5 Ways The nWo Was Cool (& 5 Ways They Were Totally Corny)
Amidst the Monday Night Wars between Monday Nitro and Monday Night Raw, World Championship Wrestling stumbled upon its most enduring contribution to pro wrestling culture when it introduced an invasion storyline in the form of the New World Order. Led by a newly heel “Hollywood” Hulk Hogan alongside Kevin Nash and Scott Hall, the nWo was a horde of ex-WWF talent looking to take over WCW, and basically did by being ridiculously popular.
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There have been countless attempts to recreate the success of the group, from the runaway successes that have become iconic themselves (Bullet Club) to the lackluster imitations (Aces & Eights). It’s been nearly a quarter-century since the New World Order debuted, so let’s take a look at what was cool about the group as well as what was pretty lame.
10 Cool: ‘Tude
Looking back, it’s clear why the nWo was so cool. A lot of it comes down to the group’s attitude, which was unlike anything going on in wrestling at the time. At their best, the nWo was sarcastic and irreverent, which made the WCW guys seem kind of uptight by comparison.
This proved troublesome when it was time for the good guys to win -- as rare as that was -- but at the moment, it worked like gangbusters.
9 Corny: Old WWF Guys
One of the biggest criticisms lobbed at the nWo was how it seemed to let basically anybody into the group, especially if they were an ex-WWF guy -- not unlike how people talk about TNA. But what made the nWo so cool at first was that it was two currently popular guys from WWF -- Razor Ramon and Diesel -- teaming with a newly heel Hulk Hogan.
Once they let in IRS, Virgil, Crush, Big Boss Man, and Brutus Beefcake -- any of whom aren’t cool -- the group lost a lot of its initial allure.
8 Cool: Spray Paint
Not enough fans talk about how crucial Spray Paint was to the nWo’s whole shtick. Sure, crudely spray painting your name on stuff is Bart Simpson level behavior, but it perfectly captured the group’s anarchic shtick as they tagged the unconscious bodies of their enemies.
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You can see it best used when Hollywood Hogan held the WCW World Title and scrawled “nWo” across the front plate of the Big Gold Belt. The actual defacing of a championship belt did a lot to sell the group as iconoclastic outlaws.
7 Corny: Air Guitar
Another thing that Hollywood Hogan did with the WCW World Title besides spray-painting it was playing it like a guitar during his entrances.
The tradition of air guitar in pro wrestling has carried on to an adorably sincere use by Hiroshi Tanahashi in New Japan Pro Wrestling, and in a goofy, ironic way by Kyle O’Reilly in NXT. But nWo was supposed to be cool, and air guitar is not.
6 Cool: The Shirt
There isn’t a T-shirt in wrestling more iconic than the nWo tee. Even the Bullet Club shirt owes a lot for nWo creating a cool logo on a black shirt that immediately signals your allegiances. The simplicity goes a long way, especially when you have a guy rip off a shirt to reveal an nWo shirt underneath.
Wrestling shirts are so often ridiculously overdesigned and have stuff on the front, back and sleeves, but the nWo shirt proved over 20 years ago that less is more.
5 Corny: The Kissy Wolf
Possibly even more enduring is the “Too Sweet” gesture, also known as the Turkish Wolf. Basically, you and a friend make a hand puppet that looks like a doggie, and then you make the doggies kiss.
Introduced into wrestling as a “secret handshake” of sorts by Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and the rest of their Kliq buddies, the gesture was frequently used by the nWo on television, leading to it becoming popular with wrestling fans. If you take a step back from being immersed in pro wrestling culture, it’s pretty goofy.
4 Cool: The Ads
Another bit that made the nWo seem cool as hell were their commercials that aired on WCW television. They were obviously part of the show, but they always started with a deep-voiced “Paid for by the New World Order” disclaimer that made it look like the nWo themselves bought advertising time on WCW television to trash it.
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It was a bold maneuver that once again served to cast them as renegades. Moreover, the edgy, black and white style of these commercials looked like nothing else on WCW television, making them seem even cooler.
3 Corny: Oversaturation
While the bloated roster did damage to the nWo’s coolness, the countless schisms, revivals, and official imitators sapped the New World Order of pretty much all uniqueness. There was the schism that caused the nWo Hollywood/nWo Wolfpac divide, the reunions and revivals, and the organizing of all the Mexican talent into the Latino World Order, which did neither the nWo nor the luchadores any favors.
It’s hard for a cool thing to stay cool, but each innovation and imitation made it increasingly irrelevant, and ultimately kind of corny.
2 Cool: The Initial Lineup
That said, you can’t go wrong with the original nWo lineup before they opened the floodgates. With Hulk Hogan as the singles ace and The Outsiders as the tag team guys, the New World Order seemed like a legitimate force and a credible threat to the harmony of World Championship Wrestling.
Sure, a larger group gave the impression of dominance, but 90% of those guys were henchmen -- even the ones you’ve heard of. The original trio had tremendous star power as well as novelty value and felt like they were going to take over.
1 Corny: Hollywood Hogan
The heel turn may have been a much-needed refresh for Hulk Hogan’s character, but even from the beginning, he was the least cool guy in the group. Before they jumped ship to "Where the Big Boys Play," the youngish Razor Ramon and Diesel were bright spots in WWF’s lackluster New Generation era.
Before forming the nWo, Hogan had been tarnished by a steroid scandal and ended up hitting that Ted Turner jackpot by signing with WCW but was still the unchanging baby face with a solid evil streak, except fans had gotten tired of him. By turning heel, it just made the subtext into text.
