10 WWE Storylines That Were Only Good For One Moment

1. The New World Order Arrive In WWE

The Rock New World Order
WWE

Night One.

WWE couldn't make their mind up on what to do with on arguably WCW's greatest ever creation on Night One.

The New World Order were supposedly agents of chaos, brought in by Vince McMahon as a "lethal dose of poison" on his show, but their debut at 2002's No Way Out pay-per-view badly undermined the messaging.

A insincere show-opening promo was supposed to register as the lads obscuring their evil schemes, but instead came across as slightly weak and meandering. That fans were legitimately thrilled to see the trio in WWE didn't help, either. A listless beatdown of Steve Austin later in the show resulted in yet more apathy - the three were evidently going to be neither lethal nor poison, even if the theme music still ruled.

Their night was saved by one segment, and it was a masterful burial by The Rock on all three. 'The Great One' hit the cheesiest elements of their former WWE personas in a manner so impeccably attuned to the audience of the day that the whole scene felt perfectly of-the-time.

Within weeks, the entire idea felt like an ancient relic.

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett