The NWO looked interminable

[mcstoklasa]

I haven’t watched a great deal of WCW but from what I have read and seen, Jesus Christ it looked interminable after a while. I’m specifically referring to the NWO. I just watched Brian Zanes Souled Out review and it looks like the worst thing ever.

I know the NWO were great and cool at first but once they started adding members it just looks like a bunch of middle-aged dudes trying to be cool. Every match seems to have a run in and the cool heels celebrating and on top constantly.

How was this to watch at the time? I’m sure at first it was awesome.

[Ben Wyatt]

The nWo should have been a year or so long program that culminated at Starrcade. Instead it limped on and on in some form or another for another 2 years.

[Deleted]

it jumped the shark with Virgil

[Deleted]

I never minded it, it was a big heel faction. It got ridiculous, but how much more ridiculous than other ridiculous things in wrestling?

What irked me is that it never had a proper ending. People just stopped being the nWo at some point in 1999....

[CMWaters]

If this statement I've heard said is true, this gives an idea where they wanted to go with the nWo:

Bischoff apparently wanted to eventually split the nWo off into its own brand, so instead of asking "Do you like WWF or WCW" people would more ask "Do you like WCW or nWo".

Obviously with Souled Out and that one nWo Nitro being a failure, those plans were scrapped.

[Celexa Bliss 54]

As a 12-yearold who still hadn't totally realized it was scripted, I was questioning how Hogan even knew who half those guy were. I've said it before, Buff should have been the only defector from WCW. Keep it to just seven or eight guys, makes it much less tedious and one-sided. Plus, Buff benefits from being associated with Hogan, Hall and Nash, without having to compete with Scott Norton and VK Wall Street for screen time.

[Deleted]

It was the most cutting edge thing in wrestling at first. My family, who only watched wrestling because I had it on, were glued to the television and couldn't believe what was happening. By far the most successful angle in wrestling history.

It got really annoying some time later when half the roster was coming out to the NWO music and those long promos with 20 guys milling about in the ring touching their fingers together and acting like the cats that ate the canary when in fact they just looked like a bunch of has-beens who were only relevant for kissing Hogan's ass and wearing a t-shirt instead of being involved in any meaningful programs of their own.

[Deleted]

Jan 25, 2019 9:36:31 GMT -5 CMWaters said:

If this statement I've heard said is true, this gives an idea where they wanted to go with the nWo:

Bischoff apparently wanted to eventually split the nWo off into its own brand, so instead of asking "Do you like WWF or WCW" people would more ask "Do you like WCW or nWo".

Obviously with Souled Out and that one nWo Nitro being a failure, those plans were scrapped.

I always wondered how that would have worked. 

WCW wasn't a stable, so their show would have just been like Nitro pre-nWo, but what about the nWo show?  Would they have actually wrestled each other?  Had feuds and rivalries?  Would they have all continued to have the same entrance theme and wear matching t-shirts?  Would everyone on the nWo show be a sleazy heel or would there be babyface nWo members?  I can't wrap my mind around it.

[cjh]

Jan 25, 2019 11:15:35 GMT -5 @oldbaby said:

Jan 25, 2019 9:36:31 GMT -5 CMWaters said:

If this statement I've heard said is true, this gives an idea where they wanted to go with the nWo:

Bischoff apparently wanted to eventually split the nWo off into its own brand, so instead of asking "Do you like WWF or WCW" people would more ask "Do you like WCW or nWo".

Obviously with Souled Out and that one nWo Nitro being a failure, those plans were scrapped.

I always wondered how that would have worked. 

WCW wasn't a stable, so their show would have just been like Nitro pre-nWo, but what about the nWo show?  Would they have actually wrestled each other?  Had feuds and rivalries?  Would they have all continued to have the same entrance theme and wear matching t-shirts?  Would everyone on the nWo show be a sleazy heel or would there be babyface nWo members?  I can't wrap my mind around it.

If Souled Out and the NWO Nitro episode from December 1997 were any indication, it would have been a show where the NWO was in charge.  Bischoff would probably have been in the on-air authority figure like JJ Dillon was for WCW, and NWO guys would have done the commentary.

[Sephiroth]

There is an argument to be made that the NWO did need some b team members who could add some diversity and eat pins do that hogan, Nash, and Hall taking losses could be reserved for the big events. But even then, they should have leaned on players who still had the ability to carry a match and look good enough in a loss that it didn’t hurt their credibility and gave the other guy some rub for it. Curt Henning and X PAC were perfect for such a role, but when you added the likes of Stevie Ray and Vincent it was nothing but dead air.

[RedSmile]

Jan 25, 2019 9:34:02 GMT -5 @jr1 said:

it jumped the shark with Virgil

It jumped the shark when Sting joined.

[SHAKEMASTER TV9 is Don Knotts]

The nWo should have ended as a storyline after the split, but you could keep the group as a faction. There was still money in the nWo name brand as nWo Hollywood or Black and White and nWo Wolfpac.

[Mozenrath]

Jan 25, 2019 9:45:06 GMT -5 Celexa Bliss 54 said:

As a 12-yearold who still hadn't totally realized it was scripted, I was questioning how Hogan even knew who half those guy were. I've said it before, Buff should have been the only defector from WCW. Keep it to just seven or eight guys, makes it much less tedious and one-sided. Plus, Buff benefits from being associated with Hogan, Hall and Nash, without having to compete with Scott Norton and VK Wall Street for screen time.

It was an invading force. You need man power to do that.

I think the problem was less the amount of recruited people, and more that they didn't kick people out. I'm sure there was a lot of pressure backstage for guys wanting to be in, to get the "cool" rub of it, but there's no real reason a lot of the guys should have stuck around long. Norton was at least a powerhouse and a component of the Japanese side of the nWo, but Wallstreet, not so much. Kick him to the curb after he falls to Goldberg, Sting, DDP, or whoever the face on the warpath is.

[TWERKIN' MAGGLE]

I watched Souled Out like last month.

It is so bad.

It's so bad I wonder if it's a parody.

[Deleted]

I think it would have ended at Fall Brawl 98 at Wargames.

Everything still happens pretty the same but things happen quicker. Sting wins at Starcade, Hogan gets title back when Bret joins the NWO, Wolfpack forms, Goldberg’s rise and wins the title off Hogan, Hogan wins the title back when NWO reunites minus Sting (much better idea than the finger poke) then Goldberg wins it back when Warrior debuts.

That sets up Wargames. NWO vs. WCW winner takes all.

The NWO
Hogan, Hall, Nash, Luger, & Hart

vs.

WCW
Goldberg, Warrior, Sting, Piper, & DDP

[Jumpin' Jesse Walsh]

Give me any given 97/98 episode of Nitro to watch and chances are I’ll find most of the nWo stuff to be a total chore to sit through. It’s the cruiserweight/mid-card stuff that really holds my interest.

[cabbageboy]

I remember asking a friend of mine when he stopped caring about WCW and it was a cryptic answer of "When I realized the NWO was just never going to end." To me I was kinda done with it around March 1997. It was around that point that we got flooded out and for the next few weeks it was a hassle to see anything on cable, so I got out of the rhythm of watching WCW (whereas WWF was always on Sat. mornings on network TV). I think the whole "Piper in Alcatraz" angle was stupid and also kinda killed the buzz. The problem with WCW is that for a lot of 1997 they just didn't DO anything. If you watched Raw something nuts was happening every week post WM, whereas Nitro wasn't especially building to anything. Or if they were it was stuff that was going to pay off at Starrcade.