The Forgotten Angle That Introduced WCW Fans To Torrie Wilson
When fans think back on WCW’s most memorable talents, the nWo faction inevitably comes up. After all, the faction starring Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, and Scott Hall was instrumental in creating intrigue, modernizing the company, and driving the Monday Night War with WWE. Torrie Wilson’s name pops up, too, less as a wrestling talent than as an iconic valet whose beauty made her not only of the top female stars of WCW, but someone who went on to work for WWE for years. Fans less often remember the connection between the New World Order and Wilson, however. Indeed, Wilson debuted as part of the heel super group when they orchestrated one of the multiple master plans designed to undermine group rival Ric Flair.
Torrie Wilson’s First WCW Appearances
As Torrie Wilson has discussed in shoot interviews, she attended a WCW live event with her boyfriend at the time, only for a number of wrestlers to take notice of her. She quietly made her first appearance in front of fans accompanying Scott Steiner to the ring, en route to Kevin Nash formulating bigger plans for her.
Wilson played a featured role in the February 8, 1999 episode of Nitro that wasn't particularly well received. WCW experimented with a first-person style of shooting that broke the traditional wrestling show format. In a series of vignettes, Wilson spoke flirtatiously straight into the camera. The concept was clearly designed to entice the anticipated heterosexual male fan base that made up most of the wrestling audience. In addition to serving that more immediate purpose, the angle also fed directly into a more impactful main event level storyline.
The NWO Uses Torrie Wilson To Manipulate David Flair
Before long, it was revealed that the New World Order had hired Torrie Wilson in order to manipulate young David Flair. The son of the legendary Ric Flair was still a new on air character at that point. Most of the interest in him surrounded his family lineage, and the prospect of him following in his father’s footsteps to become an all-time great wrestler in his own right.
Related: What Happened To Ric Flair's Son David?
The nWo used Wilson to convince David to betray his father at the SuperBrawl PPV. The Nature Boy challenged Hollywood Hogan for the WCW Championship, and it was Ric’s own son who stunned him with a taser to cost him the match. While some fans balked at the angle, given the way Hogan and the nWo had previously brutalized David, there were also those fans who readily bought in that, with Wilson's affections on the line, it was believable David would let bygones be bygones and sabotage his dad's world title opportunity.
Torrie Wilson Makes A Name For Herself
Torrie Wilson would spend the months to follow as a valet for David Flair, including an ill-advised run for him as United States Champion. Flair was among the most over-pushed wrestlers in WCW history, to little fault of his own. The company simply plugged him into a heavily featured wrestling role before he had time to train properly and get reps in for any chance at developing skills commensurate with his spot on the card. The character garnered momentum, but his technical ability never had time to catch up.
Wilson would go on to have the longer career in mainstream wrestling as she moved on to work with the Revolution and New Blood factions during her time in WCW, often working with real life boyfriend Kidman. From there, Wilson had a seven-year run as a manager and wrestler in WWE, including a noteworthy rivalry with Dawn Marie. Wilson would never become all that remarkable of an in-ring talent or capture any titles as a wrestler. Nonetheless, Wilson's winning personality and remarkable looks kept her a popular act, though, and meant that she transcended just being a WCW transplant, assembling a legacy of her own.
The nWo tends to get criticized for having too many members and too complicated storylines. Torrie Wilson actually represents a departure from those issues, as she was only tangentially a part of the group and soon broke off to do other things. Wilson benefited from that high profile introduction, though, and her seducing David Flair was one of the group’s more straightforward swerve angles. From there, Wilson went on to a longer career in wrestling than many would have expected, which culminated in a WWE Hall of Fame induction in 2019—which was actually before the nWo itself received the same honor.
