Was nWo really a good angle?

[tafkaga]

I'm a big WCW fan, but as I'm watching through the nWo era of WCW, I wonder if this angle actually gets too much credit sometimes. 

The nWo angle worked because:

1) Hogan heel turn
2) the excitement of wondering who would jump ship from the WWF

The nWo angle sucked because: 

1) ambiguity of their actual objective
2) nonsensical defections from WCW
3) roster bloat, e.g. when they all got in the ring it looked like a midcarder battle royal
4) they became dominant and still didn't really achieve anything
5) it became less interesting over time and evolved into even more bloat
6) it died a slow agonizing death with no real payoff

I could go on.

Basically, they could have done the Hogan heel turn and brought in ex-WWF guys without the nWo angle and creative might have actually come up with something interesting for them to do instead of just throwing them into a played out faction war for no rhyme or reason.

[David-Arquette was in WCW 2000]

It became overplayed and really, it should have ended at Starrcade. Maybe with Hogan getting increasingly paranoid at not only the thought of finally facing Sting, but also of Hall and Nash taking his spot. Sting ends up destroying Hogan, who then takes a hiatus as the rest of the nWo crumbles.

[Citizen Snips Has Left]

The last sentence “played out faction war” is sort of the key to why it was a good angle. It wasn’t played out at all, it was the original faction war angle in the US. Watching it 25 years later would really dilute how must see it was as it unfolded.

[salz4life]

Yes. It went on way too long, but overall, it was a very good angle.

[The Summer of Muskrat XVII]

Apr 28, 2022 11:34:12 GMT -5 salz4life said:

Yes. It went on way too long, but overall, it was a very good angle.

This. It was so fresh and so cool when it happened. Did they eventually f*** it up? Yup, sure did but most of the run from Hall’s debut until Starrcade 97 was pretty damn entertaining.

[smokinvokoun86]

I think the angle really fell apart completely during the finger poke of doom. It started declining when the Sting/Hogan match was botched.

It was feeling played out by 98, but the Wolfpack stuff honestly gave it more life. People forget who enormously popular the NWO Red and White was. The problem was they never had a proper blowoff. Which is probably the major issue of the storyline as a whole.

I think one problem is that NWO probably got too popular and drew too much money. That’s incredibly weird to say, but in Bischoff’s perfect world, he would have rode that train forever. It wasn’t as simple as having a Wargames match to blowoff a feud with a faction. The NWO was legit the most popular thing going for so long. So in Bischoff’s mind probably, why end it?

Of course, that goes against the basic idea of the babyfaces finally going over. And even when they did, it was completely botched (Starrcade 97) and happened at the wrong time (Goldberg beating Hogan.) That’s why the Finger Poke of Doom was a complete failure. It made all those victories meaningless because now the NWO is at full strength again, and now back to square one. And of course it didn’t matter, because it all died with a whimper anyway.

I will put the NWO angle in 96 and 97 to a high degree, because I felt they were very compelling. But they never knew what the right time was to blow it off…and I don’t think they ever wanted to. Which is the biggest issue.

[rnrk supports BLM]

It's the year 2022 and there are still regularly fans in nWo t-shirts in the crowds, for both WWE and AEW. IIRC, that shirt's still one of WWE's best-selling pieces of merch, despite the faction ceasing to exist decades ago.

The nWo went on forever because it was a money train, despite being creatively exhausted after the first couple years. It's one of the most successful wrestling angles of all time.

[A Platypus Rave]

Apr 28, 2022 11:47:16 GMT -5 smokinvokoun86 said:

I think the angle really fell apart completely during the finger poke of doom. It started declining when the Sting/Hogan match was botched.

It was feeling played out by 98, but the Wolfpack stuff honestly gave it more life. People forget who enormously popular the NWO Red and White was. The problem was they never had a proper blowoff. Which is probably the major issue of the storyline as a whole.

I think one problem is that NWO probably got too popular and drew too much money. That’s incredibly weird to say, but in Bischoff’s perfect world, he would have rode that train forever. It wasn’t as simple as having a Wargames match to blowoff a feud with a faction. The NWO was legit the most popular thing going for so long. So in Bischoff’s mind probably, why end it?

Of course, that goes against the basic idea of the babyfaces finally going over. And even when they did, it was completely botched (Starrcade 97) and happened at the wrong time (Goldberg beating Hogan.) That’s why the Finger Poke of Doom was a complete failure. It made all those victories meaningless because now the NWO is at full strength again, and now back to square one. And of course it didn’t matter, because it all died with a whimper anyway.

I will put the NWO angle in 96 and 97 to a high degree, because I felt they were very compelling. But they never knew what the right time was to blow it off…and I don’t think they ever wanted to. Which is the biggest issue.

Yeah, it's hard to argue that it wasn't a good angle originally but it stuck around way too long.

they completely botched the Sting/Hogan match which was built up pretty much since the NWO formed... Sting didn't even get to be the champion and was stripped of it...

Sting beating Hogan clean (and remaining champion) leading to the NWO fracturing and warring with itself until it fully shakes apart into micro-alliances is probably how it should have ended.

but I am assuming that didn't work for them, brother... and it's not like Bischoff had any other ideas... so... >_>

[Gravedigger's Biscuits]

Yes.

For 18 months it was an amazing storyline that helped transform American wrestling.

[Z-A Sandbaggin' Son of a b!%@h]

Probably the greatest angle in the history of wrestling

[thehottag]

Biggest angle in wrestling history, for sure. It's the fact they couldn't move on from it which became the issue.

[Cranjis McBasketball]

Apr 28, 2022 14:06:16 GMT -5 A Platypus Rave said:

Apr 28, 2022 11:47:16 GMT -5 smokinvokoun86 said:

I think the angle really fell apart completely during the finger poke of doom. It started declining when the Sting/Hogan match was botched.

It was feeling played out by 98, but the Wolfpack stuff honestly gave it more life. People forget who enormously popular the NWO Red and White was. The problem was they never had a proper blowoff. Which is probably the major issue of the storyline as a whole.

I think one problem is that NWO probably got too popular and drew too much money. That’s incredibly weird to say, but in Bischoff’s perfect world, he would have rode that train forever. It wasn’t as simple as having a Wargames match to blowoff a feud with a faction. The NWO was legit the most popular thing going for so long. So in Bischoff’s mind probably, why end it?

Of course, that goes against the basic idea of the babyfaces finally going over. And even when they did, it was completely botched (Starrcade 97) and happened at the wrong time (Goldberg beating Hogan.) That’s why the Finger Poke of Doom was a complete failure. It made all those victories meaningless because now the NWO is at full strength again, and now back to square one. And of course it didn’t matter, because it all died with a whimper anyway.

I will put the NWO angle in 96 and 97 to a high degree, because I felt they were very compelling. But they never knew what the right time was to blow it off…and I don’t think they ever wanted to. Which is the biggest issue.

Yeah, it's hard to argue that it wasn't a good angle originally but it stuck around way too long.

they completely botched the Sting/Hogan match which was built up pretty much since the NWO formed... Sting didn't even get to be the champion and was stripped of it...

Sting beating Hogan clean (and remaining champion) leading to the NWO fracturing and warring with itself until it fully shakes apart into micro-alliances is probably how it should have ended.

but I am assuming that didn't work for them, brother... and it's not like Bischoff had any other ideas... so... >_>

Had Sting only gotten a tan, imagine how different the world could be.

[THE FVNKER]

A good enough angle that it gets talked about 20 years after it ended on a daily basis between wrestling TV, radio, forums, podcasts and anything else wrestling related.

[Venti]

I think one of the issues is the end game of the angle.

A heel faction like that needs comeuppance on a big stage. Whether it was by Sting, Goldberg, Bret Hart, whomever. It needs the final nail in the coffin to put it down.

Instead Bischoff started running NWO PPV's and eventually wanted to basically turn WCW into NWO.

And like, where does that really lead to? The heels run a wrestling company? Then what?

[A Platypus Rave]

Apr 28, 2022 19:58:57 GMT -5 Venti said:

I think one of the issues is the end game of the angle.

A heel faction like that needs comeuppance on a big stage. Whether it was by Sting, Goldberg, Bret Hart, whomever. It needs the final nail in the coffin to put it down.

Instead Bischoff started running NWO PPV's and eventually wanted to basically turn WCW into NWO.

And like, where does that really lead to? The heels run a wrestling company? Then what?

Yeah, that's what kinda kills it as the best angle... killer opening, pretty good middle... but... there was no ending.

It ended pretty much becuase the company went out of business... and even then there are STILL NWO rehashes going on to this day...

[jimmyjames]

Yes, and until around Novemeber, 97 it was great.

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

It was a good angle until it stopped making money. That's really all there is to it

[auph10imitated]

It was a super hot angle that got old quicker than it actually should have and all of the reasons you listed are basically why. They really should have kept them as a small action.

[The Dark Order Inferno]

Should have ended at Starrcade 97, with Hogan transitioning into a feud with Hall and Nash and Sting against Bret over who's the real world champion, with the winner facing Nash while Hogan tales time away while negotiating his deal, returning as a face seeking redemption.

[Hypnosis]

Started off great, then got ruined when nearly everyone on the WCW roster and even special guests (the Dinner & A Movie guys and Kyle Petty) joined.