New World Order (WCW Buys WWF)



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

The faction has been a stable of World Championship Wrestling (WCW) television since the 90’s throughout the years. Their original gimmick is of a group of unsanctioned wrestlers aiming to "take over" and control WCW in the manner of a street gang. The nWo angle became one of the most influential forces in the 1990s success of WCW and was instrumental in turning mainstream North American professional wrestling back into a more mature, adult-oriented product and became the main driving forces behind WCW topping WWF in the Monday Night Wars.

Based on the Union of Wrestling Forces International (UWFi) invasion angle in New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) and 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 groups such as the bWo, and lWo. The group dominated WCW programming throughout the late-1990s and early 2000s during which time there were several, sometimes rival incarnations of the group. It reformed in 2011 and has since return as a corner point in WCW television.

It is considered by many to be the most influential stable in Pro-Wrestling History and it has been a launching pad for many of its’ members careers.

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 WCW was being sabotaged by another wrestling group, initially insinuated as being the 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.

Before it's Formation
On May 19, 1996, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall wrestled their final matches for the WWF as Diesel and Razor Ramon, respectively, as they both had opted to sign with rival WCW instead of staying with the promotion. Eight days after his last WWF appearance, Hall appeared in Macon, Georgia for the May 27 Nitro which was emanating from the Macon Coliseum. 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 Eric 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 Kevin Nash. They were dubbed The Outsiders, randomly appearing at WCW events to cause trouble and inevitably be led out of the building by WCW security. (Despite the fact that Hall and Nash were both fully employed by WCW, the storyline's implication that they were WWF wrestlers "invading" WCW 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 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 both 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. Bischoff held a draft on Nitro to determine WCW's representatives, and Sting, Lex Luger and Randy Savage were chosen.

Hostile takeover
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 injured (kayfabe) shortly after the match began 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 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 and tag team partner 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.

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. Hogan then went into a tirade against the fans while taking another shot at Bischoff and some of the newer talent the fans were cheering.

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. Hogan returned the next week on Nitro and assisted Hall and Nash in beating up Lex Luger and Big Bubba Rogers during Nitro's main event. He then made a challenge to then reigning WCW World Heavyweight Champion, The Giant, for Hog Wild in August.