nWo 2002

[dukes07]

All that I have read and with wrestling it is always really murky, Austin and Hogan could not agree on the finish and neither wanted to job. Then Austin got "saddled" with Hall. He then said later that year right before his comeback that he had no problems with Hall, but rather the short length of the WM match saying it was unfair to his and Hall's fans.....But also, Austin was having all sorts of issues at this time, burnt out etc. Hence his no-shows and ultimate departure.

[FlairFan2003]

There are a million ways the 2002 NwO Angle would have worked better. The mere idea of having the biggest names in WWE fighting off a WCW type occupation-invasion by these guys on paper seems great.

No doubt that WWE hurt the angle right away taking McMahon & Flair out of it. The NWO were mercenaries above all else, the idea of the bully Vince bringing them in to "hurt" the company because he couldnt get Flair out of ownership, while extreme, did make some sense. If anyone fit the "play my way or I will take my ball and go home" it was Vince. McMahon was clearly a heel, Flair clearly a fan fav, and he had been a constant foe vs NWO in WCW. In storyline terms the idea Vince would risk the "poison" of the group to eliminate Flair, and the idea the group would come to WWE for a big pay day and a chance to finish Flair once and for all, made good sense in keeping with the characters and the NWO history in WCW.
Almost immediately when they arrived however the whole Vince vs Flair for control of the company angle was dropped. Vince laid low and Flair was put into a program vs Taker. The angle was on life support now, its very origin and reason for being cut out from under it. Of course WWE didnt want to take a chance on hiring Steiner due to his bad rep and the chances they took on Hall were proven worthless. After Hogan turned face, with no allegiance with Vince, Hall close to being fired, this thing was dead. That said WWE did get great build up and a very good match with Flair vs Taker and Rock vs Hogan became an iconic event, but a successful NwO Invasion would have had a much larger and longer term impact on programming.

Easiest way to have made the angle a success would have been to keep the initial focus on Vince vs Flair for control of WWE. Hogan stays heel and have the group recruit new members to swell their ranks, just like they did in WCW. Big Show is an obvious choice as he was a big name with major connections. You could try to elevate a couple mid card guys like RVD as major players on either side of the war as Vince struggles to keep control of the NWO vs Team WWE lead by Flair, Austin, Rock. In the summer you could shake things up with the return of DX, both sides trying to recruit them. This would have been a good time to bring in Steiner and Goldberg much earlier than they did. Lesnar could have remained a highly sought after free agent. Eventually this should have lead to a faction war between DX & NWO and a singles match pitting Austin vs Hogan. I would have wrapped up the initial angle by Survivor Series. By then the NWO would have turned on Vince. Ultimately WWE wins the war, Hogan face turn, Hogan-Nash feud, end of story. Id have Vince regroup and regain control of the company and then have Triple H & Flair start Evolution as the new year dawns after a huge HHH-HBK break up.

[dukes07]

Originally Posted by FlairFan2003

There are a million ways the 2002 NwO Angle would have worked better. The mere idea of having the biggest names in WWE fighting off a WCW type occupation-invasion by these guys on paper seems great.

No doubt that WWE hurt the angle right away taking McMahon & Flair out of it. The NWO were mercenaries above all else, the idea of the bully Vince bringing them in to "hurt" the company because he couldnt get Flair out of ownership, while extreme, did make some sense. If anyone fit the "play my way or I will take my ball and go home" it was Vince. McMahon was clearly a heel, Flair clearly a fan fav, and he had been a constant foe vs NWO in WCW. In storyline terms the idea Vince would risk the "poison" of the group to eliminate Flair, and the idea the group would come to WWE for a big pay day and a chance to finish Flair once and for all, made good sense in keeping with the characters and the NWO history in WCW.
Almost immediately when they arrived however the whole Vince vs Flair for control of the company angle was dropped. Vince laid low and Flair was put into a program vs Taker. The angle was on life support now, its very origin and reason for being cut out from under it. Of course WWE didnt want to take a chance on hiring Steiner due to his bad rep and the chances they took on Hall were proven worthless. After Hogan turned face, with no allegiance with Vince, Hall close to being fired, this thing was dead. That said WWE did get great build up and a very good match with Flair vs Taker and Rock vs Hogan became an iconic event, but a successful NwO Invasion would have had a much larger and longer term impact on programming.

Easiest way to have made the angle a success would have been to keep the initial focus on Vince vs Flair for control of WWE. Hogan stays heel and have the group recruit new members to swell their ranks, just like they did in WCW. Big Show is an obvious choice as he was a big name with major connections. You could try to elevate a couple mid card guys like RVD as major players on either side of the war as Vince struggles to keep control of the NWO vs Team WWE lead by Flair, Austin, Rock. In the summer you could shake things up with the return of DX, both sides trying to recruit them. This would have been a good time to bring in Steiner and Goldberg much earlier than they did. Lesnar could have remained a highly sought after free agent. Eventually this should have lead to a faction war between DX & NWO and a singles match pitting Austin vs Hogan. I would have wrapped up the initial angle by Survivor Series. By then the NWO would have turned on Vince. Ultimately WWE wins the war, Hogan face turn, Hogan-Nash feud, end of story. Id have Vince regroup and regain control of the company and then have Triple H & Flair start Evolution as the new year dawns after a huge HHH-HBK break up.

I agree. That is some good shit. Like I said earlier you can bring in Bischoff to wrest control from Vince, after Vince thinks the nWo works for him and WWF/E and Flair have been done in. Vince then rallies the troops, DX or whatever to go on the offensive. They can recruit Goldberg at the end too. Hogan turns face like you said etc.

I will say this about Hall, and I am not sure if I stated this already on the thread but I am to lazy to go back and check and if I did then I apologize. I like Hall. When sober he is a good worker. He did the lion share of the nWo matches. He sold great for Austin and others. He did great on the vignettes and promos. He did the same in WWF and WCW too. It is such a shame that he could not keep his demons at bay.

Back to the nWo angle, this also could have been repeated during the InVasion, something along these lines instead of jobbing them out left, right and center.

[Toroc102]

The WWE nWo failed for the same reason the Invasion failed(and really why anything in wrestling has ever failed), because the right people didn't go over, although there was way more wrong with WWnWo than that.

Like someone else mentioned Vince announcing their return instead of it being a surprise attack messed things up. Having Hall and Hogan lose at WM only what, 2 months after their debut?, messed things up for them. Having the Rock and Austin bury them didn't help them. Not making them dominant hurt.

To me things like the Invasion and the nWo are what make me KNOW Vince holds grudges and carries them out. Sorry to break out on a tangent but using the Invasion as an example, every single thing that you could do to FUCK that storyline up was done. As a wrestling fan there is no other way to look at it. The nWo thing was just a smaller scale version of that. And every time WWE brought in an old WcW guy and buried them you saw the same exact pattern.

[dukes07]

Originally Posted by Toroc102

The WWE nWo failed for the same reason the Invasion failed(and really why anything in wrestling has ever failed), because the right people didn't go over, although there was way more wrong with WWnWo than that.

Like someone else mentioned Vince announcing their return instead of it being a surprise attack messed things up. Having Hall and Hogan lose at WM only what, 2 months after their debut?, messed things up for them. Having the Rock and Austin bury them didn't help them. Not making them dominant hurt.

To me things like the Invasion and the nWo are what make me KNOW Vince holds grudges and carries them out. Sorry to break out on a tangent but using the Invasion as an example, every single thing that you could do to FUCK that storyline up was done. As a wrestling fan there is no other way to look at it. The nWo thing was just a smaller scale version of that. And every time WWE brought in an old WcW guy and buried them you saw the same exact pattern.

Fully agree with this. Having Hall treated as Austin's bitch in their second or third show and the nWo running scared was asinine. There were some good moments but at the same time they were rarely treated as a threat. They needed to be coming to the ring and kicking ass, interrupting matches. Going after Flair and being indiscriminate in their ass kicking. People say that angles are recycled every 6-8 years so why not try to strike again. And even though this nWo iteration was different it didn't need to fail so quickly. It was almost as if Vince wanted the InVasion and then the nWo to fail. I mean he did get an nWo DVD out and brief boost in ratings. I have argued that WCW has been purposely buried and watching any DVD that has WCW on it or any WWE Classics on Demand they go out of the way to mock it.

Slight conspiracy theories aside. The angle could have worked a lot better and should have had they taken the time. But ultimately with Hall getting fired and Nash getting hurt not much could really be done. Still, it could have been pretty great.