10 Twisted Times WWE Rewarded A Wrestler For Being A D*ck
6. The New World Order (2002)
Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall knew they'd be pariahs upon returning to a very different WWE from the one they'd departed several years earlier - they were advertised as such.
The prevailing narrative about the faction had been powerful enough to convince Vince McMahon to make it part of their introduction - he'd was so keen to kill his own company since Ric Flair came to own half of it that he'd bring in the nWo as a "lethal dose of poison". He was only to happy for the facts to inform the fiction.
By 2002, the trio had sat out mammoth WCW contracts (avoiding the entire wretched Invasion angle in the process), with stories of the reputations as ruthless politicians long considered the reason none of them would ever work in the industry again. Few fans considered just how star-hungry the WWE head honcho was.
Returning at February's No Way Out and featuring prominently in WrestleMania one month later, all prior sins had been rewarded for the good of the angle - the band were briefly back together and back under the brightest spotlight.