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Thursday, July 7, 2016

Remembering the NEW World Order makes me feel OLD

nWo has arrived
Courtesy: WWE
By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter
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It's hard for me to wrap my brain around the fact that 20 years ago today (July 7, 1996) the New World Order was born. Hulk Hogan was revealed as the third member to join Outsiders Kevin Nash and Scott Hall, who had shown up on WCW Monday Nitro weeks earlier. Hogan turned his back on the fans and in the process helped turn up the heat in the Monday Night Wars.

That evening and the weeks that followed provided some great storytelling by WCW. I had always been a WWF loyalist, but I will admit the early days of the nWo made for compelling television. WWF was down and WCW had the right formula in place to keep the momentum and take over in the ratings. Quite honestly WCW was kicking WWF's ass and Vince McMahon and his crew needed to do something and fast.

Too sweet or too crowded?
Courtesy: WWE
But like all good things in the wrestling industry, someone has to ruin it. WCW made the mistake of adding new members at a rapid pace and soon ex-WWF guys like Virgil and IRS were a part of the squad. It took away the cool factor, and that's not a knock at Mike Rotundo. The creation of the Wolf Pack and the lWo also watered took away the coolness Hogan, Hall and Nash originally brought to the group. But old school fans would likely argue heels aren't supposed to be cool, but I digress...

Reunion 2015 at WrestleMania 31
Courtesy: WWE
The other hard to believe factor is less than five years after the nW0 revolutionized the wrestling business, WCW would be the property of McMahon and his stockholders. His attempt to resurrect the group on a couple of occasions served as a nice nostalgic pop more than anything. While it's not my favorite moment from the Monday Night Wars (remember I'm a WWF guy) the nWo certainly played a huge role in the way things ended up going in the wake of its formation. I hated to see Razor Ramon and Diesel gone from the WWF, but as Hall said on a recent episode of Table for 3, going to WCW helped build new SuperStars in WWE and everyone won as a result. We may have never had "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, The Rock or Mick Foley had Hall and Nash stayed.
 

1 comment:

  1. I would love anybody to contact them due to the fact their provider is out of this international! Changing World Order

    ReplyDelete