The group's name, created by American actor Jason Hervey during his time working backstage as a producer with WCW, is a parody of the New World Order (nWo) stable.

The LWO was formed in late 1998 after Eddie Guerrero's spat with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) head Eric Bischoff in a real-life conflict that was turned into a storyline.

[2][3] The group consisted of the majority of the Mexican roster, as well as Guerrero's friend Art Flores, who played the role of a bodyguard named Spyder.

[4] The group consisted of almost every major Mexican wrestler on the WCW roster including Psychosis, La Parka, Hector Garza, and Juventud Guerrera.

Chavo Guerrero Jr., Eddie's nephew, wasn't included in the stable as he was deemed "mentally unstable" by the group and rejected as a member.

As Eddie Guerrero healed and made his in-ring return, he and Mysterio formed a popular new group, which included Konnan, known as the Filthy Animals.

In 2001, the World Wrestling Federation (renamed to WWE in 2002) acquired certain assets and television footage of WCW, including the LWO trademarks.

Over 20 years later on the March 31, 2023, episode of SmackDown, Rey, who was set to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2023 later that night, and was scheduled to wrestle his son, Dominik Mysterio, at WrestleMania 39 that weekend, revived the LWO and invited Legado Del Fantasma (Santos Escobar, Joaquin Wilde, Cruz Del Toro, and Zelina Vega) to join LWO as the group had aided Rey in his fight against The Judgment Day (Dominik Mysterio, Finn Bálor, Damian Priest, and Rhea Ripley) for several weeks prior.

[10][11] On the April 7 episode of SmackDown, the LWO lost their first match as a team with Rey and Escobar losing to The Judgment Day's Dominik and Priest.

[25] A six-man tag team match between the LWO against Lashley and The Street Profits at Fastlane was made official the next day on SmackDown LowDown.

[26] On the following week's episode of SmackDown, Lashley and The Street Profits took out Wilde and Del Toro, leaving the LWO a man short for Fastlane.

[38][39] On the December 19 episode of NXT, Lee successfully defended his title against Charlie Dempsey and Joe Coffey in a triple threat match.

However, Lee missed the event due to travel issues, and a returning Carlito joined Wilde and Del Toro to win the match.

[40][41][42] On the January 5, 2024 episode of SmackDown: New Year's Revolution, Del Toro and Wilde brawled with Los Lotharios (Angel Garza and Humberto Carrillo; later shortened to Angel and Berto), who formed an alliance with Escobar a few weeks prior to reform Legado Del Fantasma, at ringside during the United States Championship #1 Contender Tournament finals match between Escobar and Kevin Owens.

[43] The next week, Del Toro and Wilde were defeated by Los Lotharios in a tag team match with Carlito brawling with Escobar at ringside.

[52] This led to a tag team match between Rey and Dragon Lee, who became an official member of the LWO, and Dominik and Escobar set for Night 1 of WrestleMania XL.

In November, Lee joined the Speed Championship #1 contender's tournament, defeating NXT's No Quarter Catch Crew's Tavion Heights and Akira Tozawa in the quarterfinals and semifinals respectively.