Well, there it was. That quick flash of Hogan (minus beard), Hall and Nash in black & white in front on the NWO logo on RAW. We knew it was coming, it was going to happen....but now that it did, that was just really really strange. Really a surreal moment. I guess I just never expected to hear the words "Hogan, Hall and Nash" and "NWO" altogether on Raw. It's weird. Like the first time there was a star trek orginal series and next generation crossover. Was that too geeky a reference for all of you? Yeah? Well... Good!
They gotta bring these back!!!: "talk to the hand because the man don't understand." - "The Crippler" Chris Benoit "...and that is the LAST WORD." - "The Big Nasty" Paul Wight and of course: "Don't hate the playa...HATE THE GAME~!" - WCW World Champion Booker T
Well, I have to agree with ya steph. I have to admit that that's an inherent problem in the whole angle. They're building them up as this poison and self centered behind the scene cancers....but nothing's really been said about them being a threat in the ring. In all actuality, put rock, triple H and the apa (just to stiff them) in there and they'd get broken in half in a few minutes.
Then another part of me says let's see where this is going to go. It's funny, we look at Austin and while we know he's a great wrestler and talker he doesn't look that way to the uninformed. I was talking to a friend at work today who only watches it when her boyfriend makes her, and she can't believe that Austin is a credible wrestler because of the two HUGE knee braces. Now, I don't see it that way, since I can ignore that because I'm familiar with his character. Wrestling is all about the storyline, they just need to make us believe that they're a threat and it can make it worth our while.
They gotta bring these back!!!: "talk to the hand because the man don't understand." - "The Crippler" Chris Benoit "...and that is the LAST WORD." - "The Big Nasty" Paul Wight and of course: "Don't hate the playa...HATE THE GAME~!" - WCW World Champion Booker T
It really would be nice, though, if they bothered to give us SOME indication as to why Hall, Nash and Hogan are bad for the WWF. The people in the stands who don't know the story of the locker room nonsense at WCW, have no idea, except that if Vince is bringing them in, they must be bad people.
they have that WCW library, why don't we get a package each week showing the nWo wreaking havoc over the WCW? Or just one package? There were a few shots in the kid rock video, but what about the package that was put together for the Best of Nitro show last year? I had not been a wrestling fan during the invasion, and seeing that one package taught me everything I needed to know about the invasion. It would be good to show that to the rest of today's WWF fans.
It's interesting if you haven't already heard (and believed) that they wouldn't make their in-ring/on-camera (the Titan-Tron thing doesn't really count as "on-camera") debut until the No Way Out PPV.
(As a side note, the name of the PPV really has no significance towards the nWo. Someone Asked the Torch about that recently and the knowledgeable staff forgot that the original No Way Out PPV was named "No Way Out of Texas" and was a lead-in to the Shawn Michaels v. Steve Austin main event at WM14. Subsequent February PPVs were shortened to simply "No Way Out.")
I expect that the nWo will interfere in the main event just as Austin is about to win the title (for maximum heel effect) and will be mainly a group of heel stooges working for McMahon for the first month or so, as opposed to an actual "renegade" group. In all honesty, I don't see where this angle can go in the long term. I hope Vince didn't make the mistake of signing them to contracts longer than a year, because I don't think they're going to last longer than 9 months both as far as ring-shape and appeal.
Yeah, I don't see where they can go with this either. They aren't really that imposing physically compared to the WWF locker room, so it would be hard to put them over as badasses. The only thing I can see is maybe having them come out and have really bad, boring matches for a few months, then have them get stomped in a loser-leave town match. It's hard for me to understand how an angle can get over if for it to truly be over the NWO has to be bad for business.
"I'm not on some big ego rush. I'm not after the bright lights and the little women."--Stan Hansen.
Wow... why did we go from 'i cannot wait' to 'oh no'? We know them three aren't the best wrestlers, aren't the biggest in-ring threats but the emphasis is being put on them being poisons, cancers, guys that can destroy a federation by their political backstabbing and things.
You know the WWF is never united..has rock, taker, trip responded yet to the nwO? only austin showed up but that might as well be because he doesn't like Vince
If the nWo buys people backstage to help them and stuff they can become a threat to whatever you want them to go after. If they reach a goal and use their influence to make sure others don't come after them, to have people to job etc.. this will rule. Because you know it's all a work..they will get theirs.
Just because their mugs showed up on the tron doesn't mean this is horrible already? And why does one bad shot of Hall means he is still wasted? Perhaps they GO for that look?! "This guy here..he rambles for 20 minutes..this guy here, he is lazy in the ring and this guy..he shows up in terrible shape yet gets a big push"
I know I am looking forward to what is going to happen..
"...And I use that to fuck them some place fairly uncomfortable." "What, like the back of a volkswagen ?" -Mallrats
I think it would have been more effective for Vince just to say that he has now been forced to bring in the NWO and not actually show or name them until one or all of them show up to interfere in a high profile match. I'm thinking now that what Vince needs to do with them is not have them wrestle, but give them booking power. Then they could be an "axis of evil" booking all kinds of wierd stipulations and interfering in matches. This could lead to Flair attempting to counter their "bad" booking (think bossman vs. shawn stasiak matches) with his attempts at quality ( tajiri vs. hurricane.) The major factor with getting any angle over or completey killing it is JR's commentary. It's his stupid asses fault WCW in the WWF and the subsequent Invasion failed because of the way he sold it. Just like he drove Public Enemy out of the Fed by selling the "nobody wants them here" angle. JR just needs to put over his disgust of the NWO's tactics and drive it into the fan's heads that the interest is dying. They could even do something like hold off selling blocks of seats to make it appear that fans aren't showing up at tv's. then as the Flair led Fed makes its comeback, start papering the arenas until they get genuine sellouts again.
"My parents said I could be anything, so I became an ASSHOLE!"
I agree with pretty much all that has been said. Why not have Vince get Flair's final answer and walk off saying something like, "Ok, you made your decision, time for me to make mine." Then later in the show they could have shown the NWO commercial that has been floating around the web. That would have been more productive.
As it was, the crowd saw 3 OLD guys acting silly on the titantron. They weren't trying to look menacing or anything. If that were any indication, the "cool" NWO is going to be back. But why should The Rock, HHH, and Austin be scared of these guys? Maybe on the PPV it will be reveiled that the NWO have recruited some new members and the whole, "Whose side are you on" game will be played.
You might say, everyone is bitching about one Titantron appearance, but you know what? Small things like that is what doomed Invasion. Small mistakes like that show that that this might not be as thought out as have hoped. 2 weeks, Vince couldn't wait 2 weeks? I have all the hope in the world that this will work out, but I am getting a little skeptical.
January 4th 1999 - The day WCW injected itself with 10 gallons of Liquid Anthrax...AKA...The day Hogan "Defeated" Nash to win the WCW title in front of 40,000.
In WCW, the nWo was outnumbered at least 3 to 1. If the WCW guys wanted to they could have banded together and ran them out of the business. However, they could never get their act together, and ended up getting separated from the herd one at a time and destroyed. The nWo is supposed to be a gang. Individually, they don't have to be threatening, but en masse they are credible. There is too much (storyline) bad blood between WWF main eventers for them to function effectively as allies against the threat. They will probably add at least one imposing presence to the stable as an enforcer. Add to that the aura of distrust that will spread once people start defecting to the nWo and you have a very credible threat.
Originally posted by dskillzAs it was, the crowd saw 3 OLD guys acting silly on the titantron. They weren't trying to look menacing or anything. If that were any indication, the "cool" NWO is going to be back. You might say, everyone is bitching about one Titantron appearance, but you know what? Small things like that is what doomed Invasion. Small mistakes like that show that that this might not be as thought out as have hoped. 2 weeks, Vince couldn't wait 2 weeks? I have all the hope in the world that this will work out, but I am getting a little skeptical.
Ok..so they play the cool heels...in their own minds that is! What did you expect? I think that is the whole point to it. These guys think they are cool, think they are wanted still and think they can do whatever they want to do. That *IS* how they destroyed WWF. If they came in as bad ass triple H type heels it wouldn't be a poison, and whatever else Vince said.. And btw..to pull off a swerve like having someone join them, you have to make people think it's them three.. Then someone runs in and we JR can go like 'MY god! When did he return and WHO'S SIDE HIS HE ON!!?" Think about it..I believe I am right..and so can you (joke)
"...And I use that to fuck them some place fairly uncomfortable." "What, like the back of a volkswagen ?" -Mallrats
i agree with Tricknee... they dont have to be imposing on an individual basis... they just have to come in as a group and do everything they can to destroy the wwf.... add the enforcer (i'm thinking the big show)... and it will be really interesting.....
are you enjoying the dance of life?.... no?... change the music then.....
I think Benoit belongs in the anti-nWo group, be it "4 Horsemen" or something else. He still fits into the underdog category in the WWF. Big Show would be all right, but I'd like to see Scott Norton or an unmasked Kane. Add in Scott Steiner and X-Pac and you have legit threats to every belt. It would seem that the nWo will interfere on Jericho's behalf at no Way out, but I don't know if he'd fit in the group.
Fuel...I think you know I'm reasonable. I'm not saying Austin can't contribute anything. I just don't see why everyone kicked up a fuss when he came back like the world would reverse on its axis and it'd be 1998 again.