Did The NWO Destroy The WCW?

 

The nWo (New World Order) was a professional wrestling stable of wrestlers, originally in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and later in the then-World Wrestling Federation (WWF).

NWO first formed on July 7, 1996 at the Bash at the Beach PPV. The group was created when Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, two wrestlers who had recently come over to WCW from the WWF and labelled as “The Outsiders,” aligned themselves with long-time fan favorite Hulk Hogan, who infamously turned heel to join the new group at Bash at the Beach.

In 1996 both Scott Hall and Kevin Nash left the WWF to sign with WCW. Hall first appeared on WCW TV live on the Memorial Day 1996 edition of Monday Nitro emanating from Macon, Georgia, interrupting a match by walking down through the crowd into the ring. He delivered his famous “You Want A War?” speech, stating that he had a challenge for Eric Bischoff (“that Ken Doll lookalike”), Ted Turner (“Billionaire Ted”), “Macho Man” Randy Savage (the “Nacho Man”), and anyone else in WCW.

Scott Hall’s derogatory nicknames for Turner and Savage in particular referred to the infamous skits done by the WWF mere months earlier in an effort to mock WCW. Later, as the show neared its end, Hall accosted Bischoff in the broadcast booth (Bischoff then served as the lead announcer for Nitro) and demanded that he tell Turner to recruit three of his very best wrestlers, as Hall and two others were going to be “taking over.” This officially kicked off the nWo storyline. 

The next week, Hall reappeared on Nitro five minutes before the end of the broadcast and again pestered Bischoff. Sting confronted Hall, and was rewarded with a toothpick in the face for his efforts. Sting retaliated by slapping Hall across the face, and in response Hall promised Sting a “little…no…BIG surprise” for the next week’s show. This surprise ended up being Hall’s good friend and former WWF Champion Kevin Nash, and in the weeks following Hall and Nash were collectively referred to as “The Outsiders.” Both men took to showing up unexpectedly during Nitro broadcasts, usually jumping wrestlers backstage, distracting wrestlers by standing in the entrance-ways of arenas, or walking around in the audience, all the while waiting for WCW to answer their challenge.

The group that destroyed WCW, the nWo, make their WWE debut - No Way Out 2002