New World Order (professional wrestling)
The New World Order was an American professional wrestling stable who originally consisted of "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall, and Kevin Nash.
The stable originated in World Championship Wrestling 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 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 one of the main driving forces behind WCW competing with the WWF in the Monday Night War.
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 Blue World Order, Latino World Order and the Juggalo World Order. 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. Bischoff wanted to do an invasion-type angle where World Championship Wrestling was being sabotaged by another wrestling group, initially insinuated as being the World Wrestling Federation, 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.
Leathers approached Disney/MGM Studios for a nWo logo. The designers came back with 6 to 10 examples, and eventually Turner management settled on the logo that would be recognized 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.
Along with Bill Goldberg and Sting, the nWo was one of the main factors behind WCW during the Monday Night War and would later be parodied by the World Wrestling Federation's D-Generation X stable, though the core members of both on-screen factions included members of The Kliq;.
History
World Championship Wrestling (1996–2000)
Formation
On May 19, 1996, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash wrestled their final matches as Razor Ramon and Diesel, respectively, 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 people, you 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 contracted 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 use the character's mannerisms and speaking with the character's pseudo-Cuban American accent. WCW attempted to address these concerns at The Great American Bash in June 1996 after Bischoff promised them a match at the next pay-per-view event Bash at the Beach, he 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 and TNT, thereby 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. 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 Sting's signature face paint as a sign of solidarity.Luger was hurt and badly injured almost immediately after the match started, when Sting tried to hit Nash with a Stinger Splash, and Luger was pulled into the move by Nash in the process, and had to be taken away 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 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 high-fived, Hogan threw the referee from the ring and hit Savage one last time, with Hall delivering the three count. The official match result was a no contest and Savage had to be carried from the ring by an exhausted Sting.
After the match, the fans that had moments ago been cheering Hogan began to show their disgust toward their now-former hero and his new friends by beginning to throw cups, cans, and assorted trash into the ring. In the midst of the chaos, "Mean" Gene Okerlund came to the ring and demanded an explanation. Hogan justified his actions by saying he was bored with WCW and had grown tired of constantly pandering to the fans, especially considering that more and more of them had started to turn on him since he had joined the company in 1994. During the interview, Hogan proclaimed that he, Hall and Nash were "the new world order of wrestling", giving the group its name – the New World Order.
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 wearing all black 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 and Rey Misterio Jr., the latter of whom Nash threw head-first into the side of a WCW production truck before leaving in a limousine.
Hogan becomes World Champion; 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 self-proclaimed nWo World Heavyweight Championship by spray-painting the group acronym in capital letters across the faceplate. On August 26, Ted DiBiase made his WCW debut and would ultimately become the financial supporter and spokesperson of the nWo, and was given the nickname "Trillionaire Ted". On the September 2 episode of Nitro, the nWo claimed its first defection from WCW and their fifth member 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, this time in a WarGames match. 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. 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 as to where his allegiance lay. At Fall Brawl, as Team WCW was being interviewed, Sting appeared and 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, and 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 had convinced everyone that the real Sting was nWo. The real Sting showed up moments later as the last man for Team WCW and took apart the entire nWo by himself. After assaulting the nWo, 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, Sting came out unexpectedly, with no music or pyrotechnics. Keeping his back to the camera, he angrily laid into his fellow wrestlers and co-workers as well as the fans for doubting his true colors, and declared himself a free agent.
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 Syxx into the group, with the name being a reference to the fact that he was the sixth member. 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. nWo tried once more to recruit Sting, who was now sporting black-and-white face paint, to join them. After beating up Farmer's nWo Sting and calling him a "cheap imitation", Sting ambiguously told the nWo, "The real Sting may or may not be in your price range," continuing to leave everyone questioning where Sting's loyalty lay. Sting then told the nWo, "The only thing that's for sure about Sting is nothing's for sure", before leaving the ring. This would be the last time fans would hear Sting talk on WCW television for over a year.
The nWo continued to dominate WCW, with Hogan successfully retaining the World Championship against Randy Savage and Hall and Nash winning the WCW World Tag Team Championship from Harlem Heat 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.
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, High Voltage, 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 nWo rushed the ring and accosted Piper, revealing that Eric Bischoff, despite appearances, had secretly been a member and the head of the nWo all along.
At World War 3, Piper and Hogan signed an official contract for a match, though Piper would end up being attacked by Hogan and the nWo. In the main event, The Giant won the 60-man battle royal, last eliminating both Lex Luger and Kevin Nash, thus becoming the #1 contender and earning a future world title shot against Hogan.
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 largely replaced DiBiase as spokesperson for the nWo, while DiBiase continued to serve as a manager, mostly for Hogan. At the top of the program, Bischoff issued a threat to the WCW locker room: all wrestlers were given thirty days to convert their WCW contracts into nWo contracts and join the group. Marcus Bagwell immediately accepted the offer, betraying his tag team partner Scotty Riggs in the process. Mr. Wallstreet was offered a contract to join the group on December 9 by his former partner, Dibiase, and accepted. Japanese wrestler Masahiro Chono joined the group on December 16 and established himself as the leader of nWo Japan, a sister stable in NJPW. That same night, Big Bubba Rogers and Scott Norton defected to the group during a show-ending melee between the WCW and nWo rosters.
At Starrcade, Piper cleanly defeated Hogan via a sleeper hold in the main event, in part due to botched interference from The Giant. At the same event, Lex Luger defeated The Giant, marking the nWo's first pinfall loss since the group's inception. During the course of the match, following months of showing favoritism toward the nWo, Nick Patrick officially joined the group when he attacked Luger. Additionally, after multiple attempts to convince Diamond Dallas Page to join the group, Hall and Nash attacked Page in his United States Heavyweight Championship tournament final match against Eddie Guerrero, costing him the match. The next night on Nitro, The Giant was assaulted and kicked out of the nWo when he refused to perform a chokeslam on Piper during an nWo attack and claimed that he wanted his World Championship match with Hogan.