What if the nWo happened in the WWF instead?

[Wolf Pac]

During May 1996, 2 "outsiders" from WCW come into the WWF declaring "war" in the same fashion Scott Hall & Kevin Nash did then in July at In Your House: International Incident, it was Shawn Michaels, Ahmed Johnson & Sid taking on these two outsiders & a mystery partner instead of Owen, Vader & Bulldog and it was in this match where the two outsiders form the nWo with their mystery partner, a top WWF superstar.

Which two from WCW would you have had as the "outsiders"?

Which top WWF superstar would you have had as the mystery partner/nWo leader? (Expecting a lot of Bret Hart or Shawn Michaels answers here)

Would it have had the same success that WCW did?

Which other wrestlers from the WWF roster at the time would you have join the group?

Which wrestlers from WCW would you have defect to join the nWo in the WWF?

Who would be the WWF's nWo's "Sting"? (Stone Cold? Undertaker? Bret Hart or HBK, whichever one isn't the leader of the nWo? Other?)

 

[relentless1]

i think the only way it wouldve worked coming into the WWF is if it was the 4 horsemen. WCW didnt really have any stand alone stars with exception of sting hogan flair and savage, 3 of them were too old to make the impact that hall and nash did so the only way that an invasion angle would work would be with the horsemen; specifically flair, anderson, benoit and pillman, imagine the matches between benoit, pillman, the harts, hbk, razor etc

 

[Tattooed Jesus]

Yeah I have been racking my brain to try and think of a couple stars from WCW that could have pulled off the nWo angle in the WWF but nothing is coming to mind for me. Pillman wasn't well known enough and had not hit the peak of his career as the Loose Cannon character yet.

Sting was still to much of the do gooder baby face and if he had shown up on WWF with no make up I doubt anyone at that point would have even recognized who he was.

Maybe the 4 Horsemen could have pulled it off but all of them had already played such big roles in the WWF that I am not sure if even they could have done it effectively.

 

[Rowdy Robby Piper]

i think the only way it wouldve worked coming into the WWF is if it was the 4 horsemen. WCW didnt really have any stand alone stars with exception of sting hogan flair and savage, 3 of them were too old to make the impact that hall and nash did so the only way that an invasion angle would work would be with the horsemen; specifically flair, anderson, benoit and pillman, imagine the matches between benoit, pillman, the harts, hbk, razor etc

I think that this scenario would have worked back in 1988/1989 when Arn and Tully as The Brain Busters were in the WWF. I believe that JJ Dillon was working for the WWF at that time as well (or came in soon after - albeit in a backstage role - and later "The Widowmaker" Barry Windham). I'm surprised that with the influx of talent that was coming into the WWF at that time frame (1988/1989/1990) from all the various federations (AWA, NWA/WCW, WCCW, etc.) that the writing team didn't try to come up with some sort of Invasion-type storyline back then...

 

[thebarber]

another lame fantasy thrwad. This would NWEVER work, Vince McMahon buries everybody that ever came over from WCW or ECW. They had the Invasion angle in 2001 which was similar by having random WCW guys attacking WWE guys, but when it came to the matches, they got buried. Obviously , and Iwill attempt to amuse myself by doing this as again this WOULD NEVER HAPPEN due to Vince's ego, but for WCW to have guys come over, I would have done it that WCW would have to send two pretty menacing guys over, not rank and file. So to assume that WWE acknowledged who these guys were and their accomplishments, Id have first had Arn Anderson turn up. He was brillian ton the mic and would have been able top cut a rerasonably great promo. This would also lead to the locker room fearing a Horsemen invasion. But the following week Id have sent over Barry Windham,a bigger guy who can also carry the load in the ring. Miond you, this invasion on my timeline is happening around 1988, just before Anderson and Windham did indeed return to WWE. THE Third guy to join them who was already under contract to WWE but believable as a former WCW superstar...........well I cannot think of anybody who fits the bill. Harley Race was too old and past it in 1988, maybe Ravishing Rick Rude. A legitimate hard man, arrogant and cocky. Though he had not been in WCW beforehand, a 3 person group of Rude, Anderson and Windham is still quite strong. Over the weeks they could have easily added Tully Blanchard as he came over around then anyway with Anderson, and if the angle had the steam for another year to 18 months,w ell Flair is recruiited and can even take over the leadership of the group and tuern it into a legitimate horsemaen faction. hard to make it make sense as fantasy threads are quite silly.

 

[SinCityBlitz]

another lame fantasy thrwad. This would NWEVER work, Vince McMahon buries everybody that ever came over from WCW or ECW.

Ric Flair, Chris Benoit, Triple H, Eddie Guerrero, RVD, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, The Undertaker, Sid Vicious, The Road Warriors, Chris Jericho, Big Show and Booker T are just some who came over from WCW and made a big impact in the WWE. I could name a lot more if you would like.


The nWo would have never worked in the WWF unless it was the original three members. It was their charisma and Hogan's turn that made the group what it was. But the whole concept would not have made much sense because they were outsiders in WCW trying to take over. Hall and Nash would still be in the WWF at the time so how exactly are they outsiders trying to take over?

The only way it works is if Hogan comes back to take over and says he is bringing a couple of friends with him. But with no nWo in WCW there are no Monday night wars.

 

[justinept]

Ric Flair, Chris Benoit, Triple H, Eddie Guerrero, RVD, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, The Undertaker, Sid Vicious, The Road Warriors, Chris Jericho, Big Show and Booker T are just some who came over from WCW and made a big impact in the WWE. I could name a lot more if you would like.

Thanks, you beat me to it. I'm tired of morons posting that VKM buried former WCW talent ... then cites the invasion angle - an angle that lacked EVERY major name on WCW's roster with exception to Booker T. Seriously, who got buried in the invasion angle? Buff Bagwell? Mark Jindrak? Sean Stasiak? The WCW roster during the invasion story line was nothing except WCW mid card guys and curtain jerkers. That angle sucked - not because VKM tried to bury WCW - but because everyone that people associated with WCW - Sting, Flair, Goldberg, Nash, Hall, Hogan, Steiner, etc - chose not to be involved with it. The WWF has long been littered with former WCW guys turned WWE stars.

To add a few more names of former WCW talent that became successful in the WWF:

Steve Austin, Mick Foley, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Rey Mysterio ...

Now, it would've been very difficult for the WWF to pull off a similar angle in 1996 since - in my opinion - hostile takeover angles need to involve huge wrestlers in order to be believable. Part of the reason Hall and Nash worked so well at the beginning of the angle was their size - they were bigger than most WCW stars, and it made me believe they could legitimately take over the company if they wanted to.

This would've been tougher in the WWF in 1996 since the WWF was - and historically has been - the land of friggin giants. That said, The Big Show / Giant would have HAD to be involved with the angle.

From there, I struggle to remember any other giants in WCW - I think of guys in the main event, Hogan might have been the next biggest star in terms of size. Someone please correct me if I'm forgetting someone ...

Due to the lack of size on the WCW roster, I don't think the WWF could have successfully run the NWO angle as it was done in WCW. However, I do believe that the WWF had enough former WCW stars on their roster in 1996 to run an NWO/invasion storyline with their own guys. Hell, they could've used Hall and Nash at that point since they were, in fact, former WCW wrestlers.

Perhaps Big Show could have joined the WWF in 1996 and said that he was brought in by two "old friends" with the intention of taking over the company in the name of the "wrestling company down south." The two friends could have been revealed as Hall and Nash. After that reveal, the story could've shifted to "Why would Hall and Nash turn on the WWF?" ... a few weeks later, you get your answer: A returning Hulk Hogan paid them to do so because he wanted to take down the WWF once and for all. At that point, you'd have all the big players involved with the early days of the NWO ... a similar story of one company invading another ... traitors within the invaded company ... and a Hogan heel turn.

I believe this angle would have been even more successful than the NWO in WCW because it would've eliminated WCW completely. The loss of Hogan, Hall, Nash and Big Show would have crippled WCW's main event scene.

In terms of who would be the "Sting" ... I think you start with Steve Austin, but I wouldn't go there completely. Austin's mega-star status was just beginning to hit its stride in the summer of 1996, and he was getting ready to take off. Because of that, Austin makes sense as a guy both sides would have wanted ... but Austin's decision would have needed to come sooner and be more emphatic.

Shawn Michaels would have been another option due to his history with Hall and Nash ...

However - I think the best choice would have been Goldust. Call me crazy, but that could've been the mega-push that shot him to super stardom - and in the end, isn't the point of this all to make "new stars" ? Goldust would have also fit into the angle since he was a former WCW wrestler and because his father still worked at WCW.

 

[bitesthedust]

During May 1996, 2 "outsiders" from WCW come into the WWF declaring "war" in the same fashion Scott Hall & Kevin Nash did then in July at In Your House: International Incident, it was Shawn Michaels, Ahmed Johnson & Sid taking on these two outsiders & a mystery partner instead of Owen, Vader & Bulldog and it was in this match where the two outsiders form the nWo with their mystery partner, a top WWF superstar.

Which two from WCW would you have had as the "outsiders"?

Which top WWF superstar would you have had as the mystery partner/nWo leader? (Expecting a lot of Bret Hart or Shawn Michaels answers here)

Would it have had the same success that WCW did?

Which other wrestlers from the WWF roster at the time would you have join the group?

Which wrestlers from WCW would you have defect to join the nWo in the WWF?

Who would be the WWF's nWo's "Sting"? (Stone Cold? Undertaker? Bret Hart or HBK, whichever one isn't the leader of the nWo? Other?)

At that time, the only draws in WCW who hadn't previously worked in the WWF were The Giant, and Sting, but would the fans have accepted him as a heel? It's unlikely. I'd have approached Vader to be the third man, as a former World Champion and monster heel in WCW (at least until Hogan arrived). If I recall, aside from his debut at the Royal Rumble that year when he took out the babyfaces, he hadn't been doing anything else of note since he got in the WWF. Harley Race would manage him too. Shawn Michaels and or Bret Hart had no connection to WCW so shifting them over wouldn't have made sense.

Would it have been as successful? Doubtful, as the WWF was full of giants in 1996 who would have posed a real threat to the invasion - Undertaker, Sid to name two. Vader would have the belt put on him at Summerslam after a clean win over Shawn Michaels. Other wrestlers to join - Steve Austin, Mankind would be decent picks. Austin would eventually challenge Vader for the leadership and turn face around a year later, take the title back at Wrestlemania 14.

As for leader, Austin (in time), Hart, Michaels and Taker to lead the initial charge.

 

[Goldie]

Vince was promoting a very dated product back in 1996... if he came up with the NWO concept instead of Bishchoff.... maybe he wouldnt have had to wait another year to start promoting an edgy product that would pick up the fans interest again.

I've read above that Hogan and Savage should be written off... i disagree though.
Without Hogan I don't the think that the real NWO would have had the same effect... sure Hall & Nash drew up much interest... but having the biggest name in wrestling history turn heel was a major major deal. So much in fact that it would pick up mainstream media attention... not just in wrestling like the Hall/Nash invasion would do.

Write off Hogan at your peril.... After 2 years in WCW... having him return to WWF in mid '96 as a heel and declaring war on Vince would have been huge. It would need a major twist involving a wrestling megastar to work... and there were no names bigger than Hogans. I also like the idea of having Paul Wight come in too... perfect guy to have watching Hogans back.

After WM12 Bret was out of the pciture for several months ..... he'd be a great guy to play the 'Sting role' for the WWF. Afterall he was a major babyface for the company, much like Sting had been in WCW.

If people are considering Austin... it wouldn't have happened in May '96 ... this was a month before his infamous King of the Ring speech... and even then he wasn't pushed into a meaningful angle till he fueded with Bret in November '96.
Austin could have been a key contributer... but not straight away.

 

[HBsam31]

I have been looking at this thread for weeks deciding if I wanted to post, and what I finally came to is that it wouldn't have been as successful any other way. Everything was in place perfectly. Hall and Nash were big enough at that point that it garnered people's interest right away. Hogan had not been seen in a little while and when he came back no one ever imagined he would turn. When he did it was a once in a lifetime situation. No internet really around to ruin it and it caught everyone completely off guard. WWE was also down in the ratings, and the product wasn't at its best. The NWO gave everyone a reason to finally keep the channel changed and totally invest in WCW. I just don't think any other scenario would have worked as well.

 

[Big Nick Dudley]

It didn't, so it's impossible to say. However, for the sake of argument,.....

They probably wouldn't have gone as far with it. It wouldn't have lasted as long. Austin probably wouldn't have been the star he turned out to be. That, or he would have skyrocketed a year earlier. Hart wouldn't have turned heel. The Mr. McMahon character might not exist. The Monday Night Wars wouldn't have taken place.

Be happy it happened the way it did, that's all I really need to say.

 

[FlairFan2003]

An WWE/NWO angle would have worked with Hogan (returning to take over the company he built) teaming with Flair (wrestling's greatest champion, The Dirtiest Player in the game) as the top two guys, like Hogan & Nash were in the WCW/NWO. They are they two guys with nationwide acceptance and recognition to pull it off. Flair was a much bigger star than Hall or Nash were, adding Hogan and the shock of his subsequent heel turn is what pushed the NWO from interesting story to red hot angle. Having Hogan & Flair both as heels (still the shock of Hogan's bad guy turn) would have given the WWE version of the angle incredible heat, and probably destrpoyed WCW at the same time.

As for who you recruit around them, you dont bring in a bunch of WCW guys - you recruit guys already on the WWE roster, just as the real NWO did when they invaded. The Outsiders surrounded themselves with disgruntled Insiders who wanted a bigger piece of the pie. I can see maybe bringing Arn Anderson in because of his association with Flair or maybe Savage although Im not sure the wrestling fans would have accepted Savage putting aside his differences with Flair & Hogan's heel turn at the same time.

Who on the WWE roster do you recruit - maybe Owen Hart (mostly played a bitter heel character anyway), Nash - then you have rivals like HBK & Hart agree to team up to save the company just like Sting & Flair did in the early going when the angle really caught fire in WCW

 

[whoopin' ass]

wouldn't have happened. vince would never have booked guys from wcw as strongly as bischoff booked hall and nash. they would have come in and the whole angle would have been done within 2 months with them losing badly. want a comparison - look at the nexus angle. vince liked to build characters. to have someone from wcw come in and just decimate his top talent would never enter his mind. just look how he handled the nWo when he did bring them over. say what you want about their history and being overused, that angle should have worked.

 

[streicher187]

It wouldn't have worked because WCW wasn't much of a threat and WWF would get nothing out of it except making people wonder who these guys where and where did they come from. If anything it would have boosted WCW ratings.

It was a perfect storm w/ the right guys at the right time and that's why it worked. People where wondering why these big WWF stars where sitting ringside at WCW events and getting involved if it was the other way around people would just say "Vince got some more talent".

As far as Vince burying WCW/ECW guys that's just not true and the facts show it, yes he had the Rock destroy Booker T but that was about it. Hell look at now he had Punk and Bryan as champs and both had a cult following and neither was "created" by Vince Mcmahon.

 

[byrnside]

just look how he handled the nWo when he did bring them over. say what you want about their history and being overused, that angle should have worked.

I'm going to stop you right there. Vince killed the nWo angle in the WWE because it simply wasn't working... Scott Hall, a crucial piece of the group, got fired, Hogan was way too over because of the Hulkamania comeback, and Nash got hurt almost right out of the gate. All he had left was HBK, Big Show, X-Pac and Booker T briefly. HBK wasn't really in the mindset to be working on an even semi-permanent basis at the time and Big Show and X-Pac certainly couldn't have carried that angle by themselves. Vince clearly had no choice than to cut the angle short. Not to mention the nWo gimmick was completely exhausted by that point anyway.

After looking at the WCW roster from the mid-90s there really aren't very many choices of guys that could've pulled it off as well as Hall and Nash did. I think the two "outsiders" I would have to choose would be, DDP and The Giant. But if you ask me, DDP wouldn't have been nearly as popular had the nWo not started in WCW, so it could be argued that he wouldn't have been a great choice. The Giant, however, was still pretty over in WCW as the monster heel/supposed son of Andre the Giant and had been a legitimate threat to Hulkamania, the very thing the WWF and Vince created.

I really didn't want to choose this person as the defector, but I've always thought of the nWo as basically a reincarnation of the Kliq so with having said I would have to choose Shawn Michaels as the defector...

Say that during International Incident Shawn Michaels is "laid out" early on in the match and left alone on the outside. Meanwhile the Giant and DDP are destroying Sid and Ahmed Johnson with chairs or baseball bats and destroying the ringside area as Vince McMahon looks on from commentary screaming in his classic manner, begging for someone to come help. Maybe even DDP and The Giant take out other WWF wrestlers that have tried to intervene, faces and heels alike leaving a wake of carnage. Bret Hart finally makes his way out from the back and stands staring down DDP and the Giant; they look confused and even scared. Just then HBK is making his way to his feet and back into the ring seemingly to help Bret... Suddenly, of course, he hits the Sweet Chin Music on Bret and he, DDP and the Giant are giving the Wolfpack signal.

Other members of the roster that I would throw in with the nWo would have definitely included Triple H and The New Age Outlaws, for obvious reasons. You could even throw Marty Jannetty in there, who knows, that could've revived his career. Marty actually makes a good choice because he was in and out of the WWF throughout the 90s and could've even explained his alliance with the nWo has payback for Vince, etc. They could've kept Crush, as like Marty, he was in and out throughout the 90s, he would've added some size/muscle to the group. Other guys like Mable (size, attitude), Savio Vega (think about what he did as the leader of the Burricuas), perhaps Justin Credible could've made his debut in WWF as disgruntled ex-Aldo Montoya. I can't remember if Brian Pillman debuted in '96 or '97 but he would've been an amazing choice for an nWo member that eventually either left the group or was kicked out. There are an endless number of ECW guys that could've gotten a good start from joining the group as well.

I think the obvious choice, given this scenario, for the "Sting" would have to be The Undertaker. He would use his phenom-like powers to play mind games with the nWo and take them on or take them out one at a time. He could not only have come from the rafters, but also from under the ring... the possibilities are actually quite endless with Undertaker... Appearing in the ring after the lights have gone out or fog has rolled in.

The idea of the nWo starting in the WWF is actually pretty interesting to me, especially after having giving it some serious thought. So many factions came about in the late 90s in the WWF that you could argue were created to rival the nWo... DX being the biggest, there was also Los Burricuas, The Nation of Domination, The DOA, etc. etc. I think it could've been pretty successful.

 

[IT Factor]

I know alot of people won't like this idea. But, for arguement's sake, let's say McMahon had the nWo idea before Bischoff did. Fine. You have to make key members part of the faction for it to even work and get over with the audience. And although WWF was still a cartoony show back in the early 90's before the Attitude thing hit big, let's say the whole nWo substitute happened before it happened in WCW. Ok, so that'd be before 1995. Let's say WWF had an nWo-esque idea in 1991/1992. Who did you have defect from WCW/NWA that mirrored what would eventually happen in 1995? Well, Ric Flair, of course. Because Flair and Hogan were both big name legends who left major companies amidst controversy and joined other companies. So, now that you have the leader of this nWo-substitute for the WWF, who would the members be? That's the tricky part. Because aside from Ric Flair, in that timeframe, you had no real defectors from NWA or WCW that would've made the impact that Hall/Nash did.

So if we were to pick a group based off of pure talent and connection to Flair, here are a few choices;

-Arn Anderson; Arn & Tully were still with WWF and could've been a part of the group alongside Flair. Both had strong Horsemen ties and would've been easy fits with Flair.

-Tully Blanchard; Same as with Arn. Easy fits with Flair and made storyline sense. Since both Arn & Tully came from the NWA/WCW where Flair came from and it would fit with an invasion type of scenario.

-Mr. Perfect. Although he didn't come from NWA, he'd have fit with Flair because he was a part of Flair's WWF stable anyway when he arrived. Hennig would've been great in any stable storyline-wise with Flair in WWF. I guess if they'd have went with someone already in WWF that helped the invading Flair, it would've made sense to go with Mr. Perfect.

You get the point though. If McMahon had've had the invasion idea, he could've easily have applied the nWo concept to virtually any group from the 4 horsemen to the Nation of Domination or even DX[which had ALOT of former WCW talent that could've easily led a WWF invasion]. Hell, even the old ECW did a similar invasion scenario and with that nWo concept, along with Vince McMahon & Paul Heyman, that would've been any fan's dream storyline. Of course, we've seen so-called "dream storylines" like WCW invading WWF and look how that turned out. It had a 50/50 chance of being as good as the nWo was, depending on which era you caught the WWF in.