The NWO was wrestling’s first great dose of counterculture. But it didn’t take long for the hottest thing in sport to look like an over-crowded country club. While we’ll always remember the core members, the group’s mastermind, Eric Bischoff, just pointed out the name he’d like to forget.
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As WCW’s boss, Bischoff was responsible for the composition and booking of the NWO. however, in a recent episode of his podcast, 83 Weeks, Bischoff named his least favorite member of the iconic group.
“Looking back at this now and obviously having twenty years to digest all my good ideas and my bad ideas together this was clearly a bad idea. There were a number of bad ideas, Virgil was a bad idea. Ted DiBiase was probably the worst idea when it came to casting to casting the nWo. It had nothing to do with Ted,” said Bischoff.
While the NWO is attached to many great memories, the boundless expansion of the group made WCW’s best act a diluted mess in only a few short years. The addition of ill-fitting personalities like DiBiase, Fake Sting, Mike Wallstreet, Bubba Rodgers, and Horace Hogan made what was once the coolest thing in wrestling, an awkward collection of stars past their prime.
“I love Ted DiBiase, he’s a great guy, we see each other on the road. We hang out, we have dinner. He’s a gentleman and he’s a pro. But your’s truly in a poor decision-making mode cast him as one of the voices and one of the talking heads to kinda lead the nWo and it just was bad casting. Had nothing to do with Ted’s ability. It had nothing to do with his credibility. Had nothing to do with anything other than it was just a bad fit,” he said.
The NWO started with WCW introducing The Outsiders — Scott Hall and Kevin Nash. Soon after that, Hall and Nash added the newly villainous Hulk Hogan to officially start the NWO. As soon as the group became a trio, the next big question was who that fourth member would be. The answer came when DiBiase starting palling around the group despite being visibly older and totally inactive in the ring.
As The Million Dollar Man in WWE, DiBiase was one of the best heels in wrestling history. But as a random addition to the NWO, he just looked out of place. However, even with Bischoff declaring DiBiase as the worst member, it’s worth noting the WWE Hall of Famer wasn’t in the group for long. He was replaced by Bischoff himself as the group’s spokesperson after just three months.
[H/T Ringside News]
