The New World Order (commonly abbreviated as nWo) was an American professional wrestling group who originally consisted of "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall, and Kevin Nash.

[2] The nWo angle became one of the most influential storylines in the mid-to-late 1990s success of WCW and was instrumental in turning mainstream North American professional wrestling into a more mature, adult-oriented product.

Fueled initially by the unexpected villainous turn of Hulk Hogan, the nWo storyline is generally considered one of the most successful angles in the history of modern-day professional wrestling, spawning several imitations and parodies, including the bWo, lWo and the jWo.

Hall died on March 14, 2022 at the age of 63.Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s The nWo storyline was an idea created by WCW Executive Vice President Eric Bischoff, whose inspiration for the angle came after attending New Japan Pro-Wrestling's Battle Formation show at the Tokyo Dome on April 29, 1996.

Often, propaganda-style vignettes and product commercials concerning the nWo were presented in the style of a broadcast signal intrusion, with a voice proclaiming, "The following announcement has been paid for by the New World Order".

[12] 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.

After the match, the fans that had moments ago been cheering Hogan began to show their disgust toward their now-former hero and his new friends by beginning to throw cups, cans, and assorted trash into the ring.

What in the world are you thinking?Hulk Hogan: Mean Gene, the first thing you need to do is to tell these people to shut up if you wanna hear what I gotta say!Okerlund: I have been with you for so many years, for you to join up with the likes of these two men absolutely makes me sick to my stomach!

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 the July 29, 1996 episode of Nitro, The Outsiders attacked Arn Anderson, the American Males (Marcus Bagwell and Scotty Riggs) and Rey Misterio Jr., the latter of whom Nash threw head-first into the side of a WCW production truck before leaving in a limousine.

After the match, Hogan rechristened the Big Gold Belt as the self-proclaimed nWo World Heavyweight Championship by spray-painting the group acronym in capital letters across the faceplate.

[15] 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.

In the main event, The Giant won the 60-man battle royal, last eliminating both Lex Luger and Kevin Nash, thus becoming the #1 contender and earning a future world title shot against Hogan.

The United States Heavyweight Champion Eddie Guerrero retained and subsequently regained possession of his belt against Syxx in a ladder match,[24] while The Outsiders lost the tag team titles to The Steiner Brothers.

[citation needed] 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.

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.

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".

[37] The rift between the different factions of the nWo grew even wider after Syxx, who had been out since October with a severe neck injury,[citation needed] 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[citation needed] episode of Thunder.

[34] Nash supported Savage in his quest to defeat Sting, but also agreed to team with Hogan against the returning Roddy Piper and The Giant in a Baseball Bat on a Pole match.

[citation needed] 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.

They called themselves nWo Wolfpac (a name which Nash had previously been using alongside Hall and Syxx to refer to themselves as a trio), and were joined in the following weeks by Curt Hennig, Miss Elizabeth, Rick Rude and Dusty Rhodes.

[18][42][44] 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.

[citation needed] In the meantime, a new contender for Hogan's championship emerged in the form of undefeated rookie and current United States Heavyweight Champion Goldberg, who had racked up an impressive string of victories.

[34] Later that night in the main event, Kevin Nash won the 60-man battle royal and earned a WCW World Heavyweight Championship shot against the still-undefeated Goldberg.

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.

[47][48] On the first Nitro after Starrcade (December 28[citation needed] episode), the main event would be between WCW/nWo president Eric Bischoff and WCW's franchise player Ric Flair.

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).

When Jacob Peeler was hired as receivers coach at the University of Mississippi (also known as Ole Miss) before the 2017 season, he sought an identity for his group and came up with "Nasty Wide Outs", creating a wrestling-style championship belt with the original nWo logo affixed to it.

[77][78] Jericho agreed, noting Bischoff's vital on-and-off screen role with the group, and suggested that he was not being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as an nWo member was due to ongoing "residual heat".