It was the legdrop heard ’round the professional wrestling world.
Today marks the 20th anniversary of the formation of the NWO, the New World Order. At WCW’s Bash at the Beach ’96, it was The Outsiders, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall, versus the three-man tag team of Sting, Lex Luger, and “Macho Man” Randy Savage. Hall and Nash had hinted of their third man to even the odds and while a list of names were circling around, nobody saw this one coming.
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Hulk Hogan headed towards the ring, and cheers roared from the crowd as Hulk Hogan, the ultimate good guy in professional wrestling was here to save the day…
Then he executed a legdrop on Randy Savage.
It is still regarded as the greatest swerve in professional wrestling’s history. Hogan becoming allies with the recently-signed Hall and Nash, at the time two of the WWF’s biggest stars on their roster, who had wrecked havoc on World Championship Wrestling. It was unheard of. The interview that Hogan gave with Hall of Famer announcer “Mean” Gene Okerlund gave us everything we needed to know about who Hogan really was and why he was tired of being the good guy.
And with the words “you can call this…the New World Order of wrestling, brother” the biggest thing to ever happen to wrestling, save for Hulkamania itself, was born. Within the next few weeks, Hogan had shed his trademark red and yellow attire for a more monochromatic look. With Hogan in charge, the NWO was more than just another faction, it was a legitimate threat to the company. They started adding names to their roster, plucking unknowns like Marcus Bagwell, turning him into Buff Bagwell, Scott Steiner, the Giant, eventually Randy Savage and Curt Henning. From there, it seemed the NWO was actually taking over WCW.
And for a moment there, they did.
The merchandise alone from the NWO single-handedly flooded the market and easily outsold anything the then WWF was producing. It was a monster. One that eventually turned on its master.
NWO eventually branched off into a faction led by Kevin Nash, dubbed the Wolfpac, or NWO Red and Black. The original, NWO Hollywood, was still a formidable force. Taking cues from both, Eddie Guerrero started the LWO, the Latino World Order which comprised of the luchadores and latino stars of the company. While that particular faction didn’t last, it seemed as though if you weren’t in the NWO and just part of the WCW roster, you were floating in limbo.
Of course that changed with the likes of “Diamond” Dallas Page and Goldberg. Turning Hogan heel was one of the outlandish moves because it simply had never been done, but as the leader of the NWO, Hogan was possibly more loved than ever before as the younglings of Generation X embraced his crude and sometimes vile tactics.
Now, on January 4th, 1999, fans began to see the end of the NWO as it became whole once more with Kevin Nash taking the fall for Hogan as he pinned Nash to become WCW World Heavyweight Champion once again. Reunited, the NWO members ballooned and eventually began a spiral of self-destruction and Hogan taking up the red and yellow once again in September of that year.
WCW tried to repeat the magic numerous times with reinventing the faction as the NWO 2000 with Bret Hart and Jeff Jarrett as now members, but it didn’t take and WCW was sold to Vince McMahon within a year.
Interestingly enough, when Hogan, Nash, and Hall returned to the WWF in 2002, it was under the NWO banner. This time, they weren’t just punks. They were full-blown criminals, even causing the Rock to get into a car crash and fleeing the scene, setting up Rock’s match with Hogan at WrestleMania X8. It was rumored to have the NWO run its course through SummerSlam that year, but something happened along the way: Hogan’s fanbase forgave him and he donned the red and yellow once more.
The NWO isn’t just a footnote, it’s history. Without it, who knows how WCW would have lasted had they kept milking the same formula. Originally, Sting was supposed to be the third man in Hall and Nash’t team, but it’s doubtful the impact would have been as great as it was with Hogan making the heel turn. Twenty years is a long time, but for some, this moment has been etched in their brains. It was something unique and something we’ll all remember as fans. Why?
Because when you’re NWO, you’re NWO 4 life.
