Brian Damage
The New World Order (nWo) was perhaps, at one point, one of the most successful factions in the history of pro wrestling. It helped WCW catapult ahead of the WWF during the Monday Night Wars for well over a year. The nWo merchandise sales were through the roof. It made Scott Hall and Kevin Nash into millionaires and resurrected the career of Hulk Hogan. The nWo also saw several versions and parodies find success in other promotions around the world.
New Japan had a version of the New World Order called nWo Japan which had some of their top stars as members. ECW parodied the faction with the bWo aka The Blue World Order. Even though it was meant as a joke poking fun of WCW’s hottest angle, the bWo did great business for ECW. Even WWE had their own watered-down version of the New World Order a few years after in 2002. All in all, the nWo was a red hot commodity for a brief period of time in the late 1990’s. The thing is, not everything the black and white faction did turned to gold.
As successful as the angle and faction was, it fizzled out quickly when every wrestler worth a damn wanted to be a part of it. The group just became bloated and overexposed, and it ultimately led to their downfall. That part is well known. When the nWo was hot in 1996/1997, you’d figure anything they did would be money. That couldn’t have been further from the truth. Here’s a look at some of the colossal failures of the nWo…
NWO Souled Out
In January of 1997, WCW gave the faction its own pay per view. According to many who bought the event, it was said to be one of the very worst pay per views of all time. Not only that, but it flopped big as the buy rate was just 0.47…nothing compared to what the average WCW ppv’s were doing businesswise around that time.
The nWo Hotline
In early 1997, WCW launched an nWo hotline to complement their regular WCW line run by Mean Gene Okerlund. The New World Order version would have interviews, nWo scoops and backstage secrets. All for the low low price of $1.59 per minute. The problem was that the nWo hotline was an utter failure. According to Dave Meltzer, the nWo line made in one month what the WCW Hotline made in just one day. The hotline shutdown not long after launching.
nWo Monday Nitro
In December of 1997, just days away from the biggest pay per view match in WCW history between Hollywood Hogan and Sting…Eric Bischoff experimented with making his flagship show an nWo exclusive program. The New World Order hijacked the show, destroyed the set and branded it nWo Nitro. The ratings fell dramatically as fans tuned out in droves. The experiment was another nWo failure.
As much as the New World Order storyline made WCW what it was, it also practically killed the company from within. It seemed that fans loved the idea of the nWo, but in small doses. Almost every project involving the faction flopped in some epic way.
eric
Yes, it was such a game changer that it made pro wrestling mainstream again, but then you put everyone in it and there is no storyline to build save for sting.
As fast as it started, it fizzled out just as fast. The staircase Hogan v sting really drug it down and a red hot stone cold and rock.
Dave
Might I suggest you explain why these things failed?
Dan Wray
As an 11 year old, I loved the NWO when it came on the scene and legitimately felt game changing, but by the turn of 97 it felt overexposed and less special. A lot of this bears witness to that
Luke
“in small doses”
Exactly. Less is more, which seems to be a lost concept in the 21st century. The main reason today’s wrestling generally sucks is that there’s so much of it.