The nWo: Did the positives outweigh the negatives?

[hb2k]

So, I'm doing a podcast this week on the history of the New World Order angle, and the question I'd like to pose to you all is - do you feel the positives of the nWo outweighed the negatives that ultimately came from it?

I'll be reading the best feedback on the show and namedropping you accordingly (as always), and any personal stories of your perspectives of the nWo while it was going on would be great as well. The deeper you get into your positives and negatives, the better.

So, did the positives outweigh the negatives for you?

[Destor]

The NWO or that era? The monday night war era was largely detrimental to the buisness long term (as has every period of hot shotting) and since the NWO was largely at the forfront of that I could put a lot of blame on them but the problem is much larger.

[Sixx]

I wouldn't blame the nWo for the eventual decline of WCW.

Then again I don't know much about booking and whatnot.

[hb2k]

The NWO or that era? The monday night war era was largely detrimental to the buisness long term (as has every period of hot shotting) and since the NWO was largely at the forfront of that I could put a lot of blame on them but the problem is much larger.

The nWo specifically, the angle itself. Monday Night War did have long term ramifications, but in the world of it's contribution to WCW's success and failure, which outweigh's which?

[Bad News Gertner]

WCW wouldn't have never reached ita heights if it weren't for the NWO. The NWO isn't what killed WCW. How it was handled did. It was an amazing angle.

[Sepholio]

The nWo was the greatest thing that ever happened.

Until everyone was in it. Then it wasn't that special anymore. Then everyone that wasn't in it was in some joke rip-off of it. Which ruined it even more. Then David Arquette won the title and Vince smiled while rubbing his palms together.

Stupid bookers.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

They ran the angle too long without making enough stars because they jobbed to the nWo left, right and center.

Sting is the only guy who got really big to beat the nWo but they fucked that up by a incompetent performance by referee Nick Patrick. Slow count my fucking ass. That was a three but it shouldn't have even happened like that. Sting should have dominated Hogan and proved to be the better guy. He didn't. Also the ending made Bret Hart look like a fucking moron and set his WCW career on the wrong foot that he never fully righted.

Heels are supposed to put faces over. The nWo did nothing but put themselves over. They failed to put WCW guys over. It became so bad that they had to make an nWo dissolve into a heel group and a face group. WCW didn't matter at that point and all of the guys who fought the nWo just ended up joining the face Wolfpack.

[Destor]

The nWo specifically, the angle itself. Monday Night War did have long term ramifications, but in the world of it's contribution to WCW's success and failure, which outweigh's which?
It was both, its success was only possible thanks to the hotshotting but that was also an unsubstainable buisness model. How the WWE has manged to survive is beyond me but its impact has been disasterous. The entire landscape of wrestling has changed and not for the better. Just needed to give your main events away on free TV every week alone has been crippling.

The NWO? As a unit they were a monster heel faction. Likely the greatest or second greatest of all time. the only negitive impact they had was not being able to drop WCW entirely and listening to the ego inside the NWO was the death of it. But thats a flaw of the office not NWO.

[Destor]

They ran the angle too long without making enough stars because they jobbed to the nWo left, right and center.

Sting is the only guy who got really big to beat the nWo but they fucked that up by a incompetent performance by referee Nick Patrick. Slow count my fucking ass. That was a three but it shouldn't have even happened like that. Sting should have dominated Hogan and proved to be the better guy. He didn't. Also the ending made Bret Hart look like a fucking moron and set his WCW career on the wrong foot that he never fully righted.

Heels are supposed to put faces over. The nWo did nothing but put themselves over. They failed to put WCW guys over. It became so bad that they had to make an nWo dissolve into a heel group and a face group. WCW didn't matter at that point and all of the guys who fought the nWo just ended up joining the face Wolfpack.they ran it for so long because they legitimatley were trying to do away with the WCW brand but couldnt get turner to back the rebranding

[hb2k]

I know Bischoff was keen on the idea that he was going to have WCW and nWo in the vain of the Raw/Smackdown brand split, but at that time I'm not sure exactly how that was supposed to work, the nWo worked far better as heated invading heels than anything else.

[Disturbed316]

nWo was awesome until they watered it down with a million different members/jobbers. It took away from the unstoppable force the original three began to portray.

[Fox]

nWo brought mainstream attention to pro wrasslin'. nWo gave birth to the "Attitude Era", as a result of WWF needing to compete and go to a more adult-oriented style - this also drove more mainstream attention to pro wrasslin'.

Without that "boom" during the late 90's, I don't think WWE would be where it is today. There would be no WWE Network, there would be no WWE Studios. Without nWo, WWF never would've become "cool."

[Hanso Amore]

I don't fault the stars or the booking even. Wcw was still making a ton og gross income. The problem was they had no financial restraint. Wasted and blew money, and lost millions while making more than ecw and TNA ever did combined,

[Nicky Fives]

WCW wouldn't have never reached ita heights if it weren't for the NWO. The NWO isn't what killed WCW. How it was handled did. It was an amazing angle.

exactly.

[hb2k]

I want to thank everybody for the awesome feedback on this subject, we read a hell of a lot of it on the podcast, and had what I thought was a pretty damn good discussion reliving the nWo, and talking about whether the positives outweighed the negatives of the biggest angle in WCW history. You can check out the show here, if you fancy listening in:

http://squaredcirclegazette.podbean.com/mf/web/yza72e/SCGRadio12-AnalysingthenWo.mp3

Hopefully you enjoy the show, feedback is appreciated!

[Vastardikai]

I blame Buff Bagwell. His joining the nWo was the tipping point of when the group started to get bloated.