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

[Killer Orcas]

When wrestling was worth watching I miss the glory days of it. Maybe I got old but just seemed way better then.

 

[Roo Returns]

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

#MabelWasTheThirdMan

 

[Guardian17]

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

I forgot how many B-Team guys were on the nWo.

 

[JackSlater]

I found it funny at the time when WCW would add random guys to the NWO for the cheapest of cheap pops, to the point where you would jut assume that guys were in the NWO until proven otherwise. In terms of spinoffs/knockoffs I hated the Wolfpac, which seemed beyond redundant, though I enjoyed the LWO, which was a good parody of sorts.

 

[Kaner9]

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.

NWO goin Blast Corps on WCW lol

 

[Kaner9]

Never forget the NWO did achieve their goal of destroying Wcw from within

 

[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.

To be more specific:

• I think they could have had a more united and stronger WCW. You’d want it to take some time getting to that point, but it never felt fully united to me.
  
• The Horsemen should have been made stronger after the Hennig swerve. Actually Hennig was wasted in the NWO and they probably should have just made him a Horseman. Rumor at the time was that Eddie was going to join which would have been nice and they could have had Mongo step aside into a side role or had Eddie instead of Malenko. Also, the Sullivan - Benoit feud was unnecessary.
• Would have liked to have seen The Flock more involved somehow. Either challenging NWO at some point or WCW after the NWO takes a setback. Flock would need to be made stronger for this, but it could have been done.
• NWO vs Wolfpac was unnecessary, or at least it could have been after a defeated NWO was stepping to the side to settle its differences.

 

[These Are The Days]

Never forget the NWO did achieve their goal of destroying Wcw from within

lol that's funny. After a while Nash and Hogan's lust for power finally buried a once great company. The worst/funniest thing about it is that basically 20 years later absolutely no one wants to take any responsibility for what happened and just plays their failures off like the Titanic just went and sunk itself because not a single one of could have hit the iceberg

 

[joestevens29]

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.

I agree that it's a massive part of it's legacy, but it was what ended up killing it as well. They either held onto for too long or didn't utilize it properly.

It could be said that the NWO made the WCW last longer than it should've, but I still think it was the final nail in the coffin.

 

[JackSlater]

Nash did better than I expected him to. Plenty of fans from the time could probably name more but I figured he'd get comically few.

 

[Megahab]

The only other person I could think of within a few seconds of Nash finishing was Stevie Ray.

 

[Voight]

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

Heck, I know people who wear them despite not being wrestling fans and not really knowing anything about the nWo.

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

Making Hart part of it would have been the ultimate F U to Vince from WCW.

 

[Voight]

 

[Kaner9]

Dam I want my own LWO shirt now. The colors with the classic NWO logo are fire.

 

[End of Line]

To be more specific:

• I think they could have had a more united and stronger WCW. You’d want it to take some time getting to that point, but it never felt fully united to me.
  
• The Horsemen should have been made stronger after the Hennig swerve. Actually Hennig was wasted in the NWO and they probably should have just made him a Horseman. Rumor at the time was that Eddie was going to join which would have been nice and they could have had Mongo step aside into a side role or had Eddie instead of Malenko. Also, the Sullivan - Benoit feud was unnecessary.
• Would have liked to have seen The Flock more involved somehow. Either challenging NWO at some point or WCW after the NWO takes a setback. Flock would need to be made stronger for this, but it could have been done.
• NWO vs Wolfpac was unnecessary, or at least it could have been after a defeated NWO was stepping to the side to settle its differences.

Loved Kidman’s theme at the time


Another note, I’ve been watching quite a bit of old Nitro episodes and one thing that stands out is the pop that Nash gets anytime he comes out. Factor that in with the reaction to him beating Goldberg I never realized how popular he was in at the time. He had to of been 1b in the company regardless of being head booker.

 

[BruinDust]

Loved Kidman’s theme at the time


Another note, I’ve been watching quite a bit of old Nitro episodes and one thing that stands out is the pop that Nash gets anytime he comes out. Factor that in with the reaction to him beating Goldberg I never realized how popular he was in at the time. He had to of been 1b in the company regardless of being head booker.

When Nash formed the Wolfpac in the early summer of 1998 him and the Wolfpac were really over. The fans had basically been cheering for the nWo anyways, and they basically gave them a face-version to cheer for.

It's too bad politics between Hogan and Nash behind the scenes would never really allow the face nWo Wolfpac to make the sort of money that it should have, because it was over big time.

 

[Megahab]

When Nash formed the Wolfpac in the early summer of 1998 him and the Wolfpac were really over. The fans had basically been cheering for the nWo anyways, and they basically gave them a face-version to cheer for.

It's too bad politics between Hogan and Nash behind the scenes would never really allow the face nWo Wolfpac to make the sort of money that it should have, because it was over big time.

I always hated that Sting was in the Wolfpac. It didn't make sense. He was Mr. WCW.

 

[BruinDust]

I always hated that Sting was in the Wolfpac. It didn't make sense. He was Mr. WCW.

Same. Even Luger. Those two were at the forefront of the storyline against the nWo during 1996 and all of 1997. Then all of sudden they join the enemy? Like you said, made absolutely no sense from a storytelling perspective.

Even worse was it killed any mystique left of the original Sting-Crow character. Gone was the silent brooder, now he was just surfer Sting with darker hair, red face-paint and a black trench-coat trying too hard to be cool.

 

[JackSlater]

Same. Even Luger. Those two were at the forefront of the storyline against the nWo during 1996 and all of 1997. Then all of sudden they join the enemy? Like you said, made absolutely no sense from a storytelling perspective.

Even worse was it killed any mystique left of the original Sting-Crow character. Gone was the silent brooder, now he was just surfer Sting with darker hair, red face-paint and a black trench-coat trying too hard to be cool.

Pretty good description of Wolfpac Sting. I never cared for the Wolfpac in general but the guy who had been WCW's main defender and the biggest face in the company for nearly a decade casually joining the Wolfpac just made it worse. Luger I could see since he messed around with Sullivan, the Horsemen, and such. Obviously this was WCW though and we are overthinking it.

 

[Megahab]

Same. Even Luger. Those two were at the forefront of the storyline against the nWo during 1996 and all of 1997. Then all of sudden they join the enemy? Like you said, made absolutely no sense from a storytelling perspective.

Even worse was it killed any mystique left of the original Sting-Crow character. Gone was the silent brooder, now he was just surfer Sting with darker hair, red face-paint and a black trench-coat trying too hard to be cool.

Agreed. 1998 Sting, Nash and Luger reminded of parents trying to be cool. These guys were 40 or almost 40 at the time. "Wolfpac in the hiz-ous" or whatever it was was the cringiest thing.

Kennan was the only one who could pull it off because it seemed naturally him.

 

[Nemesis Prime]

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.

Nah, it was definitely NWO that killed WCW.