Stables were not a new thing when WCW started the New World Order in the summer of 1996. We had seen them plenty of times before, namely with the Four Horsemen in NWA and WCW. There was even a weaker stable called the Dungeon of Doom in WCW in the mid 1990s that wasn't dominant, but they played a major role on WCW TV. What was innovative about the NWO was how they formed and who was a part of it. Scott Hall showing up on Nitro was a big deal because we only knew him as Razor Ramon in WWE. People thought he still worked for WWE when he appeared on Nitro. The same could be said about Kevin Nash, who joined Hall a few weeks later. When Hulk Hogan joined the group as a heel leader (a completely new role for Hogan) it legitimized it. It felt real. It was different. It's no surprise that shortly after the NWO formed we saw DX in WWE and the Hart Foundation as well. The NWO wasn't the first stable by any means because the Four Horsemen were definitely popular too, but the NWO did a lot of things right. The reason the NWO was so innovative was because they did an angle where it looked like they were taking over WCW even though they were really employees. It was the most interesting thing in wrestling for a long time. A true difference maker for sure.