Two-time WWE Hall of Famer Sean ‘X-Pac’ Waltman has praised the Bloodline, calling Roman Reigns’ faction “up there” with the New World Order.
The influence of the NWO continues to be felt to this day, with groups including D-Generation X and the Bullet Club borrowing the iconic staple of ‘cool’ heels.
Coming together in late 2020, The Bloodline has been heralded as one of the best angles in wrestling today, thanks in part to the spectacular heel work of leader Roman Reigns.
“Right Up There”
Sean Waltman is no stranger to impressive groups, having been part of both DX and the NWO.
Speaking to TMZ, Waltman said that there are some comparisons between the NWO and Roman Reigns’ dominant faction.
“The Bloodline thing, I mean, it’s right up there [with the New World Order] as far as I am concerned quality-wise.”
Sean ‘X-Pac’ Waltman.
Waltman is hardly the first Hall of Famer to compare the two groups, with Eric Bischoff saying that the Bloodline is a better storyline than the New World Order.
Cracks in the Group
While the Bloodline may indeed be a force to be reckoned with, the group has shown serious cracks over the past month.
At WWE Royal Rumble 2023, Sami Zayn’s tenure with the group came to an end when he refused to attack Kevin Owens with a chair, and instead struck Reigns.
Jey Uso, who had been suspicious of Zayn for months before he was won over in late 2022, refused to attack Sami in response and has said he is out of the Bloodline as well.
At WWE Elimination Chamber, Jey again refused to attack the former Honorary Uce.
Eric Bischoff has become the latest individual to heap praise on the Bloodline, considering the popular faction to be better than the New World Order.
The NWO changed the wrestling landscape forever upon the group’s inception in 1996, ushering in the concept of the ‘cool heel.’
Much like Hogan in 1996, Roman Reigns’ heel turn in 2020 breathed new life into a character that fans had already turned on due to their strong babyface booking.
Better
While Bischoff played a large backstage role in the formation of the NWO (and would later be an on-screen member) he has now acknowledged the Tribal Chief.
Speaking on his 83 Weeks Podcast, Bischoff compared the two factions that have dominated their respective eras.
“The truth is The Bloodline story, in terms of a storyline in and the ingredients and the elements and the discipline and the structure and the nature of it, is a far better story than the NWO. Will it have the same impact on the industry as the NWO did? Probably not. But, that has a lot to do with timing.”
“The Bloodline story, in terms of a storyline… is a far better story than the NWO.”
“There are so many things that made the NWO work, including Hulk Hogan turning heel, by the way. There were so many things that were just a moment in time that helped propel that storyline at that, that time that you can’t replicate that today.”
While WWE tried to recapture the magic of the NWO upon the return of Hogan, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash in 2002, the group was gone within months.
The Bloodline has been suffering some issues themselves as of late, with the exit of Sami Zayn and the seeming departure of Jey Uso.
Not known as an organization that backs down from controversy — or the chance to make some extra cash — the nWo could be bound for Saudi Arabia. That is, if nWo founding member Scott Hall gets his way.
Hall, who was a part of last weekend’s 2 Sweet nWo Reunion show in Orlando, Florida, shared his thoughts on the controversy that surrounded the WWE in the lead up to, during, and wake of their Crown Jewel event in Saudi Arabia.
He believes that the WWE did the right thing in adhering to their agreement and forging ahead with the Crown Jewel show, despite critical worldwide attention being shone on the country and its government.
“Well, Kevin [Nash] and I just did an nWo Reunion last weekend at Hulk’s Beach Shop in Orlando with the WWE’s blessing,” said Hall. “It’s the first time Hulk’s been welcomed back into the fold, and I’m happy he’s back. There’s a lot of backlash [regarding WWE Crown Jewel] but I saw JBL on a show last weekend talking about… by boycotting stuff, that doesn’t solve anything. He used Cuba as a reference. We boycotted Cuba forever, and what did that get us? Nothing. Nothing changed there. The people, their quality of life never improved. So I agree with that.”
He concluded by expressing “staying away is not the answer,” before reflecting that “we’re not a bunch of politicians. We’re entertainers, we’re ‘rasslers’, we’re not involved in all that global…stuff. That’s the way I look at it. I’d be happy to go, Vince. If you want to bring the nWo over there the next time, let me know.”
After originally teasing a reunion on August 16th in a video alongside Kevin Nash and Scott Hall, Hulk Hogan has officially announced via Twitter that the New World Order (nWo) will be reforming for what they have entitled the ‘Too Sweet’ Tour.
In the video, Hogan hypes up the reunion and directs fans to his website HulkHogan.com in order to purchase tickets.
When speaking about putting together a “plan” for the tour, Hogan decisively states that “bones and rules are made to be broken, Jack.”
He then goes on to announce a VIP system will be in effect.
Only those lucky enough to be one of the first 100 tickets will “get a ticket with the boys in the band” for an exclusive Q+A session with the original members of the nWo.
Hogan proclaims that it is “the first time the nWo has sat down in 22 years and hashed it out.”
There is a slight catch, however, for those 4-Lifers out there, already getting their funds in order.
According to Hogan’s announcement, those 100 VIP tickets will only be available to the highest bidders, with Hogan explaining that “the first 100-VIPs gotta bid your rear ends off.”
The original nWo line up – consisting of Hogan, Nash, and Hall – originally formed on July 7th, 1996 at WCW’s summer event, Bash At The Beach, where it was revealed that Hulk Hogan was the third man of the new faction.
This formation kickstarted a new era for WCW, with the antics and attitude of the nWo helping them to lead in the ratings war against the WWE (WWF at the time) for over 84 consecutive weeks.
A lot of the factors in pro wrestling are subjective. Some people enjoy this, some people enjoy that. Some fans prefer a better in-ring technician, some like a strong promo guy and others enjoy a great character. No one is wrong, because it’s all personal preference.
Generally speaking, when an editorial features a list, it’s “the best of” or “the worst of.” Today, we are going to switch gears a bit.
In keeping with the subjective theme, today we are going to look at who I personally consider to be the five best factions in the history of the business. Not the five best, my five favorite. And I’ll explain why, starting with …
#5. The Varsity Club
Many of the current generation of wrestling fans may have never even heard of The Varsity Club. Growing up, they were one of my favorite wrestling stables.
The original group consisted of Kevin Sullivan, Mike Rotunda and Rick Steiner, all of which wore their amateur wrestling letterman jackets. The guys were among the most legitimate tough guys in the business at the time, and the group had the perception of being the baddest son of a bitches on the planet.
As is the case with any wrestling stable, as time went on the group was watered down. Members such as “Dr. Death” Steve Williams and “Dangerous” Dan Spivey were added to the mix, and before too long, the group ceased to exist. While they were around though, in my opinion, they were pretty damn cool.
#4. The Fabulous Freebirds
As far as I’m concerned any writer who doesn’t include The Fabulous Freebirds on their “top stables” or “top factions” lists should have their head examined. The Freebirds were as cool as it got when I was a youngster.
The group was led by Michael “P.S.” Hayes, a current WWE creative team member who is credited with introducing theme music to the ring-walk portion of the professional wrestling presentation. The group consisted of Hayes, Terry “Bam Bam” Gordy and Buddy Roberts. Roberts was considered a great in-ring technician, and prior to the Birds, had a lengthy career worthy of Hall Of Fame status. In fact, Roberts was part of the original “Hollywood Blondes” tag-team, a name that was later used for the team of “Stunning” Steve Austin and “Flyin'” Brian Pillman. Gordy was a legend in Japan and portrayed the “enforcer” role in the group. Hayes was a rock star and easily one of the most charismatic wrestlers of his time, if not of all-time.
Later on, Hayes and Jimmy “Jam” Garvin would bring back The Fabulous Freebirds as a straight tag-team act. How this group has yet to receive an induction into the WWE Hall Of Fame confuses me to this very day.
#3. D-Generation X
I’m of the belief that there is not a fan of North American professional wrestling that has not heard of D-Generation X. That would mean they did their jobs and left a lasting legacy in the business.
D-X consisted of Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Chyna and Rick Rude. When the group officially formed, you could make the argument that along with “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, they officially ushered in the infamous “Attitude Era” in WWE. They did things for shock value at a time when Howard Stern, The Jerry Springer Show and many other shock-television style shows reigned supreme. It was a natural fit, and the group really cemented Triple H as a main event performer in WWE.
Later on, as is the case with every faction or stable in history, an attempt was made to get the gang back together, only this time — it worked. You could argue that the second version of D-X was actually more successful than the first. The second group featured Triple H as the leader instead of Michaels, and his group consisted of Chyna, Sean “X-Pac” Waltman, “Bad Ass” Billy Gunn and “The Road Dogg” Jesse James. Anyone who saw WWE RAW the night that D-X “invaded” WCW will never forget that moment. It was amazing entertainment and really symbolized the “Monday Night War” going on at the time between WWE and WCW.
D-X was brought back again in the 2000s as a straight tag-team act that featured the two original members — Triple H and Shawn Michaels. Personally, I didn’t enjoy that run nearly as much as their first run, but it was still a cool thing to see the two back together having fun.
As noted previously, WWE is promoting special guests and surprises for next week’s “Hulk Hogan Birthday Celebration” on RAW. This has led to speculation that there might be a possible New World Order reunion at the show, with Hogan’s former nWo buddies Kevin Nash and Scott Hall rumored for the show.
Hall tweeted the following about the subject, further adding fuel to the rumors of an nWo reunion next week:
– The WWE DVD on Paul Heyman, “Ladies And Gentlemen, My Name Is Paul Heyman,” which is scheduled for an August 5th release, is scheduled to be built around Heyman as the guy who managed the guy who broke Undertaker’s undefeated streak at WrestleMania. Among the people who filmed interviews for the DVD are Raven, Tommy Dreamer, Joey Styles, Mick Foley, Rob Van Dam, Jim Ross, Bill Apter and Stephanie McMahon.
– The Greatest Factions DVD that WWE is producing is set to be built around D-Generation X and the Four Horsemen as the key factions. The DVD will also cover the New World Order, The Nexus, The Shield, The Wyatt Family, Evolution, The Fabulous Freebirds, The Nation Of Domination, The Straight Edge Society and The Heenan Family.
Since the launch of the WWE Network, over 600,000 fans have subscribed to the service. While it’s a bit below the one million subscribers they were hoping for, it’s still an admirable number for a service that is still only available in the United States.
With live access to every pay-per-view and a vault containing every special event in WWE, WCW, and ECW history, it is safe to assume that most fans signed up in order to gain access to the special events, and at the reduced price of only $9.99 per month, who can blame them?
There is a lot more to the WWE Network than just a vault of old events and live access to each month’s pay-per-view, however. There is also a boatload of original content. Here is a list of some of the must-see original content on the Network.
5. Legends of Wrestling: Families – Watching a bunch of old-timers talk about the good old days is usually about as exciting as watching paint dry, but some of these are actually pretty entertaining. One of the best round-table discussions includes a panel consisting of Sergeant Slaughter, Jim Ross, Ted DiBiase, and James J. Dillon. The group discusses the importance and prevalence of families in the WWE. It is interesting to hear DiBiase discuss how having a father in the business influenced him to become a professional wrestler.
Daniel Bryan’s journey to WrestleMania is something most fans will be able to enjoy.
4. Journey to WrestleMania: Daniel Bryan – This is obviously one of the newest pieces of original content on the Network. It follows Daniel Bryan on his week leading up to this year’s WrestleMania and provides a number of exclusive interviews leading up to the event. It also discusses his rise to the top after initially being terminated from the company, with commentary from William Regal and Pat Patterson discussing how the company made a mistake in his firing. The most interesting parts of this documentary are the backstage scenes and hearing his fellow wrestlers praise him for his accomplishments.
The following are highlights from a recent WGD Weekly interview with former WCW star Buff Bagwell:
On TNA and his talks with Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff this past summer: “I went down to the Burnett Center when they were here; I just wanted them to see me. I called Eric and said ‘do you mind if I come down to see you guys at TNA,’ he said, sure, come on down. So, I walk in the back…looking like I’m looking, looking like Buff Bagwell again…I walk in and Hulk Hogan walks all the way over to me and I feel eyes burning holes in me, and Hulk walks up and goes to me, ‘why are you not working for us?’…I said, ‘well, that’s kind of why I am here’…He said, ‘Dude, you’re one of the only few guys left that we could bring in and not have any heat, and he didn’t realize what he had said. I said, ‘Do you know why that is?…Because I don’t have any friends, he started laughing and he said, ‘you know, you’re right…if we brought in you, nobody would complain about it. I said it’s because I don’t have any friends in the business, I have a few friends, but none that would get heat for it. So he said, dude, who has got your number? I said, Eric Bischoff has got my number, so I got texts on my phone right now, that I could send you…Eric Bischoff texted me, and he was excited, and I was excited…then the Main Event Mafia thing started happening, I thought I’d fit into that or Aces and Eights possibly and I have heard nothing and they knew exactly where I am at and exactly how to get in touch with me…Eric was saying positive things…I don’t get it…just let me go out and be over again, I can be the biggest heel or the biggest babyface if they would just let me, but they won’t let me and I don’t know why.”
On his brief run in WWE: “I was the first match of the Invasion…why would they put Booker T. versus Buff Bagwell in Tacoma, Washington…we’re main event on Raw…and it ain’t good. They could wait seven days and put this in Atlanta…instead we got booed out of the building in Tacoma, Washington and we had a bad match, double whammy, you know…If you’re asking me, they already knew that they were done with WCW, they just were gonna make us the sacrificial lambs to end it…all they had to do was wait a week and Booker T and Buff Bagwell get over in Atlanta, instead we got buried in Tacoma…they had a gold mine with WCW, forget Buff, they had a gold mine…Sting, Luger against the Rock, Stone Cold, it was endless…you could’ve gone on and on with that for wrestling fans, for wrestlers, you could’ve gone on and on, but instead they just beat us all and sent us home.”
On his WWE release: “They waited to fire me in Atlanta, why even make me come down there? Make me drive down to Phillips Arena to fire, my god, how brutal is that? I don’t know if they hadn’t figured it out totally or what, I think they had…I think they already knew they were done with us and were gonna put us on the shelf and they did so.”
On the backstage scene in WCW during their final year in business: “It was absolute mayhem, it was just a bad train wreck that nobody could fix when Russo came in…Russo had everybody going in different directions and then they figured out that Russo didn’t know what he was doing and they bought Bischoff back, and then they tried getting Bischoff and Russo to work together…Bischoff had his guys…and Russo had his guys…and you could always tell who was running things by who was getting pushed…I got to visualize it all when it went down and there was just nobody that was gonna fix it.”
On returning from a broken neck as a heel instead of a babyface in 1998: “It was a gigantic deal, they could’ve made me the next biggest babyface in the world, dude, I had 50,000 letters sent to me in the hospital, I had Desert Storm guys would touch my picture before they went out to battle…I was over, big time…they could’ve made me the next biggest superstar, instead they turned me heel and the people didn’t like it, it burned them. My parents were physically upset about it…I knew what they were doing was wrong, but …they pay my bills, I can’t tell Eric, ‘hey, Eric, I’m not gonna do that,’ but it was Eric’s idea and he wanted to turn me heel and basically it took a crap on 50,000 people that were praying for me.”
On joining the nWo and becoming “Buff” Bagwell: “Kevin Nash is the first one to speak up for me. Eric Bischoff was not a big fan of mine at first, he kind of didn’t like me…Eric wasn’t with it at all, he said I don’t get it, you all are crazy…in Salisbury, we had a Nitro and they had me come out and join the now and it was a big deal, bro…on the flight home we were trying to figure out a name …and of all people it was Nick Patrick…he said what about Buff, and everybody just stopped and went ‘that’s it, that’s perfect, so that was it Buff Bagwell it was born, it was created and there it went.”
You can check out the complete Buff Bagwell interview from the WGD Weekly show below:
-There will be a nWo reunion of sorts this coming weekend in San Antonio, Texas, as Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Sean Waltman, Scott Steiner, Buff Bagwell, Scott Norton and Virgil will all be appearing at the Alamo City Comic Con on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Also appearing is WWE Hall Of Famer Bret “The Hitman” Hart and TNA Impact Wrestling star Hernandez. For more information, visit AlamoCityComicCon.com.
-WWE Diva Kaitlyn recently posted a new tweet on her Twitter account to show off her new look to her fans. Below is the tweet:
SESCOOPS.COM reader Mark Kruskol from MJK Public Relations sent along the following:
-Adam Pearce will be a guest on Busted Open Radio live this afternoon at 3:30 pm ET discuss the documentary DVD, “Seven Levels of Hate,” his TNA GutCheck and more.
Busted Open airs on Sirius 92, XM 208 and online on Sports Zone.
-Former WWE Superstar and nWo founding member Scott Hall will be appearing at the 20th anniversary event for Border City Wrestling on October 19th at St. Claire College in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Appearing alongside Hall is his Outsiders tag-team partner and fellow nWo founding member, Kevin Nash. Hall cut a promo on the upcoming event, which you can check out below:
-The pre-sale for this year’s WWE Survivor Series pay-per-view is currently ongoing, and will run through September 6th. The pre-sale password for tickets is: SURVIVOR.
-As previously reported, Jerry “The King” Lawler was going to wrestle Memphis Wrestling legend Austin Idol in his singles comeback match at the Memphis reunion show being put together by Lawler’s son, Brian Christopher. Lawler will instead face Jeff Jarrett in the main event of the show, which will also feature Rikishi, Koko B. Ware, The Rock N’ Roll Express, Doug Gilbert, Jimmy Valiant, Bill Dundee, The Spellbinder, Reggie B. Fine and others.
-Scott D’Amore’s Border City Wrestling (BCW) promotion announced plans for a special 20th anniversary show on October 19th at St. Claire College in Windsor, Ontario, Canada with “The Outsiders” Kevin Nash and Scott Hall, as well as former TNA stars Petey Williams, Angelina Love, Rhino, Cody Deaner, Johnny Swinger and Tyson Dux.