That Was Then 6.10.06: The New World Order In 1998

Posted by Sam Caplan on 06.10.2006

Dissension broke the New World Order into two rival factions in 1998...or did it? Relive the year that started the downhill slide for WCW. Also, a bonus rant on why Mick Foley is like a high school kid who won't go away!

Before we get started this week, a word on Mick Foley, if I may. We get some mixed reactions across the IWC on whether Mick Foley repeatedly coming back to WWE is a good idea or not, so here's my thoughts on Mick Foley's continued appearances.

Mick Foley is kind of like that weird guy you went to high school with. Nobody ever really paid much attention to him while he was there, but once he was gone he became a cult legend because of how charmingly goofy he was. He starts coming back to the school (WWE) every so often because he has some friends who still go there (Austin, Rock, the Attitude Era WWE fans) and now that he's only there in limited doses, people actually get excited when he comes around. However, soon those friends graduate as well, and the only people who remember him are the kids that were in like 8th and 9th grade when he was a senior. At this point he's more than just an old classmate that comes to visit every now and then, he becomes a veritable legend, the older guy that the kids have vague memories of, but not enough to remember all the stupid dorky stuff he did. They think he's really cool and funny and they love the rare occasions when he lets them come get drunk with him.

But finally, those kids are gone too, and all that's left is the kids who are too young to really know who he is. They wonder why this guy keeps coming around and trying to hang out with the cool kids (Edge & Lita). On top of that, he's quite a bit older than he used to be, and he's also gotten kinda fat. The cool kids won't come drinking with him anymore, and all the teenage girls who used to think he was the cute older guy don't think he's so cute anymore, he's actually kinda weird and gross. At this point, he's just coming back because he enjoyed the time after graduation when he was cooler than he could have ever hoped to be when he was actually in high school, but can't accept that the post-high school period of coolness is gone, and now he's really just a pathetic older guy facing an age he never thought he'd reach and is doing everything in his power to avoid facing up to the realities of his life in the here and now.

And for what it's worth, working the main event of Wrestlemania 2000 a month after he lost his retirement match was like showing up at your high school to visit on the first day of school the fall after you graduated.


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When we last left off in 1997, Sting had just defeated Hulk Hogan to win the WCW World Title, albeit under controversial circumstances. As 1998 began, the legitimacy of Sting's title reign came into question, and several different NWO members wanted to be the one to knock Sting off his perch. Of course Hulk Hogan wanted another shot at Sting, since the champion had never cleanly defeated him. But Scott Hall and Randy Savage also were in line for title shots, and wanted them before Hogan got his. This posturing would eventually lead to dissension that would tear the New World Order apart.

Part I: Dissension

At the first PPV of the year, Souled Out, Hulk Hogan got some good news: due to the circumstances surrounding their two previous meetings, the WCW World Title had been held up and Hogan would meet Sting at Superbrawl to determine the true champion. Although Hogan was happy to get this news, there were other people who weren't quite as happy with the news. Among them was Sting, who had given up the title and now had to beat Hogan again to regain it. Also, Scott Hall was not thrilled to hear this because, by virtue of his win at World War III the previous November, he was scheduled to challenge for the WCW World Title at Superbrawl, although he was informed that his title match would be pushed back to Uncensored the following month rather than be cancelled outright.

However, before Superbrawl came, dissension started brewing amongst the leaders of the NWO. The chief dissenter was Randy Savage, who had again become tired of being a second banana to Hogan. Hogan tried putting Savage in his place by preventing the NWO from interfering in Savage's match against Lex Luger at Superbrawl. Without interference from the NWO, Luger put Savage in the rack and got the submission. Savage would get some revenge later that night, coming into the ring and knocking Hogan out with a foreign object, allowing Sting to get the pin and regain the WCW World Title. Hogan was livid that Savage, who was supposed to be on his side, cost him the title that meant more to him than anything. They ended up facing one another in a cage match at Uncensored, and were fighting tooth and nail when Sting (who had successfully defended the WCW Title against Scott Hall earlier in the evening) got in the cage and tried to help Savage against Hogan, but rather than allow Sting to get between them, the two NWO members instead put their differences aside and beat Sting down two-on-one to close the show.

They seemed to reconcile that night, but the tension between the members of the NWO would continue. Kevin Nash was granted a shot at Sting's title on Nitro after Uncensored, but Hogan's interference (ostensibly on Nash's behalf) caused Nash to be disqualified and lose his shot at becoming WCW World Champion. Everything came to a head at Spring Stampede. Sting, angered at Savage's betrayal, agreed to put the WCW World Title on the line in order to get the Macho Man in the ring. In the meantime, Hulk Hogan would team with Kevin Nash to face longtime NWO nemesis Roddy Piper and the Giant (who had been chasing Nash since Nash skipped their Starrcade match, then almost crippled Giant with a botched powerbomb at Souled Out) in a baseball bat match. The NWO side got the bat first and Hogan used it to put Piper down for the count, but then Hogan turned on his partner and laid Nash out as well. In addition to his already addressing his issues with Nash, Hogan still had a score to settle with Savage. Any reconciliation between the two men had disappeared the second Savage accepted a shot at the title Hogan perceived to be his. Hogan got involved and, ironically, attempted to help Sting beat Savage by attacking the Macho Man, but Nash got a little revenge on Hogan by powerbombing Sting and putting Savage on top for the pin and the WCW World Title.

The official split came the night after Spring Stampede. Hogan came out and announced that the NWO had split in two, and that Nash and Savage had been booted out of Hogan's half (now called NWO Hollywood), and were no longer welcome in the group, then challenged Savage to defend the WCW World Title against him that night. Savage accepted, and they met again in the main event of the evening. After interference from Bret Hart, Hogan had ended his former friend's title reign after only one day, and was again the WCW World Champion. Nash and Savage responded by announcing that they were forming their own faction of the NWO, called NWO Wolfpac. The Wolfpac, which would use red and black colors instead of the traditional black and white that NWO Hollywood was using, already included Nash's partner Scott Hall, and in the weeks following, they recruited Konnan and Curt Hennig to their side, and even managed to draw WCW loyalist Lex Luger to their side as well.

The battle lines were drawn.

Part II: NWO Wolfpac

The Wolfpac was full of confidence following the split, as they had most of the marquee players on their side. A match was signed for the main event of Slamboree, with Hall and Nash defending the WCW World Tag Team Title against the WCW team of Sting and the Giant. Both the Wolfpac and Sting were thrown a curveball early on, as the Giant attacked the Wolfpac and revealed that he had joined NWO Hollywood. So now the match shaped up as a Wolfpac team against a combined WCW/NWO Hollywood team, which put Sting in a very difficult position, as he was now teaming with a member of the very group he had opposed for two years. The situation got even murkier when Sting and the Giant won the titles after Scott Hall turned on his best friend Nash and rejoined Hulk Hogan in NWO Hollywood.

Now the focus of both sides' recruiting effort turned to Sting. Sting had always been a WCW loyalist, but his championship partner was a member of NWO Hollywood. In the meantime, Sting's best friend Lex Luger had joined NWO Wolfpac and had been urging Sting to join him in the splinter group. Sting finally seemed to have made his decision when he joined NWO Hollywood in the ring on Nitro and revealed that he was wearing a black and white NWO shirt, but as Hogan and his team celebrated, Sting surprise attacked NWO Hollywood and cleared them out of the ring, then tore off his shirt to reveal a black and red NWO Wolfpac shirt on underneath.

Since Sting was now a member of NWO Wolfpac and the Giant was a member of NWO Hollywood, it followed that they would not, philosophically speaking, be able to coexist as champions. To settle that situation, Sting and the Giant met at the Great American Bash, with the winner getting the WCW World Tag Team Title and the ability to pick a new partner. The Giant had the size advantage, but Sting hit the big man with three Scorpion Deathdrops to score his first ever win over the Giant and earn sole possession of the World Tag Team Title. The next night he picked Kevin Nash as his partner.

However, even though the Wolfpac now had the World Tag Team Title, they had suffered several setbacks coming out of the Great American Bash. First, Curt Hennig had claimed an injury and gave Konnan his US Title shot against Goldberg at the Bash. Konnan lost the match, and Hennig beat him up after the match, then removed his Wolfpac shirt to reveal a black and white NWO shirt, revealing that he was a double agent for NWO Hollywood all along. Also, Randy Savage's injured knee had been even more badly hurt in his two matches at the Great American Bash, and he wound up on the shelf indefinitely as well. Now the Wolfpac was down to Nash, Sting, Luger, and Konnan.

Finally, a month later, Sting and Nash lost the World Tag Team Title to Scott Hall and the Giant. It looked as if the Wolfpac had become overconfident, and had been too quick to splinter from NWO Hollywood and the leadership of Hulk Hogan.

Part III: NWO Hollywood

Hollywood Hulk Hogan and his half of the NWO had a more successful, certainly higher profile summer than the Wolfpac. Their numbers were bolstered by the additions of Scott Steiner, Scott Hall, and Wolfpac defectee Curt Hennig, giving them a psychological advantage over the Wolfpac, if nothing else. However, NWO Hollywood's main focus was still on their leader, Hulk Hogan.

Hogan had regained the WCW World Title when he beat Randy Savage the night after Uncensored, but like usual, he rarely defended the title. Luckily for WCW, this would not be a long title reign, as Hogan was soon faced with hot newcomer Bill Goldberg. Goldberg had racked up an impressive undefeated record and had defeated Raven to win the WCW US Title the night after Spring Stampede, the very same night Hogan had regained the WCW Title. After three more months of one-sided victories over everybody thrown in his path, Goldberg was deemed top contender to the WCW World Title from Randy Savage. Hogan agreed to defend the title against Goldberg, but only if he could defeat Scott Hall earlier in the evening. Goldberg beat Hall and then went on to defeat Hogan later that evening to claim the WCW World Title.

Even though he was no longer the World Champion, Hogan still main evented every PPV he was on and was the focus of WCW TV. Perhaps realizing he needed to do something to keep his name in the limelight after losing the title, he called back Dennis Rodman for another tag match at Bash At The Beach, and this time the two would face Diamond Dallas Page and Karl Malone, another basketball player. After interference from the Disciple, Hogan and Rodman picked up the win.

However, Page wanted another shot at Hogan, and this time he went out and got an even better tag team partner, and that man was none other than...Jay Leno, host of the Tonight Show. He picked Leno because, for weeks, Eric Bischoff had been going on Nitro and hosting his own talk show segment, called NWO Nightcap, and blatantly ripped off all the jokes Leno was using on the Tonight Show after Leno had used them. Page and Leno challenged Hogan and Bischoff to a tag match in the main event of Road Wild. This time, DDP and Leno got the win after interference from Leno's band leader.

Fortunately, no more celebrities were on their way into the ring anytime soon, but now Hogan was faced with a demon from his past when the (formerly Ultimate) Warrior made his return to wrestling in WCW. Hogan had lost their only one-on-one meeting at Wrestlemania 6, and that loss had hung over his head like a specter for eight and a half years, and now he was once more faced with a challenge from this man. Hogan wanted no part of him, but Warrior continued to haunt Hogan. Warrior's first move was to brainwash Hogan's lackey, the Disciple, into leaving Hogan to join the Warrior's side. The mind games would continue, as one night Hogan was in his dressing room with Eric Bischoff when he saw an image of the Warrior in his mirror, and freaked out at this appearance, which Bischoff apparently couldn't see.

Hogan spent weeks running from the Warrior. They were both signed to appear in the Wargames main event at Fall Brawl, but when the Warrior made his entrance, Hogan ran from the cage and Warrior chased him to the back. A couple of weeks later on Nitro, Hogan was signed to team with Bret Hart against the Warrior and Sting, but again Warrior chased Hogan out of the arena, and their partners were left alone in what amounted to a singles match.

Hogan and the Warrior finally met in only their second ever one-on-one match at Halloween Havoc. This match was not the classic that their Wrestlemania 6 match had been, and even saw Hogan screw up a fireball attempt. Although this slow and plodding match was a far cry from their first meeting, Hogan finally got his win back when his nephew Horace hit Warrior with a chair and he scored the pin. Following the match, Hogan decided that with this win over the Warrior, he had nothing left to accomplish in the world of wrestling. He announced his retirement from the ring and his plans to run for President of the United States of America, making Scott Steiner the new leader of NWO Hollywood almost as an afterthought on his way out.

Part IV: Nash Is Next

NWO Wolfpac had stagnated throughout the summer and fall of 1998 after losing several matches to members of NWO Hollywood. Their numbers had depleted, and none of them accomplished anything significant after the split. For his part, Nash seemed strangely nonagressive considering that his best friend had turned on him and joined the enemy. Nash rarely mentioned Hall for months, preferring instead to concentrate on Wolfpac matters rather than a feud with Hall.

That changed in the fall, when Hall would often come to the ring under the influence and harass his former partner. Nash tried to ignore him, but Hall got more and more belligerent, and soon the harrassment turned to physical attacks. Finally Nash had had enough of Hall's antics and agreed to face Hall at Halloween Havoc. That night, Hall came to the ring with a drink in his hand, apparently under the influence once again. Nash didn't want to face Hall while he was in that state, but it was all a ruse, Hall threw his drink in Nash's face and attacked him. Even though Hall had the psychological advantage, Nash soon turned the tables. Nash hit two powerbombs on Hall, but rather than pin him, Nash just walked out of the ring and to the back, giving Hall a countout win.

They were scheduled to have a rematch the following month at World War III, but events took an unexpected turn when Eric Bischoff came out before the match and publicly booted Hall out of NWO Hollywood. As usual, this proclamation was accompanied by a beatdown from NWO Hollywood, but Nash unexpectedly ran out from the back and chased off Hall's assailants. Hall did not expect Nash to help him out, and despite saving his butt, Nash still didn't trust Hall and wasn't ready to accept him back into the Wolfpac after Hall had turned his back on him months earlier.

Nash had other things on his mind besides Scott Hall. After saving Hall at World War III, Nash went on later in the evening to win the World War III battle royal and earn a WCW World Title shot at Starrcade. There, he would be faced with Bill Goldberg, the very man who had taken the title from Hulk Hogan. After defeating Hogan, Goldberg remained unstoppable. Goldberg had continued to obliterate every wrestler thrown in his path, including a win over Curt Hennig at Bash At The Beach and a second win over Hennig the following night, then followed that up with a win in a battle royal in which all the other participants were NWO members, then went on to defeat Diamond Dallas Page at Halloween Havoc. Out of all his opponents, Page was the only one who even managed to stretch Goldberg past the ten minute mark.

Goldberg, still undefeated at that point, was faced with the seven foot Nash in the main event of Starrcade. Nash, for his part, didn't seem to sweat Goldberg, making jokes about "being next" in the weeks leading up to the show. Although they tried to keep it clean, the match was marred with interference. Disco Inferno and Bam Bam Bigelow both tried to get involved, but were taken out by Nash and Goldberg. But as the referee's back was turned, Scott Hall ran out and zapped Goldberg with a taser, then disappeared before anyone noticed he was even there. The rest was academic, Nash powerbombed Goldberg and pinned him to hand Goldberg his first loss and win the WCW World Title.

That might seem like the end of the story, but the next night on Nitro, Nash came out to the ring and informed the crowd that he was not aware of Hall's interference on his behalf at Starrcade, and didn't want to accept the win as it stood. He offered Goldberg a rematch the following week on Nitro, and Goldberg accepted. Now, we're going to break our usual rule here and go just over the line to the first Nitro of 1999. As Goldberg was preparing for his title match, the police came and arrested Goldberg on charges of stalking Miss Elizabeth. Goldberg was cuffed and taken to the police station, and would apparently miss his shot at regaining the WCW Title.

As it turned out, there would be a WCW World Title match after all, only it wouldn't be Goldberg challenging. As Goldberg was being escorted out of the building, Hulk Hogan (who was at Nitro to promote his run for President), laughed and ridiculed Goldberg on his way out. Nash said that even though he had no evidence, he knew Hogan was behind Goldberg's arrest, and challenged Hogan to get in the ring with him since Nash now had no challenger. Hogan came out for the main event accompanied by Scott Steiner, but when Nash came to the ring, he was unexpectedly accompanied by Scott Hall, who he had apparently made peace with.

The bell rang and the two stood across the ring from each other, then locked up. Nash shoved Hogan off into the corner, and Hogan came back out and was about to go for a punch when he stopped and tapped Nash on the chest with one finger. Nash dropped like a rock, and Hogan covered him for the pin and the WCW World Title. Hall, Nash, Hogan and Steiner embraced, and it now became clear that they were all in league the whole time. Goldberg finally returned to the arena after being released by the police and rushed the ring, but was beaten down. Lex Luger ran in and chased the NWO members out, but that also proved to be a ruse, as he turned and attacked Goldberg, then put him in the rack. He finally released Goldberg, and Marcus Bagwell came in and spraypainted Goldberg's head red and black, then spraypainted the NWO logo back onto the WCW Title belt, this time in red.

As Goldberg lay beaten in the ring, Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, Scott Steiner, Lex Luger, and Marcus Bagwell celebrated in the middle of the ring as the now-reunited NWO elite. Hogan was again WCW World Champion, and the NWO was once more the single dominant faction in WCW.

Part V: A Few Other Things

In addition to all of this, 1998 saw the NWO bring us...

-Steiner vs Steiner

The Steiners started 1998 as the WCW World Tag Team Champions, but at Superbrawl VIII, Scott Steiner, who had been teasing a heel turn for months, finally turned on his brother Rick and essentially handed the title back to the Outsiders. Scott decided that he was sick of carrying Rick around and wanted to show what he could do on his own. Although he got off to a rough start with a loss to Lex Luger at Uncensored (due to Rick's interference) and a tag team loss at Spring Stampede to Rick and Lex Luger (when Rick chased Scott to the back and left his partner Buff Bagwell alone to lose to Luger), he soon got in his licks by injuring Rick's shoulder and putting him on the shelf for several months. When Rick returned, Scott tried everything he could to avoid getting in the ring with his brother, including pretending to be injured and dependent on a respirator (at Road Wild), and also by having Buff Bagwell pretend to have reinjured the neck that was broken at the hands of Rick months earlier. However, Rick finally got Scott in the ring at Halloween Havoc when he teamed with Bagwell (who had apparently been turned on by Scott) to face Scott and the Giant. Although Bagwell predictably turned on Rick, Rick first pinned the Giant (to claim the WCW World Tag Team Title, which had been put on the line in this match) and then immediately afterward beat Scott in a one-on-one match to win the feud.

-The Return Of Ric Flair

In spring of 1998, Ric Flair was suspended from WCW for missing a date to watch his son wrestle in an amateur tournament. Months later, Dean Malenko and Chris Benoit were pressuring Arn Anderson to reform the Horsemen. Arn initially refused, but then in September, Anderson caved in and reformed the Horsemen, but realized that he almost forgot to introduce the fourth Horsemen, and announced Ric Flair's return to WCW. Flair came out to a thunderous ovation, which truly moved him. He gave a speech about how happy he was to be back, how much he appreciated the reception he got, and then announced that his first target would be Eric Bischoff, who had kept him out of WCW for all those months. A match was signed between the two for Starrcade, with the stipulation that if Ric Flair won, he would get Bischoff's post as President of WCW, and if Bischoff won, Flair would be suspended from WCW for 30 days. With help from Curt Hennig, Bischoff defeated Flair, but Flair came back the next night and said he wanted another shot, double or nothing. They met again and this time Flair won, sending Bischoff packing and earning the position as President of WCW in the process.

-Bret Hart

After the famous Montreal Incident, Bret Hart came to WCW and was immediately thrown into the mix with the top players. He challenged and defeated Ric Flair at Souled Out, then followed that up with a win over Curt Hennig at Uncensored. However, the next night, his interference cost Randy Savage the WCW World Title to Hulk Hogan, with the reasoning being that when he won the WCW World Title, he wanted to beat Hogan for the title, not Savage. He did meet Savage in the ring at Slamboree and beat him by submission, but wound up teaming with Hogan over the next several months rather than fighting him. Hart and Hogan defeated Roddy Piper and Randy Savage at the Great American Bash when Hart again made Savage submit. He picked up the vacant US Title in the summer, and although Hart didn't become an official member of the NWO, he often teamed with Hogan and they had several common enemies. However, one man he wound not fight was Sting, who he claimed he would not sneak attack because he respected him. That turned out to be a ruse, because Hart interfered in a match between Hogan and Sting in the fall, and he and Hogan beat Sting down. Hart and Sting met at Halloween Havoc, where Hart used Sting's own baseball bat to knock Sting out for the victory and put him out of action with a concussion.

Conclusion

As convoluted as the end of 1997 had been, 1998's ending was even moreso. Goldberg had had his legs cut out from under him in much the same way as Sting had the year before. Even though he should have gone down in defeat and never been seen again, Hulk Hogan was back and was yet again the WCW World Champion and leader of the reunited New World Order. The split of the NWO into two rival factions and subsequent reunion only served to render almost the entire past year of storytelling meaningless. On top of everything else, the NWO had gone from the invading force that WCW faces and heels alike banded together to fight, to the ruling class that nobody could depose. Much like Emperor Palpatine, Hulk Hogan was very much the unchallenged Dictator of WCW. Almost every wrestler whose name meant anything in WCW was now a member of the NWO. Who was left to challenge the group?

The first name to come to mind would, of course, be Goldberg. When he lost the WCW Title at Starrcade, Goldberg had gone from unbeatable monster to chump in three seconds flat, and his position in the second tier was only solidified when the title moved back to Hogan two weeks later. Would Goldberg be able to regain his credibility and challenge the NWO once more in 1999? Where did Sting stand? He was a member of the Wolfpac through most of 19989, but was out of action with an injury when the reunion took place. Would he remain an NWO member when he returned, or would he rejoin the side of WCW?

Ric Flair had returned after months in exile to defeat Eric Bischoff and become President of WCW. Would he use his newfound power to try and bring the NWO down at last? Also, Diamond Dallas Page didn't spend as much time tangling with the NWO in 1998 as he had the year before, but he ended the year as US Champion once more. Would he take the next step in 1999 and defeat Hulk Hogan to win his first WCW World Title?

The futures of WCW and the NWO seemed murky, but all the answers would come in the new year, and will be answered here next week, as we look back at the dying years of the NWO in 1999 and 2000.