Breaking Down The Myth: The NWO Saved The Wrestling Business

9. The Bash At The Beach Buzz

nWo Kevin Nash Hollywood Hogan Scott Hall
WWE.com

Hall's arrival in WCW had sparked an immediate curiosity amongst the wrestling community, and his pairing with Nash and later Hogan was a major part of why WCW began to decimate the then-WWF in the ratings war that had been simmering away since WCW decided to launch rival Monday night programming on 4 September 1995.

From the week after Hall's WCW debut, WCW Nitro went on to better WWF Raw in the TV ratings for 46 out of the next 47 weeks.

No matter how much people poke fun at latter-day WCW, and no matter how people may say that the overall influence of the nWo was a negative one, there is no taking away just how phenomenal an achievement those ratings were - and likewise, the domination that Nitro had over Raw all the way through until early 1998.

The buzz generated by Hogan's Bash at the Beach heel turn and the formation of the New World Order was huge. Even though the babyface reactions to Hogan weren't quite as fervent as they'd been at the prime of Hulkamania running wild, brother, it was still a shock to see the Hulkster throw away the red and yellow and turn villainous for the first time since the early days of his AWA run in 1981.

What would this evil Hulk Hogan look like? How could Hogan, Nash, and Hall be stopped? And who else might join them in their crusade against WCW?

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Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.