The 411 Wrestling Top 5 2.03.10: Week 60 – Guest Booker Month - The nWo Invades WCW

Posted by Michael Bauer on 02.03.2010

From the Finger Poke of Doom to the involvement of Bret Hart, and from Sting vs. Hogan at Starcade to Larry Zbyszko vs. Eric Bischoff, the 411 Staff takes a stab in changing the course of WCW history with the Invasion of the nWo in the latest edition of the 411 Wrestling Top Five!

Hello everyone and welcome to 411 Wrestling's Top 5 List. What we are going to is take a topic each week and all the writers here on 411 wrestling will have the ability to give us their Top 5 on said topic, plus up to three honorable mentions.

So, on to this week's topic…

GUEST BOOKER MONTH – THE NWO INVADES WCW

For the month of February, we are doing Guest Booker Month, much like Ring of Honor has with a DVD series. For the four Top 5 lists this month, we will be looking back a specific time period and seeing what the writers would change. The lists will be one through five, chronologically, with no Honorable Mentions. The five items do not have to be related to one another.

For example: Hogan's leaving after Wrestlemania VIII

If you would never had Savage beat Flair for the gold, you can still assume Bret Hart became champion when he did and just have a different result to end Wrestlemania IX.

This week we are doing the greatest shot fired in the Monday Night wars, starting May 26, 1996, when Scott Hall debuted on WCW Monday Nitro. For the next two and a half years, WCW would hold the edge on the WWE in the ratings war until that fateful day on January 4, 1999. That would be the day Hogan defeated Kevin Nash in the infamous "Finger Poker of Doom" Match and Mick Foley won the WWF Heavyweight Championship. We all know WCW did a lot of things wrong during this time, so it is up the writing staff to tell us the five things different they would have done.

So what did our group of writers select? Let's find out…



Shawn S. Lealos

1. Keep the nWo exclusive - I was a fan of Buff Bagwell as a bad guy and Scott Norton rules the world but there were too many members over time. There is no reason an "exclusive" group should have demanded that everyone join them. What is the use of Big Bubba, Mike Rotundo, Brutus Beefcake, Brian Adams, and the rest of the B-team? This wasn't a cult. It was a dominant group and adding all the scrubs made it lose its credibility over time. Soon, it was just a mess and that is because of the stupid additions.

2. Replace Larry Zbyszko with Ric Flair - Larry Zbyszko became the face of WCW against Scott Hall and ended up beating Eric Bischoff to regain control of Monday Night Nitro. The fact that an announcer, whose best days in wrestling were never that good to begin with (he was best as a cocky, cowardly heel in the AWA), fought for WCW was kind of a joke. Who really cares who wins between Zbyszko and Bischoff, with the exception of those wanting WCW to come out on top? Now, if Bischoff hadn't had his ridiculous vendetta against Ric Flair, this would have been a million times better. Have Ric Flair, the leader of the Horsemen, fighting for the company he helped build. That would have been epic. Then have Flair beat Bischoff at Starrcade 1997 and it really would have meant something.

3. No Bret Hart - Bret Hart showed up in WCW immediately after being screwed by Vince McMahan. He should have been the last choice to play the role of a member of the nWo. Hart is too big a name to believe he needed the faction to help him. He also should have been kept out of the Sting vs. Hogan match. I understand they did it for their own version of shock TV, but it was not needed. As a matter of fact, WCW became the nWo vs. WCW show and that was the only angle that mattered. The only way the angle could have made the promotion strong for the future was to have it as an angle - maybe the main angle - but let other angles happen around it that does not include the nWo. Bret Hart could have been perfect as the straight man, not joining the nWo but also not caring about the war between it and WCW. Let Bret do his own thing with Bulldog and whoever else. The big problem was making sure everyone was involved in this angle. It was too big.



4. Sting vs. Hogan, Starrcade 1997 - At the supposed big moment for WCW, everything fell apart. When recently interviewed about the match, Nick Patrick said he didn't know who to listen to when receiving his orders. He was allegedly supposed to make a fast count but didn't, making the entire "screw job" come off horribly. This was the one incident that, even more than the finger poke, blew the entire angle. My change would have been easy. No rehashing the screw job with Bret Hart. No screwy finish. Sting was the savior of WCW and finally had Hulk Hogan where he wanted him at the biggest PPV of the year. Sting should have fought a strong match but the end should have been a decisive win for Sting. He should have beaten Hogan the way Hogan beat all the bad guys in the eighties, by fighting back and pinning him in the center of the ring, fair and square. Then Sting would have been the biggest thing going, Hogan the beaten foe who must regroup, and the angle would have played out perfectly.

5. The Fingerpoke of Doom - I am not as against the Fingerpoke of Doom as everyone else is. It is simply the minions doing what their leader asks of them, this time laying down and taking the pinfall to let Hogan regain his title. By this time the entire angle was a mess because it all turned into an nWo against nWo war and WCW was only a footnote. What I would have booked differently was to not have Nash go down with the fingerpoke. I would have booked Scott Hall to come in with Nash, the night after zapping Goldberg to help Nash win the belt, and betray Nash, letting Hogan win the title. It would have been a betrayal no one would have seen coming. Then if they still wanted to let Nash join back with Hogan, he could have said he was pissed but respected their devious plan. It makes more sense than the fingerpoke.



Mathew Sforcina

1.Clear battlelines - I'm not always going to go with the obvious choices here, since I think most everyone will agree on them. Instead, let's try going slightly left field. So, I'm going to let the nWo grow to massive size, in that it's ok for an army to be invading. So it becomes nWo V WCW... Until the nWo tries to run in on a Cruiserweight title match, for the hell of it. WCW comes out, there's a mass brawl... And then all the luchadores, cruiserweights and stuff come out and attack everyone, beating BOTH the nWo and WCW back. Next week, Jericho and Malenko, hated rivals, are the voices for the Cruiserweights, standing before the mass of masked and high flying men. They tell WCW and the nWo that they refuse to join sides, that they will stay out of the war. But if WCW and nWo push them, they will get involved, and no-one wants that. Thus, you have two main groups, the Cruiserweights (with traditional storytelling and new, exciting matches) and the nWo/WCW war (with it's new, exciting storytelling and traditional matches) to keep everyone happy.

2.Ric Flair's in... and he fails? - I agree that Ric Flair should have been involved. But also, he shouldn't have been able to do anything about the nWo, in that all his old tricks would be used against him, now he loses to the numbers games, the dusty finishes and so on. Flair in there, gives you the rally point for WCW, and yet also allows him to swallow his pride, and bring back the one man who CAN stop the nWo...

3.Starrcade 97 - How the match should have gone.

Hogan throws a punch, Sting stands there. Hogan throws a clothesline, Sting stands there. Hogan runs the ropes, Clothesline from Sting. Flurry of punches into the corner. Stinger Splash. Another. Another. Sting drags Hogan to center of ring. Scorpion Death Drop. Float Over. Scorpion Death Lock. Hogan taps like a little girl. The end.

4.EVERYONE Fractures - After Starrcade, you had to wind down the nWo, and build up new storylines. So, after Sting crushes Hogan, everyone starts to fracture. Flair and the old school WCW guys rally behind Sting, while the new WCW guys start to ask for shots at the title. Hogan has some loyal supporters, but others begin to question his leadership and follow Nash. A bunch of the cruiserweights form a group and decide they want to move into the big boys' leagues. Bret Hart begins to gain supporters from all over the place for some massive plan. You go from the Massive War/Classic storytelling into everyone's factional. Except...

5.Goldberg CRUSH! - And then this muscular, bald guy appears, not caring about factions, not caring about the war, he just fights and destroys everyone. Up to and including Nash at Starcade 98, Goldberg becoming World Champ, an island to himself, around which WCW changes shape yet again...



Ryan Byers

1.Put Hogan over Piper - There aren't many things that I would change between the inception of the nWo and the match between Hulk Hogan and Sting at Starrcade 1997, because, let's face it, the damn thing WORKED up to that point. Though a lot of the "smart marks" at the time would like to have seen better matches in the company's main events during the period, the fact of the matter is, regardless of star ratings, the company was making a ton of money and fans were tuning in at record levels. However, if there was one thing that I would change from the earlier days of the New World Order, it would be decisively putting Hulk Hogan over Roddy Piper to end the feud that the two had. Piper came in as an amazingly hot babyface challenger to Hogan and his crew, but, given everything that was developing with Sting, it quickly became clear that, from a business perspective, he should not have been the man who took the belt off of the Hulkster. What WCW did in response to this was to put the Hot Scot over the nWo leader in a match in which everybody assumed the World Title was on the line, only to explain the next night that there was not a title change. It wound up not having that much of an immediate negative effect on the company because the rest of the angle was so hot, but it was one of the first times that WCW had really burned its fans and started to build up the ill will which would eventually play a big hand in doing them in.

2.Larry Zbyszko vs. Eric Bischoff? - At Starrcade 1997, on the undercard of the match between Hulk Hogan and Sting, there was a match for control of Monday Nitro. Representing the nWo was Eric Bischoff, and representing WCW was Larry Zbyszko. If Eric won, the nWo would get to control Nitro from that point forward, and if Larry wo . . . wait a minute . . . Eric Bischoff vs. Larry Zbyszko? You mean to tell me that the control of the promotion's flagship television program was on the line, and the match booked around that featured a non-wrestler squaring off against a guy whose career peaked almost twenty years earlier? I don't necessarily have specific suggestions as to who would have replaced them, but one would think that a stipulation this major could be used to give a rub to two younger guys, similar to how Bobby Lashley and Umaga were the men chosen to fight in the Vince McMahon vs. Donald Trump hair match at Wrestlemania a few years ago. I guess that plays in to . . .

3.Make New Stars - We were told to put our proposed booking changes into chronological order, but this is something that could have been done at any point during the course of the nWo angle, so I'm putting it smack dab in the middle of my list. Given the size and popularity of the nWo storyline, I am gobsmacked when I think of the fact that WCW used it to elevate very few new talents to a main event level. If you think about it, Diamond Dallas Page is really the only guy who went from the midcard to being a World Title-level competitor as a result of WCW's feud with the nWo. (One could argue that Goldberg is a second, but, really, his aura and his undefeated streak would have made him a major player regardless of whether he was booked agianst the New World Order.) I'm not one of these fans who thinks that any wrestler under the age of thirty who had a modicum of talent should have been pinning Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage in pay per view main events, but there were so many talented wrestlers in WCW during this period who had not yet received much national exposure who were just BEGGING to be turned into big time players. Scott Norton was right there and had all of the tools necessary to be a major draw in the United States. Buff Bagwell, though I wasn't his biggest fan at the time, was somebody that WCW had been behind as a hot young star for many years, but they wouldn't pull the trigger on him here for whatever reason. Even Booker T., who everybody would later learn was a top flight wrestler, was largely languishing in the tag team division during this time. I do think that what WCW did with DDP was great, but they could have elevated one or two other guys right alongside him.

4.Sting beats Hogan, and the WAR IS OVER - The biggest mistake made during the nWo angle, bar none, was allowing the bad guys to beat and beat and beat and beat the home team of World Championshp Wrestling without giving WCW a decisive win in a match that clearly ended the feud. This was problematic because, when the nWo angle came to an end, it came because all of the guy who were involved into the faction moved on to doing better things while WCW was left looking like a second-rate group of schlubs who had been humiliated on an almost weekly basis and who couldn't get the job done in terms of putting their rivals away. Because they were second-rate, fans couldn't get behind the WCW brand again, which was one of the reasons that it was such a flop without the nWo even though it had been such a hot commodity with the nWo. Giving WCW that blowoff victory wouldn't automatically result in them surviving through to present day, but it certainly would have strengthened the brand and given them a better chance of doing so. If you're talking about when WCW should have gotten that decisive win, there was no better time and place than during the title program between Hulk Hogan and Sting. The build to Starrcade 1997 remains one of the best lead-ins to a major pay per view of all time, and I don't think that I hold a controversial opinion when I say that, in that match, Sting should have beaten Hogan clean in the middle of the ring for the title with no run-ins, no weapons, and no other gimmicks. From there, I would propose some kind of tag team main event at WCW/nWo Souled Out 1998 involving the Stinger and the Hulkster which would build to a singles rematch at Superbrawl. The Superbrawl match would be billed as the final war between the two factions, with the stipulation being simple: Hogan wins, and the nWo owns WCW. Sting wins, and the nWo must disband with all of their members signing new WCW contracts. Much like Starrcade, Sting wins the Superbrawl match once and for all, this time putitng a definitive end to the war between the nWo and WCW. However, it could still very easily set up . . .

5.Transition into nWo vs. nWo - I think that WCW was on to something when it came to splitting the nWo into its Wolfpac and Holywood factions and having them do battle. Two warring nWo's was, on paper, a good way to prolong the storyline, getting more mileage out of the concept once the initial shine had worn off of it. The problem in execution was that, while the two sides of the nWo were at war with one another, WCW was completely shoved into the background, clearly having lost the war while the winners were left to duke it out amongst themselves. I would have done things a little bit differently. First of all, I would have allowed the scenario described in Item Number 4 above to play out. Sting defeats Hulk Hogan in a Superbrawl '98 rematch of their Starrcade '97 bout, wtih the stipulation being that the nWo must disband and all of its members must rejoin World Championship Wrestling. After that, the former nWo members would attempt to work together within the WCW organization, only for disagreements over who was responsible for their losing the war leading to internal strife, a split into two factions, and a feud. They key, though, is that this nWo-nWo feud would not be the top program in the company. Instead, WCW wrestlers would do battle over the World Title in the main feud of the promotion, while the two crews of former nWo wrestlers would pick at each other in the semi-main events. That way any momentum for the nWo that would still exist could be used for a productive end without WCW being shoved into the background and having its importance compromised, as happened in real life. The entire nWo vs. nWo storyline would have ended during the fall of 1998, possibly in War Games, and we wouldn't even get to the point at which I have to rebook things like the Finger Poke of Doom.



Jake Chambers

1. Bash at the Beach 1996 - After a thorough physical, a psych test and a serious review of Razor Ramon tapes, a decision is made to sabotage Scott Hall's initial appearance in WCW, to get out of his contract. So Hall is instructed to just let it all out and say whatever he feels when he invades Nitro and that the TV producers will be ready to bleep any foul language he uses. So then Hall interrupts the program and goes on a profanity laced tirade about how he won't 'wrestle no f*gg*ts' and he wants to 'take a sh*t in the WWF's diaper' until real security legitimately takes him away. Due to ‘bad publicity,' the ‘outsider' angle is scrapped and Hall is released.

Therefore, at Bash at the Beach 1996, Macho Man Randy Savage promises a big surprise in his WCW title match against The Giant, and it turns out to be Kevin Nash (although now called The Trucker) who helps Savage cheat to win the championship. As the two are beating down The Giant, Hulk Hogan returns to make the save. This forces a double switch with Savage then a heel and Giant a babyface, and leads to a tag team main event of Hogan & The Giant vs. Savage and The Trucker at Hog Wild, and then giving SlimJim their contractual Hogan vs. Savage title match main event at Halloween Havoc.

2. Hulk Hogan Undefeated Streak - After winning the World Heavyweight Championship from Savage, Hogan promises to 'change professional wrestling' for the future and declares that from that point on he will only put his title on the line against the careers of aging wrestlers so that he can clear out the bloated roster and make room for the next generation. He starts at Starrcade 1996 by defeating Roddy Piper and forcing him into retirement. He then spends the next year on a hot undefeated streak, retiring wrestler after wrestler, including Ric Flair, Macho Man, Kevin Sullivan, Sting, Lex Luger, and even The Trucker.

3. The Montreal Screwjob - At the 1997 Survivor Series, the WWF pulls a screwjob on Shawn Michaels, in order to get rid of the troublemaker and move towards the more traditional, family-friendly product wanted by Bret Hart in his new role as wrestler/executive producer. HBK, HHH and Chyna are let out of their WWF contracts and within weeks they debut on WCW Nitro.

Therefore, ‘The Clique' has their first official matches at Starrcade 1997, Joanie Laurer defeats Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit makes Paul Levesque tap out, and in the main event Shawn Hickenbottom defeats Hulk Hogan for the World Heavyweight Championship. In their Superbrawl rematch, Hickenbottom wins again, making Hogan join the ranks of the newly retired.

Also, Goldberg loses his terrible match to Steve McMichael at Starrcade and is phased out of the company a few months later.

4. Competing With Wrestlemania - In order to combat a perceivably weak Wrestlemania XIV, WCW books a free, three-hour Clash of the Champions TV special to run head-to-head against the pay-per-view. This event is headlined by the first ever meeting between recently fractured ‘Clique' factions, as Shawn Hickenbottom and Four take on Paul & Joanie. On the same program, WCW signs a special, show-stealing, ECW co-promotional match up of Rob Van Dam & Sabu vs. The Eliminators in a Tables Match that had long been rumored to appear on the Wrestlemania card.

5. The Fingerpoke of Doom - In a last ditch attempt at saving the company, WWF picks up WCW cast-offs Hulk Hogan, Sting, Ric Flair, Diesel, Macho Man and even Goldberg, yet is unable to compete on Monday Nights throughout 1998 and is subsequently ready to declare bankruptcy.

The night after Starrcade 1998, and the 60-minute Ironman match main event where Chris Benoit lost 0-1 in overtime to Shawn Michaels for the World Heavyweight Championship, and the returning 'Stunning' Steve Austin defeated Paul Levesque for the US Title, Eric Bischoff declares that he will provide a company saving cash loan to the WWF on two conditions: 1) they move their show to Tuesday nights and 2) Vince McMahon appear on Nitro for a 'fight' against Bischoff.

In the following week's Nitro main event, simulcast on both TNT and RAW on USA, Mr. McMahon appears for the fight and when the bell rings to start the match he uses the 'Fingerpoke of Doom' to defeat Bischoff in a matter of seconds. The two then laughingly embrace, and announce that they are now co-presidents of a new WCW / WWF joint production called the New Wrestling Order. For the first ever NWO Monday Nitro, they sign Shawn Hickenbottom to defend his World Title against Rocky Miavia and WWF Champion Bret Hart vs. Chris Benoit. From that point on Tuesday Night RAW would be exclusively WWF, Thunder on Thursdays would be for the WCW roster. and NWO Monday Nitro would feature all interpromotional matches.