10 Awesome Wrestling Debuts That Quickly Faded Away
2. New World Order
The New World Order rebirth stands as one of WWE’s biggest missed opportunities of the modern era, if not the company’s history. It kicked off in 2002, long after the original Invasion. Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Hulk Hogan had chosen to stay at home and wait-out their massive contracts rather than jump ship to WWE right away, but they were more than willing to come over when their WCW paydays had expired.
Ric Flair had recently arrived in WWE, and Vince McMahon was aghast at the thought of sharing power with the Nature Boy. Thus, he brought back the nWo to “kill his creation,” and drive both him and Flair out of business. A scorched earth policy, but when has Mr. McMahon ever been one for rational thought?.
Hall, Nash, and Hogan returned at No Way Out 2002. It felt like a huge, groundbreaking moment: finally, the Monday Night Wars’ definitive power stable was in WWE, in its original form, with no major players missing. The original impact was huge, and the trio got a huge nostalgia pop from the crowd… but that’s where things started falling apart.
The nWo never got over as heels, and that first comeback pop wasn’t just a one-off. They were treated as returning heroes rather than destructive invaders, and Kevin Nash was soon put out of action with an injury. Hall then asked for his release in May 2002 and was fired after the infamous “Plane Ride From Hell” several days later. Shawn Michaels, Booker T, X-Pac, and the Big Show drifted in and out of the stable, but they’d already lost their steam by the time HBK joined, and were quietly disbanded by July.