The Complete History Of The New World Order | Wrestling Timelines
May 4, 1998 - The Wolfpac
After months of simmering dissension within the nWo, the nWo Wolfpac, made up Nash, Savage and Konnan, debuts on Nitro as a new babyface splinter group. This follows the events of Spring Stampede, at which Hogan betrayed Nash.
WCW gets the presentation and the dynamic right. That’s an understatement, really; the doomy hip-hop beat of the Wolfpac theme is incredible, and the red-and-black nWo logo variant shifts yet more warehouses of merchandise (as does the 'Wolf' tee). The nWo as intentional babyfaces: on one level, it’s a masterstroke.
The opposing squads are contrasted to great effect. Nash essentially played a cool babyface the entire time. Savage was always the coolest household name of the ‘80s WWF boom. Konnan, while his in-ring work has deteriorated to a shocking degree, was one of the most marketable stars in modern lucha libre history, dresses to the times, and is a phenomenal, quick-tongued promo.
The nWo Hollywood group, meanwhile, is fronted by Hogan. They are the heels, and they range from intimidating and convincing (Scott Steiner), massively irritating (Buff Bagwell) and so boring that the fans resent them (the Disciple et al).
This civil war is a great idea. The execution is less than stellar. WCW, despite repeating the same pointless swerves and adding too many additional members, again, is not at fault for all of it. Hall is on and off television battling substance abuse issues. This flattens the potential of the storyline. Worse, at Slamboree on May 17, he betrays Nash - even though he is ideally cast in the Wolfpac, and WCW could have developed that storyline long-term.
Complicating the whole thing further, and the potential of Nash as the top guy, is the unexpected rise of a new major star.