One MIND-BLOWING Secret From Every Year Of WCW History

6. 1996 | Vince McMahon Tried (And Failed) To Undermine The New World Order BEFORE The Fake Razor Ramon And Diesel Angle

In a news item that definitely did appear in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reported that Mabel was in discussions to become the fabled third man of the group that would come to be known as the New World Order. 

This is a source of great amusement for Eric Bischoff, the man who insisted that AMC’s TNA would overtake AEW in the event of signing an improved TV deal, and is cited as evidence that Meltzer does not know what he’s talking about. Meltzer actually scored a last-minute winner, though, by revealing that Hulk Hogan was the man in the issue released before Bash At The Beach 1996. Dave was also equipped with the knowledge to kill a further two rumours that did the rounds with speculation at its most intense. 

At one point in June, many people within wrestling expected Lex Luger to be the third man; at the time, in an hysterical angle that was sadly dropped when the nWo took over the main scene, Luger played a secret heel of sorts. The way in which wrestling is broadcast rendered it a bit silly - Sting could have simply watched the show and determined that Luger was undermining him behind his back - but Luger was so priceless as the self-obsessed primadonna that it inspired the brilliant opening chapters of the MJF Vs. Cody Rhodes AEW feud years and years later. It made sense that Luger would turn on WCW, since he only cared about himself. 

Meltzer reported that he’d heard “things that lead me to believe that [the third man] may not be Lex Luger after all”. Dave then dealt with the growing speculation that Jeff Jarrett was coming in as the third man - speculation fuelled by Vince McMahon. 

McMahon had revealed, on the WWF hotline, that Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and one Jeff Jarrett were all jumping ship to WCW. Listing these names as a threesome was surely no accident. Was this Vince’s attempt to subtly spoil WCW’s plans without fully removing himself from the fence? At the time the hotline was recorded, the main event of Bash At The Beach had not been announced. 

Meltzer however suspected that Bash would be the night everything came together, and knew for a fact that Jarrett couldn’t work for WCW until the fall; he was seeing out his notice in the USWA. Jarrett debuted for WCW in October, by which time the nWo had already “taken over”.