The nWo was undoubtedly one of the most notorious factions in pro wrestling history. Originally stemmed from the invasion of the "Outsiders" Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, it was officially birthed when Hulk Hogan turned his back on WCW after executing a leg drop on Randy Savage at the 1996
Bash at the Beach pay-per-view. Hogan, Hall, and Nash would then go on a mission to make the nWo the premier organization of professional wrestling, and recruit others to join the task.
After a while, nWo would get substantially crowded, which would dilute its potency. Moreover, the group would experience dissension, especially between Hollywood Hogan and Randy Savage, and the nWo Wolfpac was formed. While Hogan's side retained the original white and black colors, the Wolfpac would don red and black, and compete as babyfaces. The group would start with members including Konnan, Curt Hennig, Rick Rude, and Kevin Nash, and others such as Scott Hall, Buff Bagwell, and Sting would join. Eventually, Hogan, Hall, Scott Steiner, and Eric Bischoff would join, and it would be the elite list of talent while the other members would create more of a B version.
I recently interviewed the mastermind behind the nWo, Eric Bischoff, on the
Pancakes and Powerslams Show to discuss why the nWo became crowded and the Wolfpac was formed.
"The reason why we expanded the nWo, quite frankly, including the reason why we brought in Bret Hart although he had nothing originally to do with the nWo, was because we knew we had launched a second primetime series on the TBS network based on the strength of Nitro on TNT," said Bischoff. "It was a mandate directly from Ted Turner himself, and based on the success we had with Nitro on TNT, Ted was determined, much to my chagrin, and the chagrin of others at the executive level, but Ted was determined to launch this second two-hour show on TBS, and that required two things.
"One, a significant influx of new talent, because we already had a three-hour show on TNT, and just having another two-hour show with the same talent would have cannibalized the success we had on TNT, and quite frankly it did, anyway. And the second thing was it required a position. It required me trying to create two separate brands. And this is long before Raw and SmackDown. And again I have to reiterate... I didn't want Thunder on TBS. I petitioned as aggressively as I could under the circumstances to not have a second show, because I was fully aware of what it would do to Nitro on TNT and it did.
"But, once I lost that battle, my goal was to create two separate brands. And the intent, although it was never realized and executed fully, the intent was for nWo to take over TNT and have WCW live on SmackDown [Thunder]. And, by doing that, I would have been able to create my own war, so to speak, and my own rivalry between Nitro and Thunder, similar in many ways to what WWE has been attempting to do, rather unsuccessfully from my perspective, but attempting to do with Raw and SmackDown."
You can hear the full interview
here.
