WWE Hall of Famers Booker T and The Undertaker recently talked bout the impact nWo had on pro wrestling. They also talk about how it almost killed the wrestling business. The nWo is one of those factions, which will live forever in the hearts and minds of wrestling fans like the Four Horsemen. The nWo came in the wrestling scene at the perfect time and came in just when wrestling fans were ready for something different.
Kayfabe and the illusion that wrestling was “real” was starting to fade away. The nWo blurred the lines of what was real and what was fake. Scott Hall and Kevin Nash were just in the WWF and involved in the “curtain call” incident when debuting in WCW. They played into the conspiracy theory that they were working for the WWF to kill WCW.
On a recent episode of Six Feet Under, Undertaker and Booker T talked about how nWo damaged the business just as much as they elevated it. Booker T had this to say about how nWo hurt babyfaces in WCW and the wrestling business. The former World Heavyweight Champion stated (via Wrestling Inc.), “It almost killed every babyface in the company. It almost ruined wrestling. I say all the time the nWo could’ve killed the business. It really could have.”
How the nWo Perpetuated the Cool Heel Dynamic
The nWo were heels beyond a shadow of a doubt. They cheated and lied and used underhanded tactics to win. All very basic heel moves, but they didn’t talk down to the fans. At the time fans were tired of being insulted and tired of being told that a cartoonish character was supposed to be taken seriously.
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The nWo made fun of wrestling and the cartoonish aspects of wrestling. They made wrestling interesting and not a bland good vs. evil or black-and-white type of gimmicks. They injected a lot of gray into WCW. It made them cool. Having cool heels who make fun of babyfaces hurt pushes for many babyfaces. The success of nWo caused WCW to re-evaluate their product and the gimmicks on their show. Undertaker talked about how the nWo was seen over in WWF and how the faction changed WWF.
“The biggest thing that it did and was so good about it is they changed the programming to or they changed the demographic. When the nWo started and all that, it wasn’t a kid thing. It was that 18 to 34-year-old male demographic.
“They were doing real reality based things that you could go like ‘oh, okay, I understand that.’ It’s not comical or it’s not [for] kid, which is where we were still at. … there were a bunch of silly characters that were still trying to sell merch to. These guys were selling a story that’s like, ‘Oh, I feel that.'”
WWF Playing Catch-Up to WCW
He goes on to explain that it forced WWF to change. He admits that it was a slow process. This was when the Monday Night Wars between WWF and WCW began. Eventually, WWF started to regain ground on WCW and Booker T believes it was WWF was doing what WCW was doing, but doing it better. He pointed to DX and the Undertaker as two examples.
The stable became so bloated with members that it was easier to count who wasn’t in the nWo than was. The host joked that Booker T was probably the only WCW wrestler who wasn’t in the nWo. Booker T goes on to explain that not joining the stable was by choice. He explains that Scott Hall once approached him about joining the stable. Booker T continued on the subject:
“That was by design [not joining the nWo]. I always tell this story of Scott Hall, right after the nWo got started, I guess they had, you know, Hall, Nash, they may have had one more member in there, and Scott Hall, he come up to me, [and goes] ‘Hey, bro, we need some color, bro. We want you to join, man.’ I actually turned it down. I said, ‘No, man, I’m a solo act.’ I knew if I would have joined the nWo, I would have been taking all the bumps and I’d have been on all the house shows. To hell with that deal.”
- H/T Wrestling Inc. for the transcription
The wrestling landscape changed because of the nWo. They helped to make wrestling cool and cool to admit that wrestling was “fake.” Fans could root for the bad guys and wear their shirts in public. They helped to start a renaissance in wrestling and made it mainstream. The stable also broke kayfabe and hurt the careers of some of their peers because they became relics of a previous era of wrestling. Wrestling had to adapt and wrestlers as well. If they didn’t they would have been left behind.
Can you see how the nWo could have killed wrestling? Do you think we would be where we are today without the nWo? Would you have liked to have seen Booker T join the nWo? Let us know on social media what you think is the most lasting impact nWo had on pro wrestling.
SOURCE: Wrestling Inc., Six Feet Under, Wrestling Inc.
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