The New World Order (commonly abbreviated as nWo ) was an American professional wrestling group who originally consisted of "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan , Scott Hall , and Kevin Nash .
232-623: The stable originated in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) with the gimmick of a group of unsanctioned wrestlers aiming to " take over " and control WCW in the manner of a street gang . The group later appeared in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF; now WWE) after the purchase of WCW by the WWF. The nWo angle became one of the most influential storylines in the mid-to-late 1990s success of WCW and
464-509: A Career Threatening match on March 30, 2008, at WrestleMania XXIV . Afterwards, Batista confronted Michaels about his actions at WrestleMania, calling him selfish and egotistical. On April 27 at Backlash , with Chris Jericho as the guest referee , Michaels defeated Batista. Jericho then confronted Michaels, in which he admitted to faking a knee injury in order to defeat Batista. Michaels defeated Jericho on May 18 at Judgment Day . At One Night Stand on June 1, Michaels lost to Batista in
696-505: A Street Fight after he applied a sharpshooter on Michaels, leading to McMahon ordering for the bell to be rung though Michaels did not submit, which was an allusion to the "Montreal Screwjob". Despite interference from the Spirit Squad and Shane, Michaels defeated McMahon on April 2 at WrestleMania 22 in a No Holds Barred match . At Backlash on April 30, The McMahons (Vince and Shane) defeated Michaels and " God " with help from
928-525: A battle royal to select his entry number for the Royal Rumble , choosing number two in order to start the match with Michaels, who had already been named number one. At the Royal Rumble on January 19, Jericho, with the help of Christian , eliminated Michaels. Michaels later interfered in the match, causing Jericho to be eliminated. Michaels defeated Jericho on March 30 at WrestleMania XIX but
1160-539: A con-chair-to after a handicap match against Edge and Orton. At the Royal Rumble on January 28, Michaels was the last man eliminated in the Royal Rumble match by the winner of the match, The Undertaker. On the January 29 episode of Raw , Michaels captured the World Tag Team Championship with WWE Champion John Cena after defeating Rated-RKO. At WrestleMania 23 on April 1, Cena retained
1392-422: A glass window on the set of Beefcake's talk show. Jannetty returned to the WWF the following year and enjoyed moderate success before leaving the company in 1994, while Michaels became a prominent villain of the early to mid-1990s as "The Boy Toy". At the suggestion of Curt Hennig , Michaels adopted the nickname "The Heartbreak Kid". Along with his new name came a new gimmick as a vain, cocky villain . He
1624-475: A handicap match with Hassan and Daivari. Bischoff refused to schedule such a match and instead told Michaels to find a partner. Michaels then made a plea for Hulk Hogan to come back and team with him. On the April 18 episode of Raw , Hassan again led an attack on Michaels until Hogan appeared to save Michaels and accept his offer. At Backlash on May 1, Hogan and Michaels defeated Hassan and Daivari. Later, in
1856-492: A powerbomb on the champion, earning Savage the win, the title, and the ire of Hogan who came out following the match proclaiming that Savage had "his title". Hogan and The Disciple then attacked Nash and Savage to close out the show. The next night on Nitro , Hogan issued a challenge to the new champion for his title, and WCW commissioner Roddy Piper made the match a no disqualification match and declared that no run-ins would be permitted. Savage and Nash made their own speech
2088-605: A ratings competition against the flagship program of the WWF, Monday Night Raw , in a period now known as the Monday Night War . From 1996 to 1998, WCW surpassed their rival program in the ratings for 83 consecutive weeks. Beginning in 1999, WCW endured significant losses in ratings and revenue due to creative missteps and suffered from the fallout from the 2001 merger of America Online (AOL) and Turner Broadcasting parent Time Warner (later WarnerMedia, now known as Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD)). Soon thereafter, WCW
2320-520: A sledgehammer after the match. At Survivor Series on November 17, Michaels won the World Heavyweight Championship from Triple H in the first Elimination Chamber match. On December 15 at Armageddon , he lost the championship to Triple H in a Three Stages of Hell match . Michaels then began a rivalry with Chris Jericho , after Jericho claimed that he was the next Shawn Michaels. On January 13, 2003, after Jericho won
2552-634: A stretcher match . On the June 9 episode of Raw , Michaels was attacked by Chris Jericho during his talk show segment, The Highlight Reel , being thrown directly through a television screen. The following week, it was revealed that, within the context of the storyline, Michaels had suffered a detached retina. On July 20 at The Great American Bash , Jericho defeated Michaels by referee stoppage after assaulting Michaels's eyes. At SummerSlam on August 17, Michaels announced his retirement from professional wrestling. That night, Jericho punched Michaels's wife in
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#17327906891962784-418: A "big surprise" for fellow professional wrestler Sting . On the following Nitro , the big surprise was revealed to be Nash. Hall and Nash were then dubbed as The Outsiders , randomly appearing at WCW events to cause trouble and inevitably be led out of the building by security. Hall and Nash were both fully employed by WCW, but the storyline implied that they were contracted WWF wrestlers "invading" WCW. This
3016-405: A "family-friendly" orientation, and drop the reforms that turned around the company's fortunes. Concurrently to WCW beginning to struggle under the weight of its own momentum, the WWF began to turn the corner on its own reforms. Having been caught flatfooted by the total reconfiguration of WCW and the success of Nitro in 1996 and 1997, by 1998 the WWF was building its own momentum. Taking most of
3248-475: A "free agent", helped Hogan win. Savage participated in a post-match beatdown of Piper, officially cementing his place in the nWo. The next night on Nitro , Savage helped the Outsiders get revenge on DDP by attacking him from behind while they distracted him, and reunited with Miss Elizabeth. Later, Bischoff returned the tag team titles to The Outsiders, as Luger had been injured and was not cleared to wrestle in
3480-563: A "knee injury" caused by a chair to his knee, would be the storyline angle for writing Savage off of TV, and he would then take a hiatus from the company to recover from at least two major knee surgeries. This would be Savage's final appearance with the Wolfpac, and with the nWo as a whole. In the meantime, a new contender for Hogan's championship emerged in the form of undefeated rookie and current United States Heavyweight Champion Goldberg , who had racked up an impressive string of victories. On
3712-530: A 4-on-3 handicap match , lost when the nWo Sting locked Luger in the Scorpion Death Lock . The next night on Nitro , an angry Sting laid into his fellow wrestlers and co-workers as well as the fans for doubting his true colors. He came out unexpectedly, with no music or pyrotechnics, and kept his back to the camera purposely as he spoke: Sting : I want a chance to explain something that happened last Monday night at Nitro . Last Monday night, I
3944-449: A Hell in a Cell match, ending the feud. At Cyber Sunday on November 5, DX lost to Rated-RKO (Edge and Randy Orton ) after fan-selected referee Eric Bischoff allowed the illegal use of a steel chair to give Rated-RKO the ill-gotten win and the plaudit of being the first tag team to defeat DX in a tag team match since their reformation in June 2006. On November 26 at Survivor Series , Team DX emerged victorious against Team Rated-RKO in
4176-561: A WrestleMania rematch, Michaels defeated Kurt Angle (who was drafted to Raw in the draft lottery ) on June 26 at Vengeance . On the July 4 episode of Raw , after defeating Carlito and Kurt Angle, Michaels hit Hogan with his Sweet Chin Music , knocking Hogan to the ground and turning heel for the first time since 1998. The following week on Raw , Michaels appeared on Piper's Pit where he superkicked Roddy Piper and then challenged Hogan to
4408-484: A botched move at Starrcade 1999 , followed just days later by Goldberg very seriously injuring himself during an angle on Thunder , and Hollywood Hogan seemingly quitting the company live on PPV at Bash at the Beach 2000 only seemed to further a sense that the company was spiralling out of control. By July 2000 Bischoff had walked off the job. In 2000, several potential buyers for WCW were rumored to show interest in
4640-473: A career in professional wrestling. His cousin Matt Bentley is also a wrestler. Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s Hickenbottom began to train under Mexican professional wrestler Jose Lothario . During his training, Hickenbottom adopted the ring name, "Shawn Michaels". After his training with Lothario, he debuted as Shawn Michaels with
4872-415: A clean sweep victory. At New Year's Revolution on January 7, 2007, Triple H suffered a legit torn right quadriceps during their match with Rated-RKO. Rated-RKO claimed victory over DX, citing Triple H's injury, as the "end" of DX. On the January 15 episode of Raw , Michaels lived up to his word of "dealing" with Rated-RKO, from his comments the previous week before, when he took out Randy Orton with
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#17327906891965104-400: A contract, came to the ring to confront Hogan. Piper began looking for a match with Hogan the following night on Nitro . In the storyline, WCW only recognized Hogan, Nash, and Hall as WCW employees due to their holding WCW championships , and the other nWo members went unrecognized as WCW employees; because of this, they were unable to wrestle other WCW wrestlers. This led to the nWo starting
5336-570: A duo. The pairing was not cohesive and frequently chafed over the direction of the company. Creatively, the year 2000 saw WCW attempt numerous publicity stunts to gain traction, such as making actor David Arquette (who then had no professional wrestling experience) the WCW World Heavyweight Champion. These moves only served to push traditional wrestling fans away from WCW. Events such as Goldberg forcing WCW World Heavyweight Champion Bret Hart into retirement following
5568-442: A fast count. In reality, Nick Patrick was supposed to make a fast count, revealing himself to be a crooked official for the nWo. But for whatever reason, Patrick counted a legitimate three-count instead, leading many to speculate that backstage politics were at play. Bret Hart, who was acting as a referee for the event, ordered the match to restart as a result of the controversy. Hogan then submitted to Sting's Scorpion Death Lock , and
5800-494: A few weeks to have back surgery and by the time he returned DX was on the way of dissolving within the next couple of months. On November 23, 1999, Michaels made a special appearance for Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling at the 10th Anniversary Show at the Yokohama Arena , serving as the guest referee for the H vs fake Hayabusa (Mr. Gannosuke) main event. He got himself involved in the match when Gannosuke delivered
6032-469: A ladder match between the two on March 20 at WrestleMania X . Michaels lost the match, which featured both his and Ramon's championship belts suspended above a ladder in the ring. This match was voted by fans as " Match of the Year " by Pro Wrestling Illustrated . It also received a five-star rating from Wrestling Observer Newsletter editor Dave Meltzer , the first of nine WWF/E matches to do so. Over
6264-436: A ladder match, which Michaels won. Around this time, Michaels became the leader of a backstage group known as The Kliq . Critics perceive the group to have sufficient clout with WWF owner Vince McMahon, becoming dominant wrestling figures in the WWF for several years in the mid-1990s, causing friction with other wrestlers. Michaels disputes the perception, saying that McMahon pushed only deserving wrestlers. Michaels's fan base
6496-411: A little later, where Nash said to Hogan "have a nice life" and implied that the nWo was not going to be together, at least in its current form, when the night was over. Late in the match, while Hogan and Savage were fighting in a corner, The Disciple entered the ring and gave referee Nick Patrick a neckbreaker . While this was allowed, due to the match being no disqualification, it also meant that no one
6728-523: A low blow on him and he responded later on with Sweet Chin Music . Michaels made occasional appearances as the WWF Commissioner during the spring and summer of 1999, but remained absent from television after August until May 15, 2000, when he returned on Raw Is War to declare himself the special guest referee for The Rock and Triple H's Iron Man match at Judgment Day . One month later, Michaels briefly reappeared on Raw Is War to hand over
6960-471: A low ebb. To counter this, Bischoff felt that WCW was in need of radical reform; to this end, Bischoff sought to modernise WCW and move its image away from that of a Southern-based " rasslin " company. To achieve this, Bischoff increased WCW's production values, avoided unprofitable house shows , increased the number of WCW pay-per-views (PPVs, which were profitable), decreased the number of Southern accents on commentary, and began recruiting top stars away from
7192-462: A match at SummerSlam , which Hogan accepted the following week. Hogan defeated Michaels at SummerSlam on August 21, and after the match Michaels extended his hand to him, saying "I needed to know, and I found out" and he and Hogan shook hands. Michaels left the ring to allow Hogan to celebrate with the crowd, turning face once again. He became the first person to cleanly defeat Chris Masters on September 18 at Unforgiven with Sweet Chin Music . On
New World Order (professional wrestling) - Misplaced Pages Continue
7424-703: A match at the next pay-per-view event Bash at the Beach , and then directly asked both Hall and Nash if they were employed by the WWF, to which they said no. The WWF, still unsatisfied, filed a lawsuit, claiming that Bischoff had proposed inter-promotional matches that would air on TBS and TNT , thereby associating the two promotions with each other. Also at The Great American Bash, both Hall and Nash pressed Bischoff to name his company's three representatives for their impending match. Bischoff said that he had found three men who would answer their challenge, but would not name them. This would lead to Hall and Nash attacking Bischoff, culminating with Nash powerbombing Bischoff off
7656-451: A match for the vacated WCW World Heavyweight Championship due to interference from Randy Savage. After SuperBrawl, Savage then made his intentions clear and declared that he no longer needed the nWo's help to win matches. Savage also claimed that Hogan had dropped the ball, and that he was going after Sting to try to bring the world championship back to the nWo. Hogan and Savage tried to one-up each other on episodes of Nitro and Thunder over
7888-656: A notable exception for almost a decade and a half. After the Invasion storyline concluded, the WWF divided the roster into two brands which was originally intended to revive WCW under the WWF umbrella but was instead divided into Raw and SmackDown! brands, named after two WWF's top programs at the time. Many other WCW wrestlers moved to the World Wrestling All-Stars (WWA) or the XWF and then Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) which all started after
8120-440: A number of Sting/Nash matches, not wanting to have to face Nash for what Hogan claimed was "his title". Nash supported Savage in his quest to defeat Sting, but also agreed to team with Hogan against the returning Roddy Piper and The Giant in a Baseball Bat on a Pole match . At Spring Stampede , Hogan and Nash defeated Piper and The Giant. After the match, however, Hogan assaulted Nash. Nash later helped Savage defeat Sting by hitting
8352-505: A one-year general employment contract from John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL). After failing to help JBL win the World Heavyweight Championship from John Cena on January 25, 2009, at the Royal Rumble , and being derided for it, Michaels agreed to face JBL in "All or Nothing" match at No Way Out on February 15, which Michaels won thus letting him out of his contract early while still receiving full payment. On
8584-399: A period of mainstream success characterized by a shift to reality-based storylines , and notable hirings of former WWF talent. WCW also gained attention for developing a popular cruiserweight division, which showcased an acrobatic, fast-paced, lucha libre -inspired style of wrestling. In 1995, WCW debuted their live flagship television program Monday Nitro , and subsequently developed
8816-526: A reunited nWo in the widely panned " Fingerpoke of Doom " angle. By September 1999, the rapidly declining ratings of Nitro (now half that of Raw ), drastic dropoff in revenue, and the increasing antagonism between Eric Bischoff and Time Warner executives prompted the head of Turner Sports , Harvey Schiller , to relieve Bischoff of his position. Almost immediately Schiller found a duo to replace Bischoff: former head writers for Raw Vince Russo and Ed Ferrera . Russo had just weeks prior walked off
9048-743: A segment on Saturday Night , called nWo Saturday Night , where nWo stable members wrestled local jobbers inside an empty arena. The nWo also used their "financing" to purchase ad time during WCW programming, which amounted to low budget anti-WCW propaganda, or "hijack" the broadcast signal. On November 18, 1996, Nitro was live at the Florence Civic Center in Florence, South Carolina and opened with Hall and Nash physically attacking The Nasty Boys ( Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags ), High Voltage ( Robbie Rage and Kenny Kaos ), Ciclope , and Galaxy and forcing Tony Schiavone to walk off
9280-479: A split between the two, a storyline that was drawn out until Survivor Series on November 24. Michaels won the Royal Rumble on January 2, 1995, which set up a championship grudge match on March 20 at WrestleMania XI against Diesel (who had gone on to win the WWF Championship from Bob Backlund ). As part of the storyline, Michaels recruited Sid as his bodyguard for the build-up, lost the match and
9512-485: A threat to the WCW locker room: all wrestlers were given thirty days to convert their WCW contracts into nWo contracts and join the group. Marcus Bagwell (redubbed " Buff Bagwell ") immediately accepted the offer, betraying his tag team partner Scotty Riggs in the process. Mr. Wallstreet was offered a contract to join the group on December 9 by his former partner, Dibiase, and accepted. Japanese wrestler Masahiro Chono joined
New World Order (professional wrestling) - Misplaced Pages Continue
9744-490: A three volume series hosted by Diamond Dallas Page called The Very Best of WCW Monday Nitro . WCW's library content would be made available with the launch of WWE Network in 2014. WWE would revive several of WCW's events, including Great American Bash in 2004, Starrcade in 2017 and Halloween Havoc in 2020. WWE also utilized the Night of Champions name and theme used on the last episode of Nitro beginning in 2001, which
9976-491: A tirade against the fans while taking another shot at Bischoff and some of the newer talent the fans were cheering. Okerlund (pointing at the debris on the mat ): Look at all of this crap in this ring! This is what's in the future for you, if you wanna hang around the likes of this man Hall and this man Nash. Hogan : As far as I'm concerned, all this crap in the ring represents these fans out here! For two years, brother! For two years, I held my head high! I did everything for
10208-453: A trio), and were joined in the following weeks by Curt Hennig, Miss Elizabeth , Rick Rude and Dusty Rhodes. The Wolfpac became the first nWo incarnation to wrestle as faces. Hogan's side retained the black and white colors of the original nWo and took on the moniker nWo Hollywood , with Vincent, Bischoff, Scott Steiner, Scott Norton, Brian Adams, Buff Bagwell and The Disciple on his side. At May's Slamboree , Nash and Hall were set to defend
10440-481: A unique and popular identity by integrating and mixing wrestlers from all around the world and from vastly different wrestling styles, particularly Mexican luchadores such as Rey Misterio Jr. , Psicosis , and Juventud Guerrera , but also Japanese "Super Juniors" such as Último Dragón . North American wrestlers, such as Chris Jericho , Eddie Guerrero , Dean Malenko and Chris Benoit , who had travelled abroad to Mexico and Japan earlier in their careers and learned
10672-630: A voice proclaiming, "The following announcement has been paid for by the New World Order". Others, such as Kevin Nash , television director Craig Leathers , chief WCW booker Terry Taylor , and Taylor's assistants Kevin Sullivan and Paul Orndorff , all contributed their own ideas to the nWo concept. Leathers approached Disney/MGM Studios for a nWo logo. The designers came back with 6 to 10 examples, and eventually Turner management settled on
10904-495: A wrestling routine at his high school's talent show, complete with fake blood . He was a keen athlete while growing up, and his sporting career began at the age of six when he played football . He was a stand-out linebacker at Randolph High School on Randolph Air Force Base and eventually became captain of the football team. He attended Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas , but dropped out to pursue
11136-530: Is also a two-time Royal Rumble winner (and the first man to win the match as the first entrant), the company's first Grand Slam Champion and fourth Triple Crown Champion , as well as a two-time WWE Hall of Fame inductee ( 2011 as a singles wrestler and 2019 as part of D-Generation X). Michaels won the Pro Wrestling Illustrated " Match of the Year " reader vote a record eleven times, and his match against John Cena on April 23, 2007,
11368-624: Is nothing's for sure", before leaving the ring. This would be the last time fans would hear Sting talk on WCW television for over a year. The nWo continued to dominate WCW, with Hogan successfully retaining the World Championship against Randy Savage and Hall and Nash winning the WCW World Tag Team Championship from Harlem Heat ( Booker T and Stevie Ray ) at Halloween Havoc . At Halloween Havoc, Hogan's old rival Roddy Piper , whom WCW had just signed to
11600-492: The Jackknife Powerbomb on Hogan. As the match was still going on, Nash pulled Savage on top of Hogan and went to revive Patrick as Bret Hart entered the ring. Hart picked up the title belt, struck Nash with it, rolled Hogan back over Savage, and revived the referee so he could count the pinfall for Hogan. Although Hogan was now WCW World Heavyweight Champion for a fourth time and appeared to have once again taken
11832-513: The "great big organization up north" where Hall and Nash had come from and that he too had been there and how he had made that company a household name. Hogan followed by bringing up his signing with WCW in 1994. Hogan : And then Billionaire Ted , amigo, he wanted to talk turkey with Hulk Hogan. Well, Billionaire Ted promised me movies, brother. Billionaire Ted promised me millions of dollars. And Billionaire Ted promised me world-caliber matches. And as far as Billionaire Ted goes, Eric Bischoff, and
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#173279068919612064-706: The American Breed tag team , teaming with Paul Diamond . Michaels and Diamond were awarded the TASW Tag Team Championship by Chavo Guerrero Sr. The team was later renamed American Force. While in TASW, Michaels and Diamond feuded with Japanese Force . Michaels made his national-level debut, as Sean Michaels, at the age of 20 in the American Wrestling Association (AWA), in a victory over Buddhakhan on ESPN. He
12296-721: The Fall Brawl PPV event neared, WCW was gearing up for another battle against the nWo, this time in a WarGames match . On the September 9 episode of Nitro , the nWo tricked fans and wrestlers into thinking that Sting had joined the nWo by putting wrestler Jeff Farmer into the group as a Sting clone, complete with Sting attire and face paint. Farmer, as the nWo Sting, attacked Luger, who had been lured into an attack by referee Nick Patrick . This led Luger, his longtime ally and tag team partner, to publicly question Sting as to where his allegiance lay. At Fall Brawl , as Team WCW
12528-587: The National Wrestling Alliance 's (NWA) Mid-South Wrestling territory on October 16, 1984, against Art Crews , losing to Crews via swinging neckbreaker. Michaels's performance in his debut match impressed many veterans, including Terry Taylor . Michaels made his televised debut on October 20, 1984, teaming with Jim Hornet in a losing effort against the tag team of Hercules Hernandez and "Dr. Death" Steve Williams . In January 1985, he debuted for World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW),
12760-611: The Sheffield Arena and broadcast on Sky Movies Plus (the match later aired in the US on the edition of June 15 of Prime Time Wrestling ). Michaels was also unable to win the Intercontinental Championship from Bret Hart in the WWF's first ladder match at a Wrestling Challenge taping on July 21, which was subsequently made available on multiple Coliseum/WWE Home Video releases. However, he won
12992-549: The USA Network . The meeting led to Turner greenlighting the creation of WCW Monday Nitro , which would air on TNT on the same day and in the same time slot as Raw . Nitro would debut on September 4, 1995, and directly lead into the Monday Night War era of professional wrestling, in which WCW Nitro and WWF Raw would fiercely compete to beat each other in the Nielson ratings each and every week. The struggle between
13224-501: The WWF Commissioner , eventually joining Vince McMahon's group of wrestlers called The Corporation . Throughout late 1998 and early 1999, Michaels made regular television appearances on Raw , in which he scheduled matches, throwing around his authority, and sometimes even deciding the outcome of matches. On the January 4, 1999, episode of Raw Is War , Michaels re-joined DX as a face, but disappeared from WWF television for
13456-516: The WWF European Championship . The fans at the event were so upset at the result of the match they booed Michaels out of the building to the extent that they littered the ring with garbage, cementing his second heel turn. With this win, Michaels became the first Grand Slam Champion . At In Your House: Badd Blood on October 5, Michaels defeated The Undertaker in the first Hell in a Cell match, during which Michaels fell off
13688-469: The World Wrestling Federation 's D-Generation X (DX) stable, though the core members of both on-screen factions included members of The Kliq ; ( Sean Waltman even served as a member of both groups; as did Shawn Michaels for a short time during the nWo's revival in the WWF/E in 2002). On May 19, 1996 , Scott Hall and Kevin Nash wrestled their final matches as Razor Ramon and Diesel, respectively, in
13920-767: The X Division . Throughout the 2000s, WWE would incorporate elements into their shows formerly associated with WCW. Former WCW Championships such as the WCW World Heavyweight Championship , the WCW United States Championship and the WCW Cruiserweight Championship would be reactivated in WWE, with their WCW lineages acknowledged. The Cruiserweight division concept was introduced to WWE in 2002 and since then has been used intermittently throughout
14152-482: The bWo , lWo and the jWo . The group dominated WCW programming throughout the late-1990s and continued until the dissolution of WCW in 2001, during which time there were several, sometimes rival, incarnations of the group. In December 2019, it was announced that the nWo would be inducted into the 2020 WWE Hall of Fame , with Hogan, Hall, Nash, and Sean Waltman as the inducted members. Hall died in March 14, 2022 at
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#173279068919614384-414: The world champion at SuperBrawl VIII as per the stipulation surrounding his World War 3 win, therefore this also would have to be resolved along with the vacant championship. New WCW commissioner Roddy Piper resolved the issue at Souled Out on January 24 by declaring that since there was no champion for Hall to face at SuperBrawl, he would face the winner of a second Hogan vs. Sting match at Uncensored
14616-437: The " Montreal Screwjob ". Michaels said he was only being loyal to his company, he had moved on, and McMahon should move on as well. McMahon then began setting unusual stipulations for Michaels' matches and interfering on behalf of Michaels' opponents. On January 29, 2006, at the Royal Rumble , McMahon made his way to the ring, and as Michaels stared at McMahon, Shane McMahon made a surprise appearance to eliminate Michaels. On
14848-416: The "You want a war?" speech, stating that he and unnamed allies had a challenge for WCW executive vice president Bischoff and any WCW wrestlers. As the episode neared its end, Hall accosted Bischoff, who was also the lead broadcaster for Nitro at the time, in the broadcast booth and demanded that he tell WCW owner Ted Turner to pick three of his best wrestlers for "a war". The next week, Hall claimed to have
15080-421: The #1 contender and earning a future world title shot against Hogan. The following night on Nitro , Bischoff permanently left the broadcast booth, and his character became an egomaniacal tyrant as WCW's executive vice president, as well as a manager and largely replaced DiBiase as spokesperson for the nWo, while DiBiase continued to serve as a manager, mostly for Hogan. At the top of the program, Bischoff issued
15312-559: The 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s, including WCW Wrestling , WCW SuperBrawl Wrestling , WCW vs. the World , WCW vs. nWo: World Tour , WCW/nWo Revenge and WCW Mayhem . Shawn Michaels Shawn Michaels (born Michael Shawn Hickenbottom on July 22, 1965) is an American retired professional wrestler . He is signed to WWE , where he is the Senior Vice President of Talent Development, Creative, and oversees
15544-580: The 2000s, 2010s and 2020s from 2002 onwards. Some WCW mainstays such as Booker T, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho were able to achieve long-term top positions within WWE by the mid to late 2000s. Similarly, promotions such as Total Nonstop Action would also make use of former WCW talent when possible and also continued the legacy of the Cruiserweight with their X-Division. WWE has since released various WCW documentaries, anthologies, and compilations, including The Rise and Fall of WCW , and
15776-484: The AWA tag team titles for a second time, but were re-signed by WWF a year later. The Rockers redebuted at a WWF live event on July 7, 1988. Due to WWF chairman Vince McMahon 's desire to have his performers carry WWF-exclusive ring names, Michaels and Jannetty were renamed, as simply The Rockers . The team proved popular with both children and women and was a mid-card stalwart of television and pay-per-view shows for
16008-469: The Beach in July, Dennis Rodman , who had previously become a member of the nWo earlier in the year, made his wrestling debut as he teamed with Hogan to take on Luger and The Giant in a tag team match. Luger won the match for his team by forcing Hogan to submit and earned a title shot at Road Wild , set for August. Luger, however, elected to take his shot on the August 4 episode of Nitro , five days before
16240-463: The Beach series of shows with AEW Bash at the Beach on January 15, 2020. However, a lawsuit by WWE prevented further reuse of that branding. Beginning in 2021, AEW began presenting their own version of WCW's WarGames match , held at the AEW Blood & Guts event. Who Killed WCW? , a four-part documentary series based off the downfall of WCW premiered June 6, 2024 on Vice TV . The series
16472-538: The English town of Reading, Berkshire , but grew up primarily in San Antonio, Texas . As a child, he disliked the name "Michael" and convinced his family and friends to address him by his middle name. Ever since, he has been referred to as Shawn. Additionally, Hickenbottom moved around frequently since his father was in the military. He knew he wanted to become a professional wrestler at the age of 12 and performed
16704-971: The February 13 episode of Raw , McMahon unsuccessfully forced Michaels to sign retirement papers. The following week, Michaels won a handicap match against the Spirit Squad ( Kenny , Johnny , Mitch , Nicky and Mikey ), after which Michaels's former partner, Marty Jannetty, saved him from the assault by the Spirit Squad. After the two reunited, McMahon offered Jannetty a contract if he "kissed his ass." The following week, Jannetty refused McMahon's offer and instead took Chris Masters's " Masterlock challenge ." Michaels tried to help Jannetty, which ultimately resulted in Shane attacking Michaels and forcing him to kiss his father's behind. On March 18 at Saturday Night's Main Event XXXII , Shane defeated Michaels in
16936-654: The Hall and Nash debuts as it gave the show an unscripted, "anything can happen at any time" feeling to the television audience. The start of the nWo angle, which immediately proved immensely popular and intriguing to wrestling fans, was part of a wider shift in the WCW presentation still being pursued by Eric Bischoff. As part of his overhaul of WCW, Bischoff wanted to grow WCW's audience amongst 18 to 35-year-olds . To that end, he alongside WCW's booker Kevin Sullivan began grounding WCW characters and storylines more in reality, utilising real names and darker themes in contrast to
17168-556: The July 15, 1996 edition of Nitro , Hogan returned wearing all black and helped Hall and Nash attack Lex Luger and Big Bubba Rogers during the Nitro main event. He then made a challenge to then-reigning WCW World Heavyweight Champion, The Giant , for Hog Wild in August. On the July 29, 1996 episode of Nitro , The Outsiders attacked Arn Anderson , the American Males ( Marcus Bagwell and Scotty Riggs ) and Rey Misterio Jr. ,
17400-427: The July 2, 1998 episode of Thunder , Goldberg was granted a title match against Hogan for the July 6 episode of Nitro. However, Hogan changed his mind and forced Goldberg to wrestle Scott Hall in order to earn his title match. Goldberg defeated Hall and then toppled Hogan in the main event to win his first WCW World Heavyweight Championship. After his loss to Goldberg, Hogan turned his attention to celebrity matches for
17632-550: The Kliq. During a match with Owen Hart on a November episode of Raw , Hart performed an enzuigiri that struck the back of Michaels's head. They continued the match, but Michaels collapsed in the ring, supposedly because he had suffered a concussion. The concussion was scripted, which was kept from most fans at the time. A retirement angle was written so that Michaels could take some time off after he came back from an injury too soon. After teasing retirement, Michaels returned to
17864-443: The March 2 episode of Raw , Michaels became the first person to defeat Vladimir Kozlov , and so earned a match with The Undertaker at WrestleMania 25 on April 5, which he lost thus extending The Undertaker's WrestleMania winning streak to 17–0 . Their match was highly acclaimed by critics and audiences alike and is now considered by many to be one of the greatest WrestleMania matches of all time. After WrestleMania, Michaels took
18096-472: The NWA and becoming a standalone wrestling promotion. In February 1993 former commentator Eric Bischoff was appointed as Executive Producer of WCW, and by 1994 he had been promoted once again to Senior Vice President, a position which gave Bischoff both creative and financial control of WCW. At this point, the promotion was struggling financially and was widely perceived within the wrestling industry to be at
18328-746: The NWA territory in Dallas, Texas . In April 1985, Michaels went to work for another NWA territory in Kansas City called Central States Wrestling . There, he and tag team partner Marty Jannetty defeated The Batten Twins for the NWA Central States Tag Team Championship , later losing it back to the Battens. After leaving Kansas City, he returned to Texas to wrestle for Texas All-Star Wrestling (TASW). During his time with TASW, Michaels replaced Nick Kiniski in
18560-520: The October 3 WWE Homecoming episode of Raw , he wrestled old rival Kurt Angle to a 2–2 draw in a 30-Minute Iron Man match . Afterwards, he challenged Angle to sudden-death overtime, but Angle refused and walked out. He was part of Team Raw at Survivor Series on November 27, but lost the match to Team SmackDown!. On the December 26 episode of Raw , Vince McMahon lauded Michaels for his part in
18792-563: The October 8 episode of Raw , performing Sweet Chin Music to newly crowned WWE Champion Randy Orton during his title ceremony at the end of the show and then celebrating over the knocked-out champion as Vince McMahon watched. On October 28 at Cyber Sunday , Michaels was voted by the fans to face Orton for the WWE Championship, though he won via disqualification when Orton hit Michaels with a low blow , which resulted in Orton retaining
19024-654: The Royal Rumble match and eliminated Kurt Angle . In seeking revenge, Angle re-entered the ring and eliminated Michaels, and thus placed him in an ankle lock submission hold, outside the ring. Michaels issued a challenge to Angle for a match at WrestleMania 21 , which Angle accepted when he appeared on Raw to attack Michaels. The following week on Raw , Marty Jannetty and Michaels had a one time reunion as The Rockers and defeated La Résistance ( Robért Conway and Sylvain Grenier ). Three days later on SmackDown! , Angle defeated Jannetty, after Angle made Jannetty submit to
19256-489: The Spirit Squad in a no disqualification tag team match. On the May 22 episode of Raw , the Spirit Squad was scripted to injure Michaels's knee. This angle was written so Michaels could have surgery on his knee, which had been legitimately injured for some time. In 2006, a series of events took place which suggested a reunion of Michaels and Triple H as DX. They began at WrestleMania 22, where both Michaels and Triple H performed
19488-507: The Stinger; from time to time, I'm gonna pop-in when you least expect it. With that, Sting began a retreat from the ring that would last for nearly fifteen months, and in the process, left his loyalties on the table for either side to try and move him to theirs. The nWo stepped up its efforts to try and recruit Sting, yet never removed the nWo Sting from the group. As Sting's character and look evolved, so too did Farmer's nWo Sting character. On
19720-537: The SuperBrawl match. Luger, however, issued a challenge for a "winner-take-all" tag team match at Uncensored . Two weeks later on the March 3 episode of Nitro , Turner Sports vice president Dr. Harvey Schiller "suspended" Bischoff for abuse of his office. At Uncensored, Team nWo won the 3-team tag team match. In addition to winning, per the pre-match stipulations, the nWo gained the right to challenge for any WCW championship whenever and wherever they pleased. After
19952-475: The WCW Championship to a no contest in the main event due to the nWo referee, Nick Patrick, being biased toward Hogan. The United States Heavyweight Champion Eddie Guerrero retained and subsequently regained possession of his belt against Syxx in a ladder match , while The Outsiders lost the tag team titles to The Steiner Brothers . Bischoff reversed the decision and re-awarded Hall and Nash the titles
20184-500: The WCW World Tag Team Championship against two of WCW's stalwarts, Sting and The Giant. However, The Giant joined nWo Hollywood shortly before Slamboree as retribution for Nash injuring him at Souled Out back in January. Despite this, The Giant maintained his alliance with Sting, but strongly suggested that Sting had a decision to make in terms of his allegiance. At Slamboree, Hall made his return to WCW in
20416-443: The WCW banner, and I have given my blood, my sweat, and my tears for WCW! So for all of those fans out there, and all those wrestlers, and people that never doubted the Stinger, I'll stand by you, if you stand by me! But for all of the people, all of the commentators, all of the wrestlers, and all of the best friends who did doubt me, you can stick it! From now on, I consider myself a free agent, but that doesn't mean that you won't see
20648-569: The WWE Championship against Michaels after making him submit to the STFU . The next night on Raw , Michaels and Cena competed in two back-to-back ten team battle royals, winning the first and losing the World Tag Team Championship in the second to The Hardys ( Matt and Jeff ) when Michaels threw Cena over the top rope. Michaels faced off with Cena, Edge and Randy Orton in a fatal four-way match on April 29 at Backlash for
20880-432: The WWE Championship, where Cena retained the title after Michaels performed Sweet Chin Music on Cena, causing him to fall on Orton for the pinfall. Michaels then entered a feud with Randy Orton when Orton claimed that he could beat Michaels. The week before their scheduled match on May 20 at Judgment Day , after Michaels won a match against then- World Heavyweight Champion Edge, Orton attacked him by punting Michaels in
21112-489: The WWE immediately and participated in The Invasion storyline as part of The Alliance which lasted until the end of 2001, however many of WCW's top stars had contracts with AOL Time Warner rather than WCW itself that the WWF did not acquire, and most choose to sit out the length of their contracts rather than breaking them in order to work for the WWF. Most would eventually find their way to WWE, although Sting remained
21344-608: The WWF Champion. Michaels now held both the WWF and European championships at the same time. Michaels dropped the European Championship to DX member Hunter Hearst Hemsley in a farcical match. On January 18, 1998, at the Royal Rumble , in a casket match against The Undertaker, Michaels took a back body drop to the outside of the ring and hit his lower back on the casket , causing him to herniate two discs and crush one completely. Michaels went on to win
21576-534: The WWF Tag Team Championship. In his autobiography, Michaels discusses his real-life feud with Bret Hart, claiming that Hart did interviews on live television claiming that Michaels was faking his whole injury. By the spring of 1997, the real-life backstage conflict between Michaels and Hart was reaching its height. Both men were going out on television and frequently making personal, true to heart remarks about one another. Michaels briefly left
21808-586: The WWF and signed with WCW shortly after. Hall appeared on the May 27, 1996 edition of Nitro , which emanated from the Macon Coliseum in Macon, Georgia . As The Mauler and Steve Doll wrestled, Hall emerged from the crowd and entered the ring, bringing the match to a halt, and called for the ring announcer's microphone. "You people, you know who I am", Hall said to the stunned crowd, "but you don't know why I'm here". He went on to deliver what became known as
22040-472: The WWF as The Rockers and had a high-profile breakup in January 1992. Within the year, Michaels twice challenged for the WWF Championship and won his first Intercontinental Championship , heralding his arrival as one of the industry's premier singles stars. Michaels is a four-time world champion , having held the WWF Championship three times and WWE's World Heavyweight Championship once . He
22272-475: The WWF at the Royal Rumble match on January 21, 1996, winning for the second year in a row to receive a WWF Championship match in the main event at WrestleMania XII . Around this time, Jose Lothario became Michaels's on-screen manager. At WrestleMania XII on March 31, Michaels defeated WWF Champion Bret Hart in the overtime of their sixty-minute Iron Man match , which had ended in a scoreless tie. On May 19, Michaels and his fellow Kliq members were involved in
22504-529: The WWF free to acquire the key assets of WCW through its new subsidiary W. Acquisition Company, which was renamed WCW Inc. afterwards. AOL Time Warner sold the rights to the World Championship Wrestling name, branding, championships, and all other remaining assets aside from the talent roster and video library to WWF for $ 2.5 million in March 2001. Shortly afterwards WWF paid an additional $ 1.8 million to cover costs to AOL Time Warner in
22736-443: The WWF in January 2000, an incident which resulted in a number of firings amongst WCW management. With shakeups to WCW management becoming more and more frequent, the WCW talent began to lose any sense of leadership or direction, which in turn caused them to form bickering political cliques amongst themselves. In April 2000, WCW attempted to resolve its creative issues by asking Eric Bischoff to return but work alongside Vince Russo as
22968-409: The WWF in June of that year after a real backstage fight with Hart, just hours before a Raw Is War show, which allegedly resulted from Michaels making an on-air remark, known as the "Sunny Days" comment, implying that Hart (who was married at the time) was having an affair with Tammy Sytch , a manager and valet who was signed to the WWF as Sunny. Michaels and Austin were still WWF Tag Team Champions at
23200-513: The WWF seizing back the ratings lead as well as WCW's own internal problem caused tension amongst both the on-screen talent and management. By November 1998 Kevin Nash had become head booker of WCW, overseeing the creative direction of both Nitro and Thunder . Nash's tenure was fraught with unpopular decisions, such as the move that saw the popular undefeated streak of WCW Champion Goldberg ended by Nash himself, who then became champion, only for Nash to then lay down for Hollywood Hogan and reform
23432-742: The WWF throughout 2001. The storyline began proper at the WWF Invasion pay-per-view, which received 775,000 buys and became one of the highest-grossing wrestling pay-per-views of all time. Although WWF was able to recruit many of those on the WCW roster at the time of the purchase, it was unable to secure the use of most of its top-level stars, as they were signed to long-term contracts with AOL-Time Warner rather than WCW. As such, these stars could remain inactive but still continue to be paid, and were not incentivized to join WWF until those contracts expired. It would not be until 2002 onwards that headline WCW stars such as Goldberg or Scott Steiner would join
23664-453: The WWF to fight a proxy war. They also alleged that they would soon be joined by a third major figure; this "third man" was eventually revealed to be Hulk Hogan at Bash at the Beach 1996 . A major advantage WCW Nitro initially had over WWF Raw was that Nitro was live-to-air every week, while Raw alternated between live episodes and ones taped in advance and aired the following week. Nitro ' s live atmosphere enhanced segments such as
23896-451: The Wolfpac lost two members as Hennig and Rude turned on Konnan following a loss and joined nWo Hollywood. It was not a total loss for the red and black, however, as Sting defeated The Giant in a singles match for control of the vacated WCW World Tag Team Championship. The next night on Nitro , Sting chose Nash as his tag team partner and the two began defending the titles. In yet another shocking move, Miss Elizabeth defected from Savage (and
24128-465: The Wolfpac) and joined nWo Hollywood during a shocking promo (which included an on-screen kiss with Bischoff) on the June 8 episode of Nitro . On the June 15 episode of Nitro , Savage had a steel cage match versus Diamond Dallas Page (which featured Piper as special guest referee, and saw all three men on the receiving end of an attack by nWo Hollywood at the end of match). This attack, which resulted in
24360-636: The World Heavyweight Championship, which Benoit won. The night before this, Michaels inducted Tito Santana in the WWE Hall of Fame. A triple threat WrestleMania rematch for the title took place on April 18 at Backlash , where Benoit successfully retained it after forcing Michaels to submit to a Sharpshooter. Due to the "Montreal Screwjob" incident, the Edmonton crowd booed Michaels, with chants of "You screwed Bret!" being heard during his match at Backlash. At Bad Blood on June 13, Michaels lost to Triple H in
24592-508: The World Wrestling Federation (WWF). This led to marquee names such as Hulk Hogan and "The Macho Man" Randy Savage joining WCW's ranks and helping to supplement its business. In 1995, during a face-to-face meeting with Ted Turner, Bischoff was able to convince Turner that in order for WCW to become competitive with the WWF, WCW would require an equivalent to WWF's new flagship cable show WWF Raw , which aired on
24824-624: The X-Division was considered a direct spiritual successor to the style developed in the WCW Cruiserweight division and became influential in its own right. WWE and TNA/Impact have continued to experiment and use the Cruiserweight/X-Division concept on and off throughout the 2000s and 2010s and into the 2020s. Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s WCW
25056-529: The acquisition of WCW by WWF/WWE in 2001, WWE revived the Cruiserweight division in 2002 to be a feature of its Smackdown brand, with the WWE Cruiserweight Championship being deemed by the promotion to be the direct lineal successor to the WCW title. Simultaneously, the newly formed Total Nonstop Action wrestling promotion heavily featured their X Division , which did not limit participants by weight but rather by style. Nonetheless,
25288-638: The age of 63. The nWo storyline was an idea created by WCW Executive Vice President Eric Bischoff , whose inspiration for the angle came after attending New Japan Pro-Wrestling 's Battle Formation show at the Tokyo Dome on April 29, 1996. The show was headlined by a NJPW vs. UWFi match for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship , as New Japan's Shinya Hashimoto defeated UWFi's Nobuhiko Takada . Bischoff wanted to do an invasion-type angle where World Championship Wrestling (WCW)
25520-470: The ankle lock. To send a "message" to Michaels, Angle also humiliated Michaels's former manager, Sensational Sherri, when he applied the ankle lock hold on her. At WrestleMania on April 3, Angle defeated Michaels by submission, again with an ankle lock. The next night on Raw , Muhammad Hassan and Daivari came out to confront and assault Michaels. On the April 11 episode of Raw , Michaels approached General Manager Eric Bischoff , in which he demanded
25752-424: The attack, nailing both the Outsiders with repeated axe-handle smashes from the top rope. However, while referee Randy Anderson checked on a downed Hall, Hall grabbed his shirt while Nash nailed Savage with a low blow which knocked both men to the mat. With all four men down, Anderson had no choice but to begin counting them out as he did not see the low blow. As he began his count, the fans' attention turned to
25984-496: The battle for the largest television audience. However, in June 1996, Nitro would begin a streak of 83 constructive victories over Raw , initially sparked by the start of the New World Order (nWo) storyline. The start of the nWo angle saw former WWF talent Scott Hall and Kevin Nash unexpectedly leave the WWF to come to Monday Nitro on consecutive episodes, and each time insinuate that they were there on behalf of
26216-468: The building". At WrestleMania VIII on April 5, 1992, Michaels defeated Tito Santana in his first pay-per-view singles match after both men had simultaneously eliminated each other from that year's Royal Rumble . Michaels subsequently became a contender to the promotion's singles titles and failed to win the WWF Championship from champion Randy Savage in his first opportunity to compete for that title at British event UK Rampage , held on April 19 at
26448-452: The championship. Michaels got another opportunity at the WWE Championship, when he was granted his rematch against Orton on November 18 at Survivor Series . In their match, Michaels was banned from using Sweet Chin Music upon request by Orton, referring to as Michaels superkicking Orton week after week. Michaels lost the match, when Orton performed an RKO for the win, which ended their feud. Michaels defeated and ended Ric Flair's career in
26680-468: The charities! I did everything for the kids! And the reception I got when I came out here, you fans can stick it, brother! Because, if it wasn't for Hulk Hogan, you people wouldn't be here! If it wasn't for Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff would be still selling meat from a truck in Minneapolis ! And, if it wasn't for Hulk Hogan, all these johnny-come-latelies that you see out here wrestling wouldn't be here! I
26912-696: The circuit. WCW also had a presence in NASCAR from the mid-1990s to 2000, sponsoring the #29 team in the Busch Grand National Series full-time and the #9 Melling Racing team in the Winston Cup Series part-time. In 1996, Kyle Petty 's #49 car in the Busch Grand National series was sponsored by the nWo, and Greg Sacks briefly drove a WCW-sponsored for Galaxy Motorsports. Several WCW video games were made in
27144-423: The closure of WCW, several new professional wrestling promotions would launch featuring former talent associated with WCW. The most prominent of these, Total Nonstop Action (TNA), was founded by Jeff Jarrett in 2002 and would attempt to take over WCW's market position in the mid-to-late 2000s using some former WCW stars such as Sting. TNA would also adopt their own version of the Cruiserweight division, branded as
27376-511: The colors of the Wolfpac for The Outsiders' title defense. During the match, however, he (along with Rhodes) turned on Nash by hitting him with the title belt, which gave the win to the team of Sting and The Giant. The next night on Nitro , Hall was introduced as the newest member of nWo Hollywood. On the May 25 episode of Nitro, the Wolfpac added Lex Luger , who subsequently urged his friend Sting to join him. However, nWo Hollywood made their own effort to woo Sting. Sting revealed his decision on
27608-454: The company initially less dependent on the nWo storyline for ratings. However, beginning in Spring 1998, WCW began an angle which saw the nWo split into a heel faction, nWo Hollywood (centered around "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan), and the rival face nWo Wolfpac (consisting of stars such as Kevin Nash, Sting, Lex Luger and Konnan ). Speaking in hindsight in 2023, Eric Bischoff has said the angle
27840-443: The company solely as the NWA, reasoning that "it has become apparent that the NWA and the World Championship area are one and the same." By late 1988, JCP was financially struggling after further territory acquisitions. Ted Turner , the namesake principal owner of Turner Broadcasting System, formed a new subsidiary in October 1988 to acquire most of the assets of JCP. The acquisition was completed on November 2, 1988. While initially
28072-496: The company went from struggling financially as late as 1995 to generating $ 55 million in profit in 1998. December 1997's Starrcade pay-per-view (PPV) event became the highest-grossing PPV of all time for the company, thanks in large part to the show being billed as the culmination of a year-and-a-half feud between Sting and "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan. 1996 and 1997 had been banner years for WCW, with profits and popularity soaring. 1998 saw profits continue to rise. However, maintaining
28304-490: The company's flagship annual event, WrestleMania, five times ( 12 , 14 , 20 , 23 and 26 ). He was the co-founder and original leader of the successful stable, D-Generation X . Michaels also wrestled in the American Wrestling Association (AWA), where he founded The Midnight Rockers with Marty Jannetty in 1985. After winning the AWA World Tag Team Championship twice, the team continued to
28536-615: The company. At the No Way Out pay-per-view in February 2002, WWE began their own version of the new World order centered around Hogan, Nash and Hall, but later incorporating former WCW stars the Giant (now known as the Big Show) and Booker T as well as WWE talent such as Shawn Michaels . Throughout the early 2000s, many former WCW headliners found it difficult to integrate into WWE, as there continued to be legitimate tensions between
28768-457: The company. Ted Turner, however, did not hold influence over Time Warner before the final merger of America Online (AOL) and Time Warner in 2001, and most offers were rejected. Eric Bischoff, working with Fusient Media Ventures, made a bid to acquire the company in January 2001. One of the primary backers in the WCW deal backed out after AOL Time Warner refused to allow WCW to continue airing on its networks, leaving Fusient to take that offer off
29000-516: The creative aspects of the NXT brand , the promotion's developmental territory . Regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, he is known by the nicknames "The Heartbreak Kid" (often abbreviated as HBK), "The Showstopper", and "Mr. WrestleMania ". Michaels wrestled consistently for WWE, formerly the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, renamed in 2002), from 1988 until his first retirement in 1998. He performed in non-wrestling roles for
29232-500: The crotch chop during their matches. On Raw , the two continued to deliver chops, as Michaels feuded with Vince McMahon and Triple H went to challenge John Cena for the WWE Championship , repeatedly butting heads with Vince McMahon in the process. On the June 12 episode of Raw , DX officially reunited. During Triple H's gauntlet match , which had him compete against the Spirit Squad. Michaels came in to help Triple H, and
29464-444: The crowd and turning heel for the first time since his AWA days in 1981. The Outsiders came back into the ring to celebrate with their now-revealed partner as Hogan dropped the leg on the fallen Savage a second time, and after the three men all high-fived, Hogan threw the referee from the ring and hit Savage one last time, with Hall delivering the three count. The official match result was a no contest and Savage had to be carried from
29696-464: The crowd) and a lot of other people around the world have had just about enough of this man (pointing at Nash), this man (pointing at Hall), and you want to put yourself in this group? You've gotta be kidding me! Hogan : Well, the first thing you gotta realize, brother, is this right here is the future of wrestling! You can call this (pointing at Hall, Nash and himself) the new world order of wrestling, brother! Hogan continued, reminding everybody of
29928-505: The cruiserweight division and the talent represented therein probably had as much to do with the success of Nitro as the nWo storyline and Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall, and Kevin Nash. I don’t think people recognize it. The talent in that division not only helped Nitro consistently defeat WWE...that talent forced WWE, as much as the nWo, to change the way they were presenting the product. The Cruiserweight division would continue to directly influence North American wrestling for many decades. Following
30160-592: The day. Hogan and Bischoff lost to Page and Leno thanks to interference from Kevin Eubanks . World Championship Wrestling World Championship Wrestling ( WCW ) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System , through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) territory Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP) (which had aired its programming on TBS ). For all of its existence, WCW
30392-479: The end of WCW. In the spring of 1996, WCW introduced its "Cruiserweight division", a segmented portion of the roster featuring smaller, faster and more agile wrestlers that contrasted starkly, both visually and stylistically, with their heavyweight counterparts. Although weight categories were not a new concept in wrestling or even WCW, the WCW Cruiserweight Division was quickly able to form
30624-421: The entire WCW locker room came out to celebrate the defeat of Hogan. Shortly after Hogan lost the title at Starrcade, the nWo started showing more and more signs of division within the group. Because of the controversy surrounding Sting's title win, J. J. Dillon vacated the title on the inaugural episode of Thunder on January 8, 1998. In addition to the title being vacated, Scott Hall was still slated to face
30856-459: The entrance area as Hulk Hogan entered and began walking to the ring to a loud roar from the crowd. Hall spotted him and immediately fled the ring. Hogan, who had not been seen on WCW television for some time, climbed into the ring to chase away Nash and tore off his T-shirt, as he had done many times before. With the fans still cheering wildly, Hogan stood in the corner nearest and hit his long-time friend Savage with his Atomic Leg Drop , stunning
31088-660: The events that became known as Black Saturday , in which GCW and its television program briefly came under the ownership of the WWF, the promotion was eventually purchased by Charlotte, North Carolina-based Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP), the promoter of the Mid-Atlantic territory immediately north of Georgia. Influential wrestling magazine Pro Wrestling Illustrated and its sister publications thereafter habitually referred to JCP as "World Championship Wrestling", "WCW" and most commonly "the World Championship area" and continued to do so until early 1988 when it began referring to
31320-407: The face. On the August 25 episode of Raw , Michaels renounced his retirement and challenged Jericho to an unsanctioned match at Unforgiven on September 7, which Jericho accepted. The next week, they had a contract signing for the match and were involved in a brawl, causing a legit small triceps tear for Michaels. He was medically cleared to compete at Unforgiven, and beat Jericho so severely that
31552-487: The faceplate. On August 26, Ted DiBiase made his WCW debut and would ultimately become the financial supporter and spokesperson of the nWo (thus becoming the fourth man), and was given the nickname "Trillionaire Ted". On the September 2 episode of Nitro , the nWo claimed its first defection from WCW and their fifth member as The Giant, who just weeks earlier lost his title to Hogan, turned on his Dungeon of Doom teammates and attacked The Four Horsemen and Randy Savage. As
31784-437: The following March. Later that evening, the feud between Hall and Larry Zbyszko came to an end when Zbyszko defeated Hall by disqualification after Louie Spicolli , who had just signed with WCW and joined the nWo a month earlier, interfered. After the match Dusty Rhodes , who had been in the broadcast booth that night and who Zbyszko had asked to accompany him to the ring, joined Hall and Spicolli in attacking Zbyszko and joined
32016-412: The following week's Nitro , fooling Hogan into believing that he was going to join his side, then turning on him and tearing off the black and white T-shirt he was wearing to reveal a red and black one underneath. As part of his joining the Wolfpac, Sting began painting his face red and black instead of the black and white "Crow" style face-paint he had been wearing since 1996. At The Great American Bash ,
32248-421: The group as Hogan's valet. nWo tried once more to recruit Sting, who was now sporting black-and-white face paint, to join them. After beating up Farmer's nWo Sting and calling him a "cheap imitation", Sting ambiguously told the nWo, "The real Sting may or may not be in your price range," continuing to leave everyone questioning where Sting's loyalty lay. Sting then told the nWo, "The only thing for sure about Sting
32480-451: The group its name – the New World Order. Gene Okerlund : Hulk Hogan, excuse me! Excuse me. What in the world are you thinking? Hulk Hogan : Mean Gene, the first thing you need to do is to tell these people to shut up if you wanna hear what I gotta say! Okerlund : I have been with you for so many years, for you to join up with the likes of these two men absolutely makes me sick to my stomach! And I think that these people here (points to
32712-484: The group on December 16 and established himself as the leader of nWo Japan , a sister stable in NJPW. That same night, Big Bubba Rogers and Scott Norton defected to the group during a show-ending melee between the WCW and nWo rosters. At Starrcade, Piper cleanly defeated Hogan via a sleeper hold in the main event, in part due to botched interference from The Giant. At the same event, Lex Luger defeated The Giant, marking
32944-505: The head. Orton assaulted Michaels again prior to their match at Judgment Day, interrupting Michaels's interview segment. Michaels collapsed during their match, causing Orton to win by referee stoppage. Orton continued the beating and performed an RKO to a fallen Michaels, who was removed out of the ring in a stretcher. During the feud, Michaels suffered a storyline concussion. This injury was used to keep Michaels out of action, as he required surgery for his knee. Michaels made his return on
33176-466: The inaugural (as part of The Rockers tag team) and first televised (at WrestleMania XII ) Iron Man matches , and Elimination Chamber at the 2002 Survivor Series . Michael Shawn Hickenbottom was born in Chandler, Arizona , on July 22, 1965. He has an older sister named Shari and two older brothers named Randy and Scott. He was raised in a military family and briefly spent some of his early years in
33408-471: The incident known as " Curtain Call ". Diesel and Razor Ramon were about to leave WWF to company rival WCW. After Michaels won a match against Diesel, Ramon and Hunter Hearst Helmsley came to the ring and joined Michaels and Diesel in a group-hug. As Diesel and Helmsley were seen as villains at the time, in contrast to Michaels and Ramon, this constituted a breach of " kayfabe ", as acting out of character, which
33640-546: The innovations WCW had implemented and reapplying them to their own presentation, WWF began its " Attitude Era ". Building around newly emerging stars such as Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock , as well as WWF promoter Vince McMahon becoming a major on-screen character himself, the WWF finally ended Nitro ' s 83 weeks of ratings victories on April 13, 1998. For the next four months, Nitro and Raw would trade wins until October 26, 1998, when Nitro scored its last-ever ratings victory over Raw . The combined pressure of
33872-441: The job at the WWF after a dispute with Vince McMahon over work hours, and Ed Ferrera soon followed. Russo and Ferrera were heralded at the time as the main drivers in the turnaround at WWF over the previous two years with their writing philosophy of "Crash TV", a presentation style that emphasized Soap opera style storylines, lengthier non-wrestling segments, frequent heel/face turns, an increased amount of female representation on
34104-478: The latter of whom Nash threw head-first into the side of a WCW production truck before leaving in a limousine. At Hog Wild , the newly rechristened "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan won the match after knocking The Giant out with his title belt. After the match, Hogan rechristened the Big Gold Belt as the self-proclaimed nWo World Heavyweight Championship by spray-painting the group acronym in capital letters across
34336-436: The local styles were also able to thrive in the division. The division as a whole became a showcase of a fast-paced, aerial and athletic style of wrestling which became highly influential in both the short and long term in the industry. Eric Bischoff has credited with the division as becoming a defining feature of Monday Nitro that was as fundamental to the late 1990s popularity of WCW as the New World Order faction: I think
34568-493: The logo that would be recognized today. Scott Hall is credited with the group's trademark hand-signals, and Taylor belatedly scrawled the group's most popular catchphrase, "When you're nWo, you're nWo 4 life," in one segment he scripted for WCW Monday Nitro in late 1996. Along with Bill Goldberg and Sting , the nWo was one of the main factors behind WCW during the Monday Night War and would later be parodied by
34800-461: The longest Hell in a Cell match in history. Four months later, he lost a World Heavyweight Championship match against Triple H, after Edge interfered on October 19 at Taboo Tuesday , when the fans voted for him ahead of Edge and Chris Benoit to face Triple H one more time. Following this, Michaels was out of action for a few months with a legit torn meniscus . At the Royal Rumble on January 30, 2005, after losing to Edge, Michaels competed in
35032-541: The match but the injury rendered him unable to compete on the following month's No Way Out of Texas: In Your House as advertised, and forced him into retirement a night after losing the WWF Championship to Stone Cold Steve Austin on March 29 at WrestleMania XIV . After being away for nearly four months, Michaels made a surprise return to the WWF as a guest commentator on the July 13 episode of Raw Is War . Michaels continued to make non-wrestling appearances on WWF programming and on November 23 he replaced Sgt. Slaughter as
35264-464: The match, Curt Hennig turned on his team to align with the nWo. The nWo was victorious after McMichael surrendered in the match. Bret Hart made his WCW debut on the December 15 episode of Nitro and declared he would not join the nWo (the nWo had been claiming weeks beforehand that Bret had already joined the group), but did say he would be the special guest referee for a match between Eric Bischoff and Larry Zbyszko at Starrcade . If Bischoff won
35496-445: The match, Sting descended from the rafters and attacked the core members of the nWo: Savage, Hall, Nash and Hogan, finally cementing his allegiance to WCW. It was around this time in April 1997 that tensions began to surface within the nWo. At Spring Stampede , the show ended with Savage and Bischoff at each other's throats after the former's loss to Diamond Dallas Page, and both were held back by other group members. J. J. Dillon , who
35728-437: The match, only to be knocked out by Triple H in the middle of the match). However, Bischoff reversed the decision due to both men's shoulders being on the mat. Angered by this, Michaels attacked Ric Flair and Bischoff. He was subsequently fired by Bischoff but rehired by Steve Austin. As a part of an ongoing feud with Triple H, the two competed alongside Chris Benoit in the main event on March 14, 2004, at WrestleMania XX for
35960-494: The match, the nWo would be given permanent control over Nitro , but if Zbyszko won, it would remain with WCW. Rick Rude (who previously had been in WCW during the early to mid '90s) also joined the nWo around this time, serving as a manager, predominantly for Curt Hennig. On the Nitro before Starrcade, the nWo completely took over the show by tearing down the set and chasing off the WCW announce team. They destroyed anything WCW-related and rebranded it nWo Monday Nitro . This event
36192-416: The match. (The nWo left with physical possession of the title belt, which was then given to Syxx, who began declaring himself as the champion.) The next night on Nitro , The Giant was assaulted and kicked out of the nWo when he refused to perform a chokeslam on Piper during an nWo attack and claimed that he wanted his World Championship match with Hogan. At nWo Souled Out , Hogan and The Giant fought for
36424-453: The more cartoon-like presentation which had dominated wrestling in the 1980s and early 90s. An example of this shift in tone was seen in the transformation of top WCW star Sting over the course of 1996 following the start of the nWo angle, whose persona shifted from a colorful and cheerful clean-cut face to a dark, depressed and brooding antihero inspired by the 1994 film The Crow . Another major innovation occurring concurrently in WCW
36656-494: The nWo had a mixed array of success. Hall and Nash regained the WCW World Tag Team Championship from The Steiner Brothers after Scott Steiner unexpectedly turned on his brother Rick and manager Ted DiBiase. Scott then handed the championship belts to Hall and Nash after the match and celebrated with The Outsiders and Dusty Rhodes, marking his induction into the nWo. However, Hogan lost to Sting in
36888-420: The nWo rushed the ring and accosted Piper, revealing that Eric Bischoff , despite appearances, had secretly been a member and the head of the nWo all along. At World War 3 , Piper and Hogan signed an official contract for a match, though Piper would end up being attacked by Hogan and the nWo. In the main event, The Giant won the 60-man battle royal , last eliminating both Lex Luger and Kevin Nash, thus becoming
37120-418: The nWo was indeed the nWo Sting, who had convinced everyone (including the broadcast team) that the real Sting was nWo. The real Sting showed up moments later as the last man for Team WCW and took apart the entire nWo by himself. After assaulting the nWo, Sting left the ring and Team WCW, yelling at an apologetic looking Luger "Is that good enough for you right there? Is that truth enough?". Team WCW, now fighting
37352-437: The nWo's first pinfall loss since the group's inception. During the course of the match, following months of showing favoritism toward the nWo, Nick Patrick officially joined the group when he attacked Luger. Additionally, after multiple attempts to convince Diamond Dallas Page to join the group, Hall and Nash attacked Page in his United States Heavyweight Championship tournament final match against Eddie Guerrero , costing him
37584-415: The nWo, where he served as a manager and mentor to Hall. The nWo continued to expand their ranks into the new year as former WWF star Brian Adams jumped ship to WCW and immediately joined the nWo. Hogan also gained a second bodyguard when Ed Leslie , who had previously tried to join the nWo at Hog Wild in 1996, re-debuted as a barely recognizable bearded biker dubbed "The Disciple". At SuperBrawl VIII ,
37816-419: The negotiations, bringing the final tally of WCW's sale to $ 4.3 million. AOL Time Warner maintained its subsidiary, which reverted to its original legal name of Universal Wrestling Corporation, to deal with legal obligations and liabilities not acquired by the WWF. The UWC was listed as a subsidiary of Time Warner until 2017, when it was merged into Turner Broadcasting System. Some of the WCW wrestlers joined
38048-430: The network for the first time since WCW's closure. On January 5, 2022, Dynamite moved to TNT's sibling network, TBS, marking the first time TBS has aired wrestling programming since the March 21, 2001, episode of WCW Thunder . TNT has also broadcast AEW's second show, AEW Rampage , since August 13, 2021, and added another AEW show with the June 17, 2023, debut of AEW Collision . In 2020, AEW revived WCW's Bash at
38280-569: The next few months, Michaels battled various injuries and launched the Heartbreak Hotel television talk show segment, mainly shown on Superstars . On August 28, Michaels and Diesel won the WWF Tag Team Championship from The Headshrinkers ( Samu and Fatu ). The next day at SummerSlam , Diesel lost the Intercontinental Championship to Ramon when Michaels accidentally superkicked Diesel. This triggered
38512-439: The next few weeks, which led to a steel cage match at Uncensored in March which ended in a no contest. Also at the event, Hall lost his World War 3-earned WCW title match against Sting. The rift between the different factions of the nWo grew even wider after Syxx , who had been out since October with a severe neck injury, was released from his contract and sent to rehab for his ongoing alcoholism. Shortly thereafter, Scott Hall
38744-508: The next night on Nitro after claiming that Randy Anderson, who ran in to officiate after Patrick was knocked down, was not the official referee for the match. Bischoff then fired Anderson for his actions. At SuperBrawl VII , the Outsiders lost their titles to Lex Luger and The Giant, while Syxx defeated Dean Malenko for the WCW Cruiserweight Championship . Later that night, Hogan successfully defended his title against Roddy Piper. "Macho Man" Randy Savage , after weeks of roving with Sting as
38976-472: The next two months, wrestling in two tag team matches at Bash at the Beach and Road Wild . Hogan won the first match with Dennis Rodman over Diamond Dallas Page and Karl Malone . The second match was a culmination of a storyline involving several Tonight Show skits involving Jay Leno making fun of Hogan, which resulted in Hogan and Eric Bischoff taking over the show and Diamond Dallas Page coming to save
39208-574: The next two years, resuming his wrestling career with WWE in 2002 until ceremoniously retiring in 2010. He returned for a one-off final match in 2018. In 2016, he began working as a coach at the WWE Performance Center , and was a producer on NXT in 2018, before becoming the Senior Vice President of Talent Development Creative for the NXT brand itself. In WWF/WWE, Michaels headlined pay-per-view events between 1989 and 2018, main-eventing
39440-499: The next two years. During this time, Michaels headlined his first pay-per-view for the WWF when The Rockers were involved in the 4-on-4 Survivor Series match main event of Survivor Series on November 23, 1989, which they won. On October 30, 1990, The Rockers unofficially won the WWF Tag Team Championship from The Hart Foundation ( Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart ), as Neidhart, half of the championship team,
39672-421: The other trucks is most prominent with Goldberg. Driven by to great success by Tom Meents (including Monster Jam World Finals championships both years the truck ran), after the end of the sponsorship Meents continued to run the truck as "Team Meents" in 2002 before debuting its new name Maximum Destruction in 2003. Max-D continues to compete in the series and rivals the legendary Grave Digger in popularity on
39904-518: The pay-per-view, and defeated Hogan to win the WCW Championship. Hogan regained the title at Road Wild after Rodman, dressed as Sting, hit Luger with a baseball bat. Following Road Wild, the nWo began a rivalry with The Four Horsemen, marked by a skit where they mocked members of the group. The Horsemen responded by challenging the nWo to a WarGames match at Fall Brawl in September. The match pitted Ric Flair, Curt Hennig , Steve McMichael and Chris Benoit against Nash, Konnan, Syxx, and Bagwell. During
40136-513: The quality of the shows became difficult, particularly after WCW's owners Time Warner Entertainment (who bought Turner Broadcasting System in 1996) ordered the creation of a second live cable WCW program WCW Thunder , to air on Thursdays on TBS Superstation starting on January 8, 1998 , as well as ordering a third hour to be added to Nitro ' s runtime. Nonetheless, the creation of new major headline babyface stars such as Diamond Dallas Page and Goldberg were causes for optimism, making
40368-410: The referee called the match, making Michaels the winner. Later that night, Jericho replaced CM Punk in the World Heavyweight Championship scramble match, and won the title. On October 5 at No Mercy , Michaels was defeated by Jericho in a ladder match for the World Heavyweight Championship. In December 2008, having lost his family's savings due to the global recession, Michaels grudgingly accepted
40600-431: The reins of the nWo, the members of the group itself were now going to have to choose whose side of the faction they would be on: Hogan's or Nash's. On the May 4 episode of Nitro , Nash, Savage, and Konnan appeared wearing black shirts with a red nWo logo, as opposed to the familiar white logo. They called themselves nWo Wolfpac (a name which Nash had previously been using alongside Hall and Syxx to refer to themselves as
40832-447: The ring by an exhausted Sting. After the match, the fans that had moments ago been cheering Hogan began to show their disgust toward their now-former hero and his new friends by beginning to throw cups, cans, and assorted trash into the ring. In the midst of the chaos, "Mean" Gene Okerlund came to the ring and interviewed Hogan. During the interview, Hogan exclaimed that he, Hall and Nash were "the new world order of wrestling", giving
41064-440: The ring by themselves, leaving speculation open as to who the third man was. Team WCW then entered with all three members wearing Sting's signature face paint as a sign of solidarity. Luger was hurt and badly injured almost immediately after the match started and had to be taken away on a stretcher. The match reached its climax at approximately the sixteen-minute mark, shortly after a late tag from Sting to Savage. Savage went on
41296-446: The role of Commissioner to Mick Foley , and after another appearance in October did not make any in-arena appearances until mid-2002. He appeared briefly on television to make a speech at WWF New York during Armageddon on December 10, 2000. On April 4, 2000, Michaels returned to wrestling for a one-night appearance defeating Paul Diamond in a bunkhouse brawl at Texas Wrestling Entertainment. Believing that his wrestling career
41528-538: The same night Sting made his speech, the nWo inducted Syxx into the group, with the name being a reference to the fact that he was the sixth member (In reality, Syxx was the seventh member of the group, but Farmer's entry into the group was not taken into account). On the September 23rd episode, the nWo debuted Vincent , as its "head of security". Nick Patrick became the group's official referee after he began showing partiality to nWo members during their matches. Miss Elizabeth turned against The Four Horsemen and joined
41760-500: The same... more DOUBT. Which brings me to Fall Brawl. I knew I had to get to Fall Brawl, and get face to face with the Total Package to let him know that it wasn't me. And what I got out of that was, 'No Sting... I DON'T BELIEVE YOU STING!' Well, all I gotta say is I have been mediator, I have been babysitter for Lex Luger, and I've given him the benefit of the doubt about a thousand times in the last twelve months. And I've carried
41992-415: The second Elimination Chamber match. He then lost to Randy Orton at Unforgiven . At Armageddon , Michaels defeated the groups enforcer Batista . On the December 29 episode of Raw , Michaels seemingly defeated Triple H after a Sweet Chin Music for the World Heavyweight Championship in his hometown of San Antonio, Texas , with Eric Bischoff as the special guest referee (Earl Hebner originally refereed
42224-403: The show after they threatened him. As the show moved into its second hour, Hogan and his entourage accosted Bischoff at the announce table and forced him to say that Hogan was better than Piper, who was still seeking a match with Hogan, but whom Bischoff had not agreed on a contract with yet. At the end of the show, Piper and Bischoff began arguing in the ring. As Piper continued to badger Bischoff,
42456-555: The show, expanded storyline depth, frequent title changes, and a greater focus on developing mid-card talent. The tenure of Russo and Ferrera at the creative helm of WCW was short-lived; by March 2000 the pair had been suspended from their positions as their provocative and edgy angles caused constant protest from AOL Time Warner executives. AOL and Time Warner had merged in January 2000 and, according to Bischoff and Russo, headquarters′ eagerness to tone down WCW had only grown more intense because of this. Mounting frustrations amongst
42688-429: The side of the 5-metre (15 ft) high structure through a table. The match received a 5-star rating from Dave Meltzer. In the fall, Michaels joined forces with real-life friend Hunter Hearst Helmsley (later known as Triple H), Helmsley's then real-life girlfriend Chyna , and Rick Rude to form the stable D-Generation X (DX). Michaels continued his rivalry with Bret Hart and his reformed Hart Foundation , which
42920-543: The stage and through a table below. Bischoff held a draft on Nitro to determine WCW's representatives, with Sting , Lex Luger , and "Macho Man" Randy Savage being chosen. The match Bischoff promised, a six-man tag team match billed as the "Hostile Takeover match", was scheduled as the main event of Bash at the Beach at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, Florida on July 7, 1996. Hall and Nash came to
43152-509: The subsidiary was incorporated as the "Universal Wrestling Corporation", following the purchase the decision was made to utilize the familiar "World Championship Wrestling" as the name for the promotion. In late Summer/early Autumn 1993, a behind-the-scenes dispute between WCW and the NWA Board of Directors over who had the right to authorize NWA World Heavyweight Championship title changes ultimately resulted in WCW formally withdrawing from
43384-523: The table while it attempted to bring a new deal around. In the meantime, Jamie Kellner was handed control over the Turner Broadcasting division in 2000, eventually succeeding Ted Turner on March 7, 2001. Along with AOL Time Warner, Kellner deemed WCW, along with Turner Sports as a whole, to be out of line with its image and saying that it "would not be favorable enough to get the 'right' advertisers to buy airtime" (even though Thunder
43616-399: The talent resulted in many leaving WCW for the WWF; The Giant and Chris Jericho were the first major talent to "jump" to the WWF in 1999, but they were soon followed by many others. Chris Benoit (WCW World Champion at the time), Dean Malenko , Eddie Guerrero and Perry Saturn , who performed together on WCW television as " The Revolution ", all collectively walked out of WCW and over to
43848-401: The team of Ric Flair and Razor Ramon . During this time, Michaels and Sherri split and he engaged himself in a feud with former tag team partner Marty Jannetty. Michaels lost the Intercontinental Championship to Jannetty on the May 17, 1993, episode of Raw , but regained it on June 6 with the help of his debuting " bodyguard " (and off-air friend) Diesel . In September 1993, Michaels
44080-405: The three wrestlers continuing to taunt the fans, who booed and pelted them with garbage. Wrapping up the event on pay-per-view, a still-stunned Tony Schiavone said: "Hulk Hogan, you can go to hell... straight to hell". The night after Bash at the Beach, Hall and Nash appeared on Nitro without Hogan, attempting to attack Sting, Arn Anderson and Randy Savage, but were held back by WCW security. On
44312-468: The time during an ongoing feud with the Hart Foundation and a tournament was made to decide new tag team champions. Michaels eventually returned that summer in July. At SummerSlam on August 3, Michaels officiated the WWF Championship match between WWF Champion The Undertaker and Bret Hart. The match ended controversially, with Michaels hitting The Undertaker with a chair (unintentionally, as he
44544-501: The title from The British Bulldog on Saturday Night's Main Event XXXI , which aired on November 14. He faced Hart for the WWF Championship at Survivor Series on November 25, but lost the match. Originally the secondary main event, Michaels and Hart became the primary main event after The Ultimate Warrior was unable to compete and was replaced by Mr. Perfect (Curt Hennig) in the tag team match that involved Randy Savage against
44776-618: The title was returned to the Hart Foundation). When news spread, WWF explained that the original result was void due to a collapsed turnbuckle in the ring during the bout. A buckle had indeed broken, but not to a noticeable or dangerous extent during the match. The Rockers continued their partnership, eventually splitting on December 2, 1991, aired January 11, 1992, on Wrestling Challenge, during an incident on Brutus Beefcake 's televised Barber Shop talk show promotional segment . Michaels superkicked Jannetty and threw him through
45008-564: The two did the DX "crotch chops." On June 25 at Vengeance , DX defeated the Spirit Squad in a 5–on–2 handicap match . They also defeated the Spirit Squad on July 15 at Saturday Night's Main Event XXXIII in a 5-on-2 elimination match and defeated The McMahons on August 20 at SummerSlam . At Unforgiven on September 17, DX defeated the McMahons and ECW World Champion The Big Show in
45240-432: The two groups. Former WCW performers such as Diamond Dallas Page (who had accepted a WWF contract in 2001) were perceived to be intentionally poorly used as part of a "victory lap" by WWF. In turn, this dissuaded some WCW stars from trusting WWE; for example, Sting choose to remain out of WWE until 2014, and even when he did join, WWE was criticised using Sting to perform yet another victory lap at WrestleMania 31 . After
45472-530: The two promotions, each one attempting to produce the best television show possible each week, led to an explosion in the popularity of professional wrestling in the United States and in hindsight is widely considered a golden era. WCW Monday Nitro proved a success for the company, which was immediately able to create a television audience of an equivalent size to WWF Raw . Between September 1995 and May 1996, Nitro and Raw regularly traded victories in
45704-515: The whole WCW goes, I'm bored, brother! He then declared that Hall and Nash were the kind of people he really wanted as his friends and that together, the three of them were going to take over WCW and destroy everything in their path. At this point, Okerlund directed Hogan to look at the debris strewn around the ring and told him that he could expect more of this if he chose to associate with Hall and Nash (subtly suggesting that Hogan should reconsider one more time). Hogan disregarded Okerlund and went into
45936-471: Was a television show produced by Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW) since 1982. Jim Barnett (who had briefly owned the Australian promotion of that name ) came to Atlanta in the 1970s during an internal struggle for control of GCW. Barnett ultimately became majority owner of the promotion, and began using his previous promotion's name for GCW's weekly Saturday television program in 1982. Following
46168-414: Was able to stop Hogan and Disciple from doing whatever they wanted to Savage. The Disciple hit his finisher, The Apocalypse , on Savage while the belt was draped over his shoulder. Just after this, a furious Nash charged to the ring to aid the fallen Savage. As Nash entered the ring, Eric Bischoff came sprinting from the back and slid into the ring to intercept him. After tossing Bischoff aside, Nash nailed
46400-508: Was aiming for Hart after he spat in his face). Michaels was then forced to award the championship to his nemesis, Bret Hart. The next night on Raw Is War , signs of a heel turn started to show as Michaels told the WWF fans what happened at SummerSlam was an accident and that he dealt with The Undertaker when the time came. At WWF One Night Only , held in Birmingham, England , on September 20, Michaels defeated The British Bulldog to capture
46632-435: Was also a sportscaster for San Antonio 's local news for a short period during his retirement. On the June 3 episode of Raw , Michaels returned to WWE television after 18 months of absence when Kevin Nash announced him as a new member of the recently reformed New World Order (nWo). Michaels was the only nWo member to have never worked in WCW. After the nWo had disbanded, Triple H appeared to make amends with Michaels. This
46864-438: Was also removed from television due to his own bout with alcoholism; this led to a confrontation between Kevin Nash, Eric Bischoff, and Hogan on the March 26 episode of Thunder . The differences within the nWo were becoming more apparent as Savage and Nash were suddenly realizing that Hogan had been only looking out for himself the entire time, and the nWo was seen as secondary. Nash sided with Savage after Hogan had interfered in
47096-740: Was appointed as WCW commissioner during Bischoff's suspension, later had Big Bubba Rogers and Mr. Wallstreet removed from the nWo due to a contractual technicality. Additionally, Ted DiBiase quit the group after feeling remorse for some of the WCW wrestlers who were victims of nWo assaults. In the interim, the nWo recruited The Great Muta on May 26, as well as Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Hiro Saito several weeks after Spring Stampede; they made occasional appearances on television due to their full-time employment in NJPW, but all three would be core members of nWo Japan. The nWo also added Konnan , whom they dubbed "K-Dawg", on July 14 after he attacked Rey Mysterio, Jr. while Kevin Nash watched on approvingly. At Bash at
47328-413: Was attacked by Sid the following night. After this, Michaels took time off because Vince McMahon wanted Michaels to become a fan favorite . Michaels returned to the ring as a fan favorite in May 1995 and defeated Jeff Jarrett to win his third Intercontinental Championship on July 24 at In Your House 2: The Lumberjacks . This led to a title defense against Razor Ramon on August 27 at SummerSlam in
47560-422: Was being interviewed, Sting appeared and told his teammates that he had nothing to do with the attack, but Luger did not believe him. Going into the match, only three wrestlers on each side had been officially named: Hogan and The Outsiders for the nWo, and Luger, Arn Anderson, and Ric Flair for Team WCW. Sting had originally been named the fourth man for WCW, but his participation was in doubt. The fourth man for
47792-402: Was being sabotaged by another wrestling group, initially insinuated as being the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), since the nWo's founding members had previously wrestled for the company. The nWo was originally portrayed as a separate entity from WCW. Often, propaganda-style vignettes and product commercials concerning the nWo were presented in the style of a broadcast signal intrusion , with
48024-516: Was dealing with legal issues, in a match pitting himself and three of Lawler's "Knights" against the Hart brothers, Bret, Bruce , Keith and Owen . In 1994, Michaels entered a rivalry with Razor Ramon, who had won the vacant Intercontinental Championship during Michaels's absence. Since Michaels had never been defeated in the ring for the title, he claimed to be the rightful champion and even carried around his old title belt. This feud culminated in
48256-706: Was done as a test run for what was planned to be a permanent changeover of Nitro to an nWo-centric show, with the soon-debuting Thunder to become the WCW-centric show. However, the ratings dropped dramatically during this show, putting these plans on ice. Zbyszko went on to defeat Bischoff at Starrcade , and Nitro remained in the control of WCW. Also at Starrcade, Hogan lost the WCW World Championship to Sting. Hogan originally pinned Sting, but confusion arose when Hart appeared at ringside and accused referee and former nWo member Nick Patrick of making
48488-422: Was enough of a concern to the WWF that it considered legal action over Hall and Nash's antics. Hall was the bigger concern to the WWF, as he had not fully distanced himself from his Razor Ramon character, continuing to use the character's mannerisms and speaking with the character's pseudo- Cuban American accent. WCW attempted to address these concerns at The Great American Bash in June 1996. Bischoff promised them
48720-416: Was extremely influential within professional wrestling in the 1990s and several elements innovated and introduced by WCW would continue to be used in professional wrestling decades after its closure. In the immediate aftermath of WWF's purchase of WCW, a significant portion of WCW's active roster was integrated into the WWF. These former WCW talents would be used as part of a "WCW vs WWF" storyline that ran in
48952-470: Was in the process of negotiating his release from the company. The match was taped with The Rockers winning the title, but soon after Neidhart came to an agreement with management and was rehired. The championship was returned to the Hart Foundation, while the title change was never broadcast or even acknowledged on television (though The Rockers did have a successful title defense on November 3, 1990, against Power and Glory ( Hercules and Paul Roma ) before
49184-442: Was informed by doctors that he had suffered a knee injury. Michaels contemplated thoughts of retirement and stated that he "had to find his smile again", which he had "lost" somewhere down the line. After consulting with Dr. James Andrews , who concluded that he did not need surgery, Michaels underwent four weeks of physical therapy and returned to in-ring action a few months later, briefly teaming with Stone Cold Steve Austin to win
49416-483: Was instrumental in turning mainstream North American professional wrestling into a more mature, adult-oriented product. The stable became one of the main driving forces behind WCW competing with the WWF in the Monday Night War . Fueled initially by the unexpected villainous turn of Hulk Hogan, the nWo storyline is generally considered one of the most successful angles in the history of modern-day professional wrestling, spawning several imitations and parodies, including
49648-521: Was later known as Clash of Champions , similarly named from WCW's Clash of the Champions . In 2017, WWE held its first annual NXT WarGames event for its NXT brand , with that's year's event featuring the first WarGames match since the September 4, 2000, episode of Nitro . In 2019, new promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW) formed a partnership with WarnerMedia to air their flagship show, AEW Dynamite , on TNT, returning professional wrestling to
49880-498: Was later nicknamed "The Kliq" as an inside reference to the real "Kliq". In October 1995, Michaels was the victim of a legit assault outside a bar in Syracuse, New York . Due to not being able to compete, Michaels was forced to forfeit the Intercontinental Championship to his original opponent Dean Douglas on October 22 at In Your House: Great White North , who in turn Douglas lost the championship to Razor Ramon, another member of
50112-422: Was low-blowed after hugging Jericho. At Backlash Michaels lost to the team of Jericho, Triple H and Ric Flair in a 6-man tag team. This led to a match between Michaels and Flair at Bad Blood , which Flair won. Following this, Michaels continued feuding with the members of Triple H's faction Evolution. He was unsuccessful in capturing the World Heavyweight Championship at SummerSlam with Triple H retaining in
50344-480: Was now a pro-Canada stable. Michaels taunted the group and Canada by engaging in acts such as blowing his nose with and humping the Canadian Flag . Michaels later claimed the flag desecration was Hart's idea. Michaels's feud with the Hart Foundation culminated in a WWF Championship match at Survivor Series on November 9 against Hart. Michaels came out of this match, dubbed by fans the " Montreal Screwjob ", as
50576-683: Was on an airplane flying from L.A. to Atlanta. When I got to Atlanta, I tuned in the TV to Nitro . And I thought I was watching a rerun! It was a very convincing film. Often imitated, but never duplicated though! And what else did I see? I saw people, I saw wrestlers, I saw commentators, and I saw best friends DOUBT... the Stinger. That's right, doubted the Stinger! So I heard Lex Luger say, 'I know where he lives, I know where he works out, I'm gonna go get him.' So I said to myself, I'll just go into seclusion. I'll wait and see what happens on Saturday Night , and I tuned into Saturday Night , and what'd I see? More of
50808-451: Was once again teamed with Marty Jannetty, billed as The Midnight Rockers . The Midnight Rockers won the AWA World Tag Team Championship , defeating Doug Somers and Buddy Rose . In 1987, The Rockers were signed by a competing promotion: the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). They were fired from WWF two weeks later, for a bar incident (a misunderstanding, according to Michaels's autobiography). They then returned to AWA, where they won
51040-415: Was one of the two top professional wrestling promotions in the United States alongside the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE), at one point surpassing the latter in terms of popularity. After initial success through utilization of established wrestling stars of the 1980s, the company appointed Eric Bischoff to executive producer of television in 1993. Under Bischoff's leadership, the company enjoyed
51272-594: Was over, Michaels was interested in training individuals who wanted to become professional wrestlers. He saw potential in using his name and opened the Shawn Michaels Wrestling Academy (later the Texas Wrestling Academy ) in 1999, after his lawyer Skip McCormick suggested the idea. Michaels left the academy in 2002, giving co-founder Rudy Boy Gonzalez sole responsibility due to Michaels's new contract with WWE. Michaels
51504-486: Was presented by Dwayne Johnson and featured former WCW personalities including Bill Goldberg , Eric Bischoff , Bret Hart , Booker T , Kevin Nash , amongst others. From 2000 to 2001, Monster Jam had a series of monster trucks based on wrestlers' names. These included the nWo , Sting , Nitro Machine, Madusa and Goldberg . Following the end of WCW, Debrah Miceli , the only one of the truck's namesakes to actually drive them, remained in monster trucks. The legacy of
51736-406: Was put together with mirror-carrying manager , Sensational Sherri , who according to the storyline had become infatuated with him. Sherri even sang the first version of his new theme music , "Sexy Boy". During that period, after Michaels had wrestled his scheduled match at live events, his departure was announced with "Shawn Michaels has left the building", alluding to the phrase " Elvis has left
51968-505: Was ranked by WWE as the best match ever aired on the company's flagship television program, Raw . Michaels has been a participant in several first installments of a number of WWE's signature gimmick matches—namely the first Hell in a Cell at the Badd Blood: In Your House , the first Ladder match during a taping of WWF Wrestling Challenge (and subsequent first pay-per-view installment at WrestleMania X ), both
52200-439: Was rare and controversial at the time. As WCW gained momentum due to the signings of Hall and Nash, Michaels held the championship for most of the year. At Survivor Series on November 17, Michaels lost the WWF Championship to Sycho Sid but recaptured the title on January 19, 1997, at Royal Rumble . On a special episode of Raw dubbed Thursday Raw Thursday , Michaels vacated the WWF Championship. He explained to fans that he
52432-487: Was rushed, ill-conceived and had no long-term direction. By this point, many critics began to argue that WCW was now completely overreliant on the nWo storyline and unable to pivot to a new grand concept. Additionally, beginning in the summer of 1998, Bischoff has claimed that Time Warner Entertainment management began to increasingly micromanage WCW and meddle in its presentation. Executives at Time Warner Entertainment began to increasingly advocate that WCW should pivot to more
52664-497: Was selling out the world, brother, while they were pumping gas to put in their car to get to high school! So the way it is now, brother, with Hulk Hogan, and the new world organization of wrestling, brother, me and the new blood by my side... whatcha gonna do, brother, when the new world organization [ sic ]runs wild on you? Hogan then grabbed Okerlund by the collar moments later but quickly let him go after Okerlund threatened to sue him if he didn't. The show closed with
52896-583: Was shut down, and the WWF purchased select WCW assets in 2001, including its video library, intellectual property (including the WCW name and championships), and some wrestler contracts. The corporate subsidiary, which was retained to deal with legal obligations and reverted to the Universal Wrestling Corporation name, officially became defunct in 2017. Its headquarters were located in Smyrna, Georgia . "World Championship Wrestling"
53128-416: Was solidified when Michaels pleaded Triple H to return to Raw . Later on, they came down to the ring sporting their DX music and attire. When the pair was about to perform their trademark "Suck It" taunt, Triple H turned on Michaels by performing a Pedigree on him. Continuing the angle, in his first WWE match since WrestleMania XIV, Michaels defeated Triple H at SummerSlam, but was attacked by Triple H with
53360-573: Was suspended for testing positive for steroid – a charge he never admitted. On WWF programs, his suspension was explained by his having neglected to defend the title often enough. After turning down World Championship Wrestling (WCW)'s advances, Michaels returned to the WWF and made several appearances in the United States Wrestling Association (USWA) during a WWF/USWA cross-promotion. He returned on November 24 at Survivor Series , substituting for Jerry Lawler , who
53592-515: Was the highest-rated show on TBS at the time). As a result, WCW programming was cancelled on TBS and TNT . Another factor in Kellner's decision to cancel all WCW programming was the terms of the company's purchase deal with Fusient, which included giving Fusient control over time slots on TNT and TBS even if those slots did not air WCW programming. WCW's losses were then written off via purchase accounting. The cancellation of WCW programming left
53824-532: Was the introduction of the Cruiserweight division, which saw the introduction of smaller, more agile and more athletic wrestlers performing fast-paced, high-flying dangerous matches on WCW shows. This added another unique element to WCW shows that helped propel their surging popularity. The combination of a more adult-orientated presentation, live and unedited television, more reality-based storylines, new top-level talent, new and intriguing characters, and more varied in-ring action saw WCW's fortunes dramatically shift;
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