Breaking Down The Myth: The NWO Saved The Wrestling Business

After the events of Bash at the Beach '96, it didn't take long for Hulk Hogan to once more become WCW World Heavyweight Champion - defeating The Giant at that August's Hog Wild PPV - and the New World Order began to assert its dominance on WCW.

Before you could say "take your vitamins, say your prayers, and train hard," that initial trio of the nWo had added new members to its ranks in the form of Ted DiBiase, The Giant, the fake Sting, Syxx, Vincent, and Miss Elizabeth.

Like all white-hot acts, everybody wanted in on the nWo. This was the new shiny toy that so many involved with WCW wanted to play with. This stable was the proverbial cool kids at school who everybody wanted to be friends with.

To many, the nWo was in its prime when Syxx was its most recent member. At that point, we had a group of six people going around and causing chaos across the company - and there were also still plentiful WCW names around to oppose the supposed heel antics of the nWo.

By the time all was said and done with that initial run for the nWo, though, the faction had had nearly 30 members when it was split into nWo Hollywood and nWo Wolfpac in April 1998. But long before that split, the nWo had slowly become a pale imitation of what had once made it so hot.

It's one thing to have Hogan, Nash, and Hall taking out talents left, right, and centre, but, no disrespect, it doesn't have quite the same appeal when you see Michael Wallstreet, Vincent, The Disciple, and Buff Bagwell in nWo colours and attacking WCW stars.