward later in 1992 scott hall appeared as razor ramon for the first time a character based off of tony montana from scarface a cuban bad guy just oozing with love to hate him charisma razor ramon had a great run as historic intercontinental champion and stayed with the wwf using his now named razor's edge finisher his now evolved crucifix powerbomb variant a key figure in the battle for dominance on television in the late 90s during the monday night wars as one part of the massively influential outsiders when scott hall and kevin nash left wwe in 1996 to join their fierce rivals wcw and form one of the most influential and divisive factions in pro wrestling history in the new world order aligning with perennial babyface at least at the time hulk hogan another icon of wcw's rival wwf at this time scott hall adapted the crucifix powerbomb once again into the aptly named outsider's edge the razer ramone character belonged to wwf at the time the company hilariously choosing to keep both kevin nash and scott hall's on-screen personalities alive in the wake of the two men's departure with these two terrible and at the time much hated replacements one of whom the man playing nash went on to become an industry legend and future hall of famer big red machine kane scott hall and kevin nash became just that as they transitioned to wcw keeping their real names and assuming a lot more control over their matches and storylines the depth of scott hall's importance to wrestling at this time is far too important and best left for another video suffice to say scott hall went on to have a brief spell and infamous wrestling promotion ecw in 2002 and made trips back to japan in 2001 hall featured sporadically for several promotions over the next few years in the us especially standing out in tna where his crucifix powerbomb became simply known as the edge a few weeks later hall was joined by nash when the pair accosted eric bischoff at the commentary booth big sexy kevin nash had all the size and power to be a top star in any wrestling promotion around the world however his time as diesel in wwf saw him pick up the dubious honor of least popular and lowest drawing world champion in the company's history when he left wwf he also wanted to leave that part of his character behind bringing with him to wcw a more realistic and vicious approach to his matches his jackknife powerbomb also came with him and its added venom saw many a foe laid out in the what's the ring part of your job every two weeks when i get paid i just wanted to stick brett and have him beat because taker had brett b and i screwed him at the rumble and flipped him off and walked away so in order for tit-for-tat i had to have brett beat brett wouldn't take the finish vince caved on making brett do the finish and he wouldn't do that for business because that was right for business that's when i said f it i'm out i'll take the money from wcw because you're not doing what's right at the next few events the newly dubbed outsiders could be found attacking wcw talent backstage lurking around matches and distracting audiences from the in-ring action with their mere presence at ringside all the while building anticipation through cryptic promos and a promise of something big about to happen that they would be joined by a third man initially the plan was for the final part of the nwo trio was sting eric bischoff had arranged for the colourful glittering hero of the early 90s to turn to the dark side even though sting ended up with his now iconic black and white look taken from the classic film the crow the idea of him entering into the hill stable never worked out once sting agreed to be the third man it was literally within days that i ended up getting a phone call from hulk hogan and flew out to california i hadn't spent a ton of time thinking about or communicating with staying about the best way to present this new character what i'm about to say is what i would have hoped i'd done i would not have wanted to see him in face paint the idea behind the nwo was to make it more real and more believable there are no two ways about it no real room for debate hulk hogan is one of the most culturally significant pro wrestler to have ever laced up his boots and beyond that is one of the most recognizable faces of the 20th century in the united states leaving the charge as the face of the wwf as hulkamania ran wild and brought in an exciting new combination of pro wrestling athleticism and hollywood celebrity hulk hogan adorned in his classic yellow and red attire became a household name throughout his prestigious award-studied career he made the transition from the wrestling ring to the silver screen and maintained a presence as a notable public figure for over four decades beloved by millions around the globe for his heroic antics and succession of high caliber victories throughout the 80s and 90s hulk hogan even today remains one of the all-time most popular performers in pro wrestling history and with a wrestling career which saw him selling out arenas around america and selling truckloads of merchandise as well as signing numerous endorsement and advertising contracts it's safe to say that terry belaya the man behind the legend has reaped the rewards of his success a bash at the beach in 1996 when nash hall were set to take on lex luger randy savage and sting the outsiders were at a numbers disadvantage and promised to reveal the third man of their trio in one of the most shocking and memorable moments in all of pro wrestling history they teamed with hulk hogan and formed the formidable faction the new world order the newly formed trio defeated the good guys when hogan landed a leg drop on randy savage and covered him with what many considered to be an incredibly disrespectful manner this from the man who's soon to be seen portraying santa at christmas time now he spray paints spits defiles and beats up anyone in his pants the leg drop and hulk hogan go way back at wrestlemania 3 in one of the most iconic moments in all of pro wrestling hulk hogan swept under the giant of his feet and body slammed the behemoth right into the annals of sports entertainment legend and although that moment is seared into most grappling fans memories the historic match was actually won when hulk hogan came crashing down onto andre the giant with his finisher a leg dropped hulk hogan said when i dropped the leg and nobody kicked out it meant something in the arena nowadays in professional wrestling if somebody uses a leg drop for a finish you'd probably have to come off the top of the building to get your opponent to stay down and although many wrestlers before hogan had used a variant of a sitting leg drop onto their opponent there is no doubt that wrestlemania 3 was the moment that the move really came into the history books of pop culture in the united states hogan is said to have learned his iconic finishing technique whilst he was a wrestler in japan he said so when i brought it back to the states and i started dropping the leg and the referee started counting it was like a cannon one two three so i knew i was onto something but it was just my luck i dropped the leg in japan and got the reaction that i did so i just stuck with it the leg drop stayed as part of hogan's finish to matches throughout his entire career he must have punched his opponent pointed at them and dropped the leg a thousand times but that night at bash at the beach in 1996 the leg drop signified more than just a victory for the hulkster over randy savage as his leg landed on the macho man's chest it ushered in a new age for the entire pro wrestling industry world wrestling champ hulk hogan's career could now be aptly titled the good the bad and the ugly our e-cameras caught up with the new hollywood hulk hogan and his band of vigilantes who call themselves the nwo or the new world order stone cold steve austin spoke on the incident saying i was watching this with my guys before the show austin said i said hey man that's disrespect am i right tell me about the cover for some people they don't get this but when you make a cover in that position it's almost like dude you're supposed to be here and here i am with a little something extra i said dude he's too high and not close to savage's body this pushed wcw to continued success in the famed monday night wars in the mid to late 90s helping wcw triumph from the 6th of june for 83 weeks in a row the reaction of the crowd that night on the pay-per-view told us something different was happening the anti-hero became the hero and that was a direct parallel to what was happening in society and so much of that night was unpredictable but seemingly the massive success of the nwo wasn't enough for hogan who claimed that it was in fact his idea to form the trio and turn hill at the time hogan stated i originally came up with the idea for the new world order group in wcw but i wanted it to be brutus beefcake the nasty boys and myself eric bischoff heavily disputed this claim i was over there kind of studying what worked over there and the differences between the way the product was presented in japan and here in the states and one of the things i noticed is it was so much more real there the storylines the characters the action in the ring was more reality based and here in the united states it was more character kind of comedy cartoonish and in studying it i was kind of watching the intercompany wars and that kind of thing and that's where the idea started scott hall also disagrees with hogan's claim saying we had no idea who it was going to be the whole third guy thing came up by accident we wanted it to be hulk but hulk had creative control in his contract so he didn't have to do anything he didn't want to we went to the ring we hadn't even met hulk yet i met him briefly at wrestlemania 9 but i didn't know hulk we actually went to the ring in daytona and hogan wasn't even there yet he was on a jet flying cross country from shooting a movie bischoff wanted it to be hulk but before we went out bischoff told us if hulk doesn't show up i'm gonna send out sting kevin nash also remembers things slightly differently to hulk it was actually eric's idea eric pitched it to me he came out to scottsdale arizona and pitched the idea i remember them doing something similar in japan but it wasn't that big of a deal it was effective but it wasn't what the nwo became so i said okay the nwo's appearance in wcw were so believable to some that wwf filed a lawsuit against their rivals stating tbs proposed inter-promotional matches in order to associate wcw with wwf even though eric bischoff had clearly stated that nation hall were no longer signed to wwf and even asked bash on the beach are you employed by the wwe to kevin nash to which he responded with a resounding no the lawsuit dragged on for some time after the nwo's debut and was eventually settled out of court i knew i could work as a heel because i'd watched so much of ray stevens and pat patterson and superstar billy graham and the great malenco hogan said they'd chop kick and beat the crap out of you but then they'd backpedal cross their heart and drop to their knees the moment the baby face would make his comeback for me the problem was the timing i didn't know if that was the right timing to do it in the weeks that followed bash at the beach the nwo began to expand seeking to recruit more big names to their faction with their end goal being to split away from wcw and remain as the domineering unit of the wrestling industry the first member to join was ted dibiase who acted as the group's financial advisor and manager during matches being another ex-wwe performer helped to solidify the idea that the company was legitimately taking over the wcw brand and invading their programming shortly after virgil another ex-wwe performer joined the nwo as the head of security under the name vincent a clear nod to wwe owner vincent mcmahon the wcw world champion giant initially feuded with the group losing his belt in a match against hogan at the hog wild pay-per-view after the match horn nash held the wcw belt up in the air whilst hogan used black spray paint to mark the nwo logo onto it creating what is now an iconic image and a variant on the classic belt which would remain for hogan's entire run as champion the giants initially resisted the group after the defeat only to quickly join them citing their viability and taking over wcw and the increased paycheck that he would receive my character at the time was cartoonish but joining the nwo gave me an opportunity to connect with a character that was more me i was able to believe in what i did in a different way becoming more real and more legitimate and that helped me connect more with an audience hex pack was another wrestler who had recently switched sides between wwe and their rivals and with the new name of six aka six-pack soon became a member of this ever expanding faction the faction even recruited their very own match official referee nick patrick who would preside over all of their shenanigans bending the rules and turning a blind eye to their underhanded tactics during matches this was a move of pure genius from the creative team at wcw now there was a reason that the new world order could get away with causing so much mayhem and still remain victorious in the ring it made me as a young fan hate nick patrick and added to the feeling of animosity i had towards the group in general most people don't like a cheetah but even less people like a cheetah who can get away with it and prosper the nwo were the villains at least initially they were attempting to upset the status quo within their newly joined company and were set on a path of destruction over all of the company's biggest stars hogan recalls we needed a certain type of heat i was someone they had loved and believed in so in order for this to work there needed to be the right reaction that's what we got when people when the crowd started throwing water bottles trash and everything else at us in the ring that's what we needed and we got all these people here along with ted turner got a lot of golf man we are the heartbeat of the hottest cable show on tv today they call it wcw monday nitro soon to be nw the oh success created from the birth of the new world order made world championship wrestling's monday night nitro the most watched program on cable television prompting the network to request a second weekly show which became wcw thunder at least initially proved to be the macho man randy savage who was enraged when his wife and longtime valet miss elizabeth joined the faction savage's history with nwo leader hogan and the fact that randy was the man who hogan originally turned on to form the alliance with nation hall made the rivalry all the more intense at halloween havoc in 1996 hall and nash defeated harlem heath to become the wcw tag team champions and hogan defeated savage to retain his belt now not only did the new world order hold the passion from the fans and the attention of those in the locker room but also all three major championships within the company at the end of the event roddy piper made a surprise return and came face to face with hulk with him piper brought a revelation he had hinted at the fact that the nwo were not working alone in their coup of wcw and were in fact working with someone high up in the company in order to reach their goals roddy piper revealed this person to be eric bischoff to the shock of many fans around the wrestling world at this point there was no montreal screwjob nor was there an evil vince mcmahon in wwf eric bischoff's turn from mild-mannered announcer into an on-screen mastermind and maniacal cohort of wcw's biggest enemies revolutionized the way in which pro wrestling was presented forever with his now complete turn to the dark side eric bischoff gave the wcw wrestlers an ultimatum they must either give up their allegiance to wcw and join the nwo or become the next targets of the faction and face annihilation at this time the next phase of the group began with the likes of big bubba rogers scott norton vk wall street and buff bagwell or choosing the black and white t-shirt over the idea of being left black and blue from a beating one man who decided to don black and white but in a whole different way was of course sting it was around that time that it became clear that wcw's only hope of repelling the ongoing invasion would be the man who spent his time watching on from the rafters sting was the vigilante that wcw needed and would descend into altercations involving the nwo and serve as protector over the rest of the roster with silent attacks from his lethal black bat as hall nash hogan and their group focused on gaining followers and titles sting stayed steadfast in his belief that good would overcome evil this rivalry between sting and hogan would bubble up over the next year and a half by 1997 hulk hogan had taken steps to further distance himself from his persona from his time in wwf i had a certain way of doing interviews but i remember kevin and scott saying you don't need to get every word in and just be cool that changed everything i was still in that machine gun cadence of doing the hulk hogan promos and they changed the way i delivered interviews at the start of the year nwo were given their very own pay-per-view by eric bischoff a night themed around the core 3 of the group and styled in black white and gray with the giant now removed from the faction due to his disobedience towards hogan the pair would meet in the main event it was a night filled with unsatisfying matches hogan and the giant drew to a finish with a no contest due to outside interference and lopsided officiating holland nash lost the tag belts to the steiners but were immediately handed the titles back by eric bischoff i understand that this was all in service to the long-term story of the nwo and their evil grip over their management within the company but watching a pay-per-view and you find out that all of the finishes to the main matches don't really matter can feel rather deflating in hindsight this should have been a huge red flag a time to realize that in pro wrestling individual shows and moments count just as much as long-term booking when it comes to the satisfaction of fans however this was just a taste of what was to come over the course of the nwo story as we will soon find out at super brawl in february hogan faced off against longtime foe and roddy piper when returning randy savage made his way to the ring during the bout it seemed like hogan was finally going to get his comeuppance at the hands of two of his oldest rivals but in an unpredictable turn of events savage attacked piper and handed the victory to hogan before officially revealing himself as the newest member of the new world order later at the uncensored show after hogan nash hall and savage defeated two other teams they were awarded the right to challenge for any championship within wcw at a time that they saw fit as they celebrated sting made his way from above the arena and decimated everyone with his bat letting the nw know that even if the company was beginning to buckle under their continued assault he would always be watching waiting for a moment to strike dennis rodman played hooky and the whole world watched what seemed surreal yesterday became chaotic today at this time it became clear that a rift had begun to form amongst the founding members of the nwo with a tension between hogan and nash arising due to their differing desires for the group hogan was more interested in how the group were perceived and recruited nba legend dennis rodman to the faction to help win them more fans dennis rodman went awol on monday and he decided to do the wrestling thing with his buddies in detroit the world wanted to know would dennis show up for practice tuesday morning i've got phil jackson going where's my guy at where's my guy at i'm going rodman phil jackson keeps blowing up my phone you got to go back and brodman says i don't want to go back i told phil whenever he got paid he should just be too i mean distribute it to the players split it up evenly you know i don't know if he's going to do that or not but uh you know phil i'm pretty sure it was pretty upset it because it takes away from what we're trying to achieve at this particular time nash meanwhile was still solely focused on the domination of wcw and was concerned that hogan was losing his ruthless touch my soul thinking when i go outside i want to make sure i'm having fun if i'm having fun it's usually contagious to the people that watch it after a year of winning the victory streak of hogan came to an end when he teamed with dennis rodman to take on lex luger and the giant at bash at the beach the pair came unstuck and were defeated leading to lex being awarded a chance to challenge hogan for his wcw belt in august luga forced hogan into the torture rack during their title match on nitro hogan submitted and lost the belt in a moment which seemed like it could be the end of the nwo's dominance however this is hulk hogan we're talking about he may not be wearing his red and yellow nor saying his prayers and eating his vitamins anymore but the man knew how to stay on top just five days later in a rematch against luga at the road wild pay-per-view hogan was victorious and set the faction back onto the winning track i was in shock i guess the masterminds felt fans needed something because they laid us out week after week after week which worked tremendously however they wanted to give the fans what we call give them a bone to bridge the gap between then and when sting was going to come back that's an honor i was hand-picked to do it one of the most important and disgust moments in wrestling history is the montreal screwjob so as you can imagine hulk hogan the man who is seemingly always desperate to be the one in the limelight has his own take on the incident he said well brett was supposed to lose to sure michael was at uh uh wrestlemania uh whatever the hell it was you know 16 or 17 i don't know where all the fans were chanting brett screwed brett brett told vince mcmahon i'm not losing to sean michaels in canada and sean michaels went out there and pulled a fast one on bret hart and held him down and pinned him and brett couldn't do anything about it and so-called excellence of execution who was supposed to be the greatest wrestler of all time little teeny shawn michaels held him down and embarrassed him though bret hart was being a horse's ass saying he wouldn't lose and sean michaels pinned him anyway that's not what happened the montreal screwjob happened at survivor series not wrestlemania 16 or 17 whatever i don't know like hogan said fans weren't cheering brett screwed bret on the night it comes from a vince mcmahon interview way after the fact and probably most importantly sean never pinned brett he famously held brett in his own sharp shooter submission one of the most iconic images in all of pro wrestling history most likely did hogan really not know about how it went down if not why did he just make up several key details about what happened key details which are easily verified as false and most casual wrestling fans would realize it were not true why would hogan lie about an event which he had zero involvement in it just baffles my mind on wcw the night after the screw job the nwo took to the air in canadian flag clothing and making clear reference to the idea that bret hart signed the wcw logo into the air on the previous night's wwf survivor series pay-per-view however it wouldn't be hart who would be the first to jump ship to wcw from their rival following the fallout of the screw job no no that was rick rude calling me 15 minutes after montreal went down that sunday night i'm sitting in my house with my wife and my kids that was rick the phone was right next to the couch where i was sitting and rick called me and he said man are you seeing this i said no and he started explaining it to me and he said man is there room for me there oh absolutely by that point i was pretty good friends with rick i said if you're free there's room for you brother come on down and he was there the next day famously after appearing on a pre-taped episode of monday night raw in wwf rick rood made his way to wcw and appeared on monday nitro the very same evening immediately letting the fans know exactly how he felt about what vince mcmahon had done and aligned himself as the newest member of the nwo match that we built up with you and hogan at starrcade the finish of that match is one that's been discussed and debated and eric bischoff said on the starcade 97 main event we knew what the finish we wanted was before we even got to the building we knew before we got on a plane we knew about it months in advance we knew we wanted sting to go over how he went over he had to go over strong he had to end the story exactly how the audience wanted it to end on the highest note possible that was the finish going in this one's a little strange but allow me to explain 18 months is a long time in pro wrestling but a year and a half is what the initial meeting between sting and hulk hogan deserved a slow drawn out story which would have fans captivated every week reaching a peak at wcw's biggest show of the year and the end of the storyline which would live long in the memory which it does for the wrong reasons hell i was the one that had to say was that a fast count that was a fast i thought it was going to be a fast count what the fuck's going on sting and hulk hogan were the two franchise guys and the franchise guys were butting heads over what was going to happen one guy came up to me and told me to fast counter give him some heat and give him an out while the other guy said don't fast count it just keep it nice and slow i think if we'd have just kept with the game plan and done what we had all agreed on things would have been a lot different nick patrick established wcw wrestling referee admitted that hulk spoke to him and rigged a part of a match between him and sting at starcade 97. the ref was asked by hogan to make the pin count as slow as possible making sting look weak after the beating he'd received and the loss from hogan eric bischoff wanted there to be a fast count so the sting would look strong in defeat and further add to the idea that the referee was on the side of hogan and the nwo all along and nick patrick got caught right in the middle the person in charge didn't want to make a call he didn't want to decide it was a year-long plan and it was in motion and that day suddenly it it wasn't in motion like it was anymore interrupting hogan's celebrations a debuting bret hart made his way to the ring and explained the referee's fast count was illegal declaring himself the ref and making the match restart fairly it seems pretty straightforward by pro wrestling standards if not a bit crazy by the real world standards until we listen to nick patrick and find out that he was instructed to make a normal speed count a fast count and a slow count by different people backstage and didn't know what to do resulting in the original pin from hogan to sting a normal paced call thus making brett's interruptions seem like a villainous move and diminishing his esteem with the crowd in this moment hogan shows how well he understands the subtleties of pro wrestling and how just a small difference in how a match plays out can have huge ramifications moving forward he showed that he was willing to yet again go behind the back of the performer he was facing in the ring and make on agreed changes in order to make himself look better as starrcade went off the air the fans in the audience and at home were left confused bret hart's debut felt oddly timed and lackluster hogan the villain seemed like he had been screwed out of his victory and sting the hero even in victory with the wcw title around his waist was the one doing all of the plotting but i think it was due to all the chaos that happened you know the hours that you know of that day that led up to the match nothing felt right and it led to weeks of uncertainty from the company the controversy of the finish of the match continued on after the show and the title belt was made vacant until sting and hogan could resolve the debate on who the true wcw champion was replays of the referees count and bret hart's actions were played and discussed the following week on wcw television the way in which the crowd had been so dissatisfied with the hulk and sting encounter meant wcw needed to attempt to rekindle the feud quickly this led to a rematch at the super brawl pay-per-view on february the 22nd 1998 sting beat hogan to win the wcw world heavyweight title a moment which was hard earned and well deserved by sting following hogan's lead many former superstars of the world wrestling federation like the macho man randy savage enjoyed new success in the wcw vince mcmahon was going for younger wrestlers at the time you know he was going with a new generation theme nothing more than that you know and uh i was doing announcing for him over there and i just don't want to be participating by march of 1998 wcw's rivals were beginning to make stone cold steve austin their main star with this change brought with it increased viewership and higher ticket sales something which directly damaged the bottom line of executives inside world championship wrestling to fight back against the momentum beginning to gather inside of wwf decision makers at wcw pushed monday nitro to three hours in order to sell more advertising slots the biggest night on tv is getting bigger raw is now three hours every monday at eight this three-hour show has since been preferred by wwe in the modern day a change which many of the show's detractors online say is a leading issue in the declining quality of wwe's weekly shows in the modern era and even back then going from a two to three hour weekly show caused a steady but noticeable decline in quality as the material in each program was either spread thin to accommodate the longer time slot or in many cases simply meant that wcw were forced to present fans with lower quality matches to fill the time this was an issue which was only worsened when wcw executives decided to add another show to their weekly lineup on thursday nights they would display their brand new thunder show in august with the idea that eventually the nwo would grow large enough in order to create a second roster to fill out thunder's airtime leading up to the uncensored show hogan and randy savage were embroiled in a game of one-upmanship as each tried to show that they were the best wrestler in the nwo this led to a still cage match where the pair attempted to settle the score once and for all but no victor was declared on the night after the match randy savage declared that hulk hogan and his fellow nwo teammates were conspiring against the macho man in the main event of uncensored scott hall attempted and failed to take sting's wcw belt away from him it was around this time that kevin nash and hulk hogan began to show that their clear differences were beginning to have a strain on the group when hogan attacked nash after they had wrestled as tag team partners it was clear for the world to see when it came time for hulk to once again challenge for the nwo title it was now held by his fellow group member and long-time rival randy savage are you guys good guys are you bad guys everyone's hitting everybody with chairs right we're just whatever we are just kind of like a rebel group of people it's like jesse james doc holliday billy the kid all banded together and uh sometimes we get along and sometimes we don't during the match kevin nash came out to powerbomb hogan as retribution for the holsters recent blindside attack but as bret hart managed to lay the limp hogan's arm over the also seemingly unconscious savage hogan won back his wcw title at this moment the first major fracture within the new world order tore the entire group apart these are the decisions made by the creative think tanks in wrestling there's a brainstorming uh that goes on for the first couple hours of a meeting and then basically you've got to get down to nuts and bolts you've got to get something down whether you want to call it in our business a script or what you're going to do but basically there comes a time when the brainstorming has to stop and bam from his heyday in the 80s hulk hogan says he's down 70 pounds and now steroid free but that some of his fellow wrestlers are not i don't think it'll ever go away completely as long as there's a competitive nature in any type of physicality and there's a competitive edge to be gained i think whether it's illegal or illegal some people will cross that line or step up to that line to gain that advantage melanie pillman says it was hulk hogan who told brian he could obtain hgh from dr edmund chen at the life extension institute and a former wrestler who wished to remain anonymous says hogan recommended chen to many wrestlers the nwo wolf pack was during the monday night wars that was during a time the business with wwe and us was at its peak that was a fun time i have great memories of that in april of 1998 kevin nash and randy savage came to the ring and were joined by conan miss elizabeth kurt henning and rick rude they were the nwo wolf pack and would be identified by their classic nwo t-shirts instead of the classic white and black wore red instead in 1998 the talk of the wcw wrestling fans was surrounding the ongoing feud between the nwo red and black wolf pack and the original black and white hollywood nwo so in order for nwo to have their own show and have their own roster too deep enough to sustain a two or at some point three hour show there had to be more nwo members and eventually peel off and turn on the original nwo and all that kind of storyline i was building up the nwo roster so i could eventually have wcw on thunder nwo on nitro and have my two companies so to speak battling each other good idea bad idea doesn't matter at this point but that was the idea it's a very physical sport it's it's entertainment at its best but at the same time sometimes you're expected to jump out of the grandstands into a dixie cup you know without water the red and black wolf pack were not the only breakaway from the original nwo lineup not by a long stretch throw in the hollywood nwo led by hogan and that's two count the original group and that's three but what if i told you that before its eventual demise the nwo would have no less than 15 split off groups and variations in the same way that anything in pop culture that becomes successful ends up spawning imitators and off-shooting brands who all want a slice of the finances attached with such a popular product the nwo was the hottest thing in all of pro wrestling and not just in north america either everybody knows who we are everybody knows what we do when we come in we take over wcw wwe we take over and now we're in japan and with team monster we take over japanese wrestling now from 1996 the buzz of the nwo had already reached japan a year later in december of 97 on an episode of wcw nitro sunny ono was interviewed by gene oakland the pair discussed masahiro chono's employment status with new japan pro wrestling and the status of his contract with wcw this led to chono appearing with an nwo t-shirt on to proclaim that he had turned down new japan's contract offer and was to be the newest and first international member of the new world order traveling back to japan masahiro chono become the nwo's representative and an invader in his home country quickly setting to work building the nwo japan chono was joined by hiro saito and hiroyoshi tenzan the environment was different but the intentions of the nwo was to remain the japanese outfit aimed to add more members in their pursuit of dominance over the new japan roster leading to an approach being made to kaiju muto the man behind the great muta character initially resistant after a hard-fought set of matches but still wanted to remain loyal to new japan in the process this led to a period where the japanese team would travel for televised matches in the us on wcw television and began to align themselves with their american counterparts in the process nwo japan was briefly joined by the likes of buff bagwell with kevin nash and scott hall joining them on a tour of asia in 1997. by 1998 chono had become the iwgp heavyweight title holder and new japan's new champion making the new world order japan faction with chono at the helm more relevant than ever however in september when he was sidelined due to a neck injury kaiju muto stepped up as the face of the group with the new leadership nwo japan begun to change its course and head in a lighter and more honourable direction kaiju muto was a good guy at heart and even though he had aligned himself with chono to protect his career in japan muta always seemingly knew what they were doing was wrong when masahiro chono returned within me brought a fury in the face of the new way in which muta was running the ship this led to a separate breakaway faction in japan led by chono and known as team 2000 with him chono brought jeffrey farmer aka nwo sting an imposter of the popular wcw character a micro tundra with him and mma champion don fry to complete the new lineup over the next few years the team would feature mainly in segments which heavily focused on the rivalry between the warring nwo japanese factions mike rotunda left to travel back to wcw stateside and sting eventually left the group when his extended tours of japan finished at this time chono defeated nwo japan and absorbed his members into his own now mega group team 2000 featured the likes of japanese wrestlers such as satohoshi kojima hiroyoshi tenzan and long time new japan booker gaydo the group in hindsight also hosted a number of international stars who would go on to make massive names for themselves later in their careers dr death steve williams was a part of the faction at one stage under another disguise as the black tiger silver king who you may remember from his time in wcw or more recently his starring role as ramses the villain in 2006's nacho libre eddie guerrero traveled to japan and featured at this time for team 2000 as did a fresh-faced great carly as his revered giant sim character by 2002 the group had disbanded with the various competitors spreading their wings on their own personal journeys for a team which was built as a response to nwo japan which itself was in turn created as an offshoot of the original american new world order team 2000 was more successful and created a larger legacy for its members than most logic would seem to right dictate gonna be alright [Applause] give me a break the kids know the nwo school they know what it takes to get by but then when it's time to take care of business you step in the ring and you make the first move when it's time to be santa you step up to the mark and chop down the first tree we just got done body slamming turner his organization is big high-rise in atlanta and the whole wcw now the nwo we're going to body slam beverly hills in the little click around here just like we did the whole wrestling room after kevin nash had dissolved the nwo wolf pack he once again reunited with hulk hogan and scott hall in order to rekindle the initial spark which turned the super group into a household name hey man you too can join the party at the end of your time using this instance as a reason to cut some of the less popular members from the pool drawn of wolf pack and hollywood nwo talent the group was for a brief time streamlined featuring some of the biggest names in pro wrestling at the time and certainly the lion's share of main eventers within wcw and would run for a successful eight months the nwo of elite comprised of kevin nash scott hall hulk hogan eric bischoff and scott steiner conan and lex luger and would later go on to feature buff bagwell david flair tory wilson disco inferno and miss elizabeth as it seemed wcw couldn't control their urge to add ever-increasing numbers to their factions even when it was clear that this bloated approach was not only becoming stale for the fans at home watching the screen but the bloated roster was forcing the company to hemorrhage money on its plummeting decline from atop the wrestling world when wcw president eric bischoff was unveiled as the mastermind behind the formation of the nwo he delivered a strongly worded message to the entire wcw roster bischoff declared that either the wrestlers in the locker room must join the faction or face destruction at their hand marcus alexander bagwell was floating around in a directionless and fairly forgettable duo alongside scott riggs known as the american males a name which was fittingly bland for the pairing so when bischoff delivered his ultimatum bagwell turned on his partner and aligned with the nwo with the help of scott norton who had also decided to side with the new world order as a faction within a faction norton and bagwell became the vicious and delicious arm of the nwo competing in matches against any team who dare oppose their ever-growing stable however at this time the wcw tag division was dominated by two teams one of which were the almighty steiners the other was the pairing of scott hall and kevin nash so with their new allegiance to hall and nash's faction vicious and delicious had put themselves in a position where they had no real chance to move up the card or challenge for the wcw tag titles it didn't help their case in the eyes of the bookers that scott norton was also signed to a contract in japan which left bagwell stuck in pointless single matches meaning the team had no real chance to build any real chemistry and seemingly never clipped with fans after seeking the permission from ecw owner paul heyman and agreeing with raven to part ways at november to remember 1996 inside of the ecw arena the blue world order originally featured stevie richards as big stevie cole a parody of kevin nash the blue guy whose take on the bad guy scott hall was made all the hilarious by their opposing visual appearance and rounding off the trio was hollywood nova filling the role of hulk hogan the group would eventually feature thomas the inchworm as dennis rodman three and a half for cleverpan on six's character and the aptly named stink the bwo's answer to wcw main aventa sting stevie richards quickly became the standout of the group and was pushed heavily throughout this time making it into the main event scene and challenging for the ecw world heavyweight title however after suffering a serious injury at the hands of terry funk when he landed awkwardly on the guard rouse richards was forced to temporarily step away from ecw in order to recover in his absence the group had lost their front man and eventually collapsed in 1998 this would not be the end for the bwo however what was created for a single show and massively outperformed his expectations created a small but lasting legacy within the pro wrestling landscape it may just be a silly parody based off childish humor and slapstick but something about this wacky group dressed up in blue endured in 2005 when wwe had bought the rights to the ecw brand and put on their one night stand pay-per-view the bwo were reunited to the delight of wrestling fans in the era joey styles proclaimed when the group made their entrance if any gimmick never deserved to make a dime and made a boatload of cash this was it and the best part is that they couldn't sue us because it's a parody over the next couple of years the bwo featured as a team against groups such as the mexicals their most famous incident came when jbl tracked down the blue meanie during a mass brawl in the ring and attacked the smaller man for real this left the blue meanie in a right state bleeding from his nose and mouth with the crowd wondering what they had just witnessed it came to light that blue meanie had legitimately stood up to jbl backstage after the pair were involved in an altercation which ended with the meanie calling jbl a locker room bully this drew the angered reaction from jbl at the ecw show which proved that he was in fact a bully just as the meanie had proclaimed this led to bwo taking on jbl in a no disqualifications match in which stevie richards almost took jbl's head off with a sickening chair shot and blue mini got the win this real-life drama could not serve to elevate the group unfortunately and they silently faded away from tv appearances before being released by wwe since 2010 the blue world order has featured sporadically in various iterations over the years different members of the group have reunited in the us europe and japan and have gone on to appear in tna shikara and one pro wrestling in the uk to add to the already ridiculous nature of these mind-bending factions comings and goings we even saw a fake blue meanie featured at tna hardcore justice in 2010 under the name of the blue tilly i can go even further than that just as the original nwo had spawned a japanese variant so did the bwo when at ecw barely legal takamichinoku terry boy and dick toga were rebranded as bwo japan and came out in their very own versions of the classic branded t-shirt whilst i explain this you'll have to bear with me as it gets rather convoluted the blue world order japan was a parody of new world order japan an offshoot brand of their american counterparts whilst also being a direct reference to the original bwo from their interactions on ecw programming and the fact that they took their name directly from said group the bwo is a parody of the original hogan nation hall brand of nwo meaning that the bwo japan although only briefly existed as a parody of a parody of a wrestling group from 4 000 miles across the globe although their brief run in ecw which for a while saw them referred to as bwo international only lasted a short while they faced off against the great suzuki gran hamada and grand nanawa and had their most notable showings at ecw's first ever pay-per-view barely legal in 1997. the members of the group found themselves signed to a contract with wwe shortly after their debuts on raw saw them briefly named club kamikaze before being rebranded as cayenne tai when they were joined by their manager yamaguchi-san shortly after they were joined by takamichinoku before yamaguchi togo and taiyo left the company leaving behind funaki and michinoku to perform as a tag team funaki said we were always thinking about how we could stay in wwe for a long time we were so small in wwe size-wise we needed to think how to make ourselves valuable we thought about what looks good how to speak better english all sorts of things if there was ever a case where characters were simply on screen to be laughed at because they were foreign cayenne thai is it from their attempted ritualistic removal of val venus's penis with a katana and the oh so racist weed choppy or pp to their overdubbed promos where they would be speaking in japanese and bruce pritchard would deliver their lines in english through their speaker system something which could have been used as a clever nod to old kung fu movies from the 70s if those old kung fu movies weren't originally from hong kong in china and not japan kai and i were short-lived of course they were they were treated like a joke and used as a comedy jobbers but as soon as this weak comedy routine wore off they were simply treated as jobbers how could anyone invest in either funaki or michinoku who were in their own rights fantastic in-ring talents when wwe gave us nothing to get behind pichinoku would finish every promo with an out of context cry of evil to which funaki would reply indeed even when funaki was rebranded as a martial arts expert and given a traditional ghee to where in matches under the woeful attempt at a joke named kun funaki his success was minimal so let me ask you apart from being japanese what was their character and not knowing for sure what we were going to do and how we were going to do it literally until we walked through the curtain over the following months operations were back to normal as the storyline of the new world order continued to be about which wrestler would join up with what group and then who would eventually defect this period saw the giant lex luger and randy savage amongst others joining and leaving the group most notably this was the time when sting the man who had previously been the one leading the charge against the nwo finally buckled and became a part of the wolf pack complete with red and black face paint for some it would have been incredibly exciting to see what the future had in store with a man in sting who most would have never expected to change allegiances for me watching as a little kid i got a sinking feeling in my gut i still believed in kayfabe i didn't want to see one of my favorites in the stinger join up to the nwo if sting can change his mind and be corrupted to what i saw as the ultimate evil in pro wrestling at the time then surely nobody is safe i thought to myself that with sting incorporated into the faction this would signal the end of wcw and the rest of the roster were bound to crumble at the might of this mega power now as an adult i have such a different feeling on sting joining the wolf pack yes his rare appearance with his stand out red and black paint and attire undoubtedly memorable he looked so menacing in this getup however i now look back at this moment as the start of the end for the nwo and by extension world championship wrestling if the writers and bookers were willing to throw sting to the same fate as half the roster then what makes him special his defiance in the face of hull nash and hogan was what made him so important to the company wcw were about to begin to crumble due to the infectious nature of the new world order but not in the way i thought when i was younger in december of 1998 as starrcade kevin nash faced off against goldberg and challenged him for his wcw world heavyweight title goldberg was at the pinnacle of one of the greatest and most contested winning streaks in modern wrestling history whether you believe goldberg's streak was real or in fact the numbers were inflated in true pro wrestling style there's no doubt that goldberg's phenomenal burst onto the scene made him into an instant star during the match scott hall appeared dressed as a member of the staff in the arena and jumped up onto the apron shockingly unintended scott had with him a taser and he zapped goldberg whilst the referee and both nash and goldberg were distracted this left big kevin with the chance to pin his downed adversary and end the streak becoming the wcw champion in the process fans including myself at the time were disappointed in the way in which goldberg was seemingly cheated out of his title and prestigious streak but it's unquestionable that the actions witnessed on that night created long lasting and iconic pro wrestling moments the wrestling world was eager to see what would happen in the presumed rematch one month later in january the stage was set for kevin nash to defend his newly obtained gold this time without the help of scott hall fans were clamoring to see their favorite and goldberg put the record straight and reclaim what many believed was still deservedly his so when we tuned into monday night road to see the match you can imagine how disappointed i felt when another nwo scheme had got in the way members conspired to have goldberg detained and thus unable to compete leaving a path for the returning hogan to face off for the title against nash hulk hogan was one of my least favorite wrestlers in wcw i also hated all forms of the nwo i was seven of course i wanted to cheer on who i perceived as the good guys so instead of getting to see nash destroyed at the hands of the rather exciting goldberg i was stuck watching two wrestlers who i didn't much care for in a match i didn't really want to see however as many of you probably already realized things for little chubby seven-year-old me were about to go from bad to much much worse hogan poked nash with a single finger nash collapsed in an over-the-top and theatrical fashion and the crowd's palpable excitement is popped the fans dropped their arms and opened their mouths in confusion some of them probably didn't see the quick flick of the pinky from hogan and those who did were surely not aware of why it had caused such a reaction from nash before anyone had time to process what they had just seen hogan laid upon his downed opponent and claimed victory in the wcw title a few hardcore hogan fans celebrated briefly amongst a crowd of bewilderment as scott hall and scott steiner climbed into the ring nash and hogan regained their feet all four men hug in celebration as it becomes clear that the men were all in on this together i could not have been more unhappy with this outcome as a child even with the explanations coming from commentary i was confused i could not work out what just happened which made me upset a moment which will go down in infamy as one of the most controversial occurrences in all of pro wrestling history broke my seven-year-old brain now in hindsight i can see it as both one of the most brilliant pieces of storytelling in order to create hatred towards a set of characters and also a moment which fundamentally undermines the entire foundation of the pro-wrestling industry it was a clear reminder to children around the world that nothing you see within the ring in wcw was spontaneous with the combat being choreographed and every story scripted whatever you feel about the finger poke of doom it's hard for me to think of a more memorable moment from my time watching wcw in the uk as a kid for me no matter how much mental anguished it caused me when i was younger it will forever be iconic because of that that night of the finger poke of doom proved so divisive that the management in wcw decided to have a complete overhaul of the nwo and created two brand new versions to appease fans with one faction being known as the nwo elite which absorbed some members of the wolf pack and retained its red and black branding the group featured some of wcw's top talents in hogan nash hall bagwell scott steiner lex luger and miss elizabeth whilst the remaining members of the old version of the nwo stayed in black and white and consisted mainly of mid-card talent and those who wcw creative deemed less than eight-year performers the likes of brian adams instead of hulk they had horace hogan scott norton stevie ray and vincent but seemingly making a team out of b-listers didn't go over well with fans who coined the name nwob team which caught on with commentators on the show the nwob team was the place to go when you couldn't make the grade with the elite as wcw pushed forward with their team-based approach to creating stories for their shows they seemingly carried on piling any and everyone into poorly fitting groups the giant and kurt henning came together to form this ragtag group of underachievers the nwo black and white only serve to prove that not everybody can succeed when forced into such groups with the team having a forgettable run within the company and if anything diminishing their standing within the eyes of fans with their place so clearly marked outside of the main event even the likes of mr perfect and the big show who both had incredible careers elsewhere couldn't shine when stifled by so many other competitive voices they would prove to be the least successful of the nwo variants and one of the most short-lived with interest in the nwo its lowest point by the middle of 1999 the groups had fizzled out with hogan returning to his original heroics and good guy persona but wcw head office knew that without the full force of their most popular team they would continue to struggle against their rivals in wwe in the ongoing monday night war in an attempt to revitalize interest in the group the nwo 2000 were created with the heavy emphasis on new in new world order on the formation of the nwo 2000 faction when bret hart said the band is back together little could we have known just how badly this concept would fail it was meant to be a reinvigoration of the group with the hot addition of bret hart who was raring to be at the center of something more important in wcw since his widely anticipated arrival in the company it looked like everything was laid out perfectly then brett was severely injured during a match against goldberger starrcade he suffered a head injury and was forced to rehabilitate before it eventually caused him to retire this left his newly formed nwo about their main selling point and took away the importance of the faction people wanted to see bret hart in wcw him being aligned with the new world order brought bret hart fans to the brand and now all of that was lost kevin nash took over as de facto leader once again a role which he was more than capable of yet one which nash would have preferred not to have taken at this point kevin nash was challenging for the world title and was the on-screen commissioner for wcw all the while helping to book matches and even going so far as to help write lines of dialogue and story beats in the back room but kevin nash is a hard-working and intelligent man so he persevered then nash sustained a terrible ankle injury and was himself forced to take an extended break from in-ring action stepping down as the leader of the group and leaving a large void in his wake who would step in to become the leader of the group j e double f j a double r e double t that's who and it wasn't enough there was such a golfing class between the likes of kevin nash and bret hart to take that lineage in their history and the business as champions they made sense as credible leaders of wcw's most important faction jeff jarrett did not when he suffered a concussion and was taken off screen to recover the nwo 2000 faded out of existence just four months into the millennium for which it was named a more realistic feel and storylines that would build towards their monthly pay-per-views was just one catalyst that started the monday night wars with wcw's monday night row going directly opposite from raw in 1995 at a time where other wrestling brands were starting to gain more traction especially world championship wrestling who gave the wwf a taste of their own medicine when they signed the likes of kevin nash scott hall and hulk hogan from their arch rivals and saw mick foley vader and stone cold steve austin moving in the other direction around this time from 96 world championship wrestling were becoming dominant and went on a nearly two-year run of beating wwf's live shows in the ratings each week this pushed wwf and vince mcmahon into a corner he needed to do something special something massive something with attitude spearheaded by head writer vince russo and vince mcmahon's son shane mcmahon the attitude era saw a return in production of grittiness for the wwf in 1997 after becoming king of the ring stone cold steve austin gave the promo of his career stating that austin 316 says i just kicked your arse and positioning himself as the new anti-hero and top star of the wwf leading the company to destroy world championship wrestling in the ratings and forced wcw into a nosedive pouncing on the opportunity in 1998 rebranding from titan sports inc to wwf inc world wrestling federation returned to terrestrial television with its second weekly show smackdown allowed more performers to get airtime and a space for the rock to make his name and layeth the smackdown on jabroni's whilst also giving wwf a show to air on televisions directly opposed to world championship wrestling's thursday night thunder show and pushing them further out of the market at this point vince mcmahon just wanted it all in 2001 he bought the dying wcw company along with their back catalogue of shows and events some of their rosters belts and the names for all of wcw's intellectual property when the nwo appeared in wwe no way out in 2002 it was a huge declaration from vince mcmahon that the biggest and only place for pro wrestling was now his all-encompassing megalith if you wanted to see the original trio of hall nash and hogan you'd better tune in to wwe on screen vincent kennedy mcmahon had brought in the nwo has his allies and henchmen there to help mcmahon in his battle for ownership of the company with brick flair at this time hogan became embroiled in a feud with wwe's biggest star the rock the pair going on to have one of the most historic wwe matches of all time at wrestlemania 18. though hogan suffered a defeat at the hands of his younger opponent the fans were on his side the nwo was supposed to be the antagonist they were bought in as the bad guys so to have hogan ghana such a positive reception arguably a louder set of cheers than the almighty rock then something needed to change paula nash came to the ring and attacked hogan after the bell adding insult to injury and removing him from the group this led to hogan teaming up with the rock and taking on his former allies in tag competition by april of 2002 the big show and ex-park had both been recruited to the nwo once again and made up a four-man team which continued to aid mcmahon and his conquest over ric flair in may the next month scott hall was involved in an incident whilst on tour involving alcohol and seemingly out of nowhere was fired by wwe this signaled the end for nwo within the company a fact that was cemented when kevin nash sustained a career threatening injury and though it started with one of the most iconic and explosive moments in all of pro wrestling history the historic new world order dissolved from our screens with little more than a whimper when the wwe version of the nwo angle was unfolding i got a call from jim ross which really surprised me because of the tension in the relationship he was very professional but very distant and offered me an opportunity to come in and join wwe as part of a storyline now i'm never one that's like i'm only interested if you tell me what the story is that he offered me an opportunity to come in and the timing wasn't right for me it just didn't feel right jim wasn't being as forthcoming as i would hope he would be at least to get me excited about it so i passed on it just as the invasion angle left many fans asking for more and asking what could have been thus the storyline of the nwo followed suit troopers [Music] paul nash and hogan met up once again in tna originally stating that they wanted to get the band back together however all three men were way past their primes at this point and through injury and fatigue were not able to perform at the high level we had seen through their runs in wcw and wwe hogan arrived just as he did in wcw later than scott hall and kevin nash something which signified this time that he was more focused on being a singles competitor way into the final stages of his career hulk's inability to perform in the ring meant he relied more on soap opera style segments involving false marriages and his daughter's music career and just as everything in tna at the time was a poor attempt to rekindle the fire brought forth by his predecessors the company even bought sting and hogan face to face one last time the results were to be expected with the feud between the pair merely a shadow of what could have been during their primary starcade back in 1997. scott hall continued to struggle with drug and alcohol abuse and spent several spells away from programming one more for the bad guys leaving kevin nash without a faction for large periods nash himself shone during this era his charm and charisma really coming through as the big man was allowed more microphone freedom and used it with a flourish after several forgettable years the three parted ways once again and for the second time it truly felt like this was the end of the road for some unknown reason i picked scott hall and sean waltman to be my friend i've done everything i could in my career to keep you guys employed i carried your asses on my back for the last time at survivor series in 2014 the unimaginable happened a moment which many fans thought impossible when sting interrupted the authority's match and caused them to lose a spark was ignited more than 20 years in the making in the months that followed sting continued to appear sporadically on wwe programming and eventually challenged triple h to a match on the biggest stage of them all at wrestlemania 31 wcw legends sting to face off against triple h in a moment the fans of the attitude era in the late 90s had waited decades to see the nwo and their rivalry with sting being the biggest part of wcw programming it was only natural that fans would want to see members of d generation x one of the driving forces behind wwf success over their rivals face off in what many considered to be a dream match perhaps it was 10 or even 20 years too late but nevertheless when triple h and sting came face to face it felt like all of my childhood wrestling fantasies came true so you can only imagine my excitement when during the bout other historic members of dx came to the ring to a triple h in his conquest then just as things were starting to look uncomfortably unfavorable for the man behind the black and white face paint the classic static noise sounded around the arena and that guitar began to strum x-puck hogan hall and nash in classic black nwo t-shirts made their way to the ring and fans around the world were reminded why pro wrestling is a form of entertainment quite unlike any other on the surface it didn't make any sense a group of aging men standing around in their pants one of them has face paint and a baseball bat the other with a sledgehammer in his hand who is an executive at the very company that is putting on the event but that's pro wrestling sometimes even if it doesn't make sense it can still hear all of the right notes sting and nwo were always rivals after all they'd been through why would the trio come to his aid but in the moment it became about wcw versus wwe and an instance of pure entertainment delight hogan destroyed everyone with his classic punch and listened to the crowd routine and kevin nash even pretended to tear his quad before sean michaels delivered a sweet chin music to sting triple h eventually defeated sting and how could he not yes it would have been excellent for the newcomer to the company to pick up a massive victory but it was clear that the story that was being told was bigger than the two men in the ring it was wwe and wcw for one last time and in vince mcmahon's eyes there was only ever going to be one outcome and after their appearance at wrestlemania there was talk amongst the wrestling community of a full-time return for the nwo in wwe which never happened kevin nash said on the possibility i would like to do it as a manager maybe bring an nwo stable in and then be their manager that way all i got to do is powerbomb somebody at the end of the night make it easy on me and still get the payday i still like the crowd i'd have to say that you know it still is it's it's never gets old to walk through the entrance and have the people stand and scream that doesn't get old by the end of the nwo's run in wcw they had seen 41 members wear their t-shirts and announced that they were nwo for life that's an entire wrestling company's roster or aligned to a single faction albeit one that was split into several different versions here is a brief list of every single member well i say brief it's 41 people scott hall hulk hogan kevin nash randy savage the giant lex luger sean michaels the great muta kurt henning booker t and dusty rhodes eric bischoff scott steiner bret hart rick roode sting jeff jarrett buff bagwell and tory wilson scott norton the disciple luis piccoli ted dibiase fake sting vincent michael wall street dennis rodman kyle petty ron and don harris big bubba rogers stevie ray disco inferno nick patrick masahiro chono miss elizabeth six conan horace hogan brian adams and fucking david flair it can be hard to really wrap your head around this list contains some of the most iconic and influential performers to ever step between the ropes great motor is one of the defining faces of the 80s and 90s in japan and revolutionized the idea of horror and mysticism in pro wrestling my name is conan in mexico known as conan el barbaro i've wrestled for just about every major promotion in the world i have three decades wrestling promoting discovering talent mentoring talent conan went on to found triple r in mexico and reinvigorated the lucha libre scene with his involvement in lucha underground dusty rhodes was instrumental in the early days of nxt in the development of characters within that brand booker t led the way for african-american performers both in wcw and wwe and now with his own wrestling chaining gym shawn michaels mr wrestlemania is widely thought to have had some of the greatest matches in pro wrestling history and was enormous part of the wwe's success during the attitude era and beyond jeff jarrett started the promotion tna and although it went through some rough patches has been revived like a phoenix in the modern era i don't want to say it can't happen because anything can happen in the wrestling business but it would take a special dynamic there were only five of us and we never washed it down nwo ruined themselves by letting everyone join i think there was something like 350 members right there were five members of dx and we all clicked and we all knew our positioning we worked together to make something special and we knew how to feed off each other to make it work however there is a downside to the nwo collating this huge roster of stars the original idea of three members meant that each member had their role and knew how to play it at times perfectly hogan was the front man he would regularly be in the main event of shows and challenge for the company's top belt nash and hall initially played two roles they were hogan's right and left hand they supported his effort to be the top champion in wcw whilst at the same time remaining both regularly challenging for the tag titles and often featured alongside hogan in the pay-per-view main events all three men charismatic and entertaining in their own ways with clear differences allowing new audiences to clearly define their roles with almost 50 members this feeling was destroyed be honest how many of the members which are named in the previous list you know for certain were in the nwo at some point okay that's easy enough but could you remember when they joined and to which factions they're a part of so many forgettable members of the nwo throughout its history is one defining factor in the downfall of the group and in part the company which had been so instrumental in making popular i don't play well with others i never really wanted that i remember coming back in 98 one of the suggestions was for me in the nwo and i was like absolutely not there's 15 guys in the nwo they don't need me and i don't need them in a match against bray wyatt at wrestlemania the nwo recruited what could possibly be the most unusual member to its ranks playing into the idea that bray wyatt's fiend persona would stop at nothing to warp the minds of his opponents we were gifted with a rare revisit to the familiar black and white coming through the entrance in the iconic t-shirt john cena strummed his air guitar and delivered to us unsuspecting fans his best rendition of the nwo's entrance a man who has for the most part stood alone in search of personal glory within wwe john cena has looked the same way for the majority of his long-spanning career seeing him presented this way was a real treat and an image which will live long in the memory complete with flickering black white and grey textures on screen and what is one of the best pro wrestling themes of all time john cena and bray wyatt paid homage to those who came before and inspired them and remind us just how influential the reach of the group had been by this point the nwo logo has completely transcended pro wrestling there are many out there in the modern day who would be able to recognize the classic stencil outline but whom have no idea who the new world order was or have even ever watched a wrestling match and for good reason it's iconic in a way which little else from wcw or even wwe has managed to emulate an icon which brings to mind ideas of counter culture nostalgia from a bygone era and a rebellious spirit which so many of us shared during our adolescence we all have our own individual opinions about the many varying versions and brands of nwo we also hold their own thoughts when it comes to the countless members which inhabited these teams but as a unit on the whole the nwo was the equivalent of a lightning strike caught in a bottle wcw threw three men together who had previously no chemistry on screen with one another gave them a name and a motivation and sent them out onto our tvs the ferocity and speed with which us fans attached ourselves this new form of pro wrestling presentation couldn't have been predicted by anyone and will likely never be repeated at least not frequently the group were revolutionary with an american pro wrestling and would go on to forever change the business in which they made their name leaving a trail which over the following two decades many wrestling companies would attempt to chase and fail the new world order had such a monumental impact on the world of sports entertainment that sparked the tinder in the hearts of pro wrestling fans and captured the minds of the wider pop culture world they've been imitated and recreated countless times since the late 90s but i don't think you'll ever truly see a buzz like the one created by hulk hogan kevin nash scott hall and the numerous others that pulled on that classic black and white t-shirt you

Channel: Wrestle Pod

Views: 76,123

Keywords: wcw nwo, hulk hogan nwo, wwe nwo

Id: w4oh9NbwH5I

Length: 89min 57sec (5397 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 05 2022