After the Invasion angle flopped in 2001, WWE turned to the New World Order in an attempt to turn things around. Vignettes for the NWO featured Vince McMahon stating he was bringing the group in to “destroy his creation.” The faction would debut at No Way Out that February.
Former WCW President Eric Bischoff spoke about the WWE incarnation of the NWO on the latest episode of his 83 Weeks podcast. Bischoff believes the angle got off to a bad start with Vince McMahon’s involvement. “I wouldn’t have had Vince McMahon turn around and reveal himself in the chair as the evil genius that was going to bring back the nWo to destroy his own company.”
He continued, “That was such a non-starter from a creative perspective. I don’t care how big of a fan of WWE you were at the time, you couldn’t possibly buy that, it was just so nonsensical.”
Bischoff on the NWO in WWE
The NWO angle changed direction when fans cheered Hollywood Hogan at WrestleMania X-8. Scott Hall would later leave the company. Shawn Michaels and Booker T would each have short stints with the faction as well.
“If you start out a story with one foot on a banana peel and the other in a bucket of cement, where are you going? That’s how the story started, there’s no way it was going to get better from there,” Bischoff continued.
The NWO was set to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame last year. The induction ceremony was postponed due to the pandemic, however. Bischoff spoke about plans to induct the faction on a previous episode of his podcast.
“The nWo is the storyline, the angle, the moment that storyline was conceived and as it became executed, was probably one of the most important periods in professional wrestling, in this industry, in the last 30 years,” Bischoff said.
H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcribed quotes
