40 Greatest Stories Wrestling Ever Told

7. New World Order Of Wrestling, Brother! (WCW, 1996)

nWo Bash At The Beach 1996
WWE.com

Swerve!

Bobby Heenan slapped fans in the face with the obvious when he asked which side Hulk Hogan was on when the red and yellow babyface walked down the aisle in Daytona Beach for BATB '96. Dusty Rhodes, furious at Heenan for implying that Hulk was there to do anything other than help the good guys, shot off: "What are you talking about?".

Then, one leg drop on Randy Savage later and Hogan was heel. He'd formed "the New World Order of wrestling, brother". Having seen their masterplan come to fruition, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash flashed evil grins and posed with their new stablemate. The nWo was born, and nothing would ever be the same for WCW or the wrestling business again.

Hulk's promo about Eric Bischoff needing his star power to turn WCW around came amidst a mountain of trash hurled at the ring by irate fans. Then, Hogan told the people that they could "stick it" when it came to supporting him. He didn't need them anymore, because he was gonna be selfish and lead the New World Order organisation into the stratosphere.

Behind the scenes, Sting and a few others had been readied as a possible "third man" on the off chance Hulk got cold feet and didn't want to go heel. Rather bravely considering what he would've been giving up had things flopped, Hogan went for it and revived his flagging WCW prospects in the blink of an eye.

When wrestling fans think of World Championship Wrestling, they instantly think of the nWo. Says it all.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.