New World Order (professional wrestling)
| New World Order | |
|---|---|
| File:NWo logo.jpg The original logo of the New World Order. | |
| Stable | |
| Members | See Members section |
| Name(s) | New World Order nWo |
| Debut | July 7, 1996 |
| Disbanded | July 15, 2002 |
The New World Order (nWo) was a heel stable of wrestlers, originally in World Championship Wrestling and later in the then-World Wrestling Federation. It was first formed on July 7, 1996 at the Bash at the Beach PPV. The group was created when Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, two wrestlers who had recently come over to WCW from the WWF and labeled as "The Outsiders," aligned themselves with longtime fan favorite Hulk Hogan, who turned heel to form the group, renaming himself "Hollywood Hogan".
The often-used idiosyncratic capitalization of the group's initialism, nWo, comes as a result of the logo that WCW created for the stable.
History
Creators
The nWo storyline was an idea WCW Executive Vice President Eric Bischoff came up with after attending a New Japan Pro Wrestling show. He wanted to do an invasion-type angle where World Championship Wrestling was (kayfabe) being sabotaged by another wrestling group (initially alluded to, but not actually mentioned, as the WWF, since its founding members formerly wrestled there). The nWo was originally portrayed as a separate entity from WCW (often, propaganda-style vignettes and product commercials concerning the nWo were preceded by an "interruption in the feed", and a voice proclaiming, "The following announcement has been paid for by the New World Order").
Others, such as Scott Hall, chief WCW booker Terry Taylor, and his assistants Kevin Sullivan and Paul Orndorff all contributed their own ideas to the nWo concept. For instance, the logo was designed by Paul Orndorff, Scott Hall is credited with the group's trademark hand-signals, and Terry Taylor belatedly scrawled the group's most popular catchphrase, "When you're nWo, you're nWo 4 life," in one segment he scripted for WCW Monday Nitro in late 1996.
Original Storyline
In 1996 both Scott Hall and Kevin Nash left the WWF to sign with WCW. Hall first appeared on WCW TV live on the Memorial Day 1996 edition of Monday Nitro emanating from Macon, Georgia, interrupting a match by walking down through the crowd into the ring. He delivered his famous "You Want A War?" speech, stating that he and two of his associates were going to "take over" and challenging WCW wrestlers to stand up and defend the company against their onslaught. This officially kicked off the nWo storyline.
The next week, Hall reappeared on Nitro and pestered the WCW announcers. Sting confronted him, and was rewarded with a toothpick in the face for his efforts. Sting retaliated by slapping Hall across the face, and in response Hall promised Sting a "little...no...BIG surprise" the next week in Wheeling, West Virginia. This surprise ended up being Hall's good friend and former WWF Champion Kevin Nash, and in the weeks following Hall and Nash were collectively referred to as "The Outsiders." Both men took to showing up unexpectedly during Nitro broadcasts, usually jumping wrestlers backstage, distracting wrestlers by standing in the entranceways of arenas, or walking around in the audience. Within a couple of weeks, they announced the forthcoming appearance of a mysterious third member, all the while waiting for WCW to answer their challenge. At The Great American Bash '96, The Outsiders confronted WCW boss Eric Bischoff and inquired whether he had selected three wrestlers to take them and their mystery partner on. Bischoff replied in the affirmative, but added that he could not reveal their identities. Unsatisfied with the response, Hall punched Bischoff in the stomach, and Nash powerbombed him right through the interview stage to the floor.
At Bash at the Beach, Hall and Nash were scheduled to team with their mystery partner against Lex Luger, Randy Savage and Sting. At the onset of the match, Hall and Nash came out without a third man. "Mean" Gene Okerlund came to the ring confused, demanding to know where their mystery partner was. They simply said he was in the building, but that they did not need him right then. Shortly into the match, Sting hit Nash with a Stinger Splash in the corner. However, Nash was holding Luger at the time, and the splash knocked Nash into Luger, thus crushing Luger in the corner. Luger was knocked to the outside, and paramedics came out and took him away, reducing the match to The Outsiders vs. Sting and Savage. As Hall and Nash took control of the match, Hulk Hogan came to the ring. After standing off with The Outsiders for a moment, he suddenly attacked Savage, thus revealing himself as the third man. In a post-match interview with Okerlund, Hogan claimed the reason for the turn was that despite doing everything for the kids and the charities, WCW fans still booed him. He also stated that he was bigger than the entire wrestling industry and that he was now bored with WCW. Hogan stated that Hall and Nash were the "new blood" and were his new friends. Hogan labeled the new faction a "new world order of professional wrestling", beginning a feud between wrestlers loyal to WCW and the renegade faction of the nWo. The fans in attendance were so outraged at Hogan's betrayal that they pelted the ring with debris, such as paper cups and plastic bottles, for the duration of his interview. One fan even jumped the security railing and tried to attack Hogan in the ring, but was quickly subdued by Hall, Nash, and arena security.
Shortly after, the World Wrestling Federation filed a lawsuit, alleging that the New World Order storyline implied that Hall and Nash were invaders sent by Vince McMahon to destroy WCW, despite the fact that Bischoff asked Nash point blank on camera at a WCW show, "Are you employed by the WWF?" to which Nash emphatically replied, "No". Another reason for the lawsuit was the WWF claimed Scott Hall acted in a manner too similar to the Razor Ramon character, which was owned by the World Wrestling Federation. The lawsuit would drag out for several years before being settled out of court.
The newly formed nWo would begin appearing on Monday Nitro, causing mayhem and attacking WCW wrestlers. In an infamous incident, Kevin Nash picked up Rey Mysterio Jr. and threw him head-first into a WCW production truck. The nWo took its first step in the takeover when Hulk Hogan defeated WCW World Heavyweight Champion The Giant on August 10, 1996, at WCW Hog Wild. In the first of two famous moments after the match, Hall and Nash held the World Championship belt aloft while Hogan spray painted the letters "NWO" on it; the belt would appear in this fashion for most of the next year while Hogan was world champion. In the second moment, Hogan's long time friend Ed Leslie presented Hogan with a birthday cake. Hogan hugged him, then signaled Hall and Nash to attack Leslie, stating "business is business."
In the following weeks, as WCW was preparing its War Games team, it seemed that long time WCW supporter Sting had been negotiating with the nWo. During an episode of Nitro, Sting's voice was heard coming from the nWo's limousine. When Lex Luger went out to the parking lot to investigate, he was blindsided and attacked by "Sting." At Fall Brawl 1996, "Team nWo" defeated "Team WCW" in the WarGames match. The match featured two Stings; one on each side. The "real" Sting appeared only briefly to fight on behalf of WCW, while nWo "Sting" captured the decision, forcing Lex Luger to submit to the Scorpion Death Lock. This proved that the real Sting had not joined the nWo after all. After the match, Sting declared that because nobody trusted him, he would not aid WCW in the war against the nWo.
The victory signaled an increased focus in WCW on the nWo, and new members soon were added to the stable, including Ted DiBiase (who was allegedly "financing" the group, an allusion to his "Million Dollar Man" gimmick in the WWF), Vincent (as "head of security"), Syxx, and The Giant. Referee Nick Patrick became the group's official referee following a series of matches in which he clearly showed favoritism to nWo members. "Macho Man" Randy Savage took the lead in the battle against the nWo, motivated by his former wife/manager Miss Elizabeth's joining of the group, but in the end he lost to Hogan in a WCW World Title match on October 27, 1996, at WCW Halloween Havoc; Savage then disappeared from WCW for a short time. The same night, Hall and Nash defeated Harlem Heat for the WCW World Tag Team Titles. At the conclusion of the event, Roddy Piper made a surprise appearance and confronted Hogan in the ring.
Meanwhile, WCW did not recognize nWo wrestlers as being employed by WCW (except Hogan and The Outsiders, who held WCW title belts), therefore they were not allowed to compete with WCW wrestlers. In response, the nWo would have a segment on WCW Saturday Night, dubbed nWo Saturday Night, where they would wrestle jobbers in an empty arena.
Piper was responsible for the on-air exposure of WCW President Eric Bischoff as a member of the nWo, one of the reasons the stable had such incredible clout. After being outed as an nWo member, Eric Bischoff gave everyone in the locker room an ultimatum: Join the nWo or become a target of the group. Marcus Alexander Bagwell was one of the first to join, turning on his American Males tag team partner, Scotty Riggs, and renaming himself "Buff" Bagwell. Others to join the nWo would be Scott Norton, Big Bubba Rogers, and V.K. Wallstreet. Japanese wrestler Masahiro Chono would also join the group, and served as leader of nWo Japan, a branch of the stable in New Japan Pro Wrestling which had friendly relations with WCW. At around this time, nWo wrestlers began wrestling on Monday Nitro.
On November 24, 1996, The Giant won the 60-man battle royal at World War 3, earning a title match against Hogan. On December 29, 1996, at WCW Starrcade Roddy Piper defeated Hulk Hogan in a non-title match using the sleeperhold. The next night, The Giant is booted from the nWo after refusing to chokeslam Piper in an nWo assault.
Meanwhile, Sting began appearing in the rafters during WCW Monday Nitro, sporting a new look complete with black-and-white make-up, and a black trenchcoat. He would often be seen during nWo matches.
1997
In January 1997, the nWo held their own Pay-Per-View event, titled Souled Out. In the main event, Hogan faced The Giant, with the match ending in a no-contest, due to biased officiating by Nick Patrick. Nash and Hall lost their tag titles to the Steiner Brothers, but the next night, Bischoff gave the belts back to the nWo, claiming that Randy Anderson, who ran in to referee the match after Nick Patrick was knocked out, was not a sanctioned referee for the event. On February 23, 1997, at SuperBrawl VII, Roddy Piper would receive another match with Hulk Hogan. Hogan defeated Piper when Randy Savage returned and turned on Piper, joining the nWo. The nWo's power was apparent, but it would soon come to a halt. On March 3, 1997 on WCW Monday Nitro, Head of TNT Sports and Eric Bischoff's superior, Harvey Schiller, made an appearance and suspended Bischoff for abusing his powers. He then informed Big Bubba Rogers and V.K. Wallstreet that they could not be members of the nWo, under the terms of their WCW contract. Hence, a match was made for March 16, 1997, at Uncensored. The match consisted of 3 teams: Team WCW, consisting of Lex Luger, Rick & Scott Steiner (Rick was attacked before the match and never made it to the ring), and The Giant; Team Horsemen consisting of Roddy Piper, Jeff Jarrett, Chris Benoit & Steve McMichael; and Team nWo consisting of Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash & Randy Savage. Team nWo won the match, and because of the pre-match stipulations, they could now challenge for any WCW title whenever and wherever they wished. After the match Sting descended from the ceiling and attacked the nWo with a baseball bat, making it apparent that he was not siding with Hogan and company, even though he had previously allowed Hogan to embrace him in the center of the ring on an earlier episode on Nitro.
Because Hulk Hogan was concerned about his image and his newfound friendship with new nWo member Dennis Rodman, Kevin Nash grew concerned that the focus of the nWo was slipping away from total domination of WCW. There was a brief confrontation between Hogan and Nash, but they never came to blows; instead they settled up, and the nWo seemed stronger than ever. Throughout the spring of 1997, Hogan stayed in the background as The Outsiders and Syxx feuded with the Four Horsemen. Randy Savage was also involved in a major feud with "Diamond" Dallas Page at this time, featuring memorable matches at Spring Stampede and The Great American Bash. In the following weeks, former Dungeon of Doom member Konnan and Japanese stars The Great Muta and Hiroyoshi Tenzan would join the nWo. Muta and Tenzan would make sporadic appearances with the nWo in the United States, but were prominent members of nWo Japan in New Japan Pro Wrestling.
Both Nick Patrick and Ted Dibiase quit the nWo after being disgusted by Kevin Nash's assault on Rick Steiner on April 6, 1997, at Spring Stampede. Patrick returned to being an honest referee, while DiBiase joined up with nWo foes The Steiner Brothers and managed them for a short time when they held the Tag Team titles.
After Lex Luger and The Giant defeated Hulk Hogan and Dennis Rodman at Bash at the Beach, Luger received a title shot against Hogan on August 4, 1997 on Monday Nitro. Hogan submitted to the Luger's finishing hold, the Human Torture Rack, dropping the title that he had held onto for nearly one year. In the aftermath, it seemed that the nWo was in disarray. However, Hogan would regain the title on August 9, 1997, at Road Wild. All seemed well again within the nWo.
The focus of the nWo switched back to the Four Horsemen. When long-time Horseman Arn Anderson announced his retirement in an emotional speech on Monday Nitro on August 25, 1997, he offered his spot as Horsemen "enforcer" to the newly-arrived Curt Hennig. Hennig replied: "It would be an honor" One week later, the nWo would come out on live TV dressed as the Four Horsemen and downgrade and embarrass Ric Flair and Arn Anderson. Kevin Nash, dressed as Arn, would make references to alcoholism and Arn's age. Syxx, dressed as Flair, mocked his age and mannerisms. Backstage, Arn & Flair were rumored to be genuinely upset at the parody. This led to the WarGames match on September 14, 1997, at Fall Brawl. Team nWo (Kevin Nash, Syxx, Konnan, and Buff Bagwell) defeated Team Horsemen (Flair, Benoit, McMichael, and Hennig) when Hennig turned on the Horsemen and joined the nWo. Steve McMichael submitted in order to stop the nWo from beating on Flair; after the match, Henning slammed the door of the steel cage on Flair's head as he lay prone. This led to Hennig feuding with Flair, and also led to the return of Roddy Piper. Hogan would face Piper in a steel cage match on October 26, 1997, at Halloween Havoc. Piper won the match, but was beaten badly by Randy Savage and Hogan after the match.
Meanwhile, WCW executive James J. Dillon, began offering Sting nWo opponents in order to get him to help WCW in the war. Sting refused, only wanting one man, Hulk Hogan.
On November 10, 1997, the nWo came to the ring wearing Canadian flags, singing "O Canada", and making references to Bret Hart and the Montreal Screwjob, which had taken place the night before. This led to speculation that Bret Hart would soon be joining the nWo. On November 17, 1997, Rick Rude joined the nWo live on Nitro, while also appearing on a taped episode of WWF RAW is WAR on the same night. He went on to badmouth the WWF, and express sympathy with Bret Hart for the Screwjob. He also made hostile references to Sting, whom he held a grudge against for ending his career three years earlier during a match in Japan.
On November 23, 1997, Scott Hall won the 60 man Battle Royal at World War 3. This win earned him a WCW Title shot in the future.
Bret Hart made his WCW debut on December 15, 1997. Instead of joining the nWo, he agreed to be the special referee in the match pitting Larry Zybysko against the nWo's Eric Bischoff. The winner of the match would gain control of WCW Monday Nitro.
Meanwhile, frustrated by Sting's constant psychological games, Hulk Hogan finally agrees to face Sting and put the WCW title on the line. Sting vs. Hogan, and Bischoff vs. Zybysko are booked for WCW Starrcade in what is deemed the biggest Pay Per View in the history of the business. On the Monday before Starrcade, the nWo stages a complete takeover of WCW Monday Nitro, tearing down the set and running off commentators Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, and Mike Tenay. They replace all WCW logos with the nWo logo, and turn Nitro into nWo Monday Nitro. It seemed as if the nWo was poised to take full control after a year and a half of fighting WCW.
At Starrcade, on December 28, 1997, Larry Zybysko defeated Eric Bischoff when Bret Hart disqualified Bischoff after Scott Hall interfered. This gave full control of Nitro to WCW. In the main event, Sting defeated Hulk Hogan to become the WCW champion. Hogan had originally pinned Sting, but confusion arose when Bret Hart appeared at ringside and accused referee, and former nWo member, Nick Patrick of making a fast count. Claiming "it would never happen again". Hart laid out Patrick and ordered the match to continue with himself as the referee. Hogan then submitted to Sting's Scorpion Death Lock.
After 13 months of inactivity, Sting finally had stood up for WCW and ended Hogan's reign. WCW now had full control of Nitro, and it seemed that the nWo would fall apart at the seams.
1998
Because of the controversy surrounding Sting's title win, James J. Dillon vacated the title on January 8, 1998. He made a match between Sting & Hogan to take place at SuperBrawl VIII, which would determine who was the champion. This prompted Sting to finally speak after 14 months, telling Dillon "You have no guts!" before turning to Hogan and declaring him a "dead man". Meanwhile, Dusty Rhodes, former WWF star Brian Adams, and Hogan's best friend Ed Leslie (now known as the Disciple) all joined the nWo.
Soon, problems began to arise between Hulk Hogan & Randy Savage. Savage had attempted to defeat Lex Luger on numerous occasions, but lost because of botched interference from fellow nWo members, including Hogan. This led to heated arguments between Savage and Hogan, and there were near physical confrontations between Savage & Nash. On February 22, 1998, At SuperBrawl VIII, Sting defeated Hogan to win the vacated world title. On the same card, Scott Steiner turned on his brother Rick and joined the nWo. Randy Savage would then make his intentions clear: He didn't need the nWo's help, and now that Hogan had dropped the ball, he would defeat Sting to take the WCW title back to the nWo. Hogan & Savage would try to one-up each other on episodes of Nitro and WCW Thunder. On March 15, 1998, at Uncensored, Savage and Hogan attempted to settle their differences in a steel cage match. The match ended in a no contest. On the same card, Scott Hall received his title shot against Sting, but lost the match. Randy Savage would then state to Hogan that there were certain members of the nWo who were plotting to throw him out of the group.
After nWo member, Sean Waltman (Syxx) was released from his contract, Kevin Nash confronted Hulk Hogan & Eric Bischoff. Hulk Hogan stated that Waltman "couldn't cut the mustard"
The differences within the nWo were becoming more apparent. Randy Savage and Kevin Nash were suddenly realizing that Hogan was only looking out for himself, and the nWo was secondary. Kevin Nash sided with Savage after Hogan had interfered in a number of Sting/Nash matches. The reason being Hogan didn't want to have to face Nash to take back his title. Kevin Nash supported Savage in his quest to defeat Sting, but also agreed to team with Hogan against the returning Roddy Piper and The Giant in a Bat Match. Nash made it clear, however, that he would just as soon use the bat on Hogan. On April 19, 1998, at Spring Stampede, Hogan & Nash defeated Piper and The Giant. After the match, Hogan assaulted Kevin Nash. Randy Savage beat Sting to become WCW world champion with help from Nash on the same night. The next night on Nitro, Hogan would challenge Savage for the title.
During the match, interference by both Kevin Nash and Bret Hart played a major role. Nash powerbombed Hogan, but when Bret Hart layed Hogan's body over Randy Savage, Hogan won and walked away with the title. This signaled the split of the nWo into two factions. On May 5, 1998, Kevin Nash and Randy Savage appeared wearing black shirts with a red nWo logo, as apposed to the familiar white logo. They called themselves nWo Wolfpac, and were joined soon after by Konnan, Miss Elizabeth, Curt Hennig, and Rick Rude. Hogan's side were the original Black & White, also known as nWo Hollywood: Eric Bischoff, Scott Steiner, Scott Norton, Vincent, The Disciple, and Brian Adams. Bret Hart seemed to be siding with Hogan, but was never officially named an nWo member. nWo members Scott Hall & Buff Bagwell were out of action at this time, and their alliances were not yet known.
On May 17, 1998, at Slamboree, Scott Hall would return wearing the red & black, and joined his partner Kevin Nash in a tag-team title defense against recent nWo Hollywood member, The Giant & his unwilling partner, Sting. During the match, Scott Hall turned on Nash and joined nWo Hollywood. After his match with Roddy Piper on the same night, Randy Savage is forced to leave wrestling due to knee injuries and would not be seen again for nearly a year. On May 25, 1998, Lex Luger joined the nWo Wolfpac, stating "it just feels right", and asks Sting to do the same. On June 1, 1998, Sting also joins the nWo Wolfpac. On June 14, 1998, Curt Hennig and Rick Rude jumped back to nWo Hollywood after attacking Konnan and causing him to lose a match to Bill Goldberg. On July 6, 1998, Hulk Hogan lost his world title to Bill Goldberg after Scott Hall failed to stop Goldberg in an earlier match. On the same night, Buff Bagwell returned and revealed he was still supporting the original black & white nWo. During the summer of 1998, Hogan & Eric Bischoff would fued with the likes of Jay Leno and Karl Malone, while Kevin Nash attempted to gain revenge on Scott Hall.
The nWo Wolfpac became hugely popular amongst wrestling fans in the summer of 1998 while continuing their battle with nWo Hollywood. Meanwhile, Hulk Hogan has his own battle to deal with in the form of The Warrior, who returned to wrestling on an August edition of WCW Monday Nitro. Warrior would form his own faction dubbed the One Warrior Nation, which included himself and former nWo member, the Disciple.
On October 25, 1998, at WCW Halloween Havoc, Scott Hall defeated Kevin Nash by count out. Hulk Hogan defeated The Warrior when Hogan's nephew, Horace, interfered and joined nWo Hollywood. Bret Hart defeated Wolfpac member Sting, putting him out of action for about 6 months.
On November 22, 1998, at WCW World War 3, nWo Hollywood attacks Scott Hall and kicks him out of the group for disrespecting Hogan & Bischoff a few weeks earlier. Kevin Nash goes on to win the 60 man battle royal and earns a WCW World Title shot. On the Thanksgiving episode of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, nWo Hollywood leader Hulk Hogan announces his retirement from professional wrestling. Scott Steiner would go on to assume the leadership role in the nWo Hollywood faction.
Stevie Ray joins nWo Hollywood.
On December 27, 1998, at WCW Starrcade, nWo Wolfpac leader Kevin Nash wins the WCW World Heavyweight Title by defeating Bill Goldberg when Scott Hall interfered and used a stun gun on Goldberg. Nash, however, did not see the attack and pinned Goldberg. The next night on Monday Nitro, Randy Savage returns wearing an nWo black & white t-shirt, but instead helps Ric Flair defeat Eric Bischoff in a match to determine the WCW presidency.
1999
On the January 4, 1999 episode of Nitro Goldberg was scheduled to have a championship rematch with Nash. A false imprisonment instigated by the nWo would remove Goldberg from the match, causing the match to be replaced with Nash vs. the returning Hulk Hogan. In the match, which has been called the "Fingerpoke of Doom" by fans, after the bell rang to begin the bout, Hogan poked Nash in the chest, after which Nash fell to the mat until Hogan was able to get the pin and win the match. The conspiracy led to a reorginization of the nWo, with the nWo elite (Hogan, Nash, Hall, Buff Bagwell, Scott Steiner, Lex Luger and Miss Elizabeth) reunited under the Wolfpac label, while the undercard wrestlers in the nWo (Scott Norton, Stevie Ray, Vincent, Horace Hogan and Brian Adams) continued in the "black and white" faction. This short-lived group was sardonically labeled the nWo B-Team by fans and commentators.
The end of the nWo in WCW
After a strong start in early 1999, the nWo would quickly fade away as injuries caught up to Hulk Hogan and he took a leave of absence shortly after dropping the WCW World Title to Ric Flair at WCW Uncensored on March 14, 1999. Scott Hall's ever present personal problems took him out of the picture, and Buff Bagwell left the group after many disagreements with Scott Steiner. Curt Hennig was kicked out of the nWo during this time period. The nWo Black & White faction would remain, but they presented no threat to WCW and spent the best part of 8 months fighting amongst themselves for leadership until finally disbanding after Stevie Ray reunited with Booker T, and Vincent joined up with the West Texas Rednecks.
In October, recently "retired" Kevin Nash and Scott Hall began appearing at ringside on WCW Monday Nitro and Thunder. Nash would often state "we're getting the band back together". On December 20, 1999, the New World Order was reformed with new WCW World Heavyweight Champion, Bret Hart as leader. The new group was nicknamed nWo 2000, and black and silver were adopted as the official colors. The word "new" in the "new World order" logo was underlined to emphasise that this was a new version of the group. Members included Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Bret Hart, Jeff Jarrett, Scott Steiner, and the Harris twins (Don and Ron). Several fitness models(Tylene Buck, April Hunter, Kim Kanner, Midajah O'Hearn and Pamela Paulshock) were brought in who would come to ringside with the group only to be ordered to the back by Jeff Jarrett. This nWo lasted into early 2000, but soon faded away, in great part due to the injury and retirement of Bret "The Hitman" Hart, the leader of the group. By this point, not only the nWo, but the entire WCW, had lapsed into what seemed to be an inevitable and permanent decline, constantly bettered by the WWF and relegated to a permanent second-place status, a situation many longtime WCW fans blamed in part on WCW management having stayed with the nWo storyline for entirely too long. The lead heel group in WCW was eventually replaced by The New Blood.
Re-emergence in WWF/E
After the WWF bought WCW in 2001, Vince McMahon brought in Hogan, Hall and Nash as the nWo, at the No Way Out PPV on February 17, 2002. In this storyline, the nWo was brought in as McMahon's allies in an attempt to "kill" the WWF so that McMahon would not have to share power with new WWF "co-owner" "Nature Boy" Ric Flair. However, Hogan left the group after he lost his WrestleMania X8 match with The Rock and was assaulted after that match by Hall and Nash. Hogan's comeback to the WWF after 8 years had fans cheering him, more than even The Rock. As a result, he turned face and began feuding with Hall and Nash, with The Rock at his side. Hall and Nash brought in two nWo members afterwards, X-Pac (formerly known as Syxx, who was also a former nWo member whilst in WCW), on March 21, 2002, at SmackDown! in Ottawa, Ontario and The Big Show (formerly known as The Giant), on April 22, 2002.
The nWo reunion in the WWF would not last long, however. Hall was released in May due to drinking problems during a UK tour. Flair later became a semi-member of the nWo after turning on Stone Cold Steve Austin. As owner of RAW, Flair set up a lumberjack match with Austin against the newest member of the nWo, which turned out to be Booker T. Booker had just finished a silly skit with Goldust minutes earlier, where he had been wearing a lumberjack costume and fake beard, all but destroying his "tough" momentum going into the match. Nash introduced Shawn Michaels into the nWo on June 3, 2002. Michaels (literally) kicked Booker out of the nWo one week later.
Abruptly, the nWo was (kayfabe) disbanded by McMahon on July 15, 2002, after he regained full control of WWE from Ric Flair. The final nail in the nWo coffin was X-Pac (legitly) fainting on July 15 before the show and Nash tearing a quadriceps muscle during a match one week prior to the disbanding, taking him out of action for several months. Ironically, the nWo disbanded on the same night that Eric Bischoff, the man who was often credited for creating the nWo, made his debut in WWE as the general manager of RAW. At the time of the nWo's demise, Michaels was offering Triple H membership in the nWo.
The New World Order trademark
Although WWE still holds, and has renewed, the "new World order" trademark they have allegedly lost the rights for the nWo Rockhouse entrance music after the group disbanded a second and final time in 2002. As a result, the song is dubbed over on WWE home video releases, yet appears in tact on WWE 24/7. The Rockhouse theme was a production track created by Funhouse.
Members
Each of the following wrestlers have, at some point, been a member of some official incarnation of the New World Order:
New World Order (nWo):
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nWo Japan (later known as Team 2000 after the nWo disbanded in WCW):
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nWo Hollywood:
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nWo Wolfpac:
nWo "Elite" (also known as 'nWo Reunion'):
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nWo "B-Team" (also known as 'nWo Black & White'):
nWo 2000:
WWE Incarnation
Unofficial members
- Vince McMahon - Brought the nWo into the WWF and appeared on their side in the feuds against Rock and Austin that went up to WrestleMania X8 but had nothing to do with them after that.
- Ric Flair - After making his second-to-latest heel run by turning on Austin, Flair began helping the nWo and vice versa. Flair even made Booker T a member, but Flair was never mentioned to be part of the group.
- Goldust - During nWo's 3rd incarnation, Goldust signed a petition to join the nWo. He began wearing black-and-white make-up and wearing the nWo shirt. He also began hanging around the group, especially Booker T. The nWo hated Goldust but Kevin Nash gave him a chance to join, saying if he could beat X-Pac, he would replace him on the team. Goldust lost the match.
- Triple H - Prior to the nWo's demise, Shawn Michaels was trying to get Triple H to join the 4th incarnation of the group. Also, at King Of The Ring in 2002, The nWo ran into Triple H before his WWE title match and offered to help him if he needed it, which Triple H refused. Three of his best friends, Michaels, Kevin Nash and X-Pac, were in the group and embraced him when he ran into them at King Of The Ring.
External links
- Original nWo at Obsessed with Wrestling
- nWo Japan at Obsessed with Wrestling
- The Wolfpac at Obsessed with Wrestling
- nWo Hollywood at Obsessed with Wrestling
- nWo Reunion at Obsessed with Wresting
- nWo B-Team at Obsessed with Wrestling
- nWo 2000 at Obsessed with Wrestling
- WWE nWo at Obsessed with Wrestling