25 years ago, Hogan, Nash & Hall formed the NWO

[Guardian17]

July 7, 1996. It’s a day that will forever live in infamy in the world of professional wrestling and one that helped herald in a boom period in the industry, the likes of which many organizations have been trying in vain to replicate for much of the past two and a half decades.

The night of July 7, 1996 was when the New World Order was born.

Eric Bischoff New World Order NWO - TSN.ca

Click to read more...

 

[Megahab]

That article is a day early.

What a cool time to be a fan. We'll never have anything close to this again.

 

[JackSlater]

I agree that it would be extremely difficult to replicate that. It was so strange that Razor Ramon and Diesel were appearing on tv in street clothes, and then forming a stable with Hogan as the heelish head. Really enjoyable moment that had people talking about wrestling, and not for embarrassing reasons.

 

[McRpro]

My young self didn't pay any attention to WCW, until I heard Hogan actually turned heel. Wrestling was great entertainment back then.

 

[alko]

Brilliant idea. Was it intended from beginning, that Hogan will join NWO?

I watched Wrestling that time on a German TV, i think it called Tele 5. They broadcast WWF. There was also WCW to see (dont remember the channels name), but for me it wasn't so interesting.
Whey they come with this, i remember some hot dispute between the commentators of both channels in some talk show. How they defended their circus. And the guy, who should defend WWF was in strong defense.

 

[BruinDust]

25 years from now you'll still be seeing nWo t-shirts at pro wrestling events.

 

[Brodeur]

Young me tuned into the PPV channel to find out who the third man would be. Back in those days, you could get clear audio but a scrambled picture if you didn't buy the PPV.

When Hogan came out, I all but assumed he was chasing off Hall/Nash. Kudos to how they set everything up.

 

[Guardian17]

Brilliant idea. Was it intended from beginning, that Hogan will join NWO?

I watched Wrestling that time on a German TV, i think it called Tele 5. They broadcast WWF. There was also WCW to see (dont remember the channels name), but for me it wasn't so interesting.
Whey they come with this, i remember some hot dispute between the commentators of both channels in some talk show. How they defended their circus. And the guy, who should defend WWF was in strong defense.

Nope.

According to the article, Hogan was hesitant to turn heel.

Sting was going to be the third man if Hogan decided not to do the turn.

This is probably why you'll notice Sting's hair is dark brown and not the usual bleached blonde.

 

[Megahab]

Lex Luger and Bret Hart were also considered to be the third man at one point.

 

[Guardian17]

Lex Luger and Bret Hart were also considered to be the third man at one point.

That's cool, I never heard that Bret Hart was considered.

I know Hart lost the WWF title to Shawn Michaels at WM12 and his contract was either up or not re-negotiated yet.

 

[joestevens29]

As it great as it was it eventually is what ruined WCW imo.

Couldn't actually even watch a match anymore expecting a legit ending. Became an old boys club in and out of the ring that resulted in Nash getting booking power. Which resulted in some of the dumbest decisions that ended up being the final nail in the coffin for WCW.

 

[Sega Dreamcast]

I remember watching the NWO cut some promo with a line saying "We're going to destroy everything in our path to Road Wild", or whatever the next PPV was.

Well, I was 5 or 6 years old at the time and that promo gave me nightmares because I literally thought that they were going to travel town-to-town destroying buildings in their way.

 

[Megahab]

As it great as it was it eventually is what ruined WCW imo.

Couldn't actually even watch a match anymore expecting a legit ending. Became an old boys club in and out of the ring that resulted in Nash getting booking power. Which resulted in some of the dumbest decisions that ended up being the final nail in the coffin for WCW.

I disagree because what would WCW have been without the nWo? 1995 WCW's was terrible. The biggest part of WCW legacy is the nWo.

 

[JackSlater]

Yeah the NWO wasn't WCW's problem, the way the company was run was. You could have the NWO without giving a ton of wrestlers contracts that would eventually kill the company.

 

[keonsbitterness]

It was great while it lasted, but it's never worth it when Vince wins in the end.

 

[These Are The Days]

I actually agree it killed the company. That shit went on way, WAAAAAYYYYYY too long. Just about everyone and their grandmother joined it, spin off factions and then a lengthy Wolfpac vs Hollywood feud to just turned into "lmao fooled ya!!"

Anything would've been better. Hell you could've had Goldberg win the belt in July 1998 and WCW could've just run with it and let the NWO angle die on its own. It was already 2 years to that point. Who the hell even cared anymore as much as they had before? (Rhetorical question) I argue Goldberg was such a success because it was something different.

I'm honest to God baffled at how WCW stayed on top for as long as it did when WWF was transforming into the AE

 

[JackSlater]

The match is nothing special by any stretch but the whole thing was pretty memorable.

 

[kanuck87]

The match is nothing special by any stretch but the whole thing was pretty memorable.

The setup to the swerve was pretty meh, but Hogan's promo afterwards was pretty damn awesome.

 

[Guardian17]

The setup to the swerve was pretty meh, but Hogan's promo afterwards was pretty damn awesome.

Bobby Heenan kind of ruined it when he said "whose side is he on" as Hogan came to the ring.

 

[JackSlater]

The setup to the swerve was pretty meh, but Hogan's promo afterwards was pretty damn awesome.

Yeah rewatching it I did not remember how long and detailed that promo was. I probably hadn't seen in since the 90s, or maybe the early days of Youtube when it had all kinds of wrestling gold. I come and go with Hogan and his promos. Sometimes it's crazy nonsense but he hits some good ones too.

 

[eXile3]

I actually agree it killed the company. That shit went on way, WAAAAAYYYYYY too long. Just about everyone and their grandmother joined it, spin off factions and then a lengthy Wolfpac vs Hollywood feud to just turned into "lmao fooled ya!!"

Anything would've been better. Hell you could've had Goldberg win the belt in July 1998 and WCW could've just run with it and let the NWO angle die on its own. It was already 2 years to that point. Who the hell even cared anymore as much as they had before? (Rhetorical question) I argue Goldberg was such a success because it was something different.

I'm honest to God baffled at how WCW stayed on top for as long as it did when WWF was transforming into the AE

Well they gave Hogan and Nash creative control. That had a lot to do with it. Also, Russo wasn't the creative genius he was made out to be and did a lot of stupid things.

 

[Brodeur]

Pardon me while I use the excuse to post the B-team theme which is a banger.

 

[I Hart Conor Garland]

Pardon me while I use the excuse to post the B-team theme which is a banger.

nWo era Nick Patrick looks like Danny McBride.

 

[These Are The Days]

Well they gave Hogan and Nash creative control. That had a lot to do with it. Also, Russo wasn't the creative genius he was made out to be and did a lot of stupid things.

Yeah Nash and Hogan were absolutely toxic. I'm no creative genius but I'm sure any of us could've done better than they did. But I'll give Russo his due in that he was solid for WWF in his tenure. By the time he left for WCW the AE was practically writing itself with HHH's character development, the Rock's magnetism, great tag teams, I can go on and it's just an overall good brand.

I hate to say it but Bischoff and co will say "Don't blame the fingerpoke of doom" but yeah.... I'm going to. WCW was falling behind but as a fan who knows the story, THAT is the kind of shit that would make people never watch again.

 

[les Habs]

Perhaps it went on too long, but I think the way it played out was more detrimental than the timeframe. NWO was too bloated and WCW was too neutered.