New World Order (professional Wrestling)

The New World Order (commonly abbreviated as nWo) is an American professional wrestling stable that originally consisted of "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall, and Kevin Nash.

The stable originated in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) with the gimmick of a group of unsanctioned wrestlers aiming to " take over" and control WCW in the manner of a street gang. The group later appeared in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) after the purchase of WCW by the WWF. The nWo angle became one of the most influential storylines in the mid-to-late 1990s success of WCW and was instrumental in turning mainstream North American professional wrestling into a more mature, adult-oriented product. The stable became the main driving force behind WCW competing with the WWF in the Monday Night Wars.

Fueled initially by the unexpected villainous turn of Hulk Hogan, the nWo storyline is generally considered one of the most successful angles in the history of modern-day professional wrestling, spawning several imitations and parodies, including the bWo, lWo and the jWo. The group dominated WCW programming throughout the late-1990s and continued until the dissolution of WCW in 2001, during which time there were several, sometimes rival, incarnations of the group.

In December 2019, it was announced that the nWo would be inducted into the 2020 WWE Hall of Fame, with Hogan, Hall, Nash, and Sean Waltman as the inducted members.

Concept

The nWo storyline was an idea created by WCW Executive Vice President Eric Bischoff, whose inspiration for the angle came after attending New Japan Pro-Wrestling's Battle Formation show at the Tokyo Dome on April 29, 1996. The show was headlined by a NJPW vs. UWFi match for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, as New Japan's Shinya Hashimoto defeated UWFi's Nobuhiko Takada. Bischoff wanted to do an invasion-type angle where World Championship Wrestling (WCW) was being sabotaged by another wrestling group, initially insinuated as being the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), since the nWo's founding members had previously wrestled for the company.

The nWo was originally portrayed as a separate entity from WCW. Often, propaganda-style vignettes and product commercials concerning the nWo were presented in the style of a broadcast signal intrusion, with a voice proclaiming, "The following announcement has been paid for by the New World Order". Others, such as Kevin Nash, television director Craig Leathers, chief WCW booker Terry Taylor, and Taylor's assistants Kevin Sullivan and Paul Orndorff, all contributed their own ideas to the nWo concept.

Craig Leathers approached Disney/MGM Studios for a nWo logo. The designers came back with 6 to 10 examples, and eventually WCW management settled on the logo we know today. Scott Hall is credited with the group's trademark hand-signals, and 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.

History

World Championship Wrestling

Formation

On May 19, 1996, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash wrestled their final matches as, respectively, Razor Ramon and Diesel in the WWF and signed with WCW shortly after. Hall appeared on the May 27, 1996 edition of ''Nitro'', which emanated from the Macon Coliseum in Macon, Georgia. As The Mauler and Steve Doll wrestled, Hall emerged from the crowd and entered the ring, bringing the match to a halt, and called for the ring announcer's microphone. "You all know who I am", Hall said to the stunned crowd, "but you don't know why I'm here". He went on to deliver what became known as the "You Want a War?" speech, stating that he and unnamed allies had a challenge for WCW executive vice president Bischoff and any WCW wrestlers. As the episode neared its end, Hall accosted Bischoff, who was also the lead broadcaster for ''Nitro'' at the time, in the broadcast booth and demanded that he tell WCW owner Ted Turner to pick three of his best wrestlers for "a war". The next week, Hall claimed to have a "big surprise" for fellow professional wrestler Sting. On the following ''Nitro'', the big surprise was revealed to be Nash. Hall and Nash were then dubbed as The Outsiders, randomly appearing at WCW events to cause trouble and inevitably be led out of the building by security.

Hall and Nash were both fully employed by WCW, but the storyline implied that they were WWF wrestlers "invading" WCW. This was enough of a concern to the WWF that it considered legal action over Hall and Nash's antics. Hall was the bigger concern to the WWF, as he had not fully distanced himself from his Razor Ramon character, continuing to act like Razor and speaking with Razor's pseudo-Cuban American accent. WCW attempted to address these concerns at The Great American Bash in June 1996. Bischoff promised them a match at the next pay-per-view event, and then directly asked both Hall and Nash if they were employed by the WWF, to which they said no. The WWF, still unsatisfied, filed a lawsuit, claiming that Bischoff had proposed inter-promotional matches that would air on TBS, associating the two promotions with each other. Also at The Great American Bash, both Hall and Nash pressed Bischoff to name his company's three representatives for their impending match. Bischoff said that he had found three men who would answer their challenge, but would not name them. This would lead to Hall and Nash attacking Bischoff, culminating with Nash powerbombing Bischoff off the stage and through a table below the stage itself. Bischoff held a draft on ''Nitro'' to determine WCW's representatives, with Sting, Lex Luger, and "Macho Man" Randy Savage being chosen.

Hostile Takeover Match

The match Bischoff promised, a six-man tag team match billed as the "Hostile Takeover match", was scheduled as the main event of Bash at the Beach at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, Florida on July 7, 1996. Hall and Nash came to the ring by themselves, leaving speculation open as to who the third man was. Team WCW then entered with all three members wearing face paint as a sign of solidarity.

Luger was hurt and badly injured right when the match started and had to be removed on a stretcher. The match reached its climax at approximately the sixteen-minute mark, shortly after a late tag from Sting to Savage. Savage went on the attack, nailing both the Outsiders with repeated axe-handle smashes from the top rope. However, while referee Randy Anderson checked on a downed Hall, Hall grabbed his shirt while Nash nailed Savage with a low blow which knocked both men to the mat. With all four men down, Anderson had no choice but to begin counting them out as he did not see the low blow. As he began his count, the fans' attention turned to the entrance area as Hulk Hogan entered and began walking to the ring to a loud roar from the crowd. Hall spotted him and immediately fled the ring. Hogan, who had not been seen on WCW television for some time, climbed into the ring to chase away Nash and tore off his T-shirt, as he had done many times before.

With the fans still cheering wildly, Hogan stood in the corner nearest and hit his long-time friend Savage with his Atomic Leg Drop, stunning the crowd into silence and turning heel for the first time since his AWA days in 1981. The Outsiders came back into the ring to celebrate with their now-revealed partner as Hogan dropped the leg on the fallen Savage a second time, and after the three men all shook hands Hogan threw the referee from the ring and hit Savage one last time. The official match result was a no contest and Savage had to be carried from the ring by an exhausted Sting. After the match, "Mean" Gene Okerlund came to the ring and interviewed Hogan. During the interview, Hogan exclaimed that he, Hall and Nash were "the new world order of wrestling", giving the group its name – the New World Order.

Hogan continued, reminding everybody of the "big organization up North" where Hall and Nash had come from and that he too had been there and how he had made that company a household name. Hogan followed by bringing up his signing with WCW in 1994.

He then declared that Hall and Nash were the kind of people he really wanted as his friends and that together, the three of them were going to take over WCW and destroy everything in their path. At this point, Okerlund directed Hogan to look at the debris strewn around the ring and told him that he could expect more of this if he chose to associate with Hall and Nash (subtly suggesting that Hogan should reconsider one more time). Hogan disregarded Okerlund and went into a tirade against the fans while taking another shot at Bischoff and some of the newer talent the fans were cheering.

Hogan then grabbed Okerlund by the collar moments later but quickly let him go after Okerlund threatened to sue him if he didn't. The show closed with the three wrestlers continuing to taunt the fans, who booed and pelted them with garbage. Wrapping up the event on pay-per-view, a still-stunned Tony Schiavone said: "Hulk Hogan, you can go to hell... Straight to hell". The night after Bash at the Beach, Hall and Nash appeared on ''Nitro'' without Hogan, attempting to attack Sting, Arn Anderson and Randy Savage, but were held back by WCW security. On the July 15, 1996 edition of ''Nitro'', Hogan returned and helped Hall and Nash attack Lex Luger and Big Bubba Rogers during the ''Nitro'' main event. He then made a challenge to then-reigning WCW World Heavyweight Champion, The Giant, for Hog Wild in August. On the July 29, 1996 episode of ''Nitro'', The Outsiders attacked Arn Anderson, the American Males (Marcus Bagwell and Scotty Riggs) and Rey Misterio Jr., whom Nash threw the latter into the side of a WCW production truck before leaving in a limousine.

Hogan becomes champion and Bischoff's secret is revealed

At Hog Wild, the newly rechristened "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan won the match after knocking The Giant out with his title belt. After the match, Hogan rechristened the Big Gold Belt as the nWo World Heavyweight Championship by spray-painting the group acronym in capital letters across the faceplate. Nearly two weeks after Hog Wild, Ted DiBiase made his WCW debut and declared himself the financier and spokesperson of the nWo (thus becoming the fourth man), and was given the nickname "Trillionaire Ted". On the September 2 episode of ''Nitro'', the nWo got its first defection and fifth member from WCW as The Giant, who just weeks earlier lost his title to Hogan, turned on his Dungeon of Doom teammates and attacked The Four Horsemen and Randy Savage.

As the Fall Brawl PPV event neared, WCW was gearing up for another battle against the nWo. On the September 9 episode of ''Nitro'', the nWo tricked fans and wrestlers into thinking that Sting had joined the nWo by putting wrestler Jeff Farmer into the group as a Sting clone, complete with Sting attire and face paint. This point was furthered when Farmer, as the nWo Sting, attacked Luger, who had been lured into an attack by referee Nick Patrick. This led Luger, his longtime ally and tag team partner, to publicly question Sting. At Fall Brawl, as Team WCW was being interviewed, Sting told his teammates that he had nothing to do with the attack, but Luger did not believe him. Going into the match, only three wrestlers on each side had been officially named: Hogan and The Outsiders for the nWo, with Luger, Arn Anderson, and Ric Flair for Team WCW. Sting had originally been named the fourth man for WCW, but his participation was in doubt. The fourth man for the nWo was indeed the nWo Sting, who convinced everyone (including the broadcast team) that the real Sting was nWo. The real Sting showed up moments later as the last man for Team WCW and took apart the nWo by himself. After assaulting Hogan, Hall, Nash and the nWo Sting, Sting left the ring and Team WCW, yelling at an apologetic looking Luger "Is that good enough for you right there? Is that truth enough?". Team WCW, now fighting a 4-on-3 handicap match, lost when the nWo Sting locked Luger in the '' Scorpion Death Lock''.

The next night on ''Nitro'', an angry Sting laid into his fellow wrestlers as well as the fans for doubting his true colors. He came out unexpectedly, with no music or pyrotechnics, and kept his back to the camera purposely as he spoke:

With that, Sting began a retreat from the ring that would last for nearly fifteen months, and in the process, left his loyalties on the table for either side to try and move him to theirs. The nWo stepped up its efforts to try and recruit Sting, yet never removed the nWo Sting from the group. As Sting's character and look evolved, so too did Farmer's nWo Sting character. On the same night Sting made his speech, the nWo inducted its sixth official member into the group, Syxx. On the September 23rd episode, the nWo debuted Vincent, as its "head of security". Nick Patrick became the group's official referee after he began showing partiality to nWo members during their matches. Miss Elizabeth turned against The Four Horsemen and joined the group as Hogan's valet.

The nWo continued to dominate WCW, with Hogan successfully retaining the nWo World Heavyweight Championship against Randy Savage and Hall and Nash winning the WCW World Tag Team Championship from Harlem Heat (Booker T and Stevie Ray) at Halloween Havoc. At Halloween Havoc, Hogan's old rival Roddy Piper, whom WCW had just signed to a contract, came to the ring to confront Hogan. Piper began looking for a match with Hogan the following night on ''Nitro''.

In the storyline, WCW only recognized Hogan, Nash, and Hall as WCW employees due to their holding WCW championships, and the other nWo members went unrecognized as WCW employees; because of this, they were unable to wrestle other WCW wrestlers. This led to the nWo starting a segment on '' Saturday Night'', called ''nWo Saturday Night'', where nWo stable members wrestled local jobbers inside an empty arena. The nWo also used their "financing" to purchase ad time during WCW programming, which amounted to low budget anti-WCW propaganda, or "hijack" the broadcast signal.

At Halloween Havoc, The Giant defeated Jeff Jarrett by disqualification after Ric Flair attacked Giant during the match. This led to an announcement on the November 11 episode of ''Nitro'' that Jarrett would be facing Giant in a rematch at World War 3.

On the November 11 episode of ''Nitro'', Nick Patrick disqualified Chris Jericho in a match against Konnan when Konnan kicked Jericho into Patrick. On the November 16 episode of ''Saturday Night'', Jericho challenged Patrick to a match at World War 3, with Jericho's left arm tied behind his back.

On November 18, 1996, ''Nitro'' was live at the Florence Civic Center in Florence, South Carolina and opened with Hall and Nash physically attacking The Nasty Boys ( Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags), High Voltage (Robbie Rage and Kenny Kaos), Ciclope, and Galaxy and forcing Tony Schiavone to walk off the show after they threatened him. As the show moved into its second hour, Hogan and his entourage accosted Bischoff at the announce table and forced him to say that Hogan was better than Piper, who was still seeking a match with Hogan, but whom Bischoff had not agreed on a contract with yet. At the end of the show, Piper and Bischoff began arguing in the ring. As Piper continued to badger Bischoff, The Giant entered the scene and grabbed Piper from behind. He was followed by Syxx, Vincent, and The Outsiders, who all stepped in to stop Piper from attacking Bischoff. Finally, Hogan and DiBiase came out and revealed to the entire world that Eric Bischoff, despite appearances, had secretly been a member of the nWo all along.

At World War 3, Chris Jericho defeated Nick Patrick while The Giant had defeated Jeff Jarrett after outside interference from Sting and The Outsiders were successful in retaining their Tag Team Championship against both the Nasty Boys and the Faces of Fear. Furthermore, Piper and Hogan had signed an official contract for a match, though Piper would end up being attacked by Hogan and the nWo. Lastly during the main event, The Giant had won the 60-man battle royal, last eliminating both Lex Luger and Kevin Nash, thus becoming the #1 contender in earning a World Heavyweight Championship title shot.

Piper and Hogan were booked for a non-title match at Starrcade in December.

The following night on ''Nitro'', Bischoff permanently left the broadcast booth, and his character became an egomaniacal tyrant as WCW's executive vice president, as well as a manager and replaced DiBiase as spokesperson for the nWo while DiBiase handled the financing. At the top of the program, Bischoff issued an ultimatum to the WCW locker room: all wrestlers were given thirty days to join the group. Marcus Bagwell (redubbed "Buff Bagwell"), Mr. Wallstreet, Big Bubba Rogers, and Scott Norton became members in the following weeks. Japanese wrestler Masahiro Chono also joined the group on December 16 and established himself as the leader of nWo Japan, a sister stable in NJPW.

At Starrcade, Piper defeated Hogan. At the same event, after multiple attempts to convince Diamond Dallas Page to join, Hall and Nash attacked Page in his United States Heavyweight Championship tournament final match against Eddie Guerrero, costing him the match. The nWo left with physical possession of the title belt. It was then given to Syxx, and Guerrero began feuding with him. The next night on ''Nitro'', The Giant was kicked out of the nWo when he refused to perform a chokeslam on Piper in an nWo assault.

WCW success and control

At nWo Souled Out, Hogan and The Giant fought to a no contest in the main event due to the nWo referee, Nick Patrick, being biased toward Hogan. The United States Heavyweight Champion Eddie Guerrero retained his title against Syxx in a ladder match, while The Outsiders lost the tag team titles to The Steiner Brothers. Bischoff re-awarded them the titles the next night on ''Nitro'' after claiming that Randy Anderson, who ran in to officiate after Patrick was knocked down, was not the official referee. Bischoff then fired Anderson for his actions.

At SuperBrawl VII

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