Breaking Down The Myth: The NWO Saved The Wrestling Business

3. The Group's Role In WCW Going Out Of Business

nWo Kevin Nash Hollywood Hogan Scott Hall
WWE.com

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?

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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.