Breaking Down The Myth: The NWO Saved The Wrestling Business

It wasn't WWF's fault that WCW went out of business, but World Championship Wrestling just had no real answer once WWF started to move the needle back in its favour during the Monday Night Wars.

Granted, the ace in the pack for WCW by this point was the emergence of Bill Goldberg. But even during Goldberg's arrival on the scene and rise to superstardom, so much of WCW programming was built around the nWo - which was initially natural, given how 'Hollywood' Hogan was the prize goose with the big gold around his waist.

To lay the blame for WCW's demise solely on the nWo would be unfair, yet the New World Order became a noose around the neck of Ted Turner's promotion.

Rather than highlighting new stars, so much time on WCW programming was invested into whatever incarnation of the nWo was the flavour of the month. And not just that, but there's obviously the financial investment that had been put into the contracts of nWo members - which by its very nature means that those high-earning stars had to be used prominently on TV to warrant their salary.

Similarly, if so many members of your roster have been in some iteration of the nWo, what makes the nWo letters meaningful anymore?

With the nWo forever eating up TV time, certain members being paid huge money to deliver substandard matches, and younger, hungry talents rarely getting any notable wins over the nWo's heavy hitters, it's no wonder that some talents decided to jump ship over to WWF.

When your final WCW incarnation of the nWo had Jeff Jarrett leading the Harris brothers, is it any surprise that WCW folded?