When You Really Think About The NWO.....

[chunkylover53]

The concept didn't make sense to begin with. Lets forget about how the storyline was beaten into the ground and stayed well past its welcome and focus on what made it popular.

As we've seen in the past, invasion angles are very hard to pull off. You have to drop all storylines and programs aside and make the invasion storyline the central part of the show.

Yes, the debuts of Scott Hall(previously known as Razor Ramon) and Kevin Nash(previously known as Diesel) helped create a buzz for the company. And Hogan turning heel and joining them made WCW a legitimate threat to the WWF. Their antics and dominance got them noticed by fans both positively(in the sense they thought they were cool) and negatively(they hated them and wanted to see them get their comeuppence).

Their agenda was to take over the company. How they did that was threaten to beat up each wrestler if they didn't join. Here's the problem with that. Lets say they took over, then what? Do they only wrestle each other? Weren't they suppose to be buddies? The nWo was suppose to be a break-away promotion from WCW, and as a wrestling promotion, you need guys to you know, fight each other.

This is one fact about the New World Order that many fans both casual and smarks gloss over. Problem with a faction's agenda is if you want fans to take them as a threat, they must announce what they're going to do, do it, and then find a way to go from there. I wouldn't be suprised if that was one of the reasons why the nWo lasted as long as they did, because WCW didn't know how to follow through with the groups original purpose.

Your thoughts on this.

[repomanfan]

At the beginning It was a very cool concept(i was hooked). But you said it yourself, after they basically took over, and half the roster joined the NWO; than what? There was nowhere to go. They should of just stayed a small faction ALA 4 Horseman; reeking havoc on anyone who got in their way, not trying to take over WCW.

[Bobafett]

I believe the only new members they shoulda took on if any should have been guys who already made their name in WWE before WCW (e.g. macho man, John Tenta, Bret Hart ) there should have been no pure homegrown WCW people in it

[NOwave]

You have to accept a bit of creative license to understand the nWo gimmick. Everybody knew they weren't really going to destroy WCW and become their own company. It was just another suspension of disbelief. You had to just let go of reality a bit in your own mind and accept that Hall and Nash were working for somebody outside WCW in order to genuinely be entertained by their actions.

There's nothing wrong with that by itself; it's how wrestling has always been based. The problem, as several people said, was that they never came up with a way out. Somehow, someway, in the end the nWO had to lose and the wrestlers in that gimmick had to move on to something else. Booking 101 says to have the nWo guys blame each other for the groups' failure, and then start fighting among themselves, while WCW soldiered on.

[Deleted]

The idea was totally believable. If they had taken over, they would have re-made WCW in their image, and things would have been done their way with their rules.

Obviously if it had become nWo Wrestling instead of WCW they would have started wrestling each other and had less of a gang mentality.

And the way that merch was selling, I'm actually surprised they didn't do just that instead of letting the storyline wear out it's welcome and fizzle out.

[johnnyk9]

it was believable to me when I saw it, unbelievable at the time

[Cry Me a Wiggle]

When people say the nWo angle should have ended at Starrcade '97, I agree and disagree. Yeah, the invasion/takeover aspect should have ended, but the nWo was too valuable of a property to completely dismantle at that stage.

Thunder should have launched as an nWo show as was originally intended. On that first show, do the Wolfpack split. Divide the roster between the red and the white nWos. The crowd was ready to cheer for guys like Nash and Hall anyway, so turning them face that early wouldn't have been a problem.

It's funny how both major promotions botched their "brand splits" due to solitary negative reactions. WCW scuttled their plans for an nWo show because of the poor reception that nWo Nitro garnered, but that was with all heel nWo members. Meanwhile, the WWF ditched their plans for WCW Raw because of the Booker T/Buff Bagwell match in Tacoma.

[Dean-o]

There will always be guys who refused to join the nWo. They wanted to take over WCW, and run it their way.

Man, do I miss WCW from 96-98.

[efarns]

kayfabe: They ruined WCW's programs enough that WCW actually wrote into a match contract that of the NWO could win, they'd get control of WCW Saturday Night. Also, the GM of Nitro was one of their founding members. Lack of competition would not be a problem for them because, in their minds, fans will watch them, because they want to see the NWO beat up jobbers every week.

[ICBM]

May 9, 2011 19:14:39 GMT -5 Cry Me a Wiggle said:

When people say the nWo angle should have ended at Starrcade '97, I agree and disagree. Yeah, the invasion/takeover aspect should have ended, but the nWo was too valuable of a property to completely dismantle at that stage.

Thunder should have launched as an nWo show as was originally intended. On that first show, do the Wolfpack split. Divide the roster between the red and the white nWos. The crowd was ready to cheer for guys like Nash and Hall anyway, so turning them face that early wouldn't have been a problem.

It's funny how both major promotions botched their "brand splits" due to solitary negative reactions. WCW scuttled their plans for an nWo show because of the poor reception that nWo Nitro garnered, but that was with all heel nWo members. Meanwhile, the WWF ditched their plans for WCW Raw because of the Booker T/Buff Bagwell match in Tacoma.

Well put man. I couldn't have put it any better

[nisidhe]

On paper, an nWo program slot could have worked, if the primary members were not looking to cannibalize WCW in the process. If Turner wanted to expand into two brands, adding a number of midcarders to the mix with the charter members could have made nWo a successful concept. The execution stank, however, because the charter members were never going to subject themselves to an unknown B-show (which it would have been, really.) Even before Bret Hart jumped ship, the expansion of the nWo and the push, I think, sealed the fate of the nWo. The errors in execution, I think, were learned and corrected in WWE's treatment of the original Nexus: keep the number large enough to show them as utterly dominant as a unit, but not so invincible that a united and motivated WWE squad couldn't take them out.

[rapidfire187]

I always wondered about that as a kid actually. If the NWO had taken over WCW and become it's on promotion, it would have just been a bunch of NWO guys fighting each other. Which didn't make much sense like you said.

[Cry Me a Wiggle]

Of course, then you could have always flipped the switch and had the show be controlled by the nWo, with WCW as the rebel faction. Redundant? Yeah, but it would have shaken things up.

Hell, I still think the 174th biggest mistake of the Invasion angle was not having WCW/ECW win at Survivor Series and forcing the WWF on the outside until WrestleMania.

[mentol]

i dont think NWO destroyed WCW,because WCW was great in 90 s second part,i just watched WCW Wargames 1998 when Ultimate Warrior chasing Hulk after the cage match,most of PPV of WCW from that times are magic,WCW is dead,i never can compare WCW with today WWE because ,it was more cool wrestling company than fake wrestling WWE today with half of bigest old school stars dead because steroids and drugs

[Bald Bull]

When you think about the nWo you can say that. When you go back and watch the nWo you can't say anything, you're too awestruck as to how amazing it was.

[Futureraven: Beelzebruv]

I figured they'd make the b-team fight each other while Hogan, Hall and Nash would have been a stable within that, holding the power and belts.

[defdave]

May 9, 2011 14:08:32 GMT -5 Bobafett said:

I believe the only new members they shoulda took on if any should have been guys who already made their name in WWE before WCW (e.g. macho man, John Tenta, Bret Hart ) there should have been no pure homegrown WCW people in it

I 100% agree. That would have made the invasion story so much better.

[mentol]

after 10 years i watched yesterday Vince speech on death of WCW last Nitro,is shame how he unrespected Sting,Hogan and others wrestlers,i missed WCW too much,i have wish Impact become like good old WCW and use big energy of wrestlers like Sting to become top wrestling company

[Bobafett]

May 12, 2011 14:12:20 GMT -5 defdave said:

May 9, 2011 14:08:32 GMT -5 Bobafett said:

I believe the only new members they shoulda took on if any should have been guys who already made their name in WWE before WCW (e.g. macho man, John Tenta, Bret Hart ) there should have been no pure homegrown WCW people in it

I 100% agree. That would have made the invasion story so much better.

could take the concept further nd have guys like Flair, AA and the stieners , homegrown WCW who then spent some time in WWE being the most vocal against the nWo..with the whole "we seen how buisness was done up there and it stinks, if you wanna bring that crap down here, gotta go through us"

[cabbageboy]

It's very simple: The NWO worked at first because people thought the WWF was now invading WCW. Make no mistake, the way it was framed was not that guys like Hall and Nash were debuting in WCW....they were invading from the WWF.

The whole aspect of the NWO being some sort of separate company was one of the first major missteps in the angle. Was there anyone who seriously thought that, especially once it was obvious the members were simply on WCW's roster?