World Championship Wrestling (1996–2000) Formation , whose on-screen antics led the WWF to claim that WCW had
infringed on their intellectual property On
May 19, 1996,
Scott Hall and
Kevin Nash wrestled their final matches as Razor Ramon and Diesel, respectively, in the WWF and signed with WCW shortly after. Hall appeared on the May 27, 1996 edition of
Nitro, which emanated from the
Macon Coliseum in
Macon, Georgia. As
The Mauler and
Steve Doll wrestled, Hall emerged from the crowd and entered the ring, bringing the match to a halt, and called for the ring announcer's microphone. "You people, you know who I am", Hall said to the stunned crowd, "but you don't know why I'm here". He went on to deliver what became known as the "You want a war?" speech, stating that he and unnamed allies had a challenge for WCW executive vice president Bischoff and any WCW wrestlers. As the episode neared its end, Hall accosted Bischoff, who was also the lead broadcaster for
Nitro at the time, in the broadcast booth and demanded that he tell WCW owner
Ted Turner to pick three of his best wrestlers for "a war". The next week, Hall claimed to have a "big surprise" for fellow professional wrestler
Sting. On the following
Nitro, the big surprise was revealed to be Nash. Hall and Nash were then dubbed as
The Outsiders, randomly appearing at WCW events to cause trouble and inevitably be led out of the building by security. Hall and Nash were both fully employed by WCW, but the storyline implied that they were contracted WWF wrestlers "invading" WCW. This was enough of a concern to the WWF that it considered legal action over Hall and Nash's antics. Hall was the bigger concern to the WWF, as he had not fully distanced himself from his Razor Ramon character, continuing to use the character's mannerisms and speaking with the character's pseudo-
Cuban American accent. WCW attempted to address these concerns at
The Great American Bash in June 1996 after Bischoff promised them a match at the next
pay-per-view event
Bash at the Beach, he directly asked both Hall and Nash if they were employed by the WWF, to which they said no. The WWF, still unsatisfied, filed a lawsuit, claiming that Bischoff had proposed inter-promotional matches that would air on
TBS and
TNT, thereby associating the two
promotions with each other. Also at The Great American Bash, both Hall and Nash pressed Bischoff to name his company's three representatives for their impending match. Bischoff said that he had found three men who would answer their challenge, but would not name them. This would lead to Hall and Nash attacking Bischoff, culminating with Nash powerbombing Bischoff off the stage and through a table below. Bischoff held a draft on
Nitro to determine WCW's representatives, with
Sting,
Lex Luger, and
"Macho Man" Randy Savage being chosen.
Hostile Takeover Match The match Bischoff promised, a
six-man tag team match billed as the "Hostile Takeover match", was scheduled as the
main event of
Bash at the Beach at the
Ocean Center in
Daytona Beach, Florida on July 7, 1996. Hall and Nash came to the ring by themselves, leaving speculation open as to who the third man was. Team WCW then entered with all three members wearing Sting's signature face paint as a sign of solidarity. Luger was hurt and badly injured almost immediately after the match started, when Sting tried to hit Nash with a Stinger Splash, and Luger was pulled into the move by Nash in the process, and had to be taken away on a stretcher. The match reached its climax at approximately the sixteen-minute mark, shortly after a late
tag from Sting to Savage. Savage went on the attack, nailing both the Outsiders with repeated axe-handle smashes from the top rope. However, while
referee Randy Anderson checked on a downed Hall, Hall grabbed his shirt while Nash nailed Savage with a
low blow which knocked both men to the mat. With all four men down, Anderson had no choice but to begin
counting them out as he did not see the low blow. As he began his count, the fans' attention turned to the entrance area as
Hulk Hogan entered and began walking to the ring to a loud roar from the crowd. Hall spotted him and immediately fled the ring. Hogan, who had not been seen on WCW television for some time, climbed into the ring to chase away Nash and tore off his T-shirt, as he had done many times before. With the fans still cheering wildly, Hogan stood in the corner nearest and hit his long-time friend Savage with his
Atomic Leg Drop, stunning the crowd and turning heel for the first time since his
AWA days in 1981. The Outsiders came back into the ring to celebrate with their now-revealed partner as Hogan dropped the leg on the fallen Savage a second time, and after the three men all high-fived, Hogan threw the referee from the ring and hit Savage one last time, with Hall delivering the three count. During the interview, Hogan proclaimed that he, Hall and Nash were "the
new world order of wrestling", giving the group its name – the New World Order. The show closed with the three wrestlers continuing to taunt the fans, who booed and pelted them with garbage. Wrapping up the event on pay-per-view, a still-stunned
Tony Schiavone said: "Hulk Hogan, you can go to hell... straight to hell". The night after Bash at the Beach, Hall and Nash appeared on
Nitro without Hogan, attempting to attack Sting,
Arn Anderson and Randy Savage, but were held back by WCW security. On August 26,
Ted DiBiase made his WCW debut and would ultimately become the financial supporter and spokesperson of the nWo (thus becoming the fourth man), and was given the nickname "Trillionaire Ted". On the September 2 episode of
Nitro, the nWo claimed its first defection from WCW and their fifth member as The Giant, who just weeks earlier lost his title to Hogan, turned on his
Dungeon of Doom teammates and attacked
The Four Horsemen and Randy Savage. As the
Fall Brawl PPV event neared, WCW was gearing up for another battle against the nWo, this time in a
WarGames match. On the September 9 episode of
Nitro, the nWo tricked fans and wrestlers into thinking that
Sting had joined the nWo by putting wrestler
Jeff Farmer into the group as a Sting clone, complete with Sting attire and face paint. Farmer, as the nWo Sting, attacked Luger, who had been lured into an attack by referee
Nick Patrick. This led Luger, his longtime ally and
tag team partner, to publicly question Sting as to where his allegiance lay. At
Fall Brawl, as Team WCW was being interviewed, Sting appeared and told his teammates that he had nothing to do with the attack, but Luger did not believe him. Going into the match, only three wrestlers on each side had been officially named: Hogan and
The Outsiders for the nWo, and Luger, Arn Anderson, and
Ric Flair for Team WCW. Sting had originally been named the fourth man for WCW, but his participation was in doubt. The fourth man for the nWo was indeed the nWo Sting, who had convinced everyone (including the broadcast team) that the real Sting was nWo. The real Sting showed up moments later as the last man for Team WCW and took apart the entire nWo by himself. After assaulting the nWo, Sting left the ring and Team WCW, yelling at an apologetic looking Luger "Is that good enough for you right there? Is that truth enough?". Team WCW, now fighting a 4-on-3
handicap match, lost when the nWo Sting locked Luger in the
Scorpion Death Lock. The next night on
Nitro, Sting came out unexpectedly, with no music or pyrotechnics. Keeping his back to the camera, he angrily laid into his fellow wrestlers and co-workers as well as the fans for doubting his true colors, and declared himself a free agent. was the sixth person to join the nWo. With that, Sting began a retreat from the ring that would last for nearly fifteen months, and in the process, left his loyalties on the table for either side to try and move him to theirs. The nWo stepped up its efforts to try and recruit Sting, yet never removed the nWo Sting from the group. As Sting's character and look evolved, so too did Farmer's nWo Sting character. On the same night Sting made his speech, the nWo inducted
Syxx into the group, with the name being a reference to the fact that he was the sixth member (In reality, Syxx was the seventh member of the group, but Farmer's entry into the group was not taken into account). At Halloween Havoc, Hogan's old rival
Roddy Piper, whom WCW had just signed to a contract, came to the ring to confront Hogan. Piper began looking for a match with Hogan the following night on
Nitro. In the storyline, WCW only recognized Hogan, Nash, and Hall as WCW employees due to their holding WCW
championships, and the other nWo members went unrecognized as WCW employees; because of this, they were unable to wrestle other WCW wrestlers. This led to the nWo starting a segment on
Saturday Night, called
nWo Saturday Night, where nWo stable members wrestled local
jobbers inside an empty arena. At the end of the show, Piper and Bischoff began arguing in the ring. That same night,
Big Bubba Rogers and
Scott Norton defected to the group during a show-ending melee between the WCW and nWo rosters. Bischoff reversed the decision and re-awarded Hall and Nash the titles the next night on
Nitro after claiming that Randy Anderson, who ran in to officiate after Patrick was knocked down, was not the official referee for the match. Bischoff then fired Anderson for his actions. At
SuperBrawl VII, the Outsiders lost their titles to Lex Luger and The Giant, while Syxx defeated
Dean Malenko for the
WCW Cruiserweight Championship. Later that night, Hogan successfully defended his title against Roddy Piper.
"Macho Man" Randy Savage, after weeks of roving with Sting as a "free agent", helped Hogan win. Savage participated in a post-match beatdown of Piper, officially cementing his place in the nWo. The next night on
Nitro, Savage helped the Outsiders get revenge on DDP by attacking him from behind while they distracted him, and reunited with Miss Elizabeth. Later, Bischoff returned the tag team titles to The Outsiders, as Luger had been injured and was not cleared to wrestle in the SuperBrawl match. Luger, however, issued a challenge for a "winner-take-all" tag team match at
Uncensored. Two weeks later on the March 3 episode of
Nitro,
Turner Sports vice president
Dr. Harvey Schiller "suspended" Bischoff for abuse of his office. At Uncensored, Team nWo won the 3-team tag team match. In addition to winning, per the pre-match stipulations, the nWo gained the right to challenge for any WCW championship whenever and wherever they pleased. After the match, Sting descended from the rafters and attacked the core members of the nWo: Savage, Hall, Nash and Hogan, finally cementing his allegiance to WCW. It was around this time in April 1997 that tensions began to surface within the nWo. At
Spring Stampede, the show ended with Savage and Bischoff at each other's throats after the former's loss to Diamond Dallas Page, and both were held back by other group members.
J. J. Dillon, who was appointed as WCW commissioner during Bischoff's suspension, later had Big Bubba Rogers and Mr. Wallstreet removed from the nWo due to a contractual technicality. Additionally, Ted DiBiase quit the group (between late-April and August 4) after feeling remorse for some of the WCW wrestlers who were victims of nWo assaults. In the interim, the nWo recruited
The Great Muta on May 26, as well as
Hiroyoshi Tenzan and
Hiro Saito several weeks after Spring Stampede; they made occasional appearances on television due to their
full-time employment in NJPW, but all three would be core members of nWo Japan. The nWo also added
Konnan, whom they dubbed "K-Dawg", on July 14 after he attacked
Rey Mysterio Jr. while Kevin Nash watched on approvingly. At
Bash at the Beach in July,
Dennis Rodman, who had previously become a member of the nWo earlier in the year, made his wrestling debut as he teamed with Hogan to take on Luger and The Giant in a tag team match. Luger won the match for his team by forcing Hogan to
submit and earned a title shot at
Road Wild, set for August. Luger, however, elected to take his shot on the August 4 episode of
Nitro, five days before the pay-per-view, and defeated Hogan to win the WCW Championship. Hogan regained the title at Road Wild after Rodman, dressed as Sting, hit Luger with a baseball bat. Following Road Wild, the nWo began a rivalry with The Four Horsemen, marked by a skit where they mocked members of the group. The Horsemen responded by challenging the nWo to a
WarGames match at
Fall Brawl in September. The match pitted Ric Flair,
Curt Hennig,
Steve McMichael and
Chris Benoit against Nash, Konnan, Syxx, and Bagwell. During the match,
Curt Hennig turned on his team to align with the nWo. The nWo was victorious after McMichael surrendered in the match.
Bret Hart made his WCW debut on the December 15 episode of
Nitro and declared he would not join the nWo (the nWo had been claiming weeks beforehand that Bret had already joined the group), but did say he would be the
special guest referee for a match between Eric Bischoff and
Larry Zbyszko at
Starrcade. If Bischoff won the match, the nWo would be given permanent control over
Nitro, but if Zbyszko won, it would remain with WCW.
Rick Rude (who previously had been in WCW during the early to mid '90s) also joined the nWo around this time, serving as a manager, predominantly for Curt Hennig. On the
Nitro before Starrcade, the nWo completely took over the show by tearing down the set and chasing off the WCW announce team. They destroyed anything WCW-related and rebranded it
nWo Monday Nitro. This event was done as a test run for what was planned to be a permanent changeover of
Nitro to an nWo-centric show, with the soon-debuting
Thunder to become the WCW-centric show. However, the ratings dropped dramatically during this show, putting these plans on ice. Zbyszko went on to defeat Bischoff at
Starrcade, and
Nitro remained in the control of WCW. Also at Starrcade, Hogan lost the WCW World Championship to Sting. Hogan originally pinned Sting, but confusion arose when Hart appeared at ringside and accused referee and former nWo member Nick Patrick of making a fast count. In reality, Nick Patrick was supposed to make a fast count, revealing himself to be a crooked official for the nWo. But for whatever reason, Patrick counted a legitimate three-count instead, leading many to speculate that backstage politics were at play. Bret Hart, who was acting as a referee for the event, ordered the match to restart as a result of the controversy. Hogan then submitted to Sting's
Scorpion Death Lock, and the entire WCW locker room came out to celebrate the defeat of Hogan.
Dissension; nWo Hollywood and nWo Wolfpac Shortly after Hogan lost the title at Starrcade, the nWo started showing more and more signs of division within the group (in which would lead to Savage's hatred within the nWo and Hogan). Because of the controversy surrounding Sting's title win, J. J. Dillon
vacated the title on the inaugural episode of
Thunder on January 8, 1998. In addition to the title being vacated, Scott Hall was still slated to face the
world champion at
SuperBrawl VIII as per the stipulation surrounding his
World War 3 win, therefore this also would have to be resolved along with the vacant championship. New WCW
commissioner Roddy Piper resolved the issue at Souled Out on January 24 by declaring that since there was no champion for Hall to face at SuperBrawl, he would face the winner of a second Hogan vs. Sting match at Uncensored the following March. Later that evening, the feud between Hall and Larry Zbyszko came to an end when Zbyszko defeated Hall by
disqualification after
Louie Spicolli, who had just signed with WCW and joined the nWo a month earlier, interfered. After the match
Dusty Rhodes, who had been in the broadcast booth that night and who Zbyszko had asked to accompany him to the ring, joined Hall and Spicolli in attacking Zbyszko and joined the nWo, where he served as a manager and mentor to Hall. The nWo continued to expand their ranks into the new year as former WWF star
Brian Adams jumped ship to WCW and immediately joined the nWo. Hogan also gained a second bodyguard when
Ed Leslie, who had previously tried to join the nWo at Hog Wild in 1996, re-debuted as a barely recognizable bearded biker dubbed "The Disciple". However, Hogan lost to Sting in a match for the vacated WCW World Heavyweight Championship due to interference from Randy Savage. After SuperBrawl, Savage then made his intentions clear and declared that he no longer needed the nWo's help to win matches. Savage also claimed that Hogan had dropped the ball, and that he was going after Sting to try to bring the world championship back to the nWo. Hogan and Savage tried to one-up each other on episodes of
Nitro and
Thunder over the next few weeks, The rift between the different factions of the nWo grew even wider after
Syxx, who had been out since November with a severe neck injury, was released from his contract and sent to rehab for his ongoing alcoholism. Shortly thereafter, Scott Hall was also removed from television due to his own bout with alcoholism; this led to a confrontation between Kevin Nash, Eric Bischoff, and Hogan on the March 26 episode of
Thunder. and
Sting, here standing opposite each other in the ring, would later join forces after the formation of the
nWo Wolfpac to fight off the
nWo Hollywood led by Hogan. The differences within the nWo were becoming more apparent as Savage and Nash were suddenly realizing that Hogan had been only looking out for himself the entire time, and the nWo was seen as secondary. Hogan and The Disciple then attacked Nash and Savage to close out the show. The next night on
Nitro, Hogan issued a challenge to the new champion for his title, and WCW commissioner Roddy Piper made the match a
no disqualification match and declared that no
run-ins would be permitted. Savage and Nash made their own speech a little later, where Nash said to Hogan "have a nice life" and implied that the nWo was not going to be together, at least in its current form, when the night was over. Late in the match, while Hogan and Savage were fighting in a corner, The Disciple entered the ring and gave referee Nick Patrick a
neckbreaker. While this was allowed, due to the match being no disqualification, it also meant that no one was able to stop Hogan and Disciple from doing whatever they wanted to Savage. The Disciple hit his finisher,
The Apocalypse, on Savage while the belt was draped over his shoulder. Just after this, a furious Nash charged to the ring to aid the fallen Savage. As Nash entered the ring, Eric Bischoff came sprinting from the back and slid into the ring to intercept him. After tossing Bischoff aside, Nash nailed the
Jackknife Powerbomb on Hogan. Hogan's side retained the black and white colors of the original nWo and took on the moniker
nWo Hollywood, with Vincent, Bischoff, Scott Steiner, Scott Norton, Brian Adams, Buff Bagwell and The Disciple on his side. At May's
Slamboree, Nash and Hall were set to defend the WCW World Tag Team Championship against two of WCW's stalwarts, Sting and The Giant. However,
The Giant joined nWo Hollywood shortly before Slamboree as retribution for Nash injuring him at Souled Out back in January. Despite this, The Giant maintained his alliance with Sting, but strongly suggested that Sting had a decision to make in terms of his allegiance. At Slamboree, Hall made his return to WCW in the colors of the Wolfpac for The Outsiders' title defense. During the match, however, he (along with Rhodes) turned on Nash by hitting him with the title belt, which gave the win to the team of Sting and The Giant. The next night on
Nitro, Hall was introduced as the newest member of nWo Hollywood. On the May 25 episode of
Nitro, the Wolfpac added
Lex Luger, who subsequently urged his friend Sting to join him. It was not a total loss for the red and black, however, as Sting defeated The Giant in a singles match for control of the vacated WCW World Tag Team Championship. The next night on
Nitro, Sting chose Nash as his tag team partner and the two began defending the titles. This would be Sting's final appearance with nWo Wolfpac. At
World War 3, nWo Hollywood attacked Scott Hall and kicked him out of the group for disrespecting Hogan and Bischoff a few weeks earlier. On the Thanksgiving episode of
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, nWo Hollywood leader Hollywood Hogan announced his retirement from professional wrestling and Scott Steiner went on to assume the leadership role in the nWo Hollywood faction. On the November 30 episode of
Nitro,
Dusty Rhodes was appointed, by Bischoff, to be "special guest referee" during the Barry Windham vs Dean Malenko match later that night, but during the match Rhodes turned on Windham & Bischoff and quit the nWo for good (which resulted in him getting
kayfabe fired by Bischoff). At
Starrcade, Nash handed Goldberg
his first loss and won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.
Disco Inferno interfered in the match and Scott Hall shocked Goldberg with a
taser, incapacitating him long enough for an oblivious Nash to hit the
Jackknife Powerbomb and score the win. On the first
Nitro after Starrcade (December 28 episode), the main event would be between WCW/nWo president Eric Bischoff and WCW's franchise player Ric Flair. This was after months of feuding and weeks of demanding a match against Bischoff for the presidency of the company. Flair declared he would give up all his possessions if he lost. The match was made by Bischoff, who believed that Flair would not be able to compete after he had a kayfabe heart attack during a
promo. Flair, despite interference by The Giant (which led to the shocking return of Savage, who assisted Flair and quit the nWo for good) defeated Bischoff in the match to become WCW president for 90 days, and Bischoff was relegated back to his old position as an on-air
commentator. The ending of the match symbolized a new beginning for WCW heading into 1999 and appeared to be the possible conclusion to the nWo storyline.
nWo Elite and nWo B-Team As 1999 began, the divided nWo factions were headed by world champion and
de facto leader Nash, who was unhappy with Hall's actions at Starrcade, and Scott Steiner, who had taken over nWo Hollywood following Hogan's retirement in November. On the first
Nitro of the new year, which took place at Atlanta's Georgia Dome on January 4, Nash and Goldberg were scheduled to face off in a Starrcade rematch as Nash had promised on the December 28 episode of
Nitro. However, nWo Hollywood accused the former champion of
stalking Miss Elizabeth and Goldberg was arrested and taken from the arena in handcuffs. Later that night, Hogan made his return to WCW for the first time since November 1998 and was challenged by the reigning champion. Hogan accepted Nash's request and took Goldberg's place in the main event. In the match, after the bell rang to begin the bout, Hogan
poked Nash in the chest, after which Nash fell to the mat. Hogan covered Nash for the win and became champion again. After the win, Hogan celebrated in the ring with Nash, Hall, and Steiner, revealing that the entire nWo split was all a ruse, and the group had reunited under what would become known as the
nWo Elite label. While Hogan, Hall, Nash, Steiner, Lex Luger, Konnan, Buff Bagwell, Eric Bischoff and
Miss Elizabeth were part of the new "nWo Elite" and mostly wore the red and black colors of nWo Wolfpac, the
undercard wrestlers in the nWo (The Giant, Curt Hennig, Horace Hogan,
Stevie Ray, Brian Adams, Scott Norton, and Vincent) were still in the black and white colors of nWo Hollywood and were never officially assimilated back into the group. The
nWo Elite quickly began to "trim the fat" by eliminating a few guys from the newly reunited nWo entirely (first, Konnan and The Giant were both [separately] kicked out on the January 11 episode of
Nitro; and then Hennig was kicked out on the January 25 episode of
Nitro). The subtractions of The Giant and Hennig from the nWo "black and white" left a short-lived group sardonically labeled the nWo B-Team by fans and commentators. This "B-Team" was a staple of WCW programming throughout 1999, and it officially consisted of Stevie Ray, Brian Adams, Vincent, Horace, and Scott Norton. Stevie Ray eventually became their leader after winning a 4-man
Battle Royal match on the April 5 episode of
Nitro (Norton was not present for this match).
End of the nWo era The reunited nWo did not last long for either faction. The nWo Wolfpac Elite enjoyed initial success with Hogan as WCW World Heavyweight Champion, Steiner as
World Television Champion, and Hall as United States Heavyweight Champion. However, the group would quickly be wrecked by injuries when Hall's foot was accidentally backed over by a car, putting him out of action (Hall was subsequently stripped of his title), while Luger suffered a torn biceps and, as a result, he and
Miss Elizabeth went on hiatus. Hogan then
dropped the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in a
First Blood barbed wire steel cage match at
Uncensored to Ric Flair, and Steiner lost the World Television Championship to
Booker T after Buff Bagwell accidentally nailed him with a chair. Shortly after, Steiner assaulted Bagwell and threw him out of the group. Scott later reunited with his brother Rick, who interfered on Scott's behalf during his match with Bagwell at
Slamboree in May 1999. A month earlier, Hogan suffered a severe injury during a
fatal four-way match (with Page, Flair and a returning Sting, with a returning Randy Savage as the special guest referee) at
Spring Stampede for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, which Diamond Dallas Page won, and was put out of action for three months. It has since been debated whether this injury was
legitimate or not. Nash then began a rivalry with Page, who he blamed for causing Hogan's injury, and defeated him for the WCW Championship at
Slamboree. Scott Steiner was forced to go on hiatus due to a back injury and was subsequently stripped of the United States Heavyweight Championship. Other minor members included
Disco Inferno,
David Flair, and
Samantha. Inferno engaged in a feud with Konnan that ended with a loss to him at Spring Stampede (which was the quiet end of his membership), while Flair and Samantha were quietly removed from television following Hogan's title loss at Uncensored. However, by that time, the nWo Elite had collapsed and no longer had any importance in WCW. As the year went on, the nWo Black and White (B-Team) members slowly began distancing themselves from each other. Stevie Ray left the group in July to reform
Harlem Heat with his brother Booker T. Brian Adams was kicked out of the group on the August 16 episode of
Nitro and vanished from WCW programming for some time, eventually returning and forming a tag team with Bryan Clark called
KroniK. Scott Norton left WCW completely after the September 30 episode of
Thunder and returned to Japan. Vincent left the group and joined
The West Texas Rednecks alongside former nWo stablemates Curt Hennig and
Barry Windham, changing his name to "Curly Bill" and later to "
Shane" (as another slap at
Vince McMahon). Horace Hogan would quietly go on his own after all of this. Hogan and Nash also entered a feud before the end of the summer. Nash lost the WCW Championship in a tag team match at
Bash at the Beach in July pitting him and Sting against
Sid Vicious and Randy Savage as Savage pinned him. The next night, Hogan returned to
Nitro and accepted a challenge from Savage for the championship; Nash interfered by hitting a
Jacknife Powerbomb on Savage and gave Hogan the victory, but the next week Nash attacked Hogan during a match with Vicious and aligned himself with Vicious and Rick Steiner. Over the next few weeks, Hogan and Nash, along with Vicious and Steiner (on Nash's side) and Sting and a returning Goldberg (on Hogan's side) feuded with each other, culminating in a match at
Road Wild where Hogan put his title and career on the line against Nash's career. Hogan returned to his red and yellow attire on
Nitro shortly before, and subsequently dropped the "Hollywood" moniker from his name. Hogan won the match, thus forcing Nash to retire and ending the nWo Wolfpac elite completely. Nash did continue to make appearances afterward, usually stirring up trouble backstage with Hall as his cohort.
nWo 2000 In late December 1999, Nash, Hall,
Jeff Jarrett, and Bret Hart once again reformed the nWo, this time with the colors black and silver. Jeff Jarrett was often accompanied by the nWo girls (
Midajah,
April Hunter,
Major Gunns, Pamela Paulshock and Shakira). Hall, Nash and Jarrett interfered on Hart's behalf in his match with Goldberg, causing Hart to win the vacant WCW World Heavyweight Championship. After Goldberg accidentally injured himself breaking the nWo's limousine windshield, Sid Vicious,
Chris Benoit and
Terry Funk were left to feud with the nWo. Scott Steiner returned and rejoined the group after attacking Vicious. He later would be accompanied by the nWo girls.
The Harris Brothers acted as the nWo's bodyguards before joining the group themselves. As nWo members, The Harris brothers would become WCW Tag Team Champions twice. Hart was forced to vacate the WCW World Heavyweight Championship and went on hiatus from WCW in mid-January due to an injury suffered in a match with Goldberg at
Starrcade 1999. At the following pay-per view
Souled Out, Nash defeated Funk to become WCW commissioner, but his reign was cut short after he suffered a broken ankle and had to withdraw from WCW for a while. Jarrett won a title shot soon after, facing new WCW World Heavyweight Champion Sid Vicious at
SuperBrawl 2000. However, Jarrett also feuded with fellow nWo member Scott Hall after Hall attempted to defeat Vicious and win the title himself. The match at Superbrawl was changed to a triple threat match between Hall, Jarrett and Vicious. Vicious won the match and Hall left WCW for good. Jarrett faced Vicious for the title again at
Uncensored but lost. With the return of Eric Bischoff and
Vince Russo in April, the nWo completely dismantled and Jarrett, Steiner and the Harris brothers joined
The New Blood while the returning Nash joined
The Millionaire's Club.
World Wrestling Federation / WWE (2002) Feud with The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin in March 2002, his first WrestleMania in nine yearsAfter the WWF
bought the WCW video library and trademarks in 2001, Vince McMahon brought in Hogan, Hall and Nash, the original nWo, at
No Way Out in February 2002 as hired thugs in an attempt to "kill" the WWF so that McMahon would not have to share power with new WWF kayfabe co-owner Ric Flair. The nWo began by targeting the company's two biggest stars,
Stone Cold Steve Austin and
The Rock. This rivalry led up to Scott Hall going against Austin, and Hogan going against The Rock at
WrestleMania X8 (matches which Hall and Hogan both lost). As a result of Hogan shaking hands with The Rock and getting a positive response from the crowd after his match at WrestleMania, he turned face and began feuding with Hall and Nash, with The Rock and
Kane at his side on occasion, permanently leaving the nWo in the process. On March 25, the nWo (now consisting of Nash, Hall, and X-Pac) was
drafted by Ric Flair to the
Raw brand despite rivaling against them. For the next two weeks, the nWo feuded with Kane until he was lured backstage by X-Pac and put out of action by having his head smashed against the floor with a chair. Following this, Nash was suspended for attacking Kane in storyline. In reality, Nash had injured his biceps and needed time off to recover. X-Pac would then begin wearing Kane's mask, taunting him on the fact that he put him out of action.
Bradshaw, who had come to Kane's aid, fought Hall at
Backlash, which Hall won with help from X-Pac.
Big Show rejoined the nWo on the April 22 episode of
Raw when Flair teamed him up with Austin, whom Big Show
chokeslammed.
Attempts to rebuild and collapse The nWo was shortly joined by Flair when he attacked Austin with a chair and Hall was ejected out of the group and fired from Raw for "repeatedly dropping the ball" on Austin. In actuality, Hall had asked for his release for personal reasons. Lacking members, Flair would recruit
Booker T and continued his feud with Austin. Austin defeated Big Show and Flair in a Handicap match at
Judgment Day. With Booker T now in the group, his partner
Goldust attempted and failed many times to get in, with the rest of the members (X-Pac and Big Show) becoming frustrated at Booker T. With Nash returning and attempting to rebuild the nWo, he brought
Shawn Michaels into the faction on the June 3 episode of
Raw. Michaels then literally "
kicked" Booker T out of the nWo a week later. Michaels, then in the midst of a four-year retirement from professional wrestling, became the first nWo member who had never wrestled in WCW. On July 8, Nash returned to action on
Raw, teaming up with Eddie Guerrero, X-Pac, Big Show, and
Chris Benoit to take on Booker T, Goldust,
Bubba Ray Dudley,
Spike Dudley, and
Rob Van Dam. Seconds after tagging in for the first time, Nash tore his quadriceps after delivering a
big boot onto Booker T, immediately putting him back on the injured list. On the following
Raw on July 15, Vince McMahon came out to the ring to the entrance of the nWo music and made the announcement that the group was officially disbanded as Eric Bischoff became
Raw General Manager later that night. Afterwards, the nWo storyline was stopped, and the remaining members drifted apart. Michaels returned to active competition within weeks, Big Show was eventually traded to the
SmackDown! brand, and X-Pac was released from his contract.
WWE sporadic appearances (2014–2018) The August 11, 2014 episode of
Raw, which aired on Hulk Hogan's 61st birthday, featured Scott Hall and Kevin Nash as guests. The two came out to the nWo music, dressed in nWo attire and shared a moment with Hogan, who revealed an nWo shirt hidden under his "Hulk Rules" shirt. They were interrupted by
Brock Lesnar, who told Hogan, "Party's over, grandpa". Lesnar backed out of the ring after being confronted by
John Cena, his opponent at
SummerSlam. On the January 19, 2015 episode of
Raw, X-Pac, Scott Hall, and Kevin Nash came out for a survey segment. They were interrupted by
The Ascension, who were then beaten down by the nWo,
The APA, and
The New Age Outlaws. On March 29 at
WrestleMania 31, Hogan, Nash, and Hall returned to assist their long-time rival Sting in his WrestleMania debut match against Triple H. The nWo helped to fight off
D-Generation X (X-Pac,
Billy Gunn and
Road Dogg), who had interfered on behalf of Triple H. Shawn Michaels later joined Triple H's side, turning the match in his favor, and Triple H would go on to win the match. On April 7, 2019 at
WrestleMania 35, Nash and Hall appeared as doctors during a backstage segment with
Alexa Bliss,
Michael Che, and
Colin Jost. On July 22, 2019, during WWE Raw Reunion, Hall and Nash appeared as an aid to
Seth Rollins and
D-Generation X to confront
The O.C. Hogan, Hall, Nash, and X-Pac then appeared at
WrestleMania 37 (the night after the group's induction into the
WWE Hall of Fame) in a backstage segment with
Bayley and
Titus O'Neil.
Appearances outside WWE (2018–2025) The nWo appeared in a Heavy on Wrestling (HOW) show on August 18, 2018, during a match between X-Pac and
Arik Cannon vs. Darin Corbin and Ryan Cruz. Near the end of the match, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash inducted Cannon as a first new (albeit unofficial) member of the nWo in nearly a decade with Eric Bischoff appearing at the event. On October 19, 2018, the nWo (
Buff Bagwell,
Scott Norton and Syxx) competed against the No New Friends at the Glory Pro Wrestling #Unsanctioned event. The original nWo (Hall, Hogan and Nash) reunited in the 2Sweet nWo Reunion Tour in Orlando on October 27, 2018. In
Uncasville, Connecticut, the nWo held its reunion show at the
Mohegan Sun Arena on March 2, 2019. == Legacy and impact ==