NWO Twenty Years Later: Where Are They Now?

Since WCW went out of business and the nWo ceased to exist, the organisation's leader and biggest star 'Hollywood' Hogan has gradually faded into obscurity, leading a peaceful life outside of wrestling.

In his dreams, maybe.

Unlike so many guys on this list, Hogan didn't need the nWo to make him a hit: he MADE a hit out of the nWo. The pseudo-'WWF invasion' angle was already cooking up a storm before Hogan's involvement, but it absolutely set on fire once the bona fide wrestling legend made his Earth-shattering heel turn, joining the group and giving it its name.

Hogan used the popularity of the faction to completely dominate WCW's main event landscape in the late-'90s, caring not a jot for the health of the company and ultimately using it's open checkbook to line his pockets. By 2001, new owners AOL had finally had enough of the loss-making business, and took Nitro off the air. Hogan was a major factor in the decline.

Hogan's reputation in the industry at the demise of WCW was one of greed and self-interest destroying the product. When he finally made a return to the WWF after an eight year hiatus, the sheer power of nostalgia - most of his audience brandishing fond memories from their childhood - saw him regain the heights of his mid-'80s popularity.

For a time after, The Immortal really seemed to be, his legacy guaranteed for all eternity. Last year, all that changed.

As ammunition in an acrimonious legal dispute revolving around Hogan's lawsuit against Gawker Media following their unsanctioned release of a private sex video featuring the wrestler, the defendants leaked footage of the claimant spouting overtly racist epithets. Almost immediately, Hogan's sponsors deserted him, and WWE quickly made moves to erase him from their programming, expunging him from the Hall of Fame and terminating his contract in the process. Once one of the most revered stars in the history of the business, and a major cultural icon for a whole generation, Hulk Hogan's reputation was suddenly in complete tatters.

The good news for Hogan is that he was eventually successful in his legal battle against the media company, awarded $115 million in damages in victory, plus the satisfaction of seeing Gawker essentially bankrupted. The outcome certainly engendered a lot of new-found sympathy towards 'The Hulkster', but whether it has been enough to rehabilitate his damaged fame remains to be seen.

Nevertheless, the chances of him being welcomed back to WWE remain high. After all, think of the rating it would likely pop.