New World Order (professional wrestling)

The nWo (New World Order) was both a professional wrestling storyline and the stable of wrestlers who were its central players. The nWo storyline, run by WCW, began on July 7, 1996 at the Bash at the Beach PPV. This storyline involved a faction from "outside" WCW – originally Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, and Hulk Hogan (who would change his name to Hollywood Hogan while a member of the nWo) – "invading" WCW. This proved to be a turning point in the history of wrestling, as it drew millions of new fans to WCW, and helped bring pro wrestling back into mainstream entertainment.

The idiosyncratic capitalization of the group's initialism, nWo, comes directly from the official logo that WCW created for the stable.

Original storyline

According to the storyline, the nWo were representatives of another wrestling organization (alluded to, but not actually mentioned, as the WWF, since its three founding members all formerly wrestled there), and planned to take over WCW. Scott Hall appeared first on Memorial Day 1996 in Macon, Georgia, interrupting shows by harassing the announcers. Hall promised a "little...no..big surprise" on June 3rd, which ended up being former WWF Champion and friend Kevin Nash appearing a week later (June 10th) on WCW Monday Nitro in Wheeling, West Virginia, Hall & Nash were collectively referred to as "The Outsiders." Both men then took to showing up unexpectedly during Nitro broadcasts, usually jumping wrestlers backstage, distracting wrestlers by standing in the entranceway of the arenas, or walking around in the audience. Within a couple of weeks, they announced the appearance of a mysterious third member (the story goes that Sting was asked to play this part, but he wasn't enthusiastic about becoming a heel). Bret Hart was actually the first choice for the third man, but WCW wasn't able to acquire him from the WWF (at least not for another year, after the Montreal Screwjob).

At Bash at the Beach, Hall & Nash were scheduled to team with their mystery partner against Lex Luger, Randy Savage and Sting. Hall and Nash came out without a third man. "Mean" Gene Okerlund came to the ring confused, demanding to know where their mystery partner was. They simply said he's in the building, but they didn't need him right then. Shortly into the match, Sting hit Nash with a Stinger Splash in the corner. However, Nash happened to be holding Luger at the time, and the splash knocked Nash into Luger, thus crushing Luger in the corner. Luger was knocked to the outside, and paramedics came out and took Luger away, reducing the match to Hall & Nash vs. Sting & Savage. Towards the end of the match, Hulk Hogan appeared, then shocked wrestling fans worldwide by attacking Savage & Sting to help Hall and Nash, with the match ending in a no-decision. In a post-match interview, Hogan claimed the reason for the turn was that he was tired of fans that had turned on him. Hogan labeled the new faction a "new world order of professional wrestling", and this began a long and bitter feud between WCW and the nWo. During one Nitro broadcast from the Disney-MGM Studios, Hall & Nash covered up the free-standing WCW logo with 3 spraypainted bedsheets (one to cover up each letter of WCW). When the deed was done, the bedsheets read "nWo" where the WCW logo had once been.

It was around this time that the World Wrestling Federation filed a lawsuit, alleging that the nWo storyline implied that Hall & Nash were invaders sent by Vince McMahon to destroy WCW, despite the fact that Bischoff asked Nash point blank on camera at a WCW show "Are you employed by the WWF?" to which Nash emphatically replied "No". The lawsuit would drag out for several years before being settled out of court. The settlement eventually led to the WWF having the right to bid on the assets of WCW should it ever be offered for sale, which happened in March 2001.

At Fall Brawl 1996, team nWo defeated team WCW in the "war games" match, cementing their stranglehold on WCW. Sting, who was one of WCW's main supporters, grew disgusted at the accusation that he had joined the nWo, and after the war games match, he told WCW to "stick it", and went on a hiatus (rumor was that Sting had wrestled all the matches he was required to according to his contract). The nWo debuted an Imposter Sting (also called nWo Sting, Bogus Sting or "Sting" in the World Tour video game) that made the fans think that Sting betrayed them. The nWo continued to dominate WCW, and new members soon appeared, including Ted DiBiase, Syxx, and The Giant. They even had their own referee, Nick Patrick. Legendary superstar "Macho Man" Randy Savage took the lead in the battle against the nWo, but in the end he lost to Hogan and disappeared.

The odds were too much to bear for WCW, and soon Rowdy Roddy Piper surfaced in WCW to battle old nemesis Hulk Hogan, who had now dubbed himself "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan. He shocked WCW further by exposing WCW President Eric Bischoff as the mastermind behind the nWo, one of the reasons the stable had such incredible clout. Piper gained a victory over Hogan, but could not capture the title.

In November 1996, the nWo lost its first member. The Giant won the 60-man battle royal at "World War III," earning a title match against Hogan. Because The Giant insisted on his title shot, he was expelled from the nWo. In January 1997, the nWo made great strides when they held their very own PPV titled Souled Out. In the main event, Hogan faced The Giant and defeated him thanks to shady officiating by Nick Patrick. Nash & Hall lost their tag titles to the Steiner brothers, but the next night, Bischoff gave the belts back to the nWo, claiming that Randy Anderson, who ran in to referee the match after Nick Patrick was knocked out, was not a sanctioned referee for the event. In February 1997, Randy Savage returned and shocked WCW by joining the nWo. Through 1997, the nWo controlled the power in WCW. WCW scored a major victory on an episode of Nitro in August 1997, when Lex Luger won the title from Hogan, despite massive interference from the rest of the nWo. But Hogan won the belt back at the 1997 Road Wild PPV, again benefitting from outside nWo interference.

In September 1997, the nWo faced the Four Horsemen at WarGames, gaining the victory when Curt Hennig turned on his Horsemen breathren and joined the nWo. This was essentially the end of the Four Horsemen until August 1998.

After being absent from the ring for over a year, Sting returned to action to face Hogan at StarrCade 1997. This was the most anticipated match in WCW history. It would also be Sting's first match in a year and a half.

Sting vs. Hogan

After September 1996 the old Sting had vanished. Then a change began. A new Sting began to appear in the rafters at WCW events. This was not the Sting of old with Sgt. Pepper jackets, blonde spiked hair, and an insatiable need to speak. This Sting was silent, brooding, and dark. He had a long black trenchcoat, white facepaint making him look like a mime, long wet dark hair, and the white siloutte of a scorpion on his black shirt. He resembled Brandon Lee in The Crow. This new Sting would carry a black baseball bat with him, the only weapon he needed other than his own abilities.

Eventually Sting began to assault members of the nWo, including his clone, the Imposter Sting. He also had new ways of getting the drop on his prey, appearing from underneath the ring.

Sting and the nWo finally clashed on the big stage at Uncensored 1997. The main event was a three way team brawl featuring the nWo, WCW, and Team Piper. After the nWo won Sting came down with his baseball bat and laid waste to Hall, Nash, and the other nWo members. With only Hogan left Sting raised his baseball bat into the invader's face and then obliterated him. The message was clear: Sting wanted to destroy the New World Order at it's very core: Hogan.

The stalking did not stop there. Sting would appear at arenas, haunting Hogan and his henchmen. He would interfere in their matches and assault them if necessary. The mind games came to a head at Halloween Havoc when in a cage match between Hollywood Hogan and Roddy Piper several Sting clones appeared around the cage, encasing Hogan inside. This distraction along with Hogan's fear of Sting, cost him the match with Piper.

Eventually the match was signed for Starrcade 1997, the ultimate showdown of good vs. evil. It would be the nWo leader Hollywood Hulk Hogan taking on the WCW guardian Sting.

In a controversial finish, special referee Bret Hart proclaimed Sting the new WCW Champion. But the title was soon held up, and Hogan and Sting fought again at Superbrawl 1998, where Sting won the title with help from Randy Savage. For the first time, the nWo was having problems within. Savage was having problems with Hogan, and the two fought in a cage to settle the difference. Savage would defeat Sting at Spring Stampede 1998 to become the "WCW/nWo World Heavyweight Champion." Hogan was angered that another member of the nWo had captured the World Title and challenged Savage the following night on Nitro. In a shocking turn of events Hart assisted Hogan and helped him recapture the title.

On the May 4, 1998 episode of Nitro, WCW announced that nWo had split into two "factions." On one side was the nWo Wolfpac faction, which was headed by Kevin Nash and included Lex Luger, Sting, Konnan, and Randy Savage. Scott Hall, Curt Hennig, and Rick Rude were originally Wolfpac members as well, but they later betrayed the 'Pac and joined nWo Hollywood, which was headed by Hogan, and included Eric Bischoff, Brian Adams, Buff Bagwell, Miss Elizabeth, The Giant, The Disciple, Scott Norton, Dusty Rhodes, Dennis Rodman, Scott Steiner, Vincent, and referee Mark "Slick" Johnson. Stevie Ray and Horace Hogan joined several months later. The nWo Hollywood faction was sometimes also referred to (originally) as "nWo black and white" (as opposed to the "red and black" Wolfpac). During this part of the storyline, WCW wrestlers like Goldberg were presented as faces, the Wolfpac wrestlers were presented as tweeners, and the nWo Hollywood faction as heels. To this day, the nWo Wolfpac is regarded as one of the most popular stables in pro wrestling history.

The "fingerpoke of doom"

The two sides battled each other throughout 1998. On July 6, 1998, Hogan lost the title to Goldberg at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, and the nWo slowly started to lose focus. It seemed that the nWo had beaten WCW by splitting in two—they had no one left to fight but each other. But splitting in two also destroyed the nWo. They never again had the power that they originally had. By October 1998, Hogan left the nWo and went on hiatus. As 1999 started, Nash was the WCW Champion, and he and Hogan conspired a huge nWo comeback in January. The storyline ended on the January 4, 1999 episode of Nitro with a now-infamous match in which Nash would lay down for Hogan, and allowed Hogan to pin him after merely poking him with a single finger—a finish that fans nicknamed the "Fingerpoke of Doom." The nWo reigned again, with the nWo elite (Hogan, Nash, Hall, Buff Bagwell, Scott Steiner, Lex Luger and Miss Elizabeth) reunited under the Wolfpac label, while the undercard wrestlers in the nWo (Curt Hennig, Stevie Ray, Vincent, Horace Hogan and Brian Adams) continued in the "black and white" faction. This short-lived group was sardonically labeled the nWo B-Team by fans and commentators.

The end of the nWo

By mid 1999, the nWo had disappeared. In late 1999, the nWo came back for one more run as the silver and black, consisting of Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Bret Hart, Jeff Jarrett, Scott Steiner, the Harris twins, Don and Ron, and they even got a new referee, Mark "Slick" Johnson. They brought along several fitness models (Tylene Buck, April Hunter, Kim Kanner, Midajah O'Hearn and Pamela Paulshock) who would come to ringside and Jarrett would order them to the back. This nWo lasted into early 2000, but soon faded away, in great part due to the injury and retirement of Bret "The Hitman" Hart, the leader of the group. By this point, not only the nWo, but the entire WCW, had lapsed into what seemed to be an inevitable and permanent decline, constantly bettered by the WWF and relegated to a permanent second-place status, a situation many longtime WCW fans blamed on WCW management having stayed with the nWo storyline for entirely too long. The lead heel group in WCW was eventually replaced by The New Blood. In late 2000, the nWo reunited one more time but was quickly forgotten.

WWF/WWE

After the WWF bought WCW in 2001, Vince McMahon brought in Hogan, Hall, & Nash as the nWo, at the No Way Out PPV on February 17, 2002. Ironically no Way out's initials are nWo. In this storyline, the nWo was brought in as McMahon's allies in an attempt to "kill" the WWF so that McMahon would not have to share power with new WWF "co-owner" "Nature Boy" Ric Flair. However, Hogan left the group after he lost his WrestleMania X8 match with The Rock and was assaulted after that match by Hall & Nash. Hall & Nash brought in two nWo members afterwards, X-Pac (formerly known as Syxx, who was also a former nWo member whilst in WCW), on March 21, 2002, at SmackDown! in Ottawa and The Big Show (formerly known as The Giant), on April 22, 2002.

The nWo reunion in the WWF would not last long, however. Hall was released in May due to drinking problems during a UK tour. Flair later became a semi-member of the nWo after turning on "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. As owner of RAW, Flair set up a lumberjack match with Austin against the newest member of the nWo, which turned out to be Booker T. Booker had just finished a silly skit with Goldust minutes earlier, where he had been wearing a lumberjack costume and fake beard, all but destroying his "tough" momentum going into the match. Nash introduced Shawn Michaels into the nWo on June 3, 2002. Michaels then "kicked" Booker out of the nWo (he literally hit Booker with his Sweet Chin Music superkick finish) one week later.

Abruptly, the nWo was disbanded by McMahon on July 15, 2002, after he regained full control of WWE from Ric Flair. The final nail in the nWo coffin was X-Pac fainting on July 15 before the show and Nash tearing a quadricep muscle during a match one week prior to the disbanding, taking him out of action for several months. Ironically, the nWo disbanded on the same night that Eric Bischoff, the man who was often credited for creating the nWo, made his debut in WWE as the general manager of RAW. At the time of the nWo's demise, Michaels was offering Triple H membership in the nWo. After the nWo broke up, Michaels turned face once more by befriending his long time fans and attempted to reunite with Triple H under the DX name, but Triple H turned on Michaels.

Today, another new version of the nWo looks unlikely, at least with the current state of the WWE rosters. Only 3 former nWo members are still under contract with WWE as active wrestlers: Shawn Michaels, Booker T, and The Big Show, and only The Big Show was a member of the classic WCW version of the nWo. Dusty Rhodes, Eric Bischoff, and Ted DiBiase are all WWE employees, but none of them have a constant on camera role at the moment. Hulk Hogan only makes special appearances nowadays, and all of them as his classic "red and yellow" Hulkster persona, though there have been several references being made to the nWo and its creaton in the recent WWE 24x7 "This Week In Wrestling" Promos.

Members

Each of the following wrestlers have, at some point, been a member of some official incarnation of the New World Order:

New World Order:

nWo Japan/Team 2000:

nWo Hollywood:

nWo Wolfpac:

nWo "Elite":

nWo "B-Team":

nWo Silver:

nWo "WWE":