01 June 2008

nWo 2002 - Random thoughts


So, as many may remember, the nWo was brought in to WWF, in early 2002. Here are some brief thoughts on why it failed and how it could have been done better.

- I think enough time had passed that this idea could have seemed somewhat fresh again, especially in a different promotion. All the extra members and other nonsense had been removed. In WWF, they began with the core members: Hogan, Hall and Nash. This was a good thing.

- They way they were brought in was probably the first strike. The storyline with McMahon using them as his own way of destroying the company was weak, in my opinion, and they should have come in on their own.

- Once Hogan was turned face, by the fans, it would be hard to keep the nWo as heels. The only natural thing to do was cut him out. That was a decent choice.

- I'm a bit unclear as to when, exactly, Scott Hall screwed himself up and disappeared. This was another serious blow to the group.

- Nash and his superior ability to get injured just by stepping through the ropes wasn't much help, either.

- When Shawn Michaels returned and joined the nWo, things seemed to be going in a decent direction. Many fans probably hoped for HBK to appear in WCW and join, years earlier.

- The angle where Shawn was calling HHH out, demanding that he join the group seemed kind of interesting, yet it got dropped. It became something different, once the nWo thing was cut short. In an odd way, it would have been cool to see Hall, Nash, Michaels and HHH as the nWo. It seemed appropriate.

- Allowing Booker T to join was just wrong. The group wasn't even re-established well enough, yet they were already taking on midcard losers, just like in WCW.

- I think it would have been interesting for Hogan to have continued insisting that he was the leader of the nWo, and then HBK could make his return by superkicking him out of the group and setting up a big match, a few years earlier than they did.

- It would have made much more sense to drag the Invasion storyline out longer (for MANY reasons) so that the nWo could have come in and led the charge against WWF. Timing is everything.

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