New World Order (Wrestling)

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The New World Order (abbreviated: nWo or NWO ) was a wrestling stable , i.e. a group of wrestlers who, according to the storyline, pursued a common goal. The first incarnation of the repeatedly reissued Stables took place in 1996 at World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and initially consisted of Scott Hall and Kevin Nash , who had previously come from the main competition World Wrestling Federation , as well as Hulk Hogan , who is in the nWo "Hollywood Hogan “Called. The NWO was an important factor in the so-called Monday Night Wars between the then market leader World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling and brought the turning point for the WCW at that time.

The concept has often been imitated and parodied. After the end of the WCW, the stable was also used in various forms in the WWF, but never achieved the same effect as in 1996.

history

Emergence

The New World Order was an idea of Eric Bischoff , the then Executive Vice President of WCW, who was responsible for all creative decisions in wrestling promotion. Bischoff was influenced by a storyline in New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW). At that time he was a frequent guest in Japan and attended a show in the Tokyo Dome on April 29, 1996, in which the wrestling promotion UWF International competed in the storyline against the NJPW. This was portrayed as an "invasion". At the show, New Japan's Shinya Hashimoto competed against UWFi's Nobuhiko Takada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship .

Bischoff was inspired by this cross-promotion strategy. When he signed the two WWF wrestlers Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, he decided to produce a similar storyline in which a gang of wrestlers tried to dominate the WCW. At first it was planned that the NWO should be a kind of promotion outside the WCW. The NWO was initially portrayed as a guerrilla formation that was supposed to fight the long-standing wrestlers within the promotion.

The original version was supplemented with ideas from Kevin Nash himself, television director Craig Leathers , chief booker Terry Taylor and his then assistants Kevin Sullivan and Paul Orndorff .

Both the storyline and the background are presented below.

World Championship Wrestling (1996-2000)

founding

It was initially set up slowly in the TV show WCW Monday Nitro . On May 19, 1996, Kevin Nash ("Diesel") and Scott Hall ("Razor Ramon") were released from their WWF contract. Since the move was not in secret, as was the case with Lex Luger , it was no surprise to the well-informed fans, but the change was presented in an unusual way: Scott Hall entered the Macon Coliseum in Macon , Georgia on May 27 during a match between Mike Enos ("The Mauler") and Steve Doll . He then took a microphone and challenged Eric Bischoff with what would later become known as the “You Want a War?” Speech. He announced that he and his unnamed friends would take on Bischoff and the entire WCW. A little later, he asked Bischoff to set up a three-man team for the Pay-Per-View Bash at the Beach, which should compete against him and two of his allies. Although Monday Night Raw and WCW Monday Nitro had been on the same date for a year, this episode is often referred to as the start of the so-called Monday Night Wars.

The next week, Scott Hall surprised Eric Bischoff with his partner Kevin Nash. The two called themselves The Outsiders and over the next few weeks repeatedly disrupted the WCW shows.

At the big Bash at the Beach event on July 7, 1996, Nash and Hall played a match against Lex Luger , Randy Savage and Sting . After Luger was injured, according to the storyline , Hulk Hogan appeared and attacked Savage, identifying himself as the third ally of Nash and Hall. In the subsequent interview with Gene Okerlund , Hogan broke with his fans and proclaimed the “New World Order of Wrestling”. The fans started throwing trash in the ring and booing the three wrestlers.

Hogan was Heel from then on , a role he hadn't played since the early eighties. In order to make the break with his fans and his baby face image even clearer, he gave himself the name "Hollywood Hogan" and from then on renounced his yellow and red outfit in favor of black and white, which also became the color of the NWO. The storyline changed the previous image of wrestling when gimmicks disappeared more and more and background politics were discussed in public.

Spread

In the following weeks, the NWO repeatedly intervened in various matches. At the PPV Hog Wild , Hulk Hogan won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship from The Giant and sprayed the belt with the nWo logo. The fourth member was Ted Dibiase and the fifth man The Giant, who attacked his team members from the Dungeon of Doom and The Four Horsemen .

At the next PPV case brawl, the NWO used a false sting to defeat Team WCW consisting of Lex Luger, Randy Savage, Arn Anderson and Ric Flair .

The split

Since fan interest in the storyline began to decline, it was decided in 1998 to split the nWo into two camps: Hogan continued to run the "original" nWo, while Nash created a new version dressed in black and red, which was called Wolfpac . The latter version now also included Sting , which was the flagship of the WCW for years. At this time, too, the ratings of the WCW shows gradually fell again, because the feud between nWo Hogan and nWo Wolfpac could not meet expectations.

Another merger

On January 4, 1999, the group merged again, this time completely under a red logo. In the main event of Nitro Kevin Nash met the returnees in WCW Hulk Hogan, Nash after a finger joint ( "finger poke of doom") defeated . This was received extremely negatively by the audience and in the middle of the year the group was dissolved again in this form.

nWo Black and White

In addition to the main nWo group, there was always the "B-Team". This was finally on the road as a separate group from 1999. This consisted of wrestlers of the lower to middle combat map, who mostly had to feud among each other for the position of the leader. After the dissolution of the new Wolfpac in mid-99, the B-Team also dissolved.

The end of the nWo

In the middle of 1999 the nWo was officially dissolved and came back again in 2000. The remaining members were Kevin Nash, Scott Hall , Scott Steiner and Bret Hart . In addition there were Jeff Jarrett , the Harris Boys and some of the WCW Girls, who now belonged to the nWo as valets. But the success of the past was no longer possible, the storyline had lost its charm; the decline of WCW was connected with this end.

World Wrestling Entertainment (2002)

With the purchase of WCW by WWE boss Vince McMahon on March 23, 2001 , this u. a. also the rights to the use of former WCW names and trademarks, including the nWo. After Nash, Hogan and Hall (who had already been dismissed from the WCW in 2000) had received contracts with the WWF, the rumor arose in early 2002 that McMahon wanted to revive the nWo. At the major event No Way Out on February 17, 2002, the nWo was officially introduced into the WWE in its original line-up. A storyline was worked out during which the stable wanted to destroy the WWE.

After Hogan received positive feedback from fans at Wrestlemania X8 in the match against The Rock , he was allowed to leave the nWo. In return, the group was expanded to include X-Pac and Big Show , which were already members of the WCW nWo. After Hall was fired from WWE in May, Booker T and Shawn Michaels were allowed to join the stable; Michaels was the first (and only) nWo member who never had a contract with WCW.

According to the script, Triple H was supposed to join the nWo at the Vengeance 2002 event on July 21st, but Nash was injured in a tag team match on July 8th and was sidelined for several months. This not only let the planned storyline burst, but also made those responsible aware that the failure or elimination of their hallmarks Hall and Nash would result in no long-term development of the nWo. On July 15, 2002, Vince McMahon announced the stable on Monday Night Raw for disbanded.

The members

Original nWo (1996–1997)

Scott Hall , Kevin Nash , Hollywood Hogan , Ted DiBiase , The Giant , Konnan , Eric Bischoff , Macho Man Randy Savage , Syxx , Michael Wallstreet , Buff Bagwell , Big Bubba Rogers , Scott Norton , Curt Hennig , Dusty Rhodes , Nick Patrick , nWo Sting

nWo Hollywood (1998)

Hollywood Hogan, Bret Hart, Scott Hall, Curt Hennig, Buff Bagwell, Scott Steiner , The Giant, Stevie Ray, Scott Norton, Horace Hogan, The Disciple , Brian Adams , Vincent, Rick Rude

nWo Wolfpac (face) (1998)

Kevin Nash, Macho Man, Lex Luger, Sting, Konnan, Rick Rude , Curt Hennig

nWo Wolfpac (heel) (1999)

Hollywood Hogan, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Lex Luger, Scott Steiner, Buff Bagwell

nWo Black & White (1999)

Horace Hogan, Stevie Ray, Vincent, Brian Adams, Scott Norton

Short-term members: The Giant (fired in early 1999), Curt Hennig (founded his own stable)

nWo Mega (1999)

Hollywood Hogan, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Lex Luger, Scott Steiner, Buff Bagwell, Disco Inferno, Horace Hogan, Stevie Ray, Vincent, Brian Adams, Scott Norton, Macho Man

nWo Black & Silver (2000)

Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Bret Hart, Jeff Jarrett , Scott Steiner, Harris Brothers

new World order (WWF version) (2002)

"Hollywood" Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, X-Pac, Big Show, Shawn Michaels, Booker T

SpinOffs and Parodies

nWo Japan

This stable included wrestlers from Japan and other professionals who competed frequently in Japan. The members were Masahiro Chono , The Great Muta , Scott Norton , Michael Wall $ treet , Hiroyoshi Tenzan, nWo Sting, Big Titan, Hiro Saito , Brian Adams , Satoshi Kojima, Michiyoshi Ohara and Tatsutoshi Goto.

Norton and Wall Street were sent to Japan by the WCW to show there that the nWo Japan is not just an imitation, but a real part of the nWo. The group was later called "Team 2000".

lWo Latino World Order

After Eddie Guerrero got personal problems with Eric Bischoff, these were incorporated into a storyline. Eddie raised the lWo, which consisted of Mexican wrestlers from the WCW. Members:

bWo blue World order

nWo parody in the ECW, founded by the Blue Meanie (Brian Heffron) together with "Big Stevie Cool" Steven Richards and Hollywood Nova (Simon Dean). At the beginning of 1997, the ECW briefly signed the Japanese wrestlers TAKA Michinoku, Dick Togo and Terry Boy and placed them alongside the original bWo as "bWo Japan".

Members:

  • Blue meanie
  • Stevie Richards
  • "Hollywood" Nova
  • "7-11" Rob Feinstein
  • Chasity

bWo Japan

  • TAKA Michinoku (bWo Japan)
  • Dick Togo (bWo Japan)
  • Terry Boy (bWo Japan)

oWn (One Warrior Nation)

In the course of the feud between Hollywood Hogan and the warrior, he formed the oWn. This consisted of only two wrestlers:

After the match Hogan vs. Warrior at Halloween Havoc 1998 dissolved the oWn completely.

rKo

Randy Orton had a t-shirt printed with the nWo logo, replacing the original letters with “rKo” (the name of his finishing move and initials of his full name).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling: TMPToW: Eric Bischoff (podcast). Podomatic, March 21, 2017, accessed September 12, 2018 .
  2. ↑ a b 20 years ago, Scott Hall invaded WCW and launched wrestling's Monday Night Wars . In: FOX Sports . May 27, 2016 ( foxsports.com [accessed September 13, 2018]).
  3. ↑ On this date in WCW history: The formation of the NWO at Bash at the Beach . In: Cageside Seats . ( cagesideseats.com [accessed September 13, 2018]).
  4. ^ NWo History ( Memento from January 7, 2008 in the Internet Archive )