Announcements for the WWE’s next Hall of Fame class have been announced, curtesy of ESPN , and the list includes the single more influential stable in professional wrestling history — the nWo (New World Order).
Okay, a lot has been said about the nWo, including their meh return to the WWE in 2002 in time to be a main storyline for WrestleMania 18, but their history is far richer.
WCW Era — Monday Night Wars
Developed as “a shoot” for WCW to take WWE’s place at the top of the food chain in professional wrestling, the nWo started with the Outsiders, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall, seemingly invading WCW.
From there, they quickly grew by adding Hulk Hogan, who served as the shock of the century as he turned his back on his fans after over a decade as a face and became Hollywood Hulk Hogan at Bash at the Beach 1996.
During this time, they shattered barriers by pulling professional wrestling into the mainstream consciousness of the world and igniting the much talked about and revered Monday Night Wars the likes of which we may never truly see again.
While the group eventually grew to thirty or so members, the WWE is recognizing Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash (Diesel), Scott Hall (Razor Ramon), and Sean Waltman (1-2-3 Kid, X-Pac, and in WCW as Syxx). All four are previous enshrines with Hogan, Nash, and Hall having been inducted for their solo exploits, and Waltman as part of DeGeneration X.
Made in the WWF
There’s no arguing that WCW used WWE (WWF at the time) stars to propel themselves forward. Wrestlers like Ric Flair, Ricky Steamboat, and Lex Luger worked for both over the years, often going back and forth. But the arrival of Nash and Hall signaled a change in that as they were treated as WWE superstars invading the competitor’s show.
As Kevin Nash told ESPN, “The reason why this worked was the crowd was under the impression both Diesel and Razor Ramon from the WWE were going down to Turner and basically taking over, gonna take over their program. And then when Hulk joined — he was basically the standard of WWE — you couldn’t have had a better situation. You had two top guys, and then you had the face of WWE all joining.”
What this did for wrestling was to push both the WWE and WCW into a higher level content wise. Eric Bischoff had designed WCW to be more adult oriented while the WWE catered to children. Instead of relying on WWE’s comic book style of story telling, Bischoff had wrestlers use their real names instead of monikers, and eventually forced McMahon into the Attitude Era.
To survive, the WWE “borrowed” from ECW, then run by Paul Heyman, and kicked their shows up a few notches. Gone were the storylines for children as adult oriented entertainment dominated both promotions and their four shows, Raw, Smackdown, Nitro, and Thunder (Fun fact: Nitro was initially placed across from Raw, and McMahon returned the favor by creating Smackdown and putting it opposite WCW Thunder after it had established a foothold).
Added influences
Overall, we got to see the entire industry grow by leaps and bounds as different styles like Lucha Libre (Introduced in WCW’s Cruiserweight Division, Another fun fact). Suddenly, wrestling was more than a mat based style. It displayed athleticism we hadn’t seen much of previously, and it captivated us.
All of this happened due to Eric Bischoff’s desire to create cutting-edge television, and the nWo dragging professional wrestling into a new age.
While those days are gone, we continue seeing their contribution to this day as styles from all over the globe have been accepted. Without the nWo, we wouldn’t have the high flying style or some of the best memories sports entertainment can provide.
This is one time the Hall of Fame will be “Two Sweet!” Time to break out the old “nWo 4-life” tee shirt.
