7 WWE Returns That Flopped HARD!

The day that Vince McMahon bought WCW on March 23rd, 2001, the whole wrestling world began to form their dream matches and situations. Nothing topped those wishes more than seeing the NWO bring their anti-establishment mayhem to WWE. The faction may have gone through some brutally terrible rebrands in WCW's last few years, but the idea of founding members 'Hollywood' Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, and Scott Hall terrorizing Vince McMahon and locking up with 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin, The Rock, and D-Generation X had fans all over the world salivating.

It took just 11 months to happen. After Vince McMahon gave an unhinged promo about injecting the WWE with "a lethal dose of poison", Hogan, Hall, and Nash made their debut at No Way Out 2002. Cutting a lukewarm promo and being outclassed in a backstage skit with The Rock, things didn't quite get off to the start everyone hoped for. 

Hogan's feud with The Rock on the run-up to their legendary match at WrestleMania X8 had some satisfying moments, but Scott Hall's feud with 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin lacked any of the greatness that saw the group rise to prominence. When you look at the NWO's continued popularity in terms of merch and influence, this short-lived and underwhelming incarnation of the group is one of the all-time WWE disappointments. Throw in them backing up their life-long enemy Sting at WrestleMania 31 for no reason beyond they worked in the same company, and it compounds WWE's misuse of this legendary faction.